re: Misty Morning Outfitters in Alden, KS

I've thought about getting a public land guide for deer hunting somewhere out west just to get my feet wet then try it on my own

Brightside, when was that hunt?

December, 2011

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Misty Morning Outfitters in Alden, KS by Masterag
hmm... how much are y'all paying for these "hunts?"

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Always know that if a place is cheaper than comparable places in the same area there's a reason for it

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Please tell us more.

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Honestly, that one is a novel. The short: the outfitter puts us up in a cabin where his father lives. But he moved his dad out before we got there. No idea where he put him.

Well, the old man fed cats and raccoons. Like, dozens of them. Inside and outside the house. Like, we get to the place, and I turn on my light, and there are 15 raccoons on the front porch. Hanging on the rocking chairs. Hanging on the door. Sitting on the roof. Whatever.

And cats everywhere. And plates of warm milk all over the cabin. And, when we cleaned it all up (bowls of warm milk and cat food out all over the place, it would make you gag on the smell) two things happened: one is that the ole man freaked out that we needed to be feeding his herd of feral cats and raccoons. And, all the cats and raccoons started breaking in to get to their food. All night, breaking in, coming down the chimney, running around the house, everything.

And the old man, screaming at us for taking over his house, trying to call the cops. It went on and on. We started packing up three days into a five day hunt.

Then, the kicker. The old man comes running over when he finds out we're leaving. And starts bawling crying. Gets on his knees and starts hugging me. Begging me to stay. Saying that he has all these mental problems, and that the son will blame him for me leaving and asking for the money back. And saying that he has blown his last chance with the son, and that his son will kick him out now because he's apparently done this before.

And then, in the woods: no one is seeing any deer. And, two of the three of us have people walk or drive in on us while we're hunting. Because we may have permission to hunt these blocks of woods, but it's not exclusive. So, we have people park their trucks 50 yards from our stands.

And, to set this whole thing off, we get a lecture at the beginning about how lucky we are to hunt this place. And about how if we screw up just one little bit, they are gonna send us home. Because we have to prove we are capable of handling such an awesome place as this.

And the guides won't give out their cell phone numbers. Policy. So, you have no way of calling anyone if you have an issue or kill a deer, or fall from your stand.

And, they take your truck keys from you when you get there. True life.

And, they say on their Web site they have 80% success rate and 90% repeat business. But in our camp that week, not one single person out of the 18 had ever been there before. And there was one deer killed.

That's just the start of it. I could go on for hours about this one hunt.