Outwest Farms? Osceola hunt?
10-15-2008, 02:22 PM
#1
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Northeastern Illinois
Posts: 205
Outwest Farms? Osceola hunt?
Think of doing a Osceola hunt with Outwest farms this coming spring. Anyone went with them before or hear of anything? I will be staying in Port St Lucie for a week. Can you recommend any outfitter near this area?
Thanks
Thanks
10-19-2008, 06:25 PM
#3
Spike
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Northeast Wisconsin
Posts: 43
RE: Outwest Farms? Osceola hunt?
I work with one outfitter in Florida that hunts for Osceola. Check out my website at www.huntfishconnection.com and let me know what you think. I would be glad to work with you on this hunt. One thing you need to know up front is all of the outfitters I work with are preinspected to insure quality for our clients with no additional cost for working with me.
10-20-2008, 09:20 AM
#4
Fork Horn
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Crystal River Fl USA
Posts: 196
RE: Outwest Farms? Osceola hunt?
Check out www.DSOoutdoors.com
Ask for references. They have top turkey ground in the state of Florida. No other outfitter in FL has there track record. All of there clients get there birds on quality ground managed for Osceola turkeys. You'll hear dozens of birds gobbling each morning. Guides know there lands and there birds. And best of all, you can shoot all the hogs you want after you get your bird. The owner has number 8 and 15 in the state records books off his grounds. Prices are right too.
Ask for references. They have top turkey ground in the state of Florida. No other outfitter in FL has there track record. All of there clients get there birds on quality ground managed for Osceola turkeys. You'll hear dozens of birds gobbling each morning. Guides know there lands and there birds. And best of all, you can shoot all the hogs you want after you get your bird. The owner has number 8 and 15 in the state records books off his grounds. Prices are right too.
02-22-2016, 11:33 AM
#6
Spike
Join Date: Feb 2016
Posts: 2
On a fundamental level it appears this business [lee lightsey with outwest farms] provides the absolute minimum service necessary to take your money.
http://www.floridahuntingoutfitter.com/
For example:
Poor communication to include incorrect directions over the phone to get to the actual location of the hunting area and the taxidermist area.
Price per alligator: this has to be their money maker. If you do even a bit of looking around you will see that most alligator hunts let you choose the size you would like to hunt. It seems that these 'different' farms which lease the same areas offer a variety of one foot increments and a category like: 6-9 foot.
Check these coordinates on google earth: 27 degrees 12 minutes 48 seconds north, 81 degrees 2 minutes 28 seconds west. South of Fulmar Terrace and FL-70 Okeechobee, FL just past the canal.
This is the center of their hunting area. The Adjacent northeast property has a pond in which alligators are visible on google earth. These guys hand pick the gator that you shoot, to the inch, and then put those specific alligators in the hunt area just before you head out to 'hunt.' Paying for a 9 footer gets you a 6.5 footer. This is was misrepresented to me when I called and asked how the hunt would go. I was told I could shoot up to a 9 footer, that is clearly not the case I got to 'hunt' the alligator they choose. I believe this is an intentional lack of communication in an effort to get customers to hope they will get a nine footer and pay for that rather than making a more informed choice to pay for five footer.
Which brings me to whether this is really a hunt. I can see calling their pig hunt an actual hunt as they run and you actually have to pursue (even though it is a fenced area). Alligators don't do that. They put the alligators into one of the two clearly visible ponds on google earth, drive you straight to them and have you shoot at them in the water. If you miss they fish for the alligators until they are snagged, you reel them in and then you shoot them. Why even put them in a pond and go through that whole ordeal. They could just keep them in the separation pen and you can show up pay one thousand dollars and shoot them without the token ride on an oversized dune buggy.
This only becomes clear after the experience, our guide wasn't interested in maintaining the façade it was a real hunt. In fact he kept checking his phone and answering his phone as the next round of customers were waiting. They have this down so well they take customers out on the hour... You tell me is that hunting?
Gear: They provided a .22 magnum. poorly sighted in, so poorly sighted in the 'guide' used the allocated box of shells to sight it in at 20 yards. When he was finished we had 3 shells left for our hunt.
Customer service was also poor. When we arrived we were told our reservation had changed time: no advanced notice, no 'sorry,' no anything, just sit and wait.
The owner never made an appearance and litters his website with disclaimers like "we are not responsible for your guide." Read into this disclaimer; one of the 'guides' present was a complete jerk. It must be nice for the owner to claim no responsibility for your guide; who is the only person you interact with during the experience. It seems a lot like, hey pay me $1000 for a hunt and then go do it with someone else... he might be a hung-over jerk...
As far as the guides go there were two present when I got there, one who was a jerk and the other who openly discussed the limitations of his position. He appeared to be just as unhappy being a guide there as I was a customer. He said he was just a '3rd party' in the business and couldn't get anything to change; pretty convenient. He told me "I was told to take two people out here to kill two alligators."
Safety concerns were everywhere.
In the hunt area there were cape buffalo just wondering around. The ponds where they put the alligators are close enough to the tree line there would be nowhere to go if charged.
Firearms: The firearms were not sighted in, and the hog hunters, who were hunting in the same area at the same time, had moving targets and were shooting frequently.
Taxidermy: all in house.
The alligators were kept at the farm and we were sent to town to talk with the taxidermist. This is all done by the same business and there is no option to take it somewhere else, otherwise known as a monopoly.
Once we found the correct address, as the address on the hunt form was wrong, the staff was unknowledgeable about options, pricing and shipping. I had basic questions such as, can I get a horn back and belly out of the alligator: it took 3 people to answer this question. All I wanted to know was if the skin could be cut along the sides of the alligator to separate the top half from the bottom half and then have both halves tanned... 3 people to answer this question. The staff was clearly confused and began raising their voices and speaking at me like my request was unreasonable.
Upon receiving the hides and skulls back it is clear at least one skull is not from one of the alligators we harvested: there was no skull damage from where it had been shot and one of the alligators was missing a front tooth when harvested (clearly missing in the trophy shot). Yet both skulls sent to us had all teeth. No confidence whatsoever either skull actually came from the alligators we harvested. The condition of the hides was acceptable.
Overall the experience was bad as a result of misleading advertising, poor customer service and being delivered an alligator skull which clearly wasn't mine.
If this business was more straightforward with the actual conditions of the hunt, had a greater focus on customer service and paid greater attention to detail when processing customers taxidermy requests it would have been better.
I can see how a pig hunt there would be fun, as far as alligators go it was pretty lame. Recognizing the limitations for hunting alligators I likely would have still done this and been happy about the experience if it had been represented for what it was and the customer service was better.
If you want to shoot an alligator you will do that here, if you want to hunt an alligator this is not a good place, and if you only want an alligator hide go to tandy leather and buy a cow skin imprinted as an alligator for $90.
http://www.floridahuntingoutfitter.com/
For example:
Poor communication to include incorrect directions over the phone to get to the actual location of the hunting area and the taxidermist area.
Price per alligator: this has to be their money maker. If you do even a bit of looking around you will see that most alligator hunts let you choose the size you would like to hunt. It seems that these 'different' farms which lease the same areas offer a variety of one foot increments and a category like: 6-9 foot.
Check these coordinates on google earth: 27 degrees 12 minutes 48 seconds north, 81 degrees 2 minutes 28 seconds west. South of Fulmar Terrace and FL-70 Okeechobee, FL just past the canal.
This is the center of their hunting area. The Adjacent northeast property has a pond in which alligators are visible on google earth. These guys hand pick the gator that you shoot, to the inch, and then put those specific alligators in the hunt area just before you head out to 'hunt.' Paying for a 9 footer gets you a 6.5 footer. This is was misrepresented to me when I called and asked how the hunt would go. I was told I could shoot up to a 9 footer, that is clearly not the case I got to 'hunt' the alligator they choose. I believe this is an intentional lack of communication in an effort to get customers to hope they will get a nine footer and pay for that rather than making a more informed choice to pay for five footer.
Which brings me to whether this is really a hunt. I can see calling their pig hunt an actual hunt as they run and you actually have to pursue (even though it is a fenced area). Alligators don't do that. They put the alligators into one of the two clearly visible ponds on google earth, drive you straight to them and have you shoot at them in the water. If you miss they fish for the alligators until they are snagged, you reel them in and then you shoot them. Why even put them in a pond and go through that whole ordeal. They could just keep them in the separation pen and you can show up pay one thousand dollars and shoot them without the token ride on an oversized dune buggy.
This only becomes clear after the experience, our guide wasn't interested in maintaining the façade it was a real hunt. In fact he kept checking his phone and answering his phone as the next round of customers were waiting. They have this down so well they take customers out on the hour... You tell me is that hunting?
Gear: They provided a .22 magnum. poorly sighted in, so poorly sighted in the 'guide' used the allocated box of shells to sight it in at 20 yards. When he was finished we had 3 shells left for our hunt.
Customer service was also poor. When we arrived we were told our reservation had changed time: no advanced notice, no 'sorry,' no anything, just sit and wait.
The owner never made an appearance and litters his website with disclaimers like "we are not responsible for your guide." Read into this disclaimer; one of the 'guides' present was a complete jerk. It must be nice for the owner to claim no responsibility for your guide; who is the only person you interact with during the experience. It seems a lot like, hey pay me $1000 for a hunt and then go do it with someone else... he might be a hung-over jerk...
As far as the guides go there were two present when I got there, one who was a jerk and the other who openly discussed the limitations of his position. He appeared to be just as unhappy being a guide there as I was a customer. He said he was just a '3rd party' in the business and couldn't get anything to change; pretty convenient. He told me "I was told to take two people out here to kill two alligators."
Safety concerns were everywhere.
In the hunt area there were cape buffalo just wondering around. The ponds where they put the alligators are close enough to the tree line there would be nowhere to go if charged.
Firearms: The firearms were not sighted in, and the hog hunters, who were hunting in the same area at the same time, had moving targets and were shooting frequently.
Taxidermy: all in house.
The alligators were kept at the farm and we were sent to town to talk with the taxidermist. This is all done by the same business and there is no option to take it somewhere else, otherwise known as a monopoly.
Once we found the correct address, as the address on the hunt form was wrong, the staff was unknowledgeable about options, pricing and shipping. I had basic questions such as, can I get a horn back and belly out of the alligator: it took 3 people to answer this question. All I wanted to know was if the skin could be cut along the sides of the alligator to separate the top half from the bottom half and then have both halves tanned... 3 people to answer this question. The staff was clearly confused and began raising their voices and speaking at me like my request was unreasonable.
Upon receiving the hides and skulls back it is clear at least one skull is not from one of the alligators we harvested: there was no skull damage from where it had been shot and one of the alligators was missing a front tooth when harvested (clearly missing in the trophy shot). Yet both skulls sent to us had all teeth. No confidence whatsoever either skull actually came from the alligators we harvested. The condition of the hides was acceptable.
Overall the experience was bad as a result of misleading advertising, poor customer service and being delivered an alligator skull which clearly wasn't mine.
If this business was more straightforward with the actual conditions of the hunt, had a greater focus on customer service and paid greater attention to detail when processing customers taxidermy requests it would have been better.
I can see how a pig hunt there would be fun, as far as alligators go it was pretty lame. Recognizing the limitations for hunting alligators I likely would have still done this and been happy about the experience if it had been represented for what it was and the customer service was better.
If you want to shoot an alligator you will do that here, if you want to hunt an alligator this is not a good place, and if you only want an alligator hide go to tandy leather and buy a cow skin imprinted as an alligator for $90.
Last edited by 123abc; 02-22-2016 at 03:53 PM.
02-22-2016, 01:08 PM
#7
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: south eastern PA
Posts: 15,436
You are complaining about "this Business" but you don't say which one and there were two talked about. I am always a little suspicious when the very first post a person has is a post flaming an outfitter. It may be a legitimate complaint but to me it is suspect.
