HuntingNet.com Forums - shafted in OH @ Ohio Monster Outfitters

Yes, same as from the bowsite...just trying to share the love :)

Full story below...sorry for long post!

We booked a 5 day semi-guided hunt for the week of November 5th near Zanesville Ohio. Our trip was to consist of us staying in a Motor Home at a local campground (I have a motor home that we would be driving from PA) recommended by Dustin. He was to make all arrangements for us prior to arrival. We were then to be hunting on a 2000 acre farm as the only hunters for the year. We would be picked up each day via a truck by Dustin or one of his guides to be taken to a stand location. It was suggested that we bring our own stands “just in case” we found a better spot. We checked with 6 references and had several calls with Dustin before booking our trip. A deposit of 1000 was sent, 50% the cost of our hunt.

Instead here is what we got.

· Arrived in Zanesville Ohio at his address as directed. Only to find out he wasn’t there and no longer lived at the address.
· After leaving several phone messages, Dustin met us at a Tractor Supply parking lot near Zanesville. He then had us make reservations at Dillon state park as the place he planned on us staying was closed for the season. He never setup our camping arrangements as promised.
· On the way to Dillon we stopped at the 2000 acre farm. This farm is owned by a local Zanesville physician that is friends of the family. There was already someone hunting the property. We later found out that this farm was not leased, he just had permission to hunt there.
· Dustin picks us up Saturday to go scouting in a Chevy Camaro (Blue) with temporary license tags. He indicated his truck broke down.
· Saturday evening he takes us scouting to a housing development near Dillon called Stone Henge. He tells us that he is leasing the undeveloped land and that we do not need permission slips because we are hunting with an outfitter.
· We hunted Sunday from our own climbing stands as he did not have any stands for us in this area.
· At 4:30 in the afternoon (an all day sit) he comes and gets us telling us he lost his lease for this property and that we had to leave immediately. We later find out that hunting is NOT permitted on this property, someone called and filed a complaint.
· We then proceed to hunt several different properties over the next few days. Bells hog farm, which we later discover was not leased and allows anyone to hunt that asks. No exclusively leased land as promised.
· Dustin Was 40 minutes late picking us up Tuesday morning.
· Dustin ran out of gas on our way back to Dillon state park on Tuesday evening. We arrive back at the campground over an hour and a half later than before.
· Wednesday morning after waiting a half hour for him to show (5:30) am I called him. He claimed that his car would not start and that he did not have my number. However, he called me several times a day the days before.
· Dustin never picked us up in a truck. He drove us around in the Camaro that did not have room for two hunters, two treestands and all our gear.
After all this happened, we asked Dustin to meet us at the campground at 10:00 on Wednesday. When he arrived we told him this was just not working out. This was to be our dream hunt and was not even close. He asked us what he did wrong beyond the obvious. We gave him the list to start above as a starting point. We said that the best thing for us to do was to end our hunt. Upon doing this, we felt that a fair deal would be to get half our money back. He said 750 and we said half. He agreed, but asked to pay via check. I said no since I gave him cash. He then asked if he could have my bank account number and do a money transfer, I again said no and wanted cash. He then claimed his bank was 1 hour away and it would take him some time to get the cash. He requested that we meet him along the highway in 2 hours. We said no to that request and asked that he meet us at the campground at 12:30pm. We also warned him to not stiff us and to do the honorable thing.
12:30 came and went with no Dustin. We called him several times with our calls going straight to voicemail. After an additional two hours, we then called the local sheriffs’ department and Ohio DNR. We filled a report with the sheriffs’ office. According to them, this is not the first time for this behavior and we were told he would be jailed when caught.
We are still trying to contact / work with the DNR to see what we can do in respect to that.

Squid