Review Detail
3.0 2
Do not book with these guys
Overall rating
1.2
Quantity of Game
1.0
Quality of Game
1.0
Guide Professionalism
1.0
Camp and Amenities
2.0
Overall Experience
1.0
DO NOT BOOK WITH THIS CLOWN!! I was in a group of 6 buddies that went pig hunting with Allen Morehouse and Heart of Texas Guided Hunts. We purchased the Bronze package for $450 each for 2 nights of hunting. We were told that each feeder would have a light on it to see the pigs and that the feeder “go off” and distribute feed around dusk. I have the following complaints:
1. The first night, my feeder did not go off and there was no light. I could not see anything and had to check periodically with my laser designator to see if anything was at the feeder. I could hear pigs squealing nearby and I just know that the lights scared them off. When we got picked up by the guide, I politely expressed my dissatisfaction. He promised that the next night, he would make sure that the feeder was working right. Great, 50% of the trip was a waste of time and money due to their faulty feeder. When you go hunting, sometimes there are no animals, that’s hunting for you. But when you pay for a professionally guided hunt, it is my expectation that everything that can be controlled, is controlled. This includes working lights and feeders. They screwed me out of my first night hunting.
2. When you get to the lodge, they make you watch a “safety video”, which is mostly a half hour long commercial for their rental night vision guns and thermal guns. They run about 100-300 dollars per night rental. They really put on the high pressure to rent the guns. Nobody in the group rented one the first night, as we all brought our own guns to Texas (at considerable expense in some cases). They told our group that we would be able to see the pigs from their feeder lights with high quality optics, which we all had (Leupolds). The truth is that the feeder lights were so dim in all cases that nobody could see to shoot! I feel that this is done on purpose to generate an extra 100 to 300 dollars per night per hunter on the trips. I wish they would have just added 100 dollars per night to the cost of the package and provided basic night vision equipment instead of misleading the hunters into believing that it would be possible to see and shoot the pigs with a regular scope. It is my opinion that they put a cheapo price online so that you book and then you find that it is more than double that (if you pay 300 per night for the thermal scope) in order to have a chance at being successful once you are in Texas, at the lodge, right before you go hunting.
3. When I had booked the hunt, I gave Allen our travel dates and I mentioned that I was staying an extra day just in case I had not yet gotten a pig. He said at that time that it would be no problem to pay for another day hunting once I got there. He said that he was flexible. Fast forward to after 2 nights of hunting, nobody in the group had bagged a pig, and my feeder was faulty the first night. I wanted to hunt another night and I thought that they should cover the cost to make up for the first night and the lack of light. They said that another night of hunting was not possible, contradicting what Allen had told me earlier. I offered to pay full price for the hunt and even rent one of the expensive guns at this point. Again, they said that it was not possible. At this point, I called and texted Allen himself to talk to him about it. After all, I have taken off work and flown down to Texas. I’m here and he is the one changing the plans at the last minute. When I got Allen on the telephone, he told me that I had “acted like a total ass” that members of our group had “been running our mouths”, and that he was embarrassed for us. He told me over the telephone that my “alligator mouth did not match my hummingbird ass”. He was very unprofessional and he was attempting to be intimidating, but instead came off like some sort of drunken hillbilly. To my knowledge, no members of our group had been rude or impolite, in fact the group contained 3 physicians, a businessman, an active duty member of the Airforce, and a professional tool and die maker who is also a professional hunter education instructor and firearms safety instructor, all mature individuals. There had been polite dissatisfaction expressed to the lackey that Allen provided to actually take us out to the woods, and this dissatisfaction related to legitimate complaints like the lights not coming on at the feeders, and not the lack of game. Allen told me on the telephone that we were beating up on a “kid”. The lackey was 26, a Baylor graduate, a purported professional hunting guide, and certainly man enough to take our money when we arrived. I wanted Allen to know that I was not happy with the situation and give him a chance to make things right. Instead, he personally insured that the part of the trip that I would remember forever was his insulting, vulgar tirade of a telephone call.
Book your trip with somebody else and let these huckster clowns go out of business. They deserve it.
1. The first night, my feeder did not go off and there was no light. I could not see anything and had to check periodically with my laser designator to see if anything was at the feeder. I could hear pigs squealing nearby and I just know that the lights scared them off. When we got picked up by the guide, I politely expressed my dissatisfaction. He promised that the next night, he would make sure that the feeder was working right. Great, 50% of the trip was a waste of time and money due to their faulty feeder. When you go hunting, sometimes there are no animals, that’s hunting for you. But when you pay for a professionally guided hunt, it is my expectation that everything that can be controlled, is controlled. This includes working lights and feeders. They screwed me out of my first night hunting.
2. When you get to the lodge, they make you watch a “safety video”, which is mostly a half hour long commercial for their rental night vision guns and thermal guns. They run about 100-300 dollars per night rental. They really put on the high pressure to rent the guns. Nobody in the group rented one the first night, as we all brought our own guns to Texas (at considerable expense in some cases). They told our group that we would be able to see the pigs from their feeder lights with high quality optics, which we all had (Leupolds). The truth is that the feeder lights were so dim in all cases that nobody could see to shoot! I feel that this is done on purpose to generate an extra 100 to 300 dollars per night per hunter on the trips. I wish they would have just added 100 dollars per night to the cost of the package and provided basic night vision equipment instead of misleading the hunters into believing that it would be possible to see and shoot the pigs with a regular scope. It is my opinion that they put a cheapo price online so that you book and then you find that it is more than double that (if you pay 300 per night for the thermal scope) in order to have a chance at being successful once you are in Texas, at the lodge, right before you go hunting.
3. When I had booked the hunt, I gave Allen our travel dates and I mentioned that I was staying an extra day just in case I had not yet gotten a pig. He said at that time that it would be no problem to pay for another day hunting once I got there. He said that he was flexible. Fast forward to after 2 nights of hunting, nobody in the group had bagged a pig, and my feeder was faulty the first night. I wanted to hunt another night and I thought that they should cover the cost to make up for the first night and the lack of light. They said that another night of hunting was not possible, contradicting what Allen had told me earlier. I offered to pay full price for the hunt and even rent one of the expensive guns at this point. Again, they said that it was not possible. At this point, I called and texted Allen himself to talk to him about it. After all, I have taken off work and flown down to Texas. I’m here and he is the one changing the plans at the last minute. When I got Allen on the telephone, he told me that I had “acted like a total ass” that members of our group had “been running our mouths”, and that he was embarrassed for us. He told me over the telephone that my “alligator mouth did not match my hummingbird ass”. He was very unprofessional and he was attempting to be intimidating, but instead came off like some sort of drunken hillbilly. To my knowledge, no members of our group had been rude or impolite, in fact the group contained 3 physicians, a businessman, an active duty member of the Airforce, and a professional tool and die maker who is also a professional hunter education instructor and firearms safety instructor, all mature individuals. There had been polite dissatisfaction expressed to the lackey that Allen provided to actually take us out to the woods, and this dissatisfaction related to legitimate complaints like the lights not coming on at the feeders, and not the lack of game. Allen told me on the telephone that we were beating up on a “kid”. The lackey was 26, a Baylor graduate, a purported professional hunting guide, and certainly man enough to take our money when we arrived. I wanted Allen to know that I was not happy with the situation and give him a chance to make things right. Instead, he personally insured that the part of the trip that I would remember forever was his insulting, vulgar tirade of a telephone call.
Book your trip with somebody else and let these huckster clowns go out of business. They deserve it.
Hunt Info
Date of Hunt
1/11-1/13
Successful Hunt
No
Animal Hunted
Feral Swine
Type of Hunt
Fully Guided
D