Man I hope I do not insult or embarrass Mike on here but I was reminiscing on past hunts etc. Mods if this is not the proper place this needs to go, by all means move it else where in another thread topic.

To the best of my knowledge I have been around Mike, twice. Once many yrs ago on a hog hunt around Menard with a buddy of mine that use to semi-frequent the THF. Anyhow several of us from this forum joined and did the hunt. Mike had not had his feet all the way in the outfitting business but had slowly started to get going. Anyhow we all show up and not many hogs were killed so we chatted more then anything. Mike was a paying hunter as were the rest of us on that hunt.

Several years ago (like many yrs ago) I ran a few hunts for a larger operation. Why I am bringing that up you will see here in a bit. Anyhow back to topic. Mike told me he had sent a letter to the owner of the operation I was associated with, maybe looking for advise etc.?

From what I remember Mike never received a response. I want to clarify the letter did not go to me, so I knew nothing about it till Mike advised me. So in the conversation we talk about the outfitting business etc and how he wanted to make a run at it full time. I remember telling Mike the guy I worked for owned the properties and were quite large at that and really answered to no one, so that outfitter ran it the way he wanted. I guess looking at it now it was probably not the right reply to give Mike, then again maybe it was.

I stopped doing the outfitting gig and watched Mike through the years as he developed his outfitting business and it continued to grow in leaps and bounds. What I still think is cool is he went ground up. From gaining trust of the landowners to more importantly gaining the trust of the clients/hunters.

So leap forward to last March and the axis hunt. Mike is running his business FULL TIME. He runs, employs etc who, how he wants. He is calling the shots. I am now the observer/client in Mikes rags to riches business.

So what's the big deal? I think Mike brings a more serious attitude then others in this game. He has alot to lose and with that works his tail off. As stated I was impressed with the way he and his guides tried to get hunters on game. It didn't work for everyone but his heart is definitely in it for the long run. I leave you with this. There are ZERO guarantees in outfitting/guiding, what the outfitter does and how he handles his clients speaks volumes. Mikes as straight up as they come and I was impressed with his work attitude and honesty.

BTW, nope didn't get anything for placing this story. Like I stated it just came to me from my old age chronicles. Enjoy.

I just hunted w/ Mulie Mike's outfit. I enjoyed myself GREATLY! I can't imagine the outfitting business is easy. But when you surround yourself with good people and work hard, your chances of succeeding is much more likely.

I didn't really follow the part about the lost letter? Other than that, it's always good when people share positive experiences, be it car sales, hunting adventures, you name it. Thanks for taking the time to share!

The letter wasn't lost. Mike had sent it to a guy I was working for at that time. Maybe Mike will explain that part.

well I've never hunted with Mulie Mike but i asked him about a hundred questions and he answered them all ! i hope to have the opportunity to hunt with him one day though .

If I ever make it to Texas I already planned to hunt with Mike because of how he carries himself

Sab

I’ve hunted with Mike twice. He is a stand up guy and runs a clean operation. Zero hesitation to book with him again.

I have a hunt booked with Mike for mid-January. Talked with him on the phone for a while, and he answered every single stupid question I had. Booked with him based on the positive reviews he has here in THF. I will post a report after the hunt as well.

We got shafted ona garbage lease by Mike last year, the 6 guys from our party would never use or hunt with him again, we leased one place at 7k acres with food plots and elk on it, and a solid mule deer population after paying in full we were told the landowner no longer wanted hunters their but he had a comparable place to hunt right around the corner, the comparable place was 1000acres of crap territory we never even saw a deer or sign of mule deer in 6 days of hunting also the house was half the size and was crumby and full of yellow jackets and mice they did try to exterminate the yellow jackets but the house was covered in them.he told us after the 1st week we could hunt on another ranch he had reserved for us called the indio but we couldnt hunt until 2nd week of mule deer season, well 3 of us had already planned to hunt that 1st week and had other hunts booked so couldnt got the 2nd week. Basically we pissed 15k down the drain 2 of the guys decided to not even go out their because we told them dont waste their time. Im sure all his hunts dont go this way but we did not even get close to what we payed for. We do about 5-10 guided hunts a year and lots of outfitters on here can vouch for me, let me add in no way did we expect this to be like a guided hunt as it was a lease but its was not the ranch we payed to lease(shelley ranch) and we trusted the new ranch was of equal quality which us how it was explained which it was not even close and we did expect to see some type of Mule Deer activity, basically it was what we call a gar hole, we saw 1 javalina.

Dang that does sound bad. Maybe Mike will chime in. I have had only those 2 dealing with him and no where did I put that kind of money out. Shame it didn't work out for you but like stated hoping Mike can clear this up. Best of luck to you in the future.

You know sparrish8 you are right to an extent but tell the entire story because you left out a few crucial facts.

Yes the original property you leased was a place I hunted for years and the landowner was very sick and things changed there and I was put in a bind.
I wanted to hold up my end of the bargain so I found you another property. The original landowner I had set you up passed away during this time frame which was
a dear friend of mine. Not only did this mess up years of hunts as he owned several properties I hunted but it hit close to home. You did not need to know this as
that was personal information. I just told you it was no longer available.

I should of spent more time on the property I moved you too and I did try to get you access to the other ranch too which just did not work out for when your group was available.
BUT what you failed to let these folks know is I also gladly welcomed you ALL back to hunt quail after season which you never got me dates to do so . ALSO I told you I would take the entire group Aoudad hunting on my other premium ranch and pay for the hunts out of my pocket but you took so dang long to get back to me and I did my best to get you out on the dates I had open and just not squeeze
you in because I wanted your hunting party to have a good experience with me. You took weeks to get back to me and by then it was going to be Spring time and not enjoyable
at all and slow hunting. The value of this aoudad hunt alone was way more than you paid for this lease. You never got back to me after the last discussion of dates did not work out with your group.

Also on a lease typically people come out to scout multiple times, set up cameras, learn the property and animal movements. Not show up one time briefly prior then come out at the start of season
and start hunting. Yeah there were yellow jackets but if you asked around town for some reason everyone had an issue with them locally that year, you could not even hardly find wasp spray in town and the only way to fix it was rip apart the roof and spray in the middle of deer season so I am sorry it was something you had to deal with during your stay.

I tried to make it right with your group with both quail and aoudad hunting and I would still gladly do so now but actually call me directly to discuss it. If I or my outfit makes a mistake
we make it right. Crap happens and you can't make everyone happy, sometimes mother nature wins, sometimes it is just the hunter and sometimes yes there are [censored] hunts. When it
is my fault though I own up to it. If you had such an issue with me all you had to do was call me, I have nothing to hide.

So give me a call and lets talk about it all 915-328-0645

Merry Christmas

And now you know the rest of the story!!! Mike!

mike you owe no one an apology. anyone who has ever hunted knows chit happens and every once in a while it just doesn't work out. Sparrish, this between you and mike, no need to air it here. if someone needs a reference for huntin with mike, just post it. and handle through private message

Part of this forum is about expressing good or bad experiences weve had with outfitters so im expressing a bad experience I had

Sparrish8....

I can assure you that you didn't miss anything but a clusterphuck not getting to deer hunt the Indio.

As a former guide of Mikes, I'll also tell you to cut your losses and move on. Chalk it up, put it in your Rolodex...

There are tons of outfitters that run reputable operations.

Agree but not leaving out critical details about how he tried to make it right is a bit underhanded

7mag I appreciate this post. One day I will tell the story of the letter but this thread has gone a different direction.
I am gone out in the field about 280 days to 290 days a year so I am spending the next couple days with my family
and am not going to worry about this post.

Sparrish8 you have my number and can call me if you want to get this worked out but please I am not going to wait
for weeks on a call. Thank You

Merry Christmas Mike

Point was i payed for a mule deer lease not an Aoudad hunt that he offered, i have 2 propertys full of Aoudad and have 2 big ones on my wall, if i wanted an Aoudad lease I hunt i would have booked that, the other guys decided it was proba bly a crappy hunt like the lease, maybe it wasnt, im not saying some.of his hunts arent good but my experience was not good.

Mike i will call you, i told you we werent happy with the results of our agreement, you never heard back from me but you sure werent checking back in to see if you had satisfied customers pretty sure you were glad we didnt call back but maybe we can work something out after the holidays.

Merry Christmas to everyone.

Could not agree more. I don’t just want to read glowing positive reviews of outfitters. I want to hear the negatives as well.

I booked my first Aoudad hunt with Mike several years ago and I will admit when I met these 2 young guys at the gas station well before daylight of the first hunt my heart sank. I had brought my 11 year old son with me and I wanted him to experience my hunt to it’s fullest and I was expecting someone with a few more years under his belt to show me some sheep. To say that my first impression was wrong is an UNDERSTATEMENT. He was just starting out his business and he and his guide put me on a great sheep right off the bat with my son right there. I was pumped!!
Fast forward a few years, I booked a self guided hunt on the same ranch for my buddy and I. We hunted a couple of days and saw ZERO sheep besides a pile of dead sheep up on top. Apparently TPWD had flown the adjacent state park eradicating the Aoudad and got over a canyon too far onto private land. I called Mike and he immediately asked if we could come back later. I told him that we could and we left. I contacted him and made plans to come back a couple of months later. I killed a GIANT ram on the first day of the 2nd hunt. Keep in mind this was a diy self guided hunt with ZERO guarantee of anything. I can’t tell you how many times I have recommended him over the years and will continue to do so. He is a great guy and his business reflects his integrity

Just be aware that some people want to “hunt” like they are at a zoo. Walk out shoot an animal, take a picture, and mount it on their wall.

I have hunted with Mulie mike before and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I was up and down the elevation trying to move as best I can and we got on them. But it wasn’t a walk in the park.

This may not have been the correct thread to voice a bad experience but l welcome reviews. I book quite a few hunts and like to hear both the good and the bad reviews. Most hunts go well but every outfitter has had disappointed clients if they've been in business awhile. If you book enough hunts, sooner or later you will be that disappointed client. How the outfitter handles it is what is important to me.

That's allot of money to eat. In my eyes, you paid money to lease a specific property. Things happened out of his control. However, at the end of the day, the outfitter couldn't provide the property you paid for and ultimately did not provide a comparable property. It was a nice gesture to shoot quail/aoudad but that's not what you wanted or booked. Was a refund offerered when the lease fell through or even a partial refund offered after you found out the replacement was a bust?