Hello all. Looking for some feedback on Independence ranch. I bought through a charity golf tournament a 4 man hog hunt. Has anyone been here??

I once "won" a hunt through them and once I began to read to fine print in regards to the hunt. Mind you this was a few years ago so maybe he has changed his practices. You have to buy corn from him that is put out and also you pay a $1/lb for them to clean you animals. So bring the check book and don't be shocked by any hidden fees, again this was a few years ago.

He uses the corn to feed his exotics, hogs rarely eat any, they get shot too fast. He buys hogs, trapped from the area as well as anything else, have seen white domestic hogs too. lol
You also need to pay "cash" for tips and "cash" for the Ranch Boss (him,Paul) He pays everyone that works there in cash. He makes good money when his exotics get shot by accident, he likes to keep dark ones in there so they can be confused with hogs at dusk by inexperienced hunters.
You didn't win, he wins when you show up.

This is so sad to hear. Especially since it was bought at a charity golf tournament.

Unfortunately you didn't "win" much.

I would accept the fact I made a charitable donation when I bid on the hunt, then trash it. From all of the reviews of th place, I would not contribute anymore.

That's what I should have said, ^^^

I would also advise any clients of mine to pass this info on to the IRS. This donation is a scam, and the donator, Independence Ranch most likely wrote this off as a either a big contribution or and "advertising expense. But the kicker is the "This is a cash ranch". only good reason for that is to not report all of their income. Next is the "employees" paid in cash, probably with no withholding and no 1099's, more "unreported" cash income. A good IRS field agent could probably make a good fraud case on this and send the POS to a federal prison. They deserve more, but Satan's turn will eventually get them.

I can easily recall when Klappenbach was going to buy his 1st new deer rifle as an adult. He bought a Browning 7 Mag and it came with a free ram hunt up in the Hill Country. He needed or otherwise wanted the gun and the ram hunt sealed the deal. He drove with his new gun the hour and 45 minutes to the place and was then told about the $100 guide fee. He wouldn't sit in a stand and so they tried to put him on a cut off cedar that was painted red. Wouldn't do that either. They ended up finding an acceptable place for him. When the truck was ready to drive off, the guy got out and attached a bell to the bumper. He then fed out with that bell ringing. Without a blade of grass in sight, the slaughter rams were soon to come upon him. Yes, he got one.

When he left the place, he stopped at the old convenience store in the lil' if anything town that was nearest the ranch. The shop had its own t-shirts. Buy two of them and you got a free ram hunt.

I've seen his youtube videos in the past, but have also read some horrible reviews about the place. Sounds quite small and canned - the good reviews seem to come from first time hunters. For me, I simply do NOT like to hunt with/around people I do not know, and certainly not new hunters who may have questionable knowledge on hunting and safety.

I can't remember if it was Independence, but there was a youtube video I watched once that addressed a hunter shooting a hole through something (maybe a cabin, storage building, car) due to unsafe gun practices. I want to say it was this ranch, but maybe wrong. Either way, these types of places scare me.

I hope you were given some sort of paper of what is all included with the hunt.

Oh, man. That is a separate accident. I went on his youtube channel and found the one I mentioned - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pRYIXKlgJY . No one was hurt in the one he discussed on the video, just windows blown out of two cars by a 7mm discharge.

Wow!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=6az0D-VS_oo&app=desktop - and another - Interesting on this one, the injured girls pulls a pistol and starts winging shots at an injured boar while in the woods with other hunters. According to news reports, this place is roughly 250 acres. It could get pretty crowded with lots of lead flying.

If there was no guide fee or ranch access fee, I would show up to hunt but not shoot anything.

So this is how the hunts work...once you pay your cash upfront for "guide fees" you either bring 2 bags of corn or buy 2 bags of corn. They will put you in a blind and dump some of your corn near your stand, the rest goes all over the ranch as they drive to feed his other animals. After the morning stand hunt your team walks the ranch in one direction on the left side while another team walks the ranch on the right side opposite direction. You are hoping to scare up a hog and get a running shot, the hogs don't live there so if there are any hogs they came from somewhere else so they can be confused on which way to go so it can be fun if you are careful.
Then you do the opposite side after lunch and then back to the blind. Sitting in a blind can be fun because exotics come and you can watch them but most hogs don't know where to go for corn so they may show up and may not. Sometimes there a very very few hogs there but the hunters are there all day everyday of the week non stop so figure that out yourself. If you do shoot something you have to pay cash to have them cleaned skinned and in your cooler. You are advised to pay cash tip to the workers also and an extra cash tip on the way out. The skinners have to give their tips to the "Ranch Boss" and he divides everything up. Guys caught keeping their tips are fired.
And so it goes 7 days a week.

Wow!! Thank you guys for the feedback! I'm by no means an inexperienced/first time hunter so hopefully this will be a challenging hunt. I've already booked for February. I just hope it's not crowded. Disappointed about all the cash fees on top of what I bought the hunt for. At least that money went towards charity.
I'll give my review after the hunt....

How was the hunt?

I didn't go, a lot of information about all the additional fee's were in fine print in the email. Also facebook had a ton of terrible reviews about the place.

FYI

DONT buy thermal from a guide named Bobby while you’re there ... found this today, not my post nor do I vouch for its accuracy or truth...

https://texasguntrader.com/category...EWARE-Bobby-with-Independence-Ranch.html

Wow, I would write it off if I were you OP, this could end up costing much more in so many ways in addition to more coin.......

I never bid on anything at a critter banquet that I can't carry out at the end of the night. But I'm just about done with going to any of them; 9 out of 10 don't have their act anywhere close to together. You "join", spend $ that night, support the cause, etc., then you don't see or get a thing from them except you MAY get an email the next time the good ol' boys decide to have another banquet, asking for more of your money. Lame.

Probably an ATN

Years ago my buddies booked it. Somehow I found out and sent them the info asap what they were getting themselves into!!! Canceled luckily!! I was like we have tons of free hogs at the lease!!