I too have paid for 6 spots up to $14,000.00 on a deer lease in Ozona to find out other hunters have also been booked. I'm trying to find anyone who has booked in Ozona in Crockett County on the South Mesa Ranch (the land owner is Mark White)with this Michael Needham. email me jfinch127@earthlink.net. I have left two messages with the deputy Whitaker, spoken to the wife and one other hunter on this lease and still have not gotten a solution. The land owner has been paided for 8 spots but by conversations with the wife and another hunter there are 12 hunters supposely on this lease so far, which is a 8-9 gun lease.

I couldn't get an e-mail to Jeff Whitaker either. Also, when I tried to contact him via the sheriff's website, I got a message that the site was under construction.

It is jeffrwhitaker@yahoo.com, you just need the r added. He got me too. It looks like he is up to around 80 or so people so far. Last week it was only 40 or so. By the sounds of things it will be over a 100 or so. That is alot of $$$$$$$$.

This guy is really giving the middleman a bad name. Lesson learned here is to also contact the landowner as well and make sure everything is on the up & up but I guess it can still happen if they are getting scammed as well in the end.

I know nothing of the outfitter but I find it strange that so many 1st time posters posting on this thread??

I think it's just due to google-ing his name...try it and this thread is in the top results, I had the same suspicions but that probably explains it.

Sounds like we may need to learn a few things from this guys marketing strategies if he had 80+ people for this year...must be doing something right

It's tragedies that brings people together like this. Maybe some will stick around. Most people only are vocal when there is a complaint so not surprising.

Just found this today:

http://www.sanangelo.org/goodtimes/hunting_leases.php

The phone number is just one off from Micheal Needhams' and is listing what I assume is his wife.

check out this add:

http://www.sanangelo.org/goodtimes/hunting_leases.php

I have contacted the Kimble County Sheriffs office and waiting for a response back from Mr. Whitaker as well. All I know at this time is that they are aware of the situation and I will post information as I receive it. I booked a hunt for Thanksgiving weekend about a month ago for 4 hunters and have not heard from him since. Also, I tried to email Mr. Whitaker and the email address is not working. I will keep you guys posted as I get information. Thanks to everybody for posting the most current information!

I too have booked a hunt for December 4th and have not had contact with Needham. After seeing these posting I started looking into it. I spoke to Evelyn, Needhams wife just last night. There is no Rockin N Hunting and he's not in jail for this. There's a posting in the paper that states he was arrested September 4th for a felony possession of a firearm. His wife said he has quite a criminal history. The police department said there has been over 60 hunters that have called on this.
His wife also stated that he has been doing this on Ebay since last March as well. This man has been in trouble with the law since 1993.

x2

So is the wife in on this also??? In the newspaper add is sure seems to string along with that. She can/may get prosecuted just like her husband. More so when she KNOWS that her husband has been doing this for a while(e bay scams ect) Just cause she thinks she has stayed out of it, she may be in for a rude awaking.

I don't know, she says he took all her retirement, etc...cleaned her dry and she sounds like a mess but she said she's worried because the sheriff was coming to talk to her this week. And, she is listed as Rockin N Hunting if you do a google search, you can find her name quite a bit, so not to sure if she's guilty/innocent or what
I know alot of people are out alot of money.

I am a first time poster but I too was leary about the whole thing so I googled his name and Texas and this thread was the second one to pop up. The next day I was planning on sending him a deposit. He sounded way too good....He sent me a list of references, his banking info and website and all! this was going to be the very first hunt we ever booked and now I really have a bad taste in my mouth about buying hunts because these days who can you trust....So I went with a guy that I know is 110% honest...May cost a little more but it is worth it! Thanks to you guys I saved my deposit.....Best of luck to those of you that already sent your money in. I saved every e-mail that he sent me if anyone needs any info.....That was the way the we communicated!

Kelly

Responding to Deer Hntr Post

(I spoke to Evelyn, Needhams wife just last night. There is no Rockin N Hunting)

I found this add. at the web site: http://www.sanangelo.org/goodtimes/hunting_leases.php

Rockin N Hunting
P.O. Box 261
Evelyn Rockett - needham
830-688-3486
Junction, TX 76849

Hunting lease, guided hunts & packaged hunts
email: evelyn@rockinnhunting.com

1) 3,000 acres in Ozona, Great Whitetail hunting along with Turkey, Quail, and Dove. Game management program in place. 2 bedroom hunting house, RV hookups. Feed pens in place, year round hunting. 6 to 7 guns needed.
2) 4200 acres in Ozona. Nice hunting cabin with water and electric, walk in cooler. Whitetail, Turkey, Quail, and Dove. Game managed with feed pens in place. 10 guns needed for this year round lease.
3) 6200 acres in Ozona. Big Whitetail, lots of Turkey, Quail, and Dove. 3 bedroom hunting house. 12 to 15 guns needed on this year rund lease. Great area, great deer, great lease.
4) 2,000 acres in Kimble Co. just 8 miles west of Junction. Good 3 bedroom house, with good deer, turkey and axis. year round lease looking for 12 hunters.
5) 2,800 acres in Kimble Co. Nice 3 bedroom house. This lease offers big whitetail, lots of turkey and axis. No goats or sheep on this ranch. 14 to 16 guns needed.
6) 1,600 acres in Rocksprings (Edwards County) Great great lease. Game managed with whitetail in the 150 class. We offer whitetail, turkey, axis, and blackbuck. We seek 6 hunters looking for long term lease.
On all our annual leases we seek serious long term hunters and family members are welcome. Take a child hunting!!!

The number is one digit off from the other number used for this scam, so if he is not doing it from jail who is posting the adds for Rockin N Hunting with her name as the contact.

How did Evelyn sound to you? She spilled her guts to me, but I'm just wondering...
Strange how it is still out there about the hunting but he isn't in jail for that and they're checking into it is what I know.

One other thing, I did find an address for Evelyn
345 N. 16th St.

I googled it, it's just a driveway entrance that's next to a bar so who knows where they really lived

My group got taken by a middle man back in 1995 on a lease in Zapata. Long story short, we were moving our stuff off the lease opening weekend. Yeah that was a lot of fun. We did end up getting our money back. A number of the guys besides my group that got screwed were cops. This guy was really dumb. They track him down and had him thrown in jail I dont know how many times. He eventually met with all the guys on the lease he screwed us on and paid us all back. Boy did he get a chewing out from everyone. I am sure it did not change that guy one bit. His name is Steve Sturrock.

If you want a good guy to hunt with call 7mag. Just make sure you wear tall boots.

To register or enter a complaint on any outfitter or guide you have had problems with, place them on this link

http://www.huntinfo.com/reviews/outfitter_reviews.php3

These do get the good and BAD news out to others!!

We also got scammed by this man. it was going to be a trip for me and my husband, first one in five years. I will continue to watch this site to see if he is going to jail for this.

Justhunting

Make sure you call the police department and add your name to the list. The number is 325-468-2253. We all need to file charges on him so that he serves time for what he's done.
The dispatcher said nothing is going to happen yet unless he doesn't come thru with the hunt. If he doesn't come thru then you can file charges. So, it's a waiting game, since there is no Rockin N hunting.
My husband was really looking forward to this too! It's a shame.

If you look at a publication like Hunting Reports which has a real reputation, they'll put it all out there, plus do the investigations into any allegations. They also allow rebuttals as well as hunters to write their own hunting reports. That's why it's a real resource with the rep to match. If you're a bad outfitter, they'll fry you.

Nice site. Well done.