Hunting Ranch Question

I have never been on a hunting ranch, private land hunting, or gone threw a outfitter before.
My wife and I have been checking out a few places near by that have exotic animals to hunt(semi-guided). It will be here first time ever hunting. My question is how are these places normally to hunt? this particular place says the come pick up the animal for you and they gut it out. I asked them if we could pass on the service so my wife can gut and pack out her own animal. they said they will Accommodate my request. Another place im looking at in central california does a bison hunting(this one woulf be for me) for a, and there ranch is something like 250,000 acres. I guess my questions are. How ethical is it to hunt on these ranches? is it like hunting at a petting zoo? are the animals usually well cared for?

 

I went on one hunt like this with a co worker for fallow deer. I guy drove by on a four wheeler and dumped corn out and the deer piled in. You had to wait for them to break apart to keep from killing more then one. I won't be going back to that place.
I have a buddy that lives in southern Cali and he just paid $500 and went on a exotic ram hunt on one of those ranches. He said that was pretty tough, but his still killed a nice ram with his bow.

 

I would tell them that you want to hunt not just kill, they may have options for you.

 

Some of these places do offer options as Sota mentioned. There is little doubt that hunting over feeders and essentially "picking" out an animal is a large portion of what they do. BUT if you ask for something else it is very possible they will accommodate. Just depends on the ranch. It isn't uncommon for these places to give you a basic area and allow you to spot n stalk animals instead of hunting over food. As for the bison hunt... never seen one yet that seemed like much of a challenge. They simply aren't scared of humans, even the most wild ones, so you can pretty well just walk up and shoot one. Damn tasty though, that alone would make killing one worth it IMO.

Side note: If you kill a bison DO NOT try to tan the hide yourself... Just Sayin Its a beeeaaatch

 

That is the place we are going to be going to. Good to hear. It is also the place that a lot of Ted nuggets old hunt videos were filmed.
The bison hunt is a place called bitterwater outfitters. Tell your buddy about it. 3,500 for a bull + 2 day hunt and complimentary 3 bedroom cabin

 

Haha. That's a lot of hide to tan! I think I'll do the bison hunt next year.
But the exotic hunt place says " spot and stalk adventure" plus I don't know a single hunter in Southern California that would ever shoot a animal over bait. We are a spot and stalk long range arrow lobing bunch. Haha. Maybe the heat has just cooked out brains.
Also this ranch seems very acomidating. They don't want people on there property leaving guy piles everywhere so that's why they pick the animal up for you. But because I told them it will be my wife's first hunt and I want her to be able to gut here own animal, learn to quarter and at least pack out part of her animal. They checked on it and the owner said its fine. I just have to agree to drive back with one of the ranch hands and pick up the gut pile after. Totally fair to me.

 

I am not going to lie when I read that you are looking to hunt a game ranch after saying crossbows should be considered firearms I LMAO!

 

That does seem odd and conflicted, Crossbows and game ranches are hitting the easy button.

 

All I said about crossbows is I don't think it should be used during archery season. Plus this is why I'm asking about them. I don't want to go on a bison hunt on a ranch if it isn't really going to be a hunt. As far as the exotic hunt. It is for the wife to do to see if she likes hunting before going and getting a hunting license.
If your comment is t going to be helpful keep it to yourself

 

For me it would be more about having the opertunity to hunt something I couldn't hunt any other way.
I don't see how a semi guided spot and stalk hunt on 250,000 acres is "hitting the easy button" that's why I'm asking about it

 

FTR I have twice hunted "game ranches" both times coming home empty handed after hunting my *** off.... not what I would call easy. In fact I would say Midwest whitetail hunting, sitting in a tree is BY FAR easier than the hunts I was on... JS

I will agree however that there certainly are those that are easy... all depends on where ya go and what you ask for...

 

ArcheryTalk Forum: Archery Target, Bowhunting, Classifieds, Chat. Here you go

 

That's what I was hoping to hear

 

250,000 acres in California, with that kind of overhead there must be many, many satisfied customers that keep coming back to support such a capital investment. Either they have mystical guides with super human powers or much higher success rate than doing it in the wild. I am not ripping at all but let's be honest about how and why the game farms operate.

 

That is a good point. They offer a lot of different hunts and some are very expensive. But Maybe I could call them and ask what there success rates are for bow hunters. They say on there website that there hog bow hunt is abou a 30% but they don't have anything like that on there bison

 

Is there a difference between a outfitter and a hunting ranch?

 

You might be neglecting a small detail. How big is the area that your quarry has to roam? 250K? You could be in for a workout-80 acres-not so much.

 

Success rate or hunting experience?

 

Bryan do not pay a lot of $ to hog hunt, you could do some driving and be in hog heaven just over in Texas.

 

Not to hog hunt. Lots of hog in ca. Looking to hunt bison