Bar E

[massamino]

To all of you that have hunted Bar E in the past few months, in your opinion, is there a better ranch within 50 miles of Uvalde that offers exotic hunts that are bowhunting only? Who has the best outfit in that area right now for about the same prices? I would appreciate anyone's ideas since we will be booking a hunt soon for spring break in March. We have been to both Bugscuffle and Nolton Creek and would like to try something new.

[Stickit2em]

My father and I have hunted the Bar E for the past 3 years. I personally have done the Texas Package as well as the Whitetail Package. I was there less than two weeks ago and my Father shot a 9 Pt, Mybrother shot an 8 pt and I shot a 10 pt. My Dad shot a Bronze Medal Fallow and I a Gold Medal Corsican. Every time we have ever gone we have brought our own stands and set them up where we wanted and with Larry's advice.

I had 2 Axis that would go 30"+ within 8yds, Red Stags within 20 and plenty of other game.

My family has booked trips for next year and I cannot wait to return. Larry and Tina have always been very helpful and courteous. I have also been to other Great places but this is definitely one of my favorites.

[hillcountryhunter]

For those of ya'll that have been successful, what is the average number of days ya'll have spent there? Thanks.

[samsdad]

I was there for two days

And i sat in the same blind for the entire time. I took my own ground blind, and Larry helped me find a good spot where he had been seeing axis, and helped me set it up and brush it in. I saw whitetails, hogs, red stags, and axis every hunt, although the axis were very skittish. I had a young axis buck come in the first evening, but couldn;t get off a shot, and it wasn;t until the last morning, that I got my shot at a silver medal axis with 33 3/8 inch main beams, which i killed at 18 yards with my recurve. This was actually a hunt I won at the TBOT shoot, and the zimmermans were more than nice. larry is a quiet guy ,until he gets to know you, but if you ask him questions he will help you out. Best advice i can give form may years hunting day leases and two day public hunts, is listen to the guide/owner find a good spot the first day and STAY THERE! too many times i see people constantly moving stands, and never getting a shot.

[Texastaxi]

...we will be booking a hunt soon for spring break in March.

You might have a hard time finding a ranch to book for March. Most ranches, Bar E included, are booked for at least 6 months. You might get lucky though.

[Knife2sharp]

I feel the same as others

I hunted Bar E 3 times over the last 3 years. I hunted the first time when Toby was guiding, once when Marvin was guiding and last year when it was taken over.

Of the 3 trips I enjoyed Marvin the best and I do not care for Larry Zimmerman as a guide. I feel the same way as others, but he seems to be a little better when it comes to clients who have never been there before. Marvin told me the toughest people to guide are people who have been there before, so I let him guide me and I'd listen to his suggestions because I know the herd structure can change so much and places can get hunted out. I went into last years trip knowing this, but Larry was pretty tight lipped. Now, it is completely different then before because they don't do a corn run any more, so no matter where you get dropped off, the animals come in shortly after you get dropped off. But he didn't offer any suggestions for certain species. He's gotta know where people have been seeing certain species of animals.

I also did not like that he wouldn't drop us off at any stands during the later morning or middle of the day. He was sitting around talking to us and I asked if he could drop me off at my stand and he said he only drops hunters off in the morning and evening. Toby and Marvin would drop you off in the middle of the day and pick you up at an odd time, they would work their butt off for you.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not putting Larry down and I can understand how a ranch hand would have a different way of guiding then the owner, because they have a vested interest, but his personality is not suited for the guiding. He's not a people, I enjoyed talking to his wife more and I hear his son is pretty good too.

He also got down on us for not taking all of our sheep meat, when the week before he told my buddies friend they're not worth eating. He didn't know that one of the members of my group had a friend there the week before who had never been to the ranch and this is where we found conflicting personalites. And here's another example, Larry didn't share with us the trick of puting one of the 'S' rods over the animals rear legs and securing it to the rope on the winch to keep the animal from spinning around while skinning it until the day we were leaving. It was amusing up until then because he needed to get us out of there for the next group.

Honestly, they need to go back to doing a corn run at mid-morning. It spreads the animals out throughout the ranch and when you go spotting and stalking the animals are up on their feet during the day. It was also more challenging and it made the hunt more natural.

[Knife2sharp]

Another suggestion would be to charge a trophy fee for animals. If they can't afford to have a 100% success rate on their hunts, then they may need to restructure the pricing.

[montec]

any updates?

[Kint]

Sounds like the place is going down hill. Where is the rest of the story Bar E ??

They mussin not cares as they aint been back to explame

[Rattler]

Bar E came through for me and made everything right.

It was all taken care of.

[DRow]

great looking axis samsdad

[cooter3]

any new updates

Anyone hunt over Christmas? Any nice whitetails? Thanx

c

[jbamburg]

I've hunted Bar E twice. The first time we hunted with Marvin for a day then had a fill in guide named Rusty. We did the Texas Package. Our three hunters got a few chances at exotics but ultimately came home with only rams. Last January we went back and hunted with Larry. I would agree that he's not the best "people person" but he did give us a chance to take 4 rams, an aoudad, and a blackbuck. We were pleased with the success but my observation of this hunt was that the animals seemed much more "tame" for what its worth. I also thought there were way too many goats that would eat up all the corn very quickly. Because of them a second corn run would have been very nice. We too had questions about Larry's motivations but we couldn't argue with our success. it just seemed like he wanted us in certain stands even when we weren't seeing anything. My cousin ended up with two rams.
Myself and my brother had filled our tags before the last morning so he was the only hunter. Larry placed him on a stand then drove out of sight an dumped a lot of corn on a road out of view of the stand my cousin was hunting. When Larry went to pick him up they drove by this spot with all the corn and there was a nice blackbuck feeding there. My cousin asked Larry if he could at least try a little stalk on the blackbuck but got no response and they kept on driving. Later Larry took him out to get a consolation prize, a second ram; no exotic for him.
All in all we had a good time but we are looking for a new place to go this year.

[montec]

wow! we went in 2005, it was a blast, We are going again on the 8th of Feb. I cant wait. Any more updates would be great! Any pics?

[jbamburg]

Here is the Ram and Aoudad ewe I got there in January 06.