San Saba Ranch / ABC ranch / www.sansabaranch.com a bad review

[BOWERIK]

Maybe I missed it, but who all was in the group??
$200 for a weekend!!! Wow!!! Next time give me a holler.
I'm sorry, but I would have went out for one more hunt if it was me.







With a pair of Wire Cutters!!!

There was that thought; jokingly only; but then he would have had that to hold over us. We did the right thing and now he has nothing to come back at us with.

[cantexduck]

Someone has to ask. Who ended up sharing a bed at the hotel? I have huntted there many times. My grandpa deer huntted there last year. Sorry that the hunt went bad.

[WyoHunter]

Thats BS and Im happy to know how his business is run. There are too many ranches run like this and they need to be known. Thanks for the heads up and glad there was no blood shed.

Won't be going there that's for sure!

[Hillary]

I've been waiting to read this story all day. I'm so sorry that happened to yall, some of the best guys handled that situation really well.

Let the D-bag lay there and lick his wounds, they aren't going to bounce back from that one.

[mesquitecountry]

I lost a 100 bucks in that deal and didn't even go!

[Stolle]

That sucks! I'm not sure I could have kept my cool like y'all did. I hope he has to shut the doors on his scam of a hog hunting operation.

[Burnadell]

Being a day lease owner I HATE to hear these kind of stories. You all sound like stand up guys and not sure if any of you have hunted with my son Skylar at the Diamond C but if your group wants to book a hunt with us, I will tell Sky to give you a 100 dollar discount per guy and if you don't see a ton of hogs and have a good time, I will refund all of your money. Doesn't help with the money or time you lost but takes the risk out of booking your next day lease hunt.

That is a standup offer right there...says a lot about the kind of people who own and run Diamond C! Kudos!!!

Direct quote from Richard the landowner minutes before his "friend" questioned Lee and Matt's sexuality.

Richard, "About 6:30, you boys gonna be ready? I got them dogs ready for y'all."

Lee, "you gonna pay us to help you train your dogs or what? No, sir, I think a few of us are gonna go to town and watch the UT game, and a few of us are gonna stay and hunt the stands this evening."

Richard, "shoot, if you boys want some meat, we need to run them dogs. Them dogs will find and kill more hogs than you boys will ever see."

Seriously? How many times do we have to politely reject the notion of hog dogging? We want to bowhunt!!

And yes, Richard, we know the dogs will find more hogs, because obviously you've been running dogs in the hog enclosure, because the hogs are extremely skittish, there are only about 20 hogs in the hog ranch as well. But that's not what we are here for, we want to bowhunt.

For the record, this is my own opinion and does not reflect the opinion of the group I was with this weekend. Which is one heck of a group of guys!

I have hunted the ABC ranch before, probably 5-6 stand sits now. I have NEVER seen a hog while hunting on a stand. The last time February 2008, I hunted and there were probably 75 pigs in the 100 acre pasture. I had fun stalking pigs and was able to connect on 2 hogs.

Fast forward to this hunt September 2010, I walked the ranch 4 times Saturday morning. I ran into the same 3 groups of hogs 3 times. There was a group of 12-15, 1 sow and 13-14, 20-30 lb. pigs. A group of 3 young boars about 40-50 lbs. And finally a sow and 3 piglettes about 15-20 lbs. That was all that I saw and confirmed these same group sitings with my hunting brothers. According to my math, that is 22 hogs, + the 2 Erik and Lee killed. So 24 total.

Richard claimed to have 30-40 in the pasture. He later admitted that he hadn't been trapping hogs because of the heat, and that he wasn't interested in bowhunting hogs anymore, but would rather hunt them with dogs.

The lack of hogs and the insistent comments on hog dogging rather than bowhunting had my mind made up that I would never set foot on this ranch again!! I was upset at the ranch's lack of professionalism before the unfornate and disrespectful incident that occured hours later.

For the record, so everyone knows how much we were disrespected, I will allow 2 of the comments the friend made at our group, and for the record, note that Richard the owner of the ABC Ranch, never apologized, made his friend apologize, nor recognized to any of us that this was not the way to run a leased hunt, nor a way to treat people.

While we were playing horse shoes in a loud obnoxious voice, Richard's "friend" had these comments for us. Note, no one of Richard's friends ever came up to any one of us and introduced themselves, nor shook hands, but had the audacity to open their mouth to us in the following manner:

Richard's "friend," very sarcastically "Got the Pat Green on the radio, I can see what kind of group you guys are, Ha Ha."

"I can see you guys are some REAL hunters and hog killers, walking around here in your shorts, no shirts, and flip flops on."

And last but not least, as Lee and Matt asked Richard and his "friends" if they knew a bar nearby that would be playing the UT vs. Wyoming football game was,

"What do you guys want to go to town for, you want to get a hotel room? You guys butt buddies or something?"

That was when Lee and the rest of our group lost our composure for this loud mouth guy, and when we decided it was time to leave the ranch. I was disappointed in the ranch, it's owner, and especially the way we were treated after spending $1,400 at this place.

Not only were there no hogs, but a friend of mine was disrespected so badly, I wouldn't have handled it as well as he did. Kudos to Lee for keeping his cool, I would not have.

I had a great time with my buddies none the less, and can't wait to get together in a month and hunt with my boys again!

Reading that just chaps my back end! I don't believe I could have kept my composure, but I commend you gentlemen on maintaning yours.

After reading about this bad situation, I am truly embarrassed that a picture of me is on his webpage with a hog I shot during our trip...

Kevin, I would insist that he remove it.

This thread will surely pop up when Googling San Saba Bowhunting Ranch or ABC Bowhunting. Richard Smith and his drunken buddy's horrible treatment of his bowhunting clients can't help but hurt his business.

[Olphart]

I just got off the phone with Richard's wife (Joy) and it seems there's more to this story. I'm not taking sides, and I won't get into he said/she said, but I am still going up there in a couple of weeks to hunt. She was willing to refund our deposits, but I told her our group wanted to proceed as planned. I will post about our hunt when I return home.

I did tell Joy that we did not want any dogs to run the pigs as we prefer to spot and stalk when we aren't in the stands and she's going to pass this on to Richard. Having the tracking dog to help locate a wounded pig is a plus and welcome that when its needed, but that's the only time we'll want a dog in the pasture. That won't be a problem.

I will say this; I've been there 3 times and have had a good time each time, like several other TBH'rs. We haven't all killed pigs each outing or trip, but that's hunting. I've never run into the owners' friend and hope we don't; I'd just like to avoid any conflicts. Our groups have always treated the owners and their property with respect, fronted the deposits like they ask, and received respect in return. I'm hoping that relationship continues.

[Smart]

I just got off the phone with Richard's wife (Joy) and it seems there's more to this story. I'm not taking sides, and I won't get into he said/she said, but I am still going up there in a couple of weeks to hunt. She was willing to refund our deposits, but I told her our group wanted to proceed as planned. I will post about our hunt when I return home.

.

With all due respect, I doubt very seriously Joy is going to say "Those boys are correct, what you heard is exactly right.....my husband's friend treated them like **** and its all our fault" to a customer that could possibly be asking for a refund. It's called damage control...

[Dr. D]

Sad to hear indeed.

You guys handled it with class though.

Direct quote from Richard the landowner minutes before his "friend" questioned Lee and Matt's sexuality.

Richard, "About 6:30, you boys gonna be ready? I got them dogs ready for y'all."

Lee, "you gonna pay us to help you train your dogs or what? No, sir, I think a few of us are gonna go to town and watch the UT game, and a few of us are gonna stay and hunt the stands this evening."

Richard, "shoot, if you boys want some meat, we need to run them dogs. Them dogs will find and kill more hogs than you boys will ever see."

Seriously? How many times do we have to politely reject the notion of hog dogging? We want to bowhunt!!

And yes, Richard, we know the dogs will find more hogs, because obviously you've been running dogs in the hog enclosure, because the hogs are extremely skittish, there are only about 20 hogs in the hog ranch as well. But that's not what we are here for, we want to bowhunt.

For the record, this is my own opinion and does not reflect the opinion of the group I was with this weekend. Which is one heck of a group of guys!

I have hunted the ABC ranch before, probably 5-6 stand sits now. I have NEVER seen a hog while hunting on a stand. The last time February 2008, I hunted and there were probably 75 pigs in the 100 acre pasture. I had fun stalking pigs and was able to connect on 2 hogs.

Fast forward to this hunt September 2010, I walked the ranch 4 times Saturday morning. I ran into the same 3 groups of hogs 3 times. There was a group of 12-15, 1 sow and 13-14, 20-30 lb. pigs. A group of 3 young boars about 40-50 lbs. And finally a sow and 3 piglettes about 15-20 lbs. That was all that I saw and confirmed these same group sitings with my hunting brothers. According to my math, that is 22 hogs, + the 2 Erik and Lee killed. So 24 total.

Richard claimed to have 30-40 in the pasture. that he hadn't been trapping hogs because of the heat, and that he wasn't He later admitted he wasn't interested in bowhunting hogs anymore, but would rather hunt them with dogs.

The lack of hogs and the insistent comments on hog dogging rather than bowhunting had my mind made up that I would never set foot on this ranch again!! I was upset at the ranch's lack of professionalism before the unfornate and disrespectful incident that occured hours later.

For the record, so everyone knows how much we were disrespected, I will allow 2 of the comments the friend made at our group, and for the record, note that Richard the owner of the ABC Ranch, never apologized, made his friend apologize, nor recognized to any of us that this was not the way to run a leased hunt, nor a way to treat people.

While we were playing horse shoes in a loud obnoxious voice, Richard's "friend" had these comments for us. Note, no one of Richard's friends ever came up to any one of us and introduced themselves, nor shook hands, but had the audacity to open their mouth to us in the following manner:

Richard's "friend," very sarcastically "Got the Pat Green on the radio, I can see what kind of group you guys are, Ha Ha."

"I can see you guys are some REAL hunters and hog killers, walking around here in your shorts, no shirts, and flip flops on."

And last but not least, as Lee and Matt asked Richard and his "friends" if they knew a bar nearby that would be playing the UT vs. Wyoming football game was,

"What do you guys want to go to town for, you want to get a hotel room? You guys butt buddies or something?"

That was when Lee and the rest of our group lost our composure for this loud mouth guy, and when we decided it was time to leave the ranch. I was disappointed in the ranch, it's owner, and especially the way we were treated after spending $1,400 at this place.

Not only were there no hogs, but a friend of mine was disrespected so badly, I wouldn't have handled it as well as he did. Kudos to Lee for keeping his cool, I would not have.

I had a great time with my buddies none the less, and can't wait to get together in a month and hunt with my boys again!

I just got off the phone with Richard's wife (Joy) and it seems there's more to this story. I'm not taking sides, and I won't get into he said/she said, but I am still going up there in a couple of weeks to hunt. She was willing to refund our deposits, but I told her our group wanted to proceed as planned. I will post about our hunt when I return home.

I did tell Joy that we did not want any dogs to run the pigs as we prefer to spot and stalk when we aren't in the stands and she's going to pass this on to Richard. Having the tracking dog to help locate a wounded pig is a plus and welcome that when its needed, but that's the only time we'll want a dog in the pasture. That won't be a problem.

I will say this; I've been there 3 times and have had a good time each time, like several other TBH'rs. We haven't all killed pigs each outing or trip, but that's hunting. I've never run into the owners' friend and hope we don't; I'd just like to avoid any conflicts. Our groups have always treated the owners and their property with respect, fronted the deposits like they ask, and received respect in return. I'm hoping that relationship continues.

You're totally missing the point and we made it a conscious decision to leave the place spotless and this was some of our third trip there, too....this guy was way worse than Frank. Good luck and i hope he releases a bunch of hogs between now and then...although that was not the reason we were upset....also alll of the boars that he had released had no ear tags and were fully "functional and he put a sow and 5 little pigs in a week or so ago to eat the corn piling up under the feeders...might want to check the legality on that.

[kellyg]

I went there when it first opened and without going into detail, left early and never returned.

[Bubbabowhunter]

Not a lot of good people left in this world.......You can find a bunch of 'em right here though! Thanks for the heads up.

[Mary]

What a crazy way to run a business....kind of mind boggling that he would allow his clients to be treated that way.

Very impressed with how you guys handled it.

[Brotherbill]

With all due respect, I doubt very seriously Joy is going to say "Those boys are correct, what you heard is exactly right.....my husband's friend treated them like **** and its all our fault" to a customer that could possibly be asking for a refund. It's called damage control...

X1000

[KHo]

I would ask him to take it down if it was me.

Kevin, I would insist that he remove it.

I have made a polite, formal request to have my pic removed OR for the release that I signed authorizing my picture to be posted to be provided (I don't remember signing any such document but we shall see) After reading all this, I really don't care to be associated with the place. ...I will keep TBH posted regardless.