Okay folks, if it isn't already up on Craigslist, it will be soon. You may find in the coming days/weeks a few openings on the Hat Ranch in Concho County, 2200 acres near O.H. Ivie Reservoir. BEWARE. Ted McKnight passive-aggressively pulls the strings over there while Kevin Brown, his SIL fills the spots and sells the place to newbs.
Kevin is a good guy put in a bad spot by his FIL. Kevin is contractually obligated, that's the reason he is still involved. I hunted there for three seasons and things were never what I was sold. Here's what you can expect:
Contract: There is no contract or agreement. You will be told the way things are operated and two days before the season opens (after you have paid your money), you will get an email stating how things will truly operate. Of course, nothing like what you were initially told.
Price: We were told $3,000 per gun which is already above market value for the quality (or lack thereof) of the deer herd. You will find out a month or two after the season ends, you also owe for TPWD fees, insurance, water, elec, propane, repairs, etc. That bill isn't cheap.
Hunting: The deer numbers are decent but declining rapidly due to decades of mismanagement. It is the most ridiculous thing I have ever experienced. The property is L3 MLD but you will be allotted no more than your State license worth of tags. Of that allotment, McKnight will control all of them. You will be required to shoot all your does (whatever that # is) in October before any buck tags will be issued. McKnight doesn't allow buck hunting in October at all, gun or bow. Once your does are killed in October, he will allow you one buck tag. That buck must be 5.5+ ys/o in order to get a second buck tag (which you will have paid for). The problem is, the age structure is SO FREAKIN' SCREWED UP from decades of mismanagement, there are very few mature bucks sighted throughout the season. Year 1, I saw one. Year two, I saw one. Get the picture? The buck-to-doe ratio is jacked up too so, you will see about 10 junky bucks to three does. You will never see that second buck tag. The MLDP is changing in 2017 so, McKnight will have much more control over tags and surveys so, from experience, I suspect only three deer tags will be issued this coming season (1 buck, 2 doe). That is purely speculation on my part.
Communication: Communication is one sided while frequent and full of nothingness. When you get correspondence, it is never good news for the hunters. You will be inundated with new rules and restrictions on a regular basis and snide comments will be tossed around freely regarding the hunters' lack of knowledge. By the end of the season, your handshake agreement will be but a distant memory and these emails are used to incrementally chip away at it until it is no more. Getting McKnight to answer a question, any question, is like getting Hillary Clinton to admit what is on her private servers. If you are not going to like his response, he will simply ignore your concern and do it repeatedly until you get the point.
Hunting Group: For the most part, the remaining group is good people. There are two family friends that "hunt" on the place that the Game Warden knows on a first name basis for numerous infractions. The rules do not apply to these two guys. When they step outside the lines, the rest of the group is penalized while the perpetrators are free to offend again and again. And, they DO. These guys ride around all night drunk as hell and shoot "varmints" (rabbits) around people's feeders with AKs and ARs like that is acceptable. Again, rules don't apply to them.
Property: The ranch is a nice place and could be far better if there had been any betterment over the last 40 years. The only repairs made on the ranch are those the hunters perform. All the water troughs are broken and empty, the roads are horrid and the camphouse plumbing and septic are archaic. McKnight uses the guise of being a "naturalist" to not perform any improvements to the ranch. Rattlesnakes are EVERYWHERE, including the front porch of the camphouse and in the barn. The place appears abandoned because it has been neglected for so long.
Attitude: McKnight is a quail guy. He told me straight to my face, "If I could afford this place without deer hunters, you people wouldn't even be here. Financially speaking, deer hunters are a necessary evil." He will let you know that any chance he gets. He is also no friend to bowhunters. He has a negative view of us. He will not permit shooting bucks during bow season. He never did explain that one to me.
Summary: This is my personal experience on the lease. Others may have a differing view but there is a reason 5 hunters have left in two years. All cited the same things I have just written. I just wanted to inform everyone to try to keep others from wasting much valued time and money as we did.
Kevin is a good guy put in a bad spot by his FIL. Kevin is contractually obligated, that's the reason he is still involved. I hunted there for three seasons and things were never what I was sold. Here's what you can expect:
Contract: There is no contract or agreement. You will be told the way things are operated and two days before the season opens (after you have paid your money), you will get an email stating how things will truly operate. Of course, nothing like what you were initially told.
Price: We were told $3,000 per gun which is already above market value for the quality (or lack thereof) of the deer herd. You will find out a month or two after the season ends, you also owe for TPWD fees, insurance, water, elec, propane, repairs, etc. That bill isn't cheap.
Hunting: The deer numbers are decent but declining rapidly due to decades of mismanagement. It is the most ridiculous thing I have ever experienced. The property is L3 MLD but you will be allotted no more than your State license worth of tags. Of that allotment, McKnight will control all of them. You will be required to shoot all your does (whatever that # is) in October before any buck tags will be issued. McKnight doesn't allow buck hunting in October at all, gun or bow. Once your does are killed in October, he will allow you one buck tag. That buck must be 5.5+ ys/o in order to get a second buck tag (which you will have paid for). The problem is, the age structure is SO FREAKIN' SCREWED UP from decades of mismanagement, there are very few mature bucks sighted throughout the season. Year 1, I saw one. Year two, I saw one. Get the picture? The buck-to-doe ratio is jacked up too so, you will see about 10 junky bucks to three does. You will never see that second buck tag. The MLDP is changing in 2017 so, McKnight will have much more control over tags and surveys so, from experience, I suspect only three deer tags will be issued this coming season (1 buck, 2 doe). That is purely speculation on my part.
Communication: Communication is one sided while frequent and full of nothingness. When you get correspondence, it is never good news for the hunters. You will be inundated with new rules and restrictions on a regular basis and snide comments will be tossed around freely regarding the hunters' lack of knowledge. By the end of the season, your handshake agreement will be but a distant memory and these emails are used to incrementally chip away at it until it is no more. Getting McKnight to answer a question, any question, is like getting Hillary Clinton to admit what is on her private servers. If you are not going to like his response, he will simply ignore your concern and do it repeatedly until you get the point.
Hunting Group: For the most part, the remaining group is good people. There are two family friends that "hunt" on the place that the Game Warden knows on a first name basis for numerous infractions. The rules do not apply to these two guys. When they step outside the lines, the rest of the group is penalized while the perpetrators are free to offend again and again. And, they DO. These guys ride around all night drunk as hell and shoot "varmints" (rabbits) around people's feeders with AKs and ARs like that is acceptable. Again, rules don't apply to them.
Property: The ranch is a nice place and could be far better if there had been any betterment over the last 40 years. The only repairs made on the ranch are those the hunters perform. All the water troughs are broken and empty, the roads are horrid and the camphouse plumbing and septic are archaic. McKnight uses the guise of being a "naturalist" to not perform any improvements to the ranch. Rattlesnakes are EVERYWHERE, including the front porch of the camphouse and in the barn. The place appears abandoned because it has been neglected for so long.
Attitude: McKnight is a quail guy. He told me straight to my face, "If I could afford this place without deer hunters, you people wouldn't even be here. Financially speaking, deer hunters are a necessary evil." He will let you know that any chance he gets. He is also no friend to bowhunters. He has a negative view of us. He will not permit shooting bucks during bow season. He never did explain that one to me.
Summary: This is my personal experience on the lease. Others may have a differing view but there is a reason 5 hunters have left in two years. All cited the same things I have just written. I just wanted to inform everyone to try to keep others from wasting much valued time and money as we did.
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