The skinny on First Point Bowhunting Ranch

[PYBUCK]

What pasture did you hunt. Is the big tank between 5 and 6 dry?

The tank was dry when we were there. T We hunted 5, the dry tank was where the 150" 10 point was shot.

[Miller]

I went with some clients of mine a few years ago. This was my first and only day lease that I have hunted. I only met Nancy, since Mike was gone on a hunt and she was a very helpful and nice lady. I thought the operation was solid especially for the price. I thought the rules were pretty straight forward and not hard to follow. The only advice I would add to the above is bring as many trail cameras as you can and use those to your advantage as well.

I hate being coach from the stands but I want to try and give an honest review of the place. At the time I did wonder if they might should rethink their doe strategy at some point in time. But once again I'm sure they know best. My only other back seat driver comment would be I also noticed Mike himself has harvested several nice bucks off the place. If it were me personally I wouldn't do that. I'm all about appearances and giving customers top notch service, it could appear to some this might be a "conflict of interest" if you will, to some. Like "maybe he's holding back on where the big one's are for himself" kind of thing. Not saying that's the case at all just didn't seem like a good customer service thing to do in my opinion.

Just my observations for others who go.

[Killem all]

I do know that Mike hunts the same pasture 1 and 10 and they are ones with a dividing problem and rules about hunting so he keeps those and they are the ones they hunt. In other words he does not find a big buck and not let anyone hunt there so he can kill it.

[huntinfool]

Pasture's 1 and 10 are for Mike, Nancy and whom ever they want to invite. They have stands that have been there for years, and the deer are far more comfortable around those stands.

My father just picked up some cancellation hunts for Dec 26-Jan 1 or so...guess I'm going back, better start preparing.

[Heath]

Huntinfool,

Killem all and I will be there during those dates as well. Yall take it easy on this First Point Virgin.

[Killem all]

Thats hunt is always a little punishing. Leave day after X-Mas hung over and drive home New Years day guess what Hung Over. Look forward to meeting you Huntinfool.

[Heath]

Thats hunt is always a little punishing. Leave day after X-Mas hung over and drive home New Years day guess what Hung Over. Look forward to meeting you Huntinfool.

You are driving, so I can sleep so I see no problems with having a hangover.

[ronny]

I'll be back down there Jan 1- 4 so ya'll leave some for me

[Killem all]

You are driving, so I can sleep so I see no problems with having a hangover.

I drive there you drive home.

[RdRdrFan]

I have never hunted First Point or any day hunt place so I have no dog in this fight.

Sounds like the original poster should have read the rules prior to booking the hunt. If you don't like the rules, don't book the hunt.

In all of my years hunting, I have never heard of a management plan that calls for the harvest of no does. I don't think that it is sound management practice to harvest no does. Therefore, I wouldn't choose to hunt the ranch. I'm sure there are some decent deer there. Just not my cup of tea.

[Archermike2605]

I'll be there the Dec. 26-28

[Killem all]

Archermike2605 look forward to meeting you. I will be in the white Tundra with the TBH sticker

[Heath]

Archermike2605 look forward to meeting you. I will be in the white Tundra with the TBH sticker

Likewise. Sounds like there will be 5+ TBHers in camp on the 26th.

[Horitexan]

On the doe thing at First Point-

Mike does feel that the does attract bucks from the neighbors but the No Doe policy, just like Brushy Hill's over the past few years, is really the result of bad hunting by guys that have booked there in the past. On a day lease you get the whole spectrum of hunters- from the best to the worst- and long ago Mike got sick and tired of loosing nubbin' bucks to inexperienced hunters who shot them and then claimed they, "thought it was a doe!" With no real way to determine which hunters have the ability to tell the difference, day lease operators like First Point and Brushy Hill institute "No Doe" policies. I remember 4 years ago at Brushy Hill, when does were included as part of the hunts, when more than 20 nubbin bucks were killed in a single season because they were mistaken for does; and 2 fawns were shot early in the season because the guys thought they were axis deer! Now, if YOU had to deal with "hunters" (and I use the term VERY loosely) like that every year, what would YOU do? Not to mention the fact that does DO attract bucks during the rut. Is it a perfect solution? Absolutely not. Is it the best one available? Yep, it is! If someone could come up with a perfect and practical solution to the problem could be found that doesn't involve a WHLE lot more work for them, I'll bet Mike and Pete (Brushy Hill) would be all ears.

Different properties need different management policies and, in the case of day lease operations, the quality of the hunters needs to be factored into the equation just like size, food sources, water sources, etc. Managing a day lease is much more difficult than managing ANY other type of property; and applying standard management practices is not always possible OR the best idea. So, second-guessing Mike's policies is pretty unfair unless someone has had to contend with the same scenario and has had better results than First Point has over many successful years.

Even though I don't hunt there any more myself, because of my close association with Brushy Hill, First Point is a great day lease and, for the money, it's a great deal. Every year they produce a whole lot of good bucks and a heck of a lot of happy hunters. If they didn't, Mike wouldn't have been forced to instutute a draw system for the hunts. Just the fact that there are more people trying to hunt there than they can handle without a lottery tells you that the hunting is good!

There are always critics who don't see anything, don't have their expectations met or gripe because they didn't shoot the buck that "they didn't expect." The funny thing is that the critics are always the FIRST ones to run to a computer to post their experience; and more often than not, the guys (or gals) who had a great time simply post that they had a successful hunt in the "Around the Campfire" section- often without a mention of where. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it does tend to skew the "Rate the Lease" section. Especially when it comes to some of the more prolific day lease operations. The critics ALWAYS find fault with something other than themselves- I've yet to read ONE SINGLE review of a ranch where someone flat out said that they screwed up. And when others have pointed out mistakes that people have made (that were obvious from the content of their post), not ONE person has said, "yeah, now that you point that out, maybe it DID have somethng to do with my lack of success on the hunt." More often than not, in my experiance, hunters who complain about ranches that I know personally have at least some responsibility for their own lack of success.

Anyone that's considering First Point can be confident that its a good place to hunt where they'll have a reasonably good chance of killing a buck- as good as you'll get for the money. That's coming from someone that hunts and does work for their biggest competitor. I know the Palmer family and they're as good and honest bunch of folks as you'll meet. Don't let a few people, that are unhapy because of their bad luck, deter you from a heck of an operation and some great people.

[Split_Brow]

you impose a fine for killing nubbin bucks or you make the nubbin buck your trophy...makes people "look" a little harder before shooting...I still know guys that don't take binoculars to the stand to bowhunt...nothing like getting ready to shoot a "doe" in low light situations and raise the binoculars to see that it is a nubbin buck. Fines keep people cautious...but never killing does on a place is no kind of management strategy...but it is his place so his rules...on another note, if does are never shot at then they are not as wary, and they make the best decoys...smartest deer I ever hunted was at first point...I would make a brush blind 25-30 yards off the road, brush it in so good I wondered if I would be able to get an arrow out of it and not see a deer that hunt...my shooting lane would be about 5 yards of the road and would walk out on the road after the hunt and the only corn would be in my shooting lane with all the corn on both sides gone, meaning I had deer all around me and never saw them...I ended up putting a stalk on a 135" 10pnt on the last hunt and had him walk by at 8 yards and he busted me drawn back...he was killed the next weekend by another hunter right where I drew back on him at the white rock low water crossing on the edge of 9...Mike killed a large typical 12 point in 1 that weekend...he ran the corn route late that day, going by me 1.5 hours before dark and he still had time to get in his blind and kill that buck...he said he was only in the blind for about 10 minutes before he was covered up in does and then that buck walked in and he thumped him...that same weekend, another guy said he kept having a 180" 10point stay out about 50 yards and not come in...we thought he was full of caca because he was a bit loud and obnoxious but then he left and another guy came into camp and never meeting that guy came in from his first hunt saying that a 180" 10point stayed out of range from him...they were hunting in the same spot...the deer are there for sure.