Master Rack Lodge
Master Rack Lodge
Rated 3 out of 5.0 based on 10 Outfitter reviews.
Contact: Steve Maxwell
Location: Union Springs, Alabama
Species Hunted: Whitetail Deer, Wild Boar, Turkey Eastern, Pheasant, Quail
State(s) Hunted: AL
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Submitted by: M J Barrois
Review Submitted: Jan 15, 2021
Hunt Date: Oct 20, 2020
Species Hunted: Whitetail Deer
Days Hunted: 3
Hunt Type: Semi-Guided
Primary Terrain: Wetlands
Method: Rifle
Price Range: 1000-1999
Number of animals seen, met expectations?
Size of animals seen, met expections?
Hunting pressure in the guides area, met expectations?
Would you hunt with this Guide again?
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Submitted by: Gary Healy
Review Submitted: Dec 31, 2015
Hunt Date: Dec 28, 2015
Species Hunted: Whitetail Deer, Wild Boar
Days Hunted: 3
Hunt Type: Guided
Primary Terrain: Farmland
Method: Rifle
Price Range: 1000-1999
Number of animals seen, met expectations?
Size of animals seen, met expections?
Hunting pressure in the guides area, met expectations?
Would you hunt with this Guide again?
Family Hunt
On 12/27/15 thru 12/30/15, I took my 17 year old grandson on a deer hunt at Master Rack Lodge in Alabama. We were treated like family by Steve Maxwell and his staff. My grandson took his first good buck, a ten point! I took an eight point right before dark that required tracking in the dark. Steve and his son found my deer in a short period of time. They are very good at what they do! I have hunted the west, Canada and all over the east coast. I have used many outfitters but none were as professional as Steve Maxwell! I would recommend this outfitter to anyone that is looking for a quality deer hunt with food that is out of this world!
Submitted by: John Elmer
Review Submitted: Dec 27, 2015
Hunt Date: Dec 21, 2015
Species Hunted: Whitetail Deer
Days Hunted: 3
Hunt Type: Guided
Primary Terrain: Farmland
Method: Rifle
Price Range: 3000-3999
Number of animals seen, met expectations?
Size of animals seen, met expections?
Hunting pressure in the guides area, met expectations?
Would you hunt with this Guide again?
Disappointed
Cost + $3000. People were very nice. However, I spent 3 days = 6 hunts did not see a deer. Brought my Grand Daughter to kill her first buck. Didn't happen. She was guided every day and only saw a few doe's. Did not get to shoot. Talked to owner Steve before booking on phone and he said he can only recall once where a 14 yr. old boy did not shoot anything. There were 3 kids during our stay, and 7 adults. Only one kid got to shoot once. None of the other kids shot at all. Of the 10 people and 3 days of hunting no one harvested a deer. I thought may be we would be invited back at a discount or for some consolation. That didn't happen either. There must be an outfitter than can help get my daughter that buck (spike would be fine) for $3000...???
Submitted by: R Powell
Review Submitted: Dec 24, 2010
Hunt Date: Dec 16, 2010
Species Hunted: Whitetail Deer
Days Hunted: 3
Hunt Type: Semi-Guided
Primary Terrain: Any
Method: Rifle
Price Range: 1000-1999
Number of animals seen, met expectations?
Size of animals seen, met expections?
Hunting pressure in the guides area, met expectations?
Would you hunt with this Guide again?
Our 1st n Last Alabama Hunt
Nice lodge - rebuilt from a previous fire. Lodging is good, food is great. Hunting is terrible. Can't shoot on green fields and the only deer we sited were small does. With nine hunters over 3 days, two small does harvested and a couple small spikes spotted. We won't go back to this lodge or to Alabama for hunting.
Submitted by: Carl Tenner
Review Submitted: Oct 11, 2010
Hunt Date: Oct 11, 2010
Species Hunted: Whitetail Deer
Days Hunted: 0
Hunt Type: Semi-Guided
Primary Terrain: Any
Method: Rifle
Price Range: 1000-1999
Number of animals seen, met expectations?
Size of animals seen, met expections?
Hunting pressure in the guides area, met expectations?
Would you hunt with this Guide again?
A wonderful time was had by my son and myself on a father/son deer hunt.
note: The following reviews predate the numeric rating system and are not included in this outfitter's overall rating.
outfitter review submitted by: Lee Pitts on Dec 30 2007
Species Hunted: Whitetail Deer
Game Quality: poor
Accommodation Quality: Great
Camp Condition: Great
Food Quality: Good
Guide Experience: poor
Other Personal Experience: Great
Overall Impression: Fun
Recommend: YES
Reviewer Comments: I hunted there between Christmas and New Years 2007. The weather was really bad with rain the entire trip. The rut does not start until mid January in that area so I was there a little early. I only saw three deer the entire trip and one of the was real far away and I was only able to see it for two seconds. The other two were jumped as I was walking to a stand and I only got a glimpse of their tail. There were about ten hunters there with me over the three days. They killed two does. And two deer that were fines. One kid killed a three pointer and another man shot a really small seven point that was about 13". The food was good. They served more of a country cooking that a deer camp menu. Steve the outfitter was really cool. The guides were really pretty good. The guide I had, Garrett was really young and it seemed that our group was seeing less deer than the others. I was not impressed with him at all. I would request David or Clint if I were to return. Everyone seen deer on the trip though, but mostly in the afternoons in the green fields where you could not take a shot. The lodge is first class and with private rooms it is the best. Robeta cooks up a nice meal and everyone like to talk. I would hunt there again. I would just wait until late December and request a different guide.
outfitter review submitted by: Mike Lavoie on Feb 29 2004
Species Hunted: White Tail Deer
Game Quality: Poor
Accommodation Quality: Average at Best
Camp Condition: Fair
Food Quality: Good
Guide Experience: Poor
Other Personal Experience: Good
Overall Impression: Poor
Recommend: No
Reviewer Comments: I hunted here in the middle of their rut in Jan. 2004. In a 3 day hunt I saw a total of 11 deer with only one being a shooter. They have an 8 point restriction at the whole place and a big chunk of the land is 15" spread or bigger or $500. fine. This place was overhunted. The deer I did see walked out and immediately looked up at the stands. They had seen hunters in them before and they didn't rotate them very well. The lodge burned down around Christmas and no-one called and mentioned this to me. We were penned up in small outdated hotel rooms with nothing for amenities. We ate venison at every meal provided by hunters whacking does. The brochures said hogs could be taken free and none of the 15 hunters in camp ever saw one. Most hunters I talked with were all disappointed as well. The people were really nice but this wasn't "the hunt of a lifetime" as advertised. This 3 days cost me $1500. Not even close to being worth that much.
outfitter review submitted by: Skip Kazmarek on Jan 20 2004
Species Hunted: Whitetail
Game Quality: Good
Accommodation Quality: See comments
Camp Condition: N/A
Food Quality: Good
Guide Experience: Very good
Other Personal Experience: N/A
Overall Impression: Very good
Recommend: Yes
Reviewer Comments: My son and I went on a 3-day hunt between Christmas and New Years Day 2003, which is typically a slow time for deer hunting. Nevertheless, we saw about 50 deer between the two of us, including one very shootable 8-point. Our guide, Josh, was very knowledgeable and dedicated to a high quality experience. Master Rack Lodge has rules for taking deer, two of which are (1) no shooting does over food plots (which keeps the plots from becoming killing zones) and (2) point/spread limits for bucks depending on the area. As a result, you may see lots of deer that cannot be taken, which was the general experience for the hunters there when we were. As to the accomodations, they were extremely nice, right up until the time the lodge burned to the ground. (No kidding.) The hotel survived and was quite nice. I'm sure the lodge will be rebuilt before the 2004-2005 season. Most of the hunters there were repeat customers, which speaks highly of the quality of the hunting and accomodations. We will certainly go back.
outfitter review submitted by: Jim Knowles on Jan 31 2002
Species Hunted: whitetail
Game Quality: fair
Accommodation Quality: good
Camp Condition: good
Food Quality: excellent
Guide Experience: very good
Other Personal Experience: good
Overall Impression: good
Recommend: yes
Reviewer Comments: Temps were unseasonably warm for the rut in January and a full moon as well which limited daytime deer movement. I still managed to see 23 deer on my hunt including a shooter buck on their trophy property at 40 yards as well as a couple of other nice bucks. Definitely a dead deer for most rifle hunters but a little out of my bow range. My guide Will, was knowledgeable and worked hard to get me within bow range of a good buck, not an easy task. All the staff were extremely courteous and conscientious. Steve Maxwell is a hands on owner who makes every effort to provide a quality hunt on quality managed property, and a good guy to boot. In my opinion, they are on the right track and the hunting will only get better in the years to come. I would definitely go back.
outfitter review submitted by: S Ljubicic on Feb 5 2001
Species Hunted: Whitetail Deer
Game Quality: All does
Accommodation Quality: Very Good
Camp Condition: Good
Food Quality: Very Good
Guide Experience: Good
Other Personal Experience: Good
Overall Impression: Disappointing
Recommend: No
Reviewer Comments: I have never gone into any hunt expecting too much, but this hunt was really disappointing. Alabama claims to have such a huge population of deer, but after a five day hunt at this lodge, I certainly cannot vouch for this claim. I didn't see any bucks at all and neither did anyone else during the time I was there. None of us saw too many does, either. I hunted this lodge in late December, so I guess I wasn't there for the peak of the rut, but I've hunted in other places around the country when the rut wasn't on either, but I still at least saw a good number of deer. I wish I had known about this website before I booked a trip to Alabama, because it seems like everyones experiences are very similar in that state. They go to one of these lodges and come back very disappointed without even seeing very many deer. Master Rack is a very nice lodge and the food was very good, but the hunting was poor, and that's what will stand out most in my mind. I think these Alabama lodges have had too much hunting on them in recent years that the deer have in my opinion pretty much been shot out. It's funny how these days these lodges all have minimums of 8 points and at least 15 inch spreads! I bet not one of every 50 hunters actually takes a deer like that. My advice would be to look for another state to hunt. Your chances of shooting even a very small buck in Alabama don't seem to be very good at all, to say the least.
Contact: Justin Johns and Ben Harris
Location: Hotchkiss, Colorado
Species Hunted: Elk, Mule Deer, Black Bear, Bobcat, Mountain Lion
State(s) Hunted: CO
Saskatchewan Hunting Information
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