Pine Ridge Outfitters

Submitted by: Michael Kelley

Contact Reviewer

Review Submitted: Dec 5, 2011

Hunt Date: Nov 28, 2011

Species Hunted: Whitetail Deer

Days Hunted: 5

Hunt Type: Drop Camp

Primary Terrain: Foothills

Method: Shotgun

Price Range: 3000-3999

Honest review

Arrived a day early to check into motel and according to Jon, show us around. Instead we were told if we had GPS to arrive at 6:30am the next morning. ( shotgun opener) . We arrived at a house. Was'nt sure if we were in the right place because it was loaded with rough looking single wide trailers around house. ( turned out to be his rentals) Met Jon, and quickly shuffles off to a stand in a 2 seater Rhino. ( Louder than hell) My son road in the dump box in back while I held his gun. Sat all morning on shotgun opener to see a 4 point, a spike horn and 2 pet baby deer Jon keeps around with orange tape around there neck. Counted 133 shots from surrounding property stopped counting at 9:00 am. Sat for next 2 days to see only a few does and few small bucks. Was getting pretty frustrated about the quality and quantity of deer we were seeing, when Jon shared with us that he had shot and hit a huge nontypical deer on another farm he had and passed on a huge 11 point that morning. Never imagined a outfitter would hunt his own property in the best spots while paying customers sat on a small farm behind the house. . When I started asking questions about property and deer size, I found out that the farm we were hunting was only 69 acres with about 50 acres huntable. He leased 5 other farms, some larger but kept us on a small farm seeing nothing for 2 days. Finally after pressing the issue we were allowed to hunt another farm much larger, 180 acre or so. Sat morning and night and saw 1 six point. Was taken to what he called the trophy property were he shot the big buck, and dropped us off at the foot of a 500 ft. foot hill that was 45 degree angle and told us to climb the hill, go right 30 yards and then down other side 30 yards and you will find a stand. Took me half hour to climb this enormous hill, stopped 5 times to catch my breath. By the time I got in my stand it was very light out. My son couldnt find his and ended up setting by a tree till it got light out. To make a long story short, I killed a small 8 point which was the biggest I had seen to that point on the evening of my 3rd day. Would have never shot him at home in Michigan but was affraid it may be the last buck I seen. It was that bad. My son spent over 32 hours on stand and only seen 2 bucks large enough to shoot 200 yards off. did not fire a shot. Jon is a nice guy and seems experienced in deer hunting, his pole barn is full of giant deer he claims to have killed on his property. Wish he would have saved some for paying customers. I spent over $4,500.00 for a 8 point that maybe scored 90 . I expected for that kind of money, to be hunting privately owned and managed property of size with decent sized bucks on property. If they did exist they were shot up and holding up from surrounding property owners shooting at everything that moved for 5 days. My son and I made the best of a get away tried to laugh about it. never will go back. Got 1 ride to a stand,walked to all others. most of them were not comfortable at all, most set up for lefty ( Jon) or were really high with no side rails to hold onto looking down 200' hill. Kind of scary. Would have never been able to stand up and turn around. The feeders were either just a gallon of corn dumped on the ground or plastic drum with holes cut in the bottom to let corn out. Saw Jon a total of 1 1/2 hours during whole 5 day trip. Could have leased my own property in the area, set up my own stands and ate like a king and spent less money. Web site is very misleading. Beautiful scenery in area, great hiking or country drive , Not deer hunting. Came home and saw 25 deer first morning of muzzle loader. Good ole Michigan. Great to be home.

Outfitter Response: I am sorry your hunt did not end like you wanted Michele sometimes they don't.most people understand its hunting and I cant control weather or deer movement , you never said one word of any of this why you was here hunting ..the others guys in camp me included thought getting out of the woods around 10 am and getting back in the woods as late as 3 pm some days didn't help your hunt much. I said when you got here you could expect movement between 10 to 2 . but rarely was you on stand at those times .you said you wanted a clean 10 point so I put you on a farm that I was getting regular pictures of 3 different 10 points,I showed you the cam pictures and even showed you pictures of them alive during the dates you where still hunting here.(maybe you forgot that) your son seen 2 of the 10s and a couple 8 in the turnip field with 13 other deer, he said he couldn't shoot that far because his gun didn't have rifelings only smooth boar).after the 1st day I asked if you two wanted to move and you said no that you wanted to try to get one of the 10s.(looks like you forgot that it was your idea again ) on the 3rd morning I loaded up the rhino again on the trailer and hauled you up to a feed station with a ground blind.(I guess you forgot that too) if the factory quite exhaust on my rhino is so loud why you keep asking me to pick you up 2 out of the 3 days hunted so far.and anyone that knows me no that I haven't shot a buck since I started outfitting over 6 years ago,(I told you that too,maybe you forgot again ) I had no one in for a few weeks so I decided to take my son hunting on a near by farm.. long story short I made a bad hit looked for 3 days then set up cameras, caught him on film alive on one of my leases.when I went there it was to try to take a wounded deer out. that's why I didn't shoot the big 11 point I seen.it wasn't the one wounded ..(you no this too I told you the hole story YOU JUST LEFT IT OUT ).guess you would rather I leave wounded deer in the woods .On day 3 when I asked if there was anyplace particular you wanted to hunt for the evening hunt you chose the farm with the 3 10 point again.(guess you forgot again that you chose it) that evening on that farm you told me and the other guys in camp a hole different story about the buck you shot you told us you had a 20 yard shot at what you thought was a big 10 point but after shooting his antlers off one side found out it was a 3 year old 8 point.(20 yard standing shot hit in the antler and not sure what he is shooting at scared the other hunters and I was asked not to hunt them on the same property . day 4 you told me you wanted to hunt the ridge over the corn field so Thursday morning the winds was finally calm enough to do that ,so I drove you over there. . I showed you the bright eyes and ribbon that are every 25 feet apart (blind guy could fallow it) you said you wanted picked up at 1030am again ,I even asked you if you found your stands ok and you said Yes (but in your complaint you said you didn't find it ) but you did tell me you seen a monster 10 point with 12inch tines at 60 yards on that hill and how upset you was that you shot the smaller one (guess you forgot to add that into your story also ) and your son was texting you telling you to shoot the big one and use his tag on it.(we don't do that here ) i am sorry you made a bad decision and shot the antlers off a smaller buck the day before and couldn't shoot the big one you seen on Thursday. (I didn't make those decision). and iam sorry you never told me you 2 had a physical problems that wouldn't allow you to be able to walk up a hill 150 yards to the top, (you where my youngest hunters in camp) you describing it like its a death defying climb up mount Everest that you made .(was there a bunch frozen climbers and flags at the top ) again your the one that chose that spot to hunt. everyone else makes it up in under 10 min and that's carry a 50 pound feed bag .. and your cost was only $1500 per hunter. HOW IS MY WEB SITE MIS LEADING I did my job. I gave you private property to hunt with food plots and corn feeder .and stands . showed you all the diff trophy bucks running around on them with up to date cam pictures of trophy size deer up to boon and crocket size .made sure 4 times a day total of 20 times for the 5 day hunt that you made it too stand and back .not once was I late on picking you up . I even got you a shot at a huge 10 point with 12 inch tines ..I hauled ,I gutted and I stored the deer you did shoot the antler off , (I even skin and quarter my hunters deer for transporting home) I told you when you got here your not going to be seeing 25 to 30 deer a day like you do in Michigan but you may get a shot at a nice one ..(and you did) ya I forgot aim suppose to tell all the other farmers in the area not to shoot because you might hear them and have to count one more gun shot .and I guess maybe I should of called mother nature to see what I can do about all this night time buck movement too ..(you have to be joking) I sent this to the other hunters that where in camp and they cant believe how your story has changed and all the stuff you chose to leave out of it so it would sound the way you wanted . I get 2 types of hunters here . the one that hunts hard and the other ones hardly hunt,, guess who will be the complainers ..I work very hard at this and your the only complaint I had over the last few years. if anything I said .. . isn't true let me no ..funny how a story changes when all the facts are added into it ..i was worried about you hurting my business but maybe your helping it Thanks Jon

---

Submitted by: Tyrone Key

Contact Reviewer

Review Submitted: Nov 24, 2011

Hunt Date: Nov 1, 2011

Species Hunted: Whitetail Deer

Days Hunted: 5

Hunt Type: Guided

Primary Terrain: Farmland

Method: Bow

Price Range: 1000-1999

Great hunt

I have been hunting with Jon at pineridge outfitter from ohio for over 4 years .. every year Jon has done a great job putting us on trophy size bucks. he makes sure everything is taken care of from dropping us off to getting the deer out, and even getting it caped out and ready for us to drive home .. i have been to alot of outfitters but i will be back at pineridge next year ..

---

Submitted by: Sam Weet

Review Submitted: Feb 28, 2011

Hunt Date: Nov 8, 2010

Species Hunted: Whitetail Deer

Days Hunted: 5

Hunt Type: Semi-Guided

Primary Terrain: Farmland

Method: Bow

Price Range: 1000-1999

i have hunted with pineridge for a few years and i always have had a good time no matter if i get a nice buck or not ,i no there are nice bucks in this area because he will show you them on all the trail camera,i just want a place to hunt that has some nice bucks and i can hunt the way i want to.and i understand it is hunting and there are no fences and thats the way i like it,i did shot a nice 10 point the first year there and they took care of everything,if you think your going to kill a big buck every time out. you better hunt in a fence ,,

---

report this review

---

---