Sweetwater Creek Bow Hunting

note: The following reviews predate the numeric rating system and are not included in this outfitter's overall rating.

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outfitter review submitted by: Lynn Spring on Jan 3 2008

Species Hunted: Exotics, hogs

Game Quality: Awesome

Accommodation Quality: Great,

Camp Condition: Great

Food Quality: Made our own meals

Guide Experience: Great

Other Personal Experience: Good

Overall Impression: Totally awesome

Recommend: Yes

Reviewer Comments: Great bow hunt. Lots of stands and can spot and stalk. Would recomend to anyone. Totally worth the 1100 mile drive. Great quality of game. Lots of axis, fallow deer, hogs. Great people and would recommend to anyone. Going back again next year.

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outfitter review submitted by: Larry C. Burton on Sep 4 2007

Species Hunted: buffalo, elk, hogs, exotics

Game Quality: excellent

Accommodation Quality: excellent

Camp Condition: excellent

Food Quality: we fixed our own

Guide Experience: excellent

Other Personal Experience: excellent

Overall Impression: Sweetwater is an awesome place to bring a group

Recommend: the highest recommendation

Reviewer Comments: This is the fifth year that we have hunted with Jim Bob and his son Michael and without question this is a place where our group loves to hunt without exception. Each year we book the entire lodge...this year we have 20 hunters from our church coming to spend the week at Sweetwater. WE love this place.

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outfitter review submitted by: Kevin Craft on Jul 4 2006

Species Hunted: Exotics/Hogs

Game Quality: Excellent

Accommodation Quality: Excellent

Camp Condition: Excellent

Food Quality: NA

Guide Experience: Excellent

Other Personal Experience: Excellent

Overall Impression: Excellent

Recommend: YES ! ! !

Reviewer Comments: I have hunted at Sweetwater the past 3 years. We are going back for the 4th time in Oct. It is well worth the trip from NE Missouri. We have never been disappointed and have always managed to bring meat home. This place is AWESOME ! ! !

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outfitter review submitted by: David Spann on Jun 10 2004

Species Hunted: Exotics/Hogs

Game Quality: Excellant

Accommodation Quality: Excellant

Camp Condition: Excellant

Food Quality: N/A

Guide Experience: Excellant

Other Personal Experience: Excellant

Overall Impression: Excellant

Recommend: Yes

Reviewer Comments: Jim Bob has a great place in Decatur, TX. I saw lots of game, more deer that I have ever seen. His prices are very very reasonable...Can't wait to go back!!

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outfitter review submitted by: John on May 14 2004

Species Hunted: Exotics/hogs

Game Quality: excellent

Accommodation Quality: excellent

Camp Condition: excellent

Food Quality: fix your own

Guide Experience: excellent

Other Personal Experience: excellent

Overall Impression: never better

Recommend: yes

Reviewer Comments: This is one of nine facilities I have Bowhunted making a video over the past 2 years. It is by far the best in every aspect. I have been there 4 times now & have 2 more hunts booked for Fall 2004 & March 2005 plus plans for a fall 2005 hunt. I will be taking my son & daughter to Bowhunt at some other time (hopefully this fall)just because it is such a good experience. I cannot say enough about the people or the facilities. Top notch all the way.

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outfitter review submitted by: Pablo Guardiola on Jan 5 2004

Species Hunted: Exotics

Game Quality: Excellent

Accommodation Quality: Excellent

Camp Condition: Excellent

Food Quality: Cook Your Own

Guide Experience: No Guide

Other Personal Experience: Excellent

Overall Impression: Excellent

Recommend: Very Much So

Reviewer Comments: My buddies and I have been there three times in two years and have never come home empty handed. You will get your monies worth on this hunt. I highly reccommend this hunt if you are looking to take a nice exotic trophy without breaking the bank. You will also see plenty of hogs.

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outfitter review submitted by: Curtis on Jul 23 2003

Species Hunted: Exotics

Game Quality: Fair

Accommodation Quality: Excellent

Camp Condition: Excellent

Food Quality: NA

Guide Experience: Fair

Other Personal Experience: NA

Overall Impression: Poor

Recommend: NO

Reviewer Comments: The lodging is top notch and the ranch is very pretty. Very poor quality blackbucks and Red Deer. The hardest animals to hunt on the ranch are the whitetails and the Aoudads. I took a small Axis on the third day of my hunt trip. The biggest blackbuck I saw was a 14" Blackbuck and a 9 pt. Red Deer. Fallows were the most plentiful on the ranch along with the rams. There are several things I did not care for on this ranch. One is the fact that they have too many fallow does. When they put you in a stand they throw out a lot of corn around your stand. The problem with fallow does is that they easily tame down and they come to get the corn along with the Sika does. I counted as many as 15 does near my stand each time I hunted. When you drive up to the stand you see the animals waiting just a few feet off the road waiting for the corn. The same places have been hunted so much that these does know they are not being hunted and they all wait for the hunter to come by and for the guide to throw out the corn. From just a few seconds to never longer than 3 minutes you will see does come out to get the corn and sometimes they come running in. You are not allowed to hunt does, only hard horned animals. A lot of the stands are only 8' high. I always prefer to be at least 12' high. I also did not like the stand locations. There was very little to no brush in front of it to hide my presense. I was on a 8' ladder stand stuck to a tree that has no shooting lane. I mean everywhere you look you had a shot given if the animal was there but they see you too easily because your too low to the ground and there is no brush hiding you. Too many animals and either the ranch manger did a poor job or there are soo many animals that they have eaten too much brush down. When we talked to the ranch manger he told us that he was not a hunter himself. From that I concluded that is why these stands are placed so poorly and there are so many animals. Yes you get to see some hard horned animals and maybe get a shot, if your lucky they don't see you. There are so many animals that are looking at you that it makes it nearly impossible. And even then, as far as quality of animals and considering trophy quality, the few that I saw were barely scratching the surface. I'm not talking about seeing record animals everywhere. I just mean that I saw very few quality animals that I consider good and mature enough to take. I feel the stands were not brushed in well at all and a better job could have been done on that. There are ladder stands(most being 8' but a few that are 15'-16') and 8' tripods. No stalking is allowed until after 11:00 am. Then the hunter must walk back to the ranch lodge. However, you can choose to stalk if you so desire until about 3:00 pm. I didn't like that idea because you don't know where the other hunters are hunting at and I don't like the idea of interfering with other hunters hunts or someone with mine. Which in my case happened on the second day when a hunter walked through the woods about 50 yards from me. Hunting is hunting and I know things happen, but in a ranch operation as this the ranch manager should be doing a better job. It has a lot of potential but has a long way to go and a lot of items to improve on. What made me mad the most about this place is that when we heard a hunter had wounded an animal and the rancher did nothing about it. They let it go and did not let the hunter continue. The hunter had misplaced the shot and did not effectively kill the animal. The ranch let the animal wander off and nobody knows if it died or not. This makes me wonder how many animals have been taken off this place that some other hunter has already paid for to hunt and may have wounded? I feel this was not fair judgement by the rancher because it allowed a wounded animal to go free. That is not ethical hunting to me. Not for a ranch like this. They took the hunter out in the truck after they had told him about it along with a few other hunters from the lodge. Everyone agreed that the animal was wounded and it may die. The rancher could have dispatched the animal by rifle in the least. The decision was made and everyone else seemed to not agree with it. This would have at least ensured that the animal was finished off and not allowed to suffer more. I don't think it would have made it a can hunt in any way, but more of an ethical solution to helping a wounded animal and at least the hunter leaves with the game. On the other hand, the hunter could have just went down to the creek and washed the blood off his arrow and broadhead and nobody would have even known. At least the hunter was ethical enough to tell the ranch owner.

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outfitter review submitted by: Tony Cooper on Nov 27 2002

Species Hunted: Exotics/Whitetails/Hogs

Game Quality: Good

Accommodation Quality: Good

Camp Condition: Good

Food Quality: N|A

Guide Experience: Good

Other Personal Experience: Good

Overall Impression: Great Time!

Recommend: Yes

Reviewer Comments: I had a great time lots of Quality animals. Took a 23 pt. Fallow and 9 pt. Red deer. Only problem with the place is transporation to field they take you out in a mule ATV. It was raining some and was wet and dirty. But other than that I give the place a A Rating.

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