:wagon:If anyone ever is thinking about hunting with Heritage Outfitters in NE do NOT do it. Worst trip I've ever been on. An expensive joke of an outfitter. They promise a 100% opportunity but don't have crap for birds. They were hoping we got shots at jakes but couldn't even deliver that (Wouldn't have shot one anyway) . You are just hunting over hunted farms that are being rotated group to group. I never even saw a Tom on the farms they dropped me off on. It was so bad that the head guys son called his dad to tell him we were headed to try o bird he had seen and when we got back to that spot low and behold daddy had his client there. What a cluster trying to step on your own damn son. I wouldn't go back for free and set ups like this give other outfitters a bad name . We left at lunch on the last day and they texted me a picture of a jake a guy killed after we left like it was something to brag about. Funny they didn't even apologize for taking our money for zero opportunity. I know it's hunting but hard to harvest things that don't exist. We paid for a 2:1 guided hunt and they added another guy to
Our group. WTH is that about. They had me hunting a flock of 4 jakes saying they were good Toms. I watched them all 3 days they put me there . The other group there atleast got one Tom between 3 guys and one Jake. When an outfitters wants you killing jakes you quickly understand how bad it is. They also offer a 3rd bird on their website but once there they said no they don't. They had just updated their website with that still on it. I'm sure they wanted the illusion of them having enough birds for the 3rd bird option. False advertising at its best . BEWARE
sorry to hear it sucked, but an unfortunate side effect of monetizing a public resource
crap!
what a bummer...feel for ya man,
ive looked at their site before too
Quote from: duxrus on May 13, 2022, 10:04:20 PM
If anyone ever is thinking about hunting with Heritage Outfitters in NE do NOT do it. Worst trip I've ever been on. An expensive joke of an outfitter. They promise a 100% opportunity but don't have crap for birds. They were hoping we got shots at jakes but couldn't even deliver that (Wouldn't have shot one anyway) . You are just hunting over hunted farms that are being rotated group to group. I never even saw a Tom on the farms they dropped me off on. It was so bad that the head guys son called his dad to tell him we were headed to try o bird he had seen and when we got back to that spot low and behold daddy had his client there. What a cluster trying to step on your own damn son. I wouldn't go back for free and set ups like this give other outfitters a bad name . We left at lunch on the last day and they texted me a picture of a jake a guy killed after we left like it was something to brag about. Funny they didn't even apologize for taking our money for zero opportunity. I know it's hunting but hard to harvest things that don't exist. They had me hunting a flock of 4 jakes saying they were good Toms. I watched them all 3 days they put me there . The other group there atleast got one Tom between 3 guys and one Jake. When an outfitters wants you killing jakes you quickly understand how bad it is. They also offer a 3rd bird on their website but once there they said no they don't. False advertising at its best . BEWARE
In my experience in NE you don't really need an outfitter...nearly every door you knock on will give you access to their property. Turkey hunting is not a big deal to most folks out there, at least in the areas we have been before. Deer hunting is a different thing! LOL
Hate to hear that. Thanks for revealing the bad apple, could save someone else some major heartburn!
Unfortunately I believe we will get more and more of these reports as turkey hunter numbers increase while turkey populations do the opposite. As public land quality continues to plummet, more hunters will begin to seek outfitters/private land access. And outfits like that will sucker people as long as there are people to sucker.
Nebraska has been pounded into submission! Sure there are still some good areas but it has been the destination for a long time!
I remember the first few years I hunted it, if you make a turkey call you damn well better be ready!!!
Have not hunted there in 3 or 4 seasons after probably 10 straight.
Not the first bad review I've heard on this place, this year.
Agree. Too many guys killing every jake they saw just to go back home telling their buddies how they slaughtered them. Never told them they were jakes.
I heard one say " If they come on like a longbeard, I'm shootin him." Pathetic.
Most were self proclaimed turkey masters.
The all zeroed this year up there. Serves them right.
I'm sorry to hear of your experience with Heritage Outfitters in NE. I want to thank you for revealing their operation and attitude.
The best advertisement one can get is through word of mouth, people talk. I'm sure after your review their operation will suffer.
Bummer about your experience. With the increase in the popularity of turkey hunting it would be awesome to have a sticky or something with all the lousy outfitters for reference. Maybe there is one already and I just havent seen it
Quote from: VA Gobble Addict on May 14, 2022, 04:04:59 AM
Bummer about your experience. With the increase in the popularity of turkey hunting it would be awesome to have a sticky or something with all the lousy outfitters for reference. Maybe there is one already and I just havent seen it
It was brought up not long ago, not sure if it was done or not but I would not be surprised if they chose not to, that is a lawsuit for slander/defamation waiting to happen.
My take on " most " outfitters. They start out with good ground , with plenty game . Then the money starts rolling in . At first , they get great reviews , the guys that went with good success , tell there buddys how good it was . But then they start over booking and the ground gets over hunted ! But , the money is rolling in so they keep over booking and depleted farms is what they end up with . I've seen this happen to several outfitters.
Depending on how long they've been in business, they could still be revelling in the past.
Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
My godson is traveling home from Texas today after hunting with a lousy outfitter. He got a hog and a coyote. Lol. Only saw one jake. It's a shame. Thanks for the heads up.
Quote from: Jim K on May 14, 2022, 08:22:25 AM
My godson is traveling home from Texas today after hunting with a lousy outfitter. He got a hog and a coyote. Lol. Only saw one jake. It's a shame. Thanks for the heads up.
What outfitter was that?
Quote from: Sir-diealot on May 14, 2022, 05:11:39 AM
Quote from: VA Gobble Addict on May 14, 2022, 04:04:59 AM
Bummer about your experience. With the increase in the popularity of turkey hunting it would be awesome to have a sticky or something with all the lousy outfitters for reference. Maybe there is one already and I just havent seen it
It was brought up not long ago, not sure if it was done or not but I would not be surprised if they chose not to, that is a lawsuit for slander/defamation waiting to happen.
I can understand that, although I dont think theres much of a difference between this thread and one devoted to outfitter experiences. The thread doesnt have to be only bad ones
I hunted the same area that this outfitter hunts in back in 2010. It was a semi DIY type hunt. We used an outfitter, but there was no guide. They would drop us off at a farm explain what the birds were doing, then you were on your own. I saw more turkeys in the three days hunting there than I saw in the previous decade hunting here is the SE. It was unreal the number of bird's we saw! I hate to hear that the area has been over hunted but I am not surprised. It seems like for a lot of years Nebraska was the new hot spot.
Not sticking up for a BS outfitter in any way. However they have to pay for those leases and they have gotten expensive!
Accurate info above, really good when it was new, hunt it for several years and it goes down hill, the outfitting business is tough enough without lying to clients!
I helped a friend in Nebraska for a few years, hunting was exceptional initially, got tough and he pulled the plug!
That's a shame and I really hate to hear about your crappy experience. NE G&P (nebraskaturkeyhunt.com) along with NWTF marketing the crap out this state for the past 5 years hasn't helped. Glad I had the opportunity to go many years ago before then when it was still pretty good.
Been hearing way too many similar stories to this about NE private and public both. It's just a hot bed of activity right now and you can easily follow the trail through online forums, social media, videos, tv, etc, to see how it's gotten to this point. It's a good lesson in just how quickly a bunch of people posting of their success, plus pressure from a bunch of others jumping on it can change things. Information travels quicker these days and it's there for everyone to see, stays in a library just a tap away and doesn't go away until someone for some odd reason deletes it, or the site goes away.
That's maybe good news in this case as far as this outfitter and will hopefully save someone from spending a bunch of hard earned money for something that's just not worth it anymore. Not saying there can't still be good hunts to be had there or in NE anymore, it's just been hit hard and more and more people are going to be experiencing less than quality hunting. Pretty similar to what's going on in KS, OK and a few others that were the hot states and got all the popularity in the past decade.
Quote from: FLGobstopper on May 14, 2022, 10:07:40 AM
That's a shame and I really hate to hear about your crappy experience. NE G&P (nebraskaturkeyhunt.com) along with NWTF marketing the crap out this state for the past 5 years hasn't helped. Glad I had the opportunity to go many years ago before then when it was still pretty good.
Been hearing way too many similar stories to this about NE private and public both. It's just a hot bed of activity right now and you can easily follow the trail through online forums, social media, videos, tv, etc, to see how it's gotten to this point. It's a good lesson in just how quickly a bunch of people posting of their success, plus pressure from a bunch of others jumping on it can change things. Information travels quicker these days and it's there for everyone to see, stays in a library just a tap away and doesn't go away until someone for some odd reason deletes it, or the site goes away.
That's maybe good news in this case as far as this outfitter and will hopefully save someone from spending a bunch of hard earned money for something that's just not worth it anymore. Not saying there can't still be good hunts to be had there or in NE anymore, it's just been hit hard and more and more people are going to be experiencing less than quality hunting. Pretty similar to what's going on in KS, OK and a few others that were the hot states and got all the popularity in the past decade.
excellent point...
Quote from: VA Gobble Addict on May 14, 2022, 08:45:56 AM
Quote from: Sir-diealot on May 14, 2022, 05:11:39 AM
Quote from: VA Gobble Addict on May 14, 2022, 04:04:59 AM
Bummer about your experience. With the increase in the popularity of turkey hunting it would be awesome to have a sticky or something with all the lousy outfitters for reference. Maybe there is one already and I just havent seen it
It was brought up not long ago, not sure if it was done or not but I would not be surprised if they chose not to, that is a lawsuit for slander/defamation waiting to happen.
I can understand that, although I dont think theres much of a difference between this thread and one devoted to outfitter experiences. The thread doesnt have to be only bad ones
Actually there is a major difference legally, in the case of this thread it is a guy coming here on his own to share his experience, not in a forum category that is asking for people to in the eyes of the law "Defame" a business thus encouraging anybody that may have just not gotten along with the outfitter and wants to slander him. Also you would want independent collaboration with the persons story or again it would just be a he said she said and could come against Oldgobbler. I know I am not explaining that quite right, but I am tired, sorry. I do hope I helped you to understand though.
Quote from: Sir-diealot on May 14, 2022, 10:53:27 AM
Quote from: VA Gobble Addict on May 14, 2022, 08:45:56 AM
Quote from: Sir-diealot on May 14, 2022, 05:11:39 AM
Quote from: VA Gobble Addict on May 14, 2022, 04:04:59 AM
Bummer about your experience. With the increase in the popularity of turkey hunting it would be awesome to have a sticky or something with all the lousy outfitters for reference. Maybe there is one already and I just havent seen it
It was brought up not long ago, not sure if it was done or not but I would not be surprised if they chose not to, that is a lawsuit for slander/defamation waiting to happen.
I can understand that, although I dont think theres much of a difference between this thread and one devoted to outfitter experiences. The thread doesnt have to be only bad ones
Actually there is a major difference legally, in the case of this thread it is a guy coming here on his own to share his experience, not in a forum category that is asking for people to in the eyes of the law "Defame" a business thus encouraging anybody that may have just not gotten along with the outfitter and wants to slander him. Also you would want independent collaboration with the persons story or again it would just be a he said she said and could come against Oldgobbler. I know I am not explaining that quite right, but I am tired, sorry. I do hope I helped you to understand though.
Fair enough
If i may ask, what did this bad experience with this guide service cost YOU ?
1500$ per person plus hotel plus plane tickets plus license and tags....
Easily over 2000$ apiece
What really chaps my butt is the 100% opportunity they promise yet when it wasn't delivered they don't think twice. I guarantee their website will still say that after season which will be a blatant lie
Quote from: duxrus on May 14, 2022, 12:13:45 PM
1500$ per person plus hotel plus plane tickets plus license and tags....
Easily over 2000$ apiece
What really chaps my butt is the 100% opportunity they promise yet when it wasn't delivered they don't think twice. I guarantee their website will still say that after season which will be a blatant lie
A very costly experience ... so they didn't even offer to discount the hunt, because of how bad it was ?
It appears the website listed on the Facebook page is no longer working. I wonder if they recently took it down.
After being skunked a few times with outfits , I quit using them. It's the same old story over and over and over . Particularly in the Midwest. I generally get a bird , but it usually winds up being an absolute grind for several days to do it.....I had a guy message me 2 years ago about an outfit I had used. I told him don't do it , he did it anyway. And it had been a very long time when I used the outfit.... And of course his entire group came back after 4 days with zero birds. He had bad weather , few birds to work with, and of course they were unworkable , and usually across the property line. Contrary to popular belief , my best experiences with outfits had actually been the cheapest ones ....the ones who offer basically nothing have always seemed to at a minimum put me on a bird so I could get in and get out. And those guys always go out of business, because people see the price and assume something is wrong so they have trouble rebooking. I'm done with outfits for the most part with a few exceptions ....Hek I went with one . 5 stars and 100% success. He gave me references many of whom were local to me. We went .... And killed nothing. Saw 1 long beard in 3 days. Texas.... When we arrived I asked how many birds had they killed so far. 2.5 weeks in. 36 birds on 1200 acres.... I was like huh..... 3 or 6 um no 36. Of you do go.... You better be there first because those guys love to take money from people the last 2 weeks of season knowing good and well they ain't got a gobbling bird on the place
I've had similar experiences in Nebraska. Once with a guy I had great experience with one year, then terrible the next. Almost like the guy fell of the wagon, lost his ground, then still tried to hunt the same amount of hunters.
One guy was a complete liar, and he also had multi state hunts. This one put two of my compadres out trespassing and they got caught by the landowner and had zero idea they were not supposed to be there.
Had one guy in a Kansas the "guides" were kids and running around smoking dope all night with their girlfriends, shooting pheasants in turkey season, and didn't have any turkeys to hunt.
Yeah, I've seen some doozies.....especially in the Midwest
Sorry to hear you had a bad experience. I actually looked at that outfitter on line and something just didn't seem quite right as my hunting friend pointed out. I looked it over again and while I couldn't put a finger on what, we never called that guy. Glad of it. Thanks for the review. It's not out of line at all if you tell the truth.
I've known Brady from Heritage for about 20 years or so i guess and hunted with them a couple of times, but that was about 7 or 8 years ago I guess and he had only been operating there for a year or 2 I think.
He had a few properties back then that any of us would have given at least one testicle for, maybe both. One he called Joshua Tree was just an incredible Roost and only a few minutes from the hotel. 100 - 200 birds roosting in a couple of massive Cottonwoods in the bottom. Multiple canyons and tons of cedar. not true if that is still on the roster or if it's been played out.
He had just gotten another property about a 40 minute drive from the hotel one of the years we went out and it was absolutely lousy with turkeys. I've never seen so many tracks and crap in one spot in my life. A little tough to hunt because the only way in was to drive/walk under that roost area so you had to hunt it later in the day after they had headed out to the prairie, but man that was a fun property if you were a boot leather hunter.
We had some incredible morel hunts there as well.
I referred a few different guys from the board to hunt there and received positive feedback from all back then, but admittedly, some of them were more about harvest numbers than how the hunt unfolded.
It has seemed as though the last few years there are an awful lot more deer pictures than turkey pics...
I'm sorry your hunt wasn't what you deserved.
Quote from: VA Gobble Addict on May 14, 2022, 08:45:56 AM
Quote from: Sir-diealot on May 14, 2022, 05:11:39 AM
Quote from: VA Gobble Addict on May 14, 2022, 04:04:59 AM
Bummer about your experience. With the increase in the popularity of turkey hunting it would be awesome to have a sticky or something with all the lousy outfitters for reference. Maybe there is one already and I just havent seen it
It was brought up not long ago, not sure if it was done or not but I would not be surprised if they chose not to, that is a lawsuit for slander/defamation waiting to happen.
Nothing wrong with a "Review Themed Post". No need to have any slanderous type comments , just reviews outlining the operation of the outfitter. Success/Non-Success reviews to let potential future clients know what the outfitter is all about. This is a helpful way to let perspective clients know what they are signing up for. Positive reviews will help their future business.....
I can understand that, although I dont think theres much of a difference between this thread and one devoted to outfitter experiences. The thread doesnt have to be only bad ones
It will for sure, a permanent record on the web now.. indexed to the first page of Google already.
Quote from: Turkeybutt on May 14, 2022, 03:40:54 AM
I'm sorry to hear of your experience with Heritage Outfitters in NE. I want to thank you for revealing their operation and attitude.
The best advertisement one can get is through word of mouth, people talk. I'm sure after your review their operation will suffer.
Quote from: Tom007 on May 15, 2022, 07:30:27 AM
Quote from: VA Gobble Addict on May 14, 2022, 08:45:56 AM
Quote from: Sir-diealot on May 14, 2022, 05:11:39 AM
Quote from: VA Gobble Addict on May 14, 2022, 04:04:59 AM
Bummer about your experience. With the increase in the popularity of turkey hunting it would be awesome to have a sticky or something with all the lousy outfitters for reference. Maybe there is one already and I just havent seen it
It was brought up not long ago, not sure if it was done or not but I would not be surprised if they chose not to, that is a lawsuit for slander/defamation waiting to happen.
Nothing wrong with a "Review Themed Post". No need to have any slanderous type comments , just reviews outlining the operation of the outfitter. Success/Non-Success reviews to let potential future clients know what the outfitter is all about. This is a helpful way to let perspective clients know what they are signing up for. Positive reviews will help their future business.....
I can understand that, although I dont think theres much of a difference between this thread and one devoted to outfitter experiences. The thread doesnt have to be only bad ones
Totally agree, hopefully all the reviews are positive so the outfitters continue to prosper. Constructive reviews/feedback can only help them provide better services in the future....
I am just sharing our experience. I know many folks like myself search out reviews when looking at the many different outfitters in a given state. I could only find one or two from years ago on turkeys so gave them the benefit of the doubt. I've been on tons of hunts across the country and you quickly know what you have once you compare "promises" with reality. I'm sure if you booked the first week it would be phenomenal hunting winter roosts but continuing to book multiple groups , day in and day out , to me looks like money is more important than giving quality hunts. I wish more folks would make posts telling of bad experiences so others could read and decide if they wanted to take a chance at getting the same . Paying for a fully guided hunt to only be dropped off with a pin on your phone to find a blind isn't what I'd assume most qualify as fully guided. We paid top dollar for a driver who would leave you for hours and hours and hours. Like I said when you pay for a 2:1 trip they sure as hell shouldn't add a stranger into the mix. That alone shows what was more important than honesty... $$$
Quote from: Tom007 on May 15, 2022, 07:30:27 AM
Quote from: VA Gobble Addict on May 14, 2022, 08:45:56 AM
Quote from: Sir-diealot on May 14, 2022, 05:11:39 AM
Quote from: VA Gobble Addict on May 14, 2022, 04:04:59 AM
Bummer about your experience. With the increase in the popularity of turkey hunting it would be awesome to have a sticky or something with all the lousy outfitters for reference. Maybe there is one already and I just havent seen it
It was brought up not long ago, not sure if it was done or not but I would not be surprised if they chose not to, that is a lawsuit for slander/defamation waiting to happen.
Nothing wrong with a "Review Themed Post". No need to have any slanderous type comments , just reviews outlining the operation of the outfitter. Success/Non-Success reviews to let potential future clients know what the outfitter is all about. This is a helpful way to let perspective clients know what they are signing up for. Positive reviews will help their future business.....
I can understand that, although I dont think theres much of a difference between this thread and one devoted to outfitter experiences. The thread doesnt have to be only bad ones
I understand and I do not personally think there is a problem, but guarantee that somebody would and it could cause problems for the site is all.
Not too surprising as I've hunted that general area the past 5 years. Been less birds and more hunters every year. 2021 was great with a bunch of carry over from shutting down NR sales in 2020 but we saw very few if any jakes in most places. With high harvest numbers and few jakes things tanked for the 2022 season. I saw one small group of jakes in 300+ miles of scouting. One private spot had 1 gobbler with 17 hens and I lucked out and called a different one from the neighbors. Another piece of private had 3 gobblers with 44 hens. Public areas that used to have winter flocks of 50-100 were void of turkeys. I doubt I'll even go next year.
We had a similar experience with Heritage Outfitters last spring after seeing them on Grace Camo and Lace TV
The only good thing we have to say about our 14 hour drive to Heritage Outfitters was the food. After that everything was essentially a nightmare.
The "lodge" is a dilapidated rental home in Curtis, Nebraska. It's disgusting. Turkey carcasses were rotting in a trash can when we walked up to the back door, feathers and blood on the cleaning tables and all over the breezeway and clutter everywhere.
At dinner that night we met three other hunters that Brady booked at the last minute and added to the hunt party, turning a group of 6 into a group of 9 without saying a word.
After Brady left for the evening his son came to eat dinner with us, and he was making fun of a hunter that had just left camp, which I thought was extremely distasteful.
We hunted each morning in a blind under or near a roost. We never got to the blind early enough in my opinion, and our guide you could tell absolutely detested blind hunting. He seemed unprepared for it. He had one to two hen decoys and called very sparingly if at all. After 40 minutes in a blind in the morning we would ride around with the guide aimlessly looking for turkeys to fan or reap. Often you would pass Brady or his other guide, that's when we figured out the game. These guys are essentially cutting each other's throats to find birds for us clients and try and get to them first. Any turkeys we would see would start running from hundreds of yards away. We would look for turkeys till 10:30 then head back for breakfast. After breakfast you learn that the guide will head back to bed for 4-5 hours until the evening hunt, so if you want to hunt you will be by yourselves in a blind of the guide's choosing. We chose to hunt, because that's what we paid for. We paid for a guided hunt, but that's definitely not what we got for our money. We shot two toms on our own out of blinds for three guys in three days. The guide tried to get us to shoot jakes he reaped in, but we wouldn't do it, especially since Brady said at dinner the night before "DO NOT SHOOT JAKES". Our guide tried to convince us that the experience was "just the same" as getting a tom that close.
This experience really ruined my perception of what a guided hunt should be, and there's zero chance I'd ever go back or recommend them to anyone.