Outfitter Review - East Carolina Outfitters

Outfitter Information

Outfitter Name: East Carolina Outfitters

Outfitter / Contact: Ralph Moore

Location: North Carolina, USA

Hunt Information

Animals Hunted: whitetail

Game Quality: poor

Game Quantity: average

Accomodations: very good

Camp Condition: very good

Food Quality: Not provided

Guide Experience: average

Other Personal Experience: not applicacble

Review Information

Hunter: Tom West

Phone:

Email:

Would Recommend: yes, but read comments

Overall Impression: fairly good

Fellow Sportsmen: When I do these reviews I try to be fairly in depth so a person debating on booking a hunt with the outfitter can get a good idea of what he or she is in store for. I am fairly critical because when someone takes my money I want what I am promised. Here goes. I hunted East Carolina Outfitters for a three day hunt starting the 22nd of October. The price was 900 bucks, this did not include food. The lodging was provided. The lodging was top notch with a beautiful main lodge or cabins available, both of which are non-smoking. The hunting was done during the full moon period so this may have had an adverse affect on the hunting. The hunting was mediocre at best. I personally saw 11 deer total. Two were bucks and they were both spikes. In camp there were deer seen, but the biggest buck seen by our party was a five point. In the other cabins an eight point and a six were taken. And some does and one spike. The guides were telling us continually that the full moon was hurting the hunting. As far as the guides were concerned they seemed like a decent bunch of guys. I did take exception to the fact that we were brought to our hunting areas too late. At least in my opinion. I personally like to be on stand at least 30 minutes before first light and more preferably, an hour before. This never happened the entire time I was there. If you do not mind this, then it is no big deal. Another problem was the way to the stands were not adequately marked. At the initial orientation briefing the owner of the Outfit assures everyone that the way to all stands is marked well and that no one should have a problem getting to their stands in the morning. No guide walks you to your stand. This is not a problem if the way is clearly marked. On our last morning hunt out of six hunters, five could not find their stand. On a quick three day hunt this means a lot! There were problems on other days as well. Sometimes the stands were well marked and sometimes not. This strikes me as guide laziness when just a few more cat eyes and pieces of ribbon could make the difference between finding your stand and wandering around in the dark, spooking game. Bear in mind that our party consisted of all experienced hunters who have hunted from Canada, to the West, and all over the NorthEast. So this was not a case of inexperienced amateurs falling around in the woods. Another thing I did not care for was that when the hunt was booked we were told that one could shoot, if desired, three does. Once we arrived we were told at orientation that if we shot a doe under 70 pounds there would be a fifty dollar fine. This is no big deal if you are out to shoot bucks only, but it still should have been specified beforehand. The owner encourages you to shoot does, then gouges more money out of you if you shoot an undersized doe. This is supposedly to protect the button bucks. OK, but then why fine someone for a smaller doe? A dead doe is a dead doe. It is out of the picture and helping to keep your buck to doe ratio in check. Why take someone's money over a dead doe? Put a fine strictly on button bucks. Once again, just my opinion, but I watched several hunters in camp get fined over this and it seemed like a rip-off to me. To sum up, I have seen a lot worse operations than this. We were told that 79 deer had been taken the week before we arrived. The owner leases 20,000 acres we were told, yet we hunted the same stands morning and evenings. The guides were pleasant and seemed to be trying (to an extent)and the accomodations were very nice. I have no doubt that some wall hangers are taken with this outfitter. When you are running 20 plus hunters at a time, somebody has to kill something somewhere. Would I recommend this place to others? If you are looking for an easy hunt and just want to pull the trigger on some deer this would be a good place to go. Most of the farms have a four point minimum so remember that or pay! If you are out to seriously trophy hunt, give it a pass.I would have to say that the good out weighed the bad. I probably won't go back, but I managed to have a good time.

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