unicoidawg
Member
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2016
- Messages
- 8
*************Beware of Iowa Whitetail Ridge Outfitters*************
Back in 2013 while at the GON Blast I bought a $10 raffle ticket at one of the Outfitter Booths. The Outfitter is Iowa Whitetail Ridge Outfitters out of Tipton, Iowa owned by Andy Wulf He is Iowahunter99 on the GON forums. Well after the phone call telling me they had drawn my name out of the hat for a 5 day Missouri Rifle hunt I was on cloud 9 as would be anyone. I spoke with Andy about my friend Daniel coming along and what it would cost. We worked out a number and Daniel sent him a deposit ($1500). After months of planning and scheming we are packing the truck for the trip up and Andy calls me and informs me that because of the EHD break out he was cancelling all of his Missouri hunts. Well although disappointed, there was indeed a kill off that year and it didn't seem like any shenanigans were going on. Andy said we'd just reschedule and go up to Iowa instead the next year(2014).
With the hunt rescheduled we are now back in the planning and waiting stage again. Iowa is always gonna win out over Missouri any day when it comes to deer hunting. So in the Summer of 2014 we spend our preference points($150 worth) and buy shotgun tags ($650 each), fast forward to December and we are en route for the hunt. We leave a day early and take our time going up being it's a 13hour drive. Well we arrive at the address given on Dec 5th the afternoon before the hunt and Andy was nowhere to be found. There were 4 other hunters there at Andy's house waiting and wondered what was going on. We called and texted multiple times and received no answers from him. One of the guys was a Dr. from Detroit and he threatened him with a lawyer and finally got a response. Evidently some of his family had got wind of hunters being in town and had gotten us a few rooms at a local Motel in Tipton. We still had no land to hunt on and no guide as promised. Supposedly he was in the hospital with renal failure???? I scrambled and found us some public land to hunt and did manage to take a small antlerless deer for some meat.
Fast forward to 1yr later EXACTLY, Dec 6, 2015 I called him and he answered and apologized over and over, he swore he was sick and near death when all this happened. Being the optimistic person I tend to be we started communicating back and forth through texts and FB messages. He was insistent that we schedule a rifle hunt in Missouri for this fall 2016 and that the hunt for both of us would be free to make up debacle from the year before. So we went ahead and lined up the hunt. I mean it is Missouri and tags are a lot cheaper than Iowa and they are over the counter and we could buy once we got up there. So again we plan everything out, work overtime and timeswaps to get the time off from work. Fast forward to Nov 10 of this fall and we leave out for the hunt. This whole time we are talking with Andy by phone and texting back and forth. All seems to be going well and we are excited for the upcoming hunt. When we arrive in the "south" camp in the town of Bloomfield, Iowa we go to the South Fork Motel to check in and meet up with him. When I went to check in the clerk advised me that she did not have any rooms reserved for that Outfitter. Well as you could guess my stomach just dropped to the floor. I knew right there and then that he'd done it again. I tried calling him, but he would not answer he did send me a text and told us to go to another motel in town called The Martin. We arrive there and sure enough we had a room, but he was nowhere to be found. There was however 8 other hunters standing around wanting to know where this outfitter was at. I told them, "Boys he ain't coming".......... and to be frank he never did. So we just kicked back and shook our heads. We went to a local restaurant for diner and in speaking with the waitresses we found out that his name wasn't very well liked around town. The next morning being super cold and opening morning would have been the best day of the year and of course we are sitting in a motel with no where to hunt. Now let me say this we did not pay the advertised $3500 for the hunt as the other guys in camp did, but we still were out a lot of time and money for other expenses. At 5:27 on opening morning he sent me this exact text. "My apologies. Will be down there by lunch to get you out hunting. I will make it right with you. My guide that was supposed to meet you is not answering." We all got the same text at the same time and we all were there from 11:30-1:30 waiting for him to show up. You guessed it we never heard another word from him.
As we were all waiting a truck pulled up and this guy gets out and introduces himself. His name was B.J. and he was the owner of the South Fork Motel and Restaurant there in town and had heard about all the guys who had got screwed by Andy. He then proceeds to tell us that Andy owes him a large sum of money for rooms and feeding hunters the previous fall. He also tells us Andy owes the Mayor of the towna large sum for the rental of a house in town that he supposedly uses for a "guide" house. The Iowa DNR sent 2 wardens out and a Davis County deputy took all of our information and then informed us that this was not the first time they had heard his name. So long story short this guy is a professional con man and will steal you blind. We did manage to run into some other Georgia boys while eating at the restaurant that Saturday night and secured a farm to hunt down around Kirksville. We ended up making the best out of a bad situation and taking a couple of big does after passing some smaller bucks.
I am not looking for any sympathy as it is what it is I just hope to save someone else the headache, heart break and money to this guy. He usually comes to The GON Blast and multiple other outdoor shows throughout the summer season. He has all the right things to hook hunters, big bucks and a nice booth, but beware he has a forked tongue and will leave you high and dry. Now I will say this he does post some big deer from time to time, but where he gets them I have no clue? In two trips up there I have yet to see the man face to face. much less hunt any awesome ground he promises. Just know if you book with this guy you were warned............. Google is your friend, use it.
Back in 2013 while at the GON Blast I bought a $10 raffle ticket at one of the Outfitter Booths. The Outfitter is Iowa Whitetail Ridge Outfitters out of Tipton, Iowa owned by Andy Wulf He is Iowahunter99 on the GON forums. Well after the phone call telling me they had drawn my name out of the hat for a 5 day Missouri Rifle hunt I was on cloud 9 as would be anyone. I spoke with Andy about my friend Daniel coming along and what it would cost. We worked out a number and Daniel sent him a deposit ($1500). After months of planning and scheming we are packing the truck for the trip up and Andy calls me and informs me that because of the EHD break out he was cancelling all of his Missouri hunts. Well although disappointed, there was indeed a kill off that year and it didn't seem like any shenanigans were going on. Andy said we'd just reschedule and go up to Iowa instead the next year(2014).
With the hunt rescheduled we are now back in the planning and waiting stage again. Iowa is always gonna win out over Missouri any day when it comes to deer hunting. So in the Summer of 2014 we spend our preference points($150 worth) and buy shotgun tags ($650 each), fast forward to December and we are en route for the hunt. We leave a day early and take our time going up being it's a 13hour drive. Well we arrive at the address given on Dec 5th the afternoon before the hunt and Andy was nowhere to be found. There were 4 other hunters there at Andy's house waiting and wondered what was going on. We called and texted multiple times and received no answers from him. One of the guys was a Dr. from Detroit and he threatened him with a lawyer and finally got a response. Evidently some of his family had got wind of hunters being in town and had gotten us a few rooms at a local Motel in Tipton. We still had no land to hunt on and no guide as promised. Supposedly he was in the hospital with renal failure???? I scrambled and found us some public land to hunt and did manage to take a small antlerless deer for some meat.
Fast forward to 1yr later EXACTLY, Dec 6, 2015 I called him and he answered and apologized over and over, he swore he was sick and near death when all this happened. Being the optimistic person I tend to be we started communicating back and forth through texts and FB messages. He was insistent that we schedule a rifle hunt in Missouri for this fall 2016 and that the hunt for both of us would be free to make up debacle from the year before. So we went ahead and lined up the hunt. I mean it is Missouri and tags are a lot cheaper than Iowa and they are over the counter and we could buy once we got up there. So again we plan everything out, work overtime and timeswaps to get the time off from work. Fast forward to Nov 10 of this fall and we leave out for the hunt. This whole time we are talking with Andy by phone and texting back and forth. All seems to be going well and we are excited for the upcoming hunt. When we arrive in the "south" camp in the town of Bloomfield, Iowa we go to the South Fork Motel to check in and meet up with him. When I went to check in the clerk advised me that she did not have any rooms reserved for that Outfitter. Well as you could guess my stomach just dropped to the floor. I knew right there and then that he'd done it again. I tried calling him, but he would not answer he did send me a text and told us to go to another motel in town called The Martin. We arrive there and sure enough we had a room, but he was nowhere to be found. There was however 8 other hunters standing around wanting to know where this outfitter was at. I told them, "Boys he ain't coming".......... and to be frank he never did. So we just kicked back and shook our heads. We went to a local restaurant for diner and in speaking with the waitresses we found out that his name wasn't very well liked around town. The next morning being super cold and opening morning would have been the best day of the year and of course we are sitting in a motel with no where to hunt. Now let me say this we did not pay the advertised $3500 for the hunt as the other guys in camp did, but we still were out a lot of time and money for other expenses. At 5:27 on opening morning he sent me this exact text. "My apologies. Will be down there by lunch to get you out hunting. I will make it right with you. My guide that was supposed to meet you is not answering." We all got the same text at the same time and we all were there from 11:30-1:30 waiting for him to show up. You guessed it we never heard another word from him.
As we were all waiting a truck pulled up and this guy gets out and introduces himself. His name was B.J. and he was the owner of the South Fork Motel and Restaurant there in town and had heard about all the guys who had got screwed by Andy. He then proceeds to tell us that Andy owes him a large sum of money for rooms and feeding hunters the previous fall. He also tells us Andy owes the Mayor of the towna large sum for the rental of a house in town that he supposedly uses for a "guide" house. The Iowa DNR sent 2 wardens out and a Davis County deputy took all of our information and then informed us that this was not the first time they had heard his name. So long story short this guy is a professional con man and will steal you blind. We did manage to run into some other Georgia boys while eating at the restaurant that Saturday night and secured a farm to hunt down around Kirksville. We ended up making the best out of a bad situation and taking a couple of big does after passing some smaller bucks.
I am not looking for any sympathy as it is what it is I just hope to save someone else the headache, heart break and money to this guy. He usually comes to The GON Blast and multiple other outdoor shows throughout the summer season. He has all the right things to hook hunters, big bucks and a nice booth, but beware he has a forked tongue and will leave you high and dry. Now I will say this he does post some big deer from time to time, but where he gets them I have no clue? In two trips up there I have yet to see the man face to face. much less hunt any awesome ground he promises. Just know if you book with this guy you were warned............. Google is your friend, use it.
