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I visited Tombstone Creek Outfitters for a rut hunt in the fall of 2015. This semi guided hunt was my first out of state trip. The hunt was a bust for me for several reasons. I could have worked harder and spent more time scouting and setting up new stands, but I put too much faith in Tombstone having stands and locations that were suitable for hunting. The hunting properties looked phenomenal on topographic maps, but there was an insane amount of pressure put on these deer, especially the farms closer to the lodge. We were promised one of the farms we could hunt hadn’t been hunted in almost a month. After wasting two days and seeing a couple deer, we pulled one of their memory cards in their camera and checked it. There were hunters in the property the day before we arrived....and it was one of Tombstone Creek guys with a client. The deer stands they had in place were not safe and had not been maintained for years. I almost climbed into a ladder stand, but something didn’t look right. The oak it was in was totally rotten and the ladder stand was actually keeping the tree from falling down. The accommodations weren’t special, but most definitely adequate. However, they were not kept in working order either. Simple things like outside light bulbs being burned out and not replaced. Our heater in our bunkhouse had no dial, and we needed to use pliers. Not only was the heater bad, but there was no carbon monoxide detector in the bunk either. We didn’t use the heater due to no carbon monoxide detector. I left two days early because I was upset about the unsafe conditions and lack of effort they put into their outfit. I voiced my concerns with the ownership and was refunded most of my money. I hope they have addressed the safety issues with their outfit. If you book this hunt, be prepared to do everything on your own and try to hunt the properties further from camp.
Corey
I went with Corey and two other guys on this hunt in the fall of 2015 and I witnessed what Corey has described above. Although I was successful on this hunt, I was let down in many of the same ways as Corey. When we returned to the lodge at night and voiced our concerns about deer sightings, stand set locations and stand safety, it fell on deaf ears. I personally witnessed the staff gripe about other clients behind their backs and even about the owner, Paul Korn, stating, "He never pays us for anything and can't buy us the equipment we need." I checked out several of the marked "food plots" on the property maps we had been given and was shocked to see bare dirt plots with failed or faltering plantings. None of these locations were attracting deer. We finally located a farm that the staff seemingly knew nothing about and had not walked yet. There were no stands set up in the remote portions of this property and I used a climber to hunt this area. After locating a great funnel and tons of buck sign, I was able to connect on a nice buck at the last minute. I was fine putting in the work myself to get it done on this hunt, but if that’s not what you’re looking for then this place is not for you. They do kill a lot of bucks on those properties, but they run a ton of hunters through there too. I was left with the impression that they didn't want us to kill bucks so they could sell more hunts for the bucks they had pics of. We hunted close to camp, so maybe things are different on some of the remote properties. I would not hunt from their stand sets. Mike