Chain Ranch

Chain Ranch Total Scam and Absolute Customer Service and Hunting Nightmare, Internet

17th of Mar, 2011 by User793505

Being an avid deer hunter myself and the daughter of what my family and friends call as “the ultimate outdoorsman,” my father and I were pretty excited when we finally decided to go on a hog hunt at the Chain Ranch. Our excitement was nearly immediately drained within hours of pulling into the ranch. When we got there, there was no one to greet us and we had no idea what to do. We made our way to the “lodge,” which more like a trailer with three rooms and bunk beds crammed into them, and found we had to wait for Mason (the guy we booked the trip through) to get there. After talking to one of the other 7 or so hunters (all which were obviously good buddies with Mason or others on the ranch) we find out that its not only 100 dollars to shoot a hog but also the 100 dollar “hunting fee.” On the website it says that it is 100 dollars to shoot a hog and 50 dollars for the option of cleaning it. Says nothing about a hunting fee. Just a simple misunderstanding, which happens, so we didn’t get uptight about it. My dad and I eventually meet Mason. He barely says hi to us and we take a seat at the table Mason is sitting at. He doesn’t talk to us unless we ask him a question, and the responses are practically one word answers. Ok, so maybe he’s
a little shy, little did we find out that wasn’t the case. He just didn’t care about the hogs, the hunters, the lodge, and the blinds. One of the first things we hear him say to another guy in the lodge is how much he hates hogs and cant stand being around them…etc. A couple of other guys on a hog hunt arrive and get an even less greeting then we did. They try to ask Mason where to put their stuff and Mason would just look down and would mumble a few things that couldn’t be made out. They proceed to
ask where the range is to practice a few shots and he says “down there” and waves his hand a little. The other hunter then had to ask at least 5 more questions to figure out where the range was. Even then the directions were a little hard to follow. When it comes time to hunt, which was around 3 (which in my opinion is a little early on a hot spring day) Mason starts up this very run down, old, junky, stinky suburban and tell me and my father and the other hunters that were treated poorly earlier that day to pile in and he will transport us to the blinds (which sit over a feeder). Riding in dead silence, my dad tries to make conversation with Mason and the same thing happens again, little phrases we could barely make out. We finally arrive at the blind. Mason doesn’t give us any information on when the feeder goes off, where the hogs come in, and other general info you would expect to receive. The blinds were just the average metal boxes with windows cut in the sides, oh yea and there was rat feces covering the floor. It didn’t really bother me that bad, but out of courtesy
for the hunters, I figured they would keep up the blinds a little better than that. As the sun starts to set it doesn’t take us long to figure out the sun will set directly in our eyes. Even if the hogs came out, there would be no way for me to even see through the scope to make the shot. Also my dad was hoping to videotape me shooting a hog but no way could the video capture any images in that sun. So we spent about 2 and a half of the 4 and a half hours we sat there looking down at the ground to avoid staring into the sun. We saw absolutely nothing. We were pretty upset when we learned our hunt was over, we sat for 4 and a half in rat feces and saw nothing, and we just lost 100 dollars. Mason comes and picks us and the other guys (who also saw nothing) up from our blinds and drops us off at the ranch. Immediately after getting out of the truck we have a fairly long conversation with the other hunters and decide The Chain Ranch is a total scam. They said that their hunting set up was so impractical that they gave up on waiting for hogs to come in a couple hours into sitting there, which was also true for us. They had a several night trip booked and they left the first night without even saying goodbye (which they didn’t say hi to them so I feel they had no reason to say goodbye). My dad and I decide to check out our room then decide what we were going to do. We walk in the lodge and 3 quail
hunters and one of their wives were in there waiting. They tell us that Mason said we were in one of the rooms. The rooms had bunk beds crammed in them and after counting the beds and hunters (if the other two guys had stayed) it became apparent that they had overbooked. In the room we were suppose to be in, the ranch hand was living in there, the sheets where dirty, and the mattresses were so old and run down we immediately decided we could not stay there and decided to get a room in Seiling, because we were also planning on fishing at Canton Lake the next day. Out of curiosity I look online to find some reviews on the Chain Ranch, which I wish I had done before the trip. Total scam. I read two other reviews of very dissatisfied customers. I also go and look at the Chain Range website again when I got home. I also remember Mason telling us that they had no mule deer on the ranch in Canton, however on the site it shows many pictures of trophy mule deer. This led me to wonder what other pictures of animals which may have not been harvested at the Chain Ranch. They may have been harvested at a different location than the ranch in Canton but none the less, they should put a caption on the picture of where the animal was taken and when, instead of misleading people into thinking they will harvest a trophy animal. Hopefully I can keep other hopeful hunters from falling under the same trap that we did. I cannot believe they can stay in business with this kind of customer service and horrible hunting. It felt the whole time as if we were part of some kind of
sick joke. I wish there was some place to report this kind of activity but if I can keep one person from not going to the Chain Ranch I would consider this article a success. At least we learned a few things: don’t go back to the Chain Ranch and always read the reviews before. Again, if you are considering The Chain Ranch, don’t. I would hate to think that they are still scamming people the way they scammed us.

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