Problems from the outset. I booked this hunt with two friends and my father. We initiated the booking in December of 2007 and January of 2008. The dates we needed were the weekend after thanksgiving. The problem was that the outfitter did not express the fact of the ranch being closed on Thanksgiving. Nor did he realize the dates that we requested were on that weekend. To his credit he did make arrangements for us to hunt after I informed him that some of us had already booked flights and it was those dates or return our money. One problem in the hunt was that my father has MS and is hit or miss on a weekly basis. Rusty was made aware of this in the early fall months ahead of the hunt. At the time he told me to let him know and if my father could not make it he would roll the deposit into my hunt or allow me to use it for other purposes. The week before the hunt my father ended up going into the hospital for tests and was not up to hunting. I called Rusty and informed him of this two days before our hunt. He stated that he could not give me that money back and would have allowed me to use it if he had more notice so he could fill the other spot. I have two problems with that. One, he had already told me he would as I had informed him of the possibility long in advance. Two, the ranch was supposed to be closed that weekend, who would he have gotten to fill in? So I ate the extra half a cost of hunting with him. After arrival we were greeted and Rusty explained what he counts as a point as his whitetail hunts are 8 or 9 points only and an extra fee of $1000 is assessed for anything over that count. Rusty explained that extra points off of a main point count, broken tines count and even a broken beam will be counted as a mirror of the opposite side. After we had booked, the website had been changed to read 8 or 9 point only. We were under the impression that if no deer meeting this criteria were seen a smaller buck could be taken. We were mistaken there also. Any buck under 8 shot points also had a fee assessed. $1000 in fact. The same fee for shooting a larger buck. No where on the website is that stated. All of these things set aside, we were convinced it would be a good hunt. So we headed off to the bunk house Rusty has on his website. But the guide was instructed to take us to the Crowell Guest House. Cozy, clean and two showers. But not the bunk house advertised and paid for. Not complete with a lake where catch and release fishing could be had. In fact Rusty had his family in town for the holidays. They stayed in the lodge that I had paid for. Also during the hunt, family members brought in an assortment of whitetail bucks. Some in the right categories we were imposed upon, some not. But hey, they are family. Onto the hunting. Rusty leases a large chunk of a working cattle ranch. The five stands that were made available to use were metal tower stands with metal siding. Not too bad. Feeders were all functional and full. Cattle were seen underneath almost every feeder every day. I personally witnessed cattle run smaller bucks out from under the feeders three times. When the trophy animals were not showing up, our guide decided to take us out for some hog hunts. The area he had located had some hog traps placed by someone else. We located the culprit. It turned out to be the ranch manager. When our guide informed Rusty he talked to the ranch manager about it as the land had indeed been leased for our hunting. In the end Rusty told our guide to stay out of the area. We did not get to hunt hog in the only area showing sign. It all ended up that each of us took a doe, one hunter saw an eight point that barely qualified and shot him, we were able to stalk up three hogs (due only to the vast capabilities of the guide, which he was later reprimanded for) and two of us got turkeys. All in all this was a very expensive hunt for me to take a small hog, a small doe and two turkeys. I will not be back. The guide Josh Sharp was top notch and I will hunt with him again as soon as I can.

I totally agree with meantree as i was his guide there. I no longer guide for Raggedy Creek Ranch and would not recommend it to anyone. There are some good deer there but no effort is made by the owner to increase the sucess rate of the hunters nor will he let the guides take initiative to do so. My hunters there was great but the experience was not what i was looking for. They are not organized and they do nothing to manage the whitetail. 

I normally have one of these complaints to respond to each year. I consider that very minimal considering the number of hunters that hunt with us each season. When talking with Mr Roundtree and setting up his hunt dates, we had agreed on the dates of Dec 3-Dec 8, because I enter the dates in my callender date book. When his booking sheet was recieved the office did not check to make sure all information was correct, such as the dates. When it was discovered several months later that the dates were incorrect he was imediately notified. As he stated he was accomadated for those dates as we felt that it was our mistake for not catching that immediately. I recall no prior conversation as to the full credit of the deposit. I know of no Ranch that offers such a credit. As for the type of buck that that was to be taken, our web site has always stated 8 or 9 points only. One only needs to call any hunter that has ever hunted with us to verify this. Now we get to Josh the guide. Josh is a very capable young man. However this was his first opportunity to guide deer hunters as his experiance was limited to East Texas hog hunting. Josh had a problem, among others, of not following instructions. If you beat the brush in this country you drive the game from the area. That is why we blind hunt and cannot let the guides take "initiative". I would not want to come on a hunt where the group before me had beat the brush and driven the game from the area. We have been in business for 8 years now and hope to be her for years to come. Without management practices in place we could not continue to take quality deer each year. I say again, if you as a hunter have situations that you are not happy with, discuss them with your outfitter while you are there. Don't wait until you get home to become a Man and get on your computer.

Thank You,

Rusty Moore  

As a former hunter at this ranch allow me to say how disappointed the entire hunting camp was with Raggedy Creek Ranch. The website explained there were over 25,000 acres to hunt. We were secluded to an area no larger than 2,000 acres and we stayed in that area for the entire hunt. Also, cattle were constantly present around the blinds which is never a good thing for deer hunting. Next, of the 6 hunters in camp, only 2 shot bucks and neither was over 100 inches. A couple doe were killed during the hunt, ONE pig was seen, and NO turkeys were even witnessed by anyone during our stay. The lodging, food, and guide were all great but the hunting was dreadful. As was mentioned above, Rusty's fee schedule for deer is a bit peculiar and quite difficult to judge in the field. Luckily for our group none of us saw anything larger than an 8-9 point and those sightings were rare. Until they change up their routine and open up more lands for hunting, I would advise hunters to look elsewhere i their pursuit for "trophy" animals.