I was reading passed experiences people were having with bad outfitters and decided to add a thread of my experience. I had been looking for a lease or day hunt for my girlfriend to harvest her first deer. I am a civil engineer student at Texas Tech and she works in customer service at the hospital so money was tight. After giving up on finding a place to hunt I ran across the Martinez Ranch post on craigslist. It felt sketchy because they had no refrences or website to look at, but beggers cant be choosers. The price was $75 a doe, $50 upon arrival and $25 upon harvest of the doe. My girlfriends sister lives in Uvalde and we would be there for a few days so lodging was no problem, even though they have a nice 3 bedroom cabin, so i decided to give Waylon (ranch guide) a call. we were set up for Dec 31 but was in San antonio that day so we pushed the day back a day to the first. we arrived at the gate on the first but had to head home after Waylon gave us a call they had left the ER due to his son eating some bad meat. He asked us to come back in the afternoon and see if he had any luck. Im used to spot and stalk so blind hunting was a bit new to me. That afternoon we decided to take my girlfriend's nephew so we could get him away from his xbox. We sat in there new atascosa blinds and saw a pair of bobcats and a small buck, as the sun hit the horizon a large boar ran passed the sendero to the right of us. Waylon tapped My girlfriend as told her to smoke him but she wanted to harvest a doe first. so i jumped at the opportunity when he said " If he comes back out, you smoke 'em, for free" its hard to pass up a free invitation plus i had never harvested a boar. as we sat watching a skitish 6 point the boar came out at 150yds and my gf's 10 year old nephew shouts in my ear "theres that pig!"..i chambered a round and let the lead fly.. my Hornady 130 gr round  plowed right through the heart, we watched as the hog ran 50yds then circled back to where i hit em and start kicking. after the high fives we took pictures and got the hog ready for processing. We were invited back the next morning because movement was slow so he offered us the morning hunt. ( we were offered the whole day for free  but we were headed to the Tech bowl game that night).. the next morning would have been great had we been on time. we were suppose to be at the gate at 6 but my gf hit the snooze button a few too many times and i got a call at 6:15 from waylon. i gave em a call back and we headed out arriving at the ranch a t 6:45. He told us he had another hunter in the stand we had been in the day before but the one we'd be in would be just as good. when we turn to head towards our blind, the sendero is packed with deer and the only way in is the sendero on the other side. we walked with the wind in our favor only to see a small buck right under the  blind..as we pushed him from the blind we spotted two does on the other side of the blind and got ready. as my gf got beside me to steady her self on the stix the other hunter took a shot spooking the does just enough for them to cross into the thick mesquites. with our hopes down waylon spots an old sloppy ear doe at the bottom of a dry creak 150 yds away, i had my gf to climb up the blind and take aim as we watched to make sure there was a hit or miss. after what felt like forever i hear the crack of her .243, but no wounded animal, the shot had sailed right under the doe.  we sat in the blind until 1o with no movement as we were leaving waylon offered us another hunt, he said " Its my mission in life now to get you a doe" my gf was bummed for a part of the day but i reassured her that it happens to everyone, i told her " your only a shooter until you miss, once you miss you become a hunter. then i reminded her of experince in New Mexico with a monster muley and she didnt feel as bad. we headed to the game and arrived back at the house at 3:30am and we had our hunt at 6:00. when i hear the alarm go off i go to wake up my gf and she decides shes too tired to go out, though she didnt want to go i headed out without her. in the blind we saw a a few does before light and when shooting hours came along i took my doe at 66yds. since my doe was down before 9  waylon took me around the ranch to see if we could see any of the hosses they had on the ranch. Sure enough we stalked up within 40yds on a 10 point 150-160 class buck, as he went off we saw a small 6. In that same spot as we gazed down the fence we spot 2 large bucks, large heavy 8 and a tall 10, we'd rattle the eight in but he'd head back to the does on the other side of the fence...we rattled some more and brought in a pair of spikes..i had to get out of there before i took a shot at a buck that would require me to leave my truck as payment. 

we had expected the minimum and got first class service. I hope to return the next year and take a buck. Waylon also said they were gonna get exotics for the next year and hopefully some bred does that produce bucks up 200"

I wrote this post because bad news travels faster than good, but i want to give the Martinez ranch credit for what they have done.

Give Waylon a call if you want great service during a hunt 210-487-9406