Snipe Creek Lodge
Snipe Creek Lodge
Rated 4.25 out of 5.0 based on 36 Outfitter reviews.
Contact: Carl Doron
Location: Murray, Kentucky
Species Hunted: Whitetail Deer, Turkey
State(s) Hunted: KY
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Submitted by: Scott Prouse
Review Submitted: Dec 16, 2012
Hunt Date: Nov 22, 2012
Species Hunted: Whitetail Deer
Days Hunted: 4
Hunt Type: Guided
Primary Terrain: Farmland
Method: Rifle
Price Range: 2000-2999
Number of animals seen, met expectations?
Size of animals seen, met expections?
Hunting pressure in the guides area, met expectations?
Would you hunt with this Guide again?
Know before you go....
I don't want this to sound like sour grapes. Fair chase hunting is what it is and it means you are not always going to tag out. I had fun on this trip, the accomodations were great, and the food was excellent. The guides, the lodge owner, and the camp coordinator are all FANTASTIC people. I even scored on a buck, although certainly not the buck I'd come there to hunt. All that said, Snipe Creek is much more about hype than hunting. One of the guys in the camp referred to it as a 'hunter mill' and that's the best description I can come up with. When I called Carl, I told him that I and my friend could come any time, and when was the 'best' time to hunt mature deer. Carl promptly said it was during Thanksgiving and that hunters in camp would be 'minimal'. When we showed up, 'minimal' was 17 hunters in the south camp and we were told 35 in the north camp. 52 hunters at the very end of the season. Certainly makes you wonder what the numbers looked like at the 'peak' of the rut. Unfortunately for us, the big bucks were either rutted out, shot out, or moved out. With a bunch of hunters in the woods, hunting 10-12 hours a day, NOBODY was seeing or shooting anything big. The explanation seems to be now, that it was all weather related. But it was only warm the first two days of the four days there and the last two days were cold and clear. Did that make a difference? Nope. There was no improvement at all in the quality of big deer seen. The simple truth seems to be that too many hunters had been pushed through there and the vast majority of mature deer were already gone by that point in time. Carl is religious about putting all big deer on the website to promote the hunting there. What he posts is impressive if he had about 50 hunters coming through there. It's much less so when you have probably 200 plus or so through there. I'm quite confident that the hunting staff knows they can't possibly supply the number of quality bucks that Carl is selling. Certainly they do their best, but it's an impossible situation that Carl is putting them in with the number of hunters he's booking through that place. I don't want to see them go out of business, but neither do I want to see other hunters getting Carl's speil about all the 'matures' he's going to put in front of them. The math just doesn't support what he's selling and while you can have a great time at Snipe Creek, these are really expensive lottery tickets in regards to a big buck. Do they have some big deer? Absolutely. The pictures speak for themselves. But the untold part of the story is how MANY people are coming through there and what the real success rate is. Every big kill is well press agented on the website, but what's missing, is the actual success rate on those deer. They keep logs, they know what was killed and how many hunters came through. They could put that information out, but choose not to. And the Thanksgiving time period is especially bad for big deer. They are not in the 'seeking phase' of the rut, they are post rut and any survivors are laying low or nocturnal. We saw no rut activity at all. The buck to doe ratio is such that smaller bucks undoubtly get to do some of the breeding. Nothing was chasing or even checking out does. You're chances are considerably less during that time period, not better. So forget this business about 'it was warm' and just a happenstance that success rates were 'down' this year. It was a result of the hunting pressure brought on by too many hunters chasing the available deer. Carl leases a lot of land in the area, but a lot of it is small farms, of less than 200 acres. You and the locals are all chasing the same small number of available mature deer. So, if you want a fun hunt and a decent chance at 100-120 inch deer, then jump on Snipe Creek. You will have a decent chance of seeing something in that category. But the monsters, while there, are not there in the numbers Carl would lead you to believe. Especially in relation to the number of hunters he's booking. We never saw Carl after we paid for the hunt, and I don't believe that was by accident. He knows what the deal is. Good luck and good hunting.
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Submitted by: Dan Church
Review Submitted: Dec 4, 2012
Hunt Date: Nov 22, 2012
Species Hunted: Whitetail Deer
Days Hunted: 4
Hunt Type: Guided
Primary Terrain: Farmland
Method: Rifle
Price Range: 2000-2999
Number of animals seen, met expectations?
Size of animals seen, met expections?
Hunting pressure in the guides area, met expectations?
Would you hunt with this Guide again?
snipe creek: "expect to hear excuses"
carl doran is a used car salesman! let me first say- good food and nice staff. this place is the wal-mart of hunting... its all about volume. not the number of deer you see, but the number of hunters he can run through his establishment. he told us there would be 10 to 12 hunters in camp. that was true. but there were 3 other camps! one of his guides said and i quote: " its been a crazy year, we had 70 hunters hunting the other day and not a single kill". this place is a ripoff. carl is a hell of a salesman. his secret hunt plan he speaks of is this: i'll sale you whatever hunt im having trouble filling and make it sound like the hunt of a lifetime. save your money folks. 200+ hunters this year and about 4 bucks over 135. you do the math. if you are looking to relax for a few days and you dont really care about the actual hunt, this is the place for you. he'll get your money and thats all he wants. and dont think this is sour grapes. ive hunted out of state several times where i didnt tag out. i understand its hunting and things happen. lets just say i feel he is less than honest. he is a hard worker there is no doubting that. the deer are pressured heavily at this place.
Submitted by: Johnnie Sapp
Review Submitted: Nov 29, 2012
Hunt Date: Nov 21, 2012
Species Hunted: Whitetail Deer
Days Hunted: 4
Hunt Type: Guided
Primary Terrain: Farmland
Method: Rifle
Price Range: 2000-2999
Number of animals seen, met expectations?
Size of animals seen, met expections?
Hunting pressure in the guides area, met expectations?
Would you hunt with this Guide again?
snipe creek con
the outfitter Carl oversells the potential of the property greatly. booked in jan, and stated we could come at any time. he wound up selling the last week of the "so called rut". Rut was surely over when we arrived, no bucks chasing and deer has constant pressure throughout season. Party killed cull buck and 2 1/2 8pt that was not of trophy status. The guides worked hard to help but ended up rotating same stands day in/out. Head guide Jason was great. He was very knowledgable and logged excessive hours. food and lodging were first rate. For the $2500 dollars they ask, you can find much better trophy potential. Don't let Carl cash in on you.
Outfitter Response: Mature whitetails and deer in general prefer the cold ground and shade in November when the temperatures are at 70 degrees and wendy conditions exist, which are exactly what the conditions were on the dates of said hunt. With no presure of required foraging to stay warm when its 70 degrees, deer and especially big , fat heavy matures are quite contented to relax , loaf and lounge in a very narrow spot,which if you find your self hunting on hot conditions nature is in full control of your hunt. No one likes that, I dont like it either. Its well documented the high number of huge bucks that are seen and killed on the Snipe program when favorable movement conditions exist.
Submitted by: Steve Lovingood
Review Submitted: Feb 12, 2012
Hunt Date: Feb 12, 2012
Species Hunted: Whitetail Deer
Days Hunted: 0
Hunt Type: Guided
Primary Terrain:
Method: Rifle
Price Range:
Number of animals seen, met expectations?
Size of animals seen, met expections?
Hunting pressure in the guides area, met expectations?
Would you hunt with this Guide again?
IMPRESSIVE HUNTS , DEER, AND KNOWLEDGE!
Hunted here in 2008,2009,2010, & 2011 (bow,rifle, and powder) Always see huge bucks. Excellent Stand Placement with no pressure. Lots of Prime beatiful deer hunting land ABSOLUTELY loaded with relaxed deer. Buck to doe ratio 1 to 1 .My wife and I always see more bucks then does. The rut action and shooter bucks seen is insane.3-4 bucks on the same doe. Food plots are literly located every where and are always prestinely maintained and loaded with relaxed and unpressured deer.Truely an amazing mature hunt program. My wife and I return each year, and have never failed to see and kill impressive deer. We always feel catered to by staff and the guides are very friendly and knowledgeable of the deer and terrain where they guide. Over the past 4 years we have hunted both early the season and rut. The past 2 years I have been exceedingly happy, because I have tagged out in the first 2 days of opening bow season. I have posted pics of a few deer that I have taken at Snipe Creek. Feel free to e-mail me if you have questions, I'd enjoy telling you all I know about this outfitter.
Submitted by: Joe Gerber
Review Submitted: Jan 29, 2012
Hunt Date: Nov 2, 2009
Species Hunted: Whitetail Deer
Days Hunted: 3
Hunt Type: Guided
Primary Terrain: Farmland
Method: Rifle
Price Range: 1000-1999
Number of animals seen, met expectations?
Size of animals seen, met expections?
Hunting pressure in the guides area, met expectations?
Would you hunt with this Guide again?
hunt from hell
this was the worst outfitted hunt i was ever on i would never recommend this outfitter to anybody if you would like to no how our hunt went fill free to email me at joegerber33@yahoo.com
Submitted by: Ralph Crisp
Review Submitted: Jun 20, 2011
Hunt Date: Nov 13, 2010
Species Hunted: Whitetail Deer
Days Hunted: 2
Hunt Type: Guided
Primary Terrain: Farmland
Method: Rifle
Price Range: 1000-1999
Number of animals seen, met expectations?
Size of animals seen, met expections?
Hunting pressure in the guides area, met expectations?
Would you hunt with this Guide again?
Snipe Creek Lodge
Hunted with Carl Doron, owner, guiding. Carl put me on a big whitetail with the gun season only one hour old....a running 186 pound seven point....tagged him with a "reflex" like lung shot....He just kept going like nothing happened....Guides heard the shot and came to me right away....got my deer and took photos....had an awesome time in camp...great Cajun food, a fish fry,,,sat around a big fire, slept like a log, couldn't have been treated better or had a better time. Saw other hunters take real nice bucks.....everyone was happy. Can't wait to go back!!! One more thing....Carl really pays attention to the wind direction and his hunt plan...he also puts a lot of planning into the hunts to keep pressure off the deer. "Expect To Be Impressed!" You won't be disappointed.
First Page
Contact: Phil Rutt
Location: Buffalo, Wyoming
Species Hunted: Whitetail Deer, Elk, Mule Deer, Black Bear, Pronghorn Antelope, Mountain Lion, Coyote
State(s) Hunted: WY
Utah Hunting Information
Utah has recently been outstanding for trophy elk, but the best tags take many years to draw. Utah does have conservation tags available for purchase that allow hunters to bypass the drawing. Given the high demand for these premium tags prices can be high. In the past Utah has been a top trophy mule deer state but recently only a handful of units consistently produce B&C caliber deer.
New Mexico Hunting Information
New Mexico is one of the top destinations for trophy Elk and Antelope hunting. Draw odds can be tough depending on the unit but landowner tags are also available for those who don't draw. Mule Deer are plentiful but generally of average size. Only a couple of units and reservations consistently produce big muleys.
Colorado Hunting Information
Colorado is one of the best western states for trophy mule deer hunting and has the largest population of elk in the west.
