Walhonding Valley Taxidermy

note: The following reviews predate the numeric rating system and are not included in this outfitter's overall rating.

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outfitter review submitted by: Jimmy Hepner on Jan 14 2004

Species Hunted: Black Bear

Game Quality: Good

Accommodation Quality: Good

Camp Condition: Good

Food Quality: Perfect!!!

Guide Experience: Excellent

Other Personal Experience: Excellent

Overall Impression: Excellent

Recommend: Yes

Reviewer Comments: We hunted this past fall (2003)at Bucklore for the first time. Anthony runs a top-notch operation and works very hard for his hunters. Even if we didn't see a bear all week, this would have been a successful hunt. Anthony feeds you like a king and entertains you the whole time. The food was incredible! He works non-stop and rarely sleeps while you're there. Four of us hunted the first week of Bear season and 3 of us killed one the first evening and the other guy killed a bear on the third evening. Granted this may have been one of his better years according to him, but if the conditions are right (weather and quantity of food in the woods), you do what he tells you, he will do everything in his power to get you in position. He knows what he's doing! On top of all this, he's priced very reasonable.

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outfitter review submitted by: Thomas West on Dec 16 2002

Species Hunted: Whitetails

Game Quality: Fair

Accommodation Quality: Fair

Camp Condition: Good

Food Quality: Excellent!

Guide Experience: Guide is very good.

Other Personal Experience: N/A

Overall Impression: Great!

Recommend: Yes. Read comments section.

Reviewer Comments: Fellow Sportsmen: I have put quite a number of reviews on this site and I try to be in depth and fair. In this manner my fellow hunters know what their hard earned dollars are buying. I am fairly critical, but try to be very honest. I am glad that I can put a review on here with almost no complaints. Bucklore Hunting Adventures is the real deal, pure and simple. I hunted this season with Tony Platoni for the last week of rifle season. His operation is small, he only takes four hunters fully guided. He has a lodge available for semi-guided hunts and I will tell you about that shortly. The price is 850 bucks for a five day hunt, Monday thru Friday. Tony leases private farms for exclusive hunting for his clients. He gets you out on stand way before daylight (which is something I demand on my hunts)and his stand sights are productive. His areas are farms that butt up against the big woods of the Adirondack Park in St Lawrence County in New York. These farms are crawling with deer and there are some big wall hangers running around on them. Tony tries everything humanly possible to get you a deer. He has Deer Management Assistance Permits available so you can shoot a buck and a doe. I will be honest with you. On the hunt I was on I killed a small buck (little rack, big body)and no big racks were taken. All small racked bucks and does were killed, however, one big giant was seen, and you have to bear in mind this was the last week of the season. What impressed me was the fact that the owner (also the guide, cook, and everything else) worked extremely hard for you. The man will walk everyone in to their stand, gut your deer, drag your deer, take your deer to the butcher shop, and cook you a delicious meal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! The food is nothing short of incredible. The man is truly amazing in the kitchen. He is also a former restaurant owner so that may have something to do with it. You will not go away hungry and the food quality is second to none. He also has a lodge which you can rent for a semi-guided hunt. This is two hundred dollars cheaper and consists of him giving you a couple of his deer leases to hunt on. He shows you where his stands are and has dinner waiting for you back at the lodge every night. Breakfast and lunch are your responsibility. This is a decent deal for the money. The only complaints I can come up with are that the lodge you stay in for the fully guided hunt is very small. You sleep in bunk beds that are uncomfortable, unless you place some extra padding, like a sleeping bag, over your mattress. If you do that you will sleep fine. The lodge is small for four hunters and gear, but you can make due. About the only other complaint you could come up with is that most of the stands are ladder stands with no shooting rail around them. So you are forced to shoot unsupported. I carried a shooting stick up into each stand with me and it worked out well. The stands are also used for bow hunters so this may have something to do with the type Tony has chosen. All in all, I would have to highly recommend Bucklore. For the small amount of money you pay for five full days of hunting, lodging, and wonderful food, it is a very good value. I have paid three hundred a day for hunts down south that were terrible. This place is run right and that means a lot. You have a chance to kill a nice buck and a meat doe. I saw deer that were killed the week prior to us in Tony's skinning shed and there are some big bucks on his leases. Give this man a call and see what he has to say. Good hunting!

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