After getting my quality whitetails magazine and seeing another ad for "the premier trophy whitetail destination" I needed to post this, yes I'm talking about CIO outdoors or Central Illinois Outfitters.

I booked two hunts, my dad and I, with Dick McCormick to hunt the Jersey farm, this farm was recommended by both him and Leo Smith. After hearing all about this outfitter on all the hunting shows, magazines, even QDMA I figured if I was going to do an outfitted hunt these guys would be the best. I was told that this property was near a small city and was college land, but the deer were used to humans, BS.

We drove from Kansas to Illinois, and got to the house finally after driving past it since hey didn't have the sign out. We unloaded our stuff to see that the furniture was lawn chairs and mattresses on the floor. Not what you would expect for a paid hunt. The accommodations or lack there of were fine, we were ready to get out and hunt some monsters.

Well the first day I sat all day and saw four deer, no bucks, and nothing in range.

Second day more of the same, hunted a ground blind in the evening but had to move it because someone from the college complained, no deer offering shots. Haven't seen a racked buck, maybe 1 or 2 spikes and fork horns.

Third day, sat all day and had ver little action until 4:20 when I had two joggers come underneath my stand on the trail I'm hunting, I ask them to go another way. Then at 5:30 I have two mountain bikers come down the same trail, I ask them to go another way, they ignore me and continue on the trail. Didn't see any deer that evening.

Fourth day, in the morning I have 3 people and a dog come underneath my stand at 10:00. Saw a few deer that morning still no bucks to speak of. That evening hunted a stand and finally saw some deer, two bucks that might push 100 and one that was half a mile away that looked decent, maybe 140.

My last day the guide decided to put me in a stand, 1 mile from where I saw the buck the evening before. Didn't see anything, felt like the woods were dead. Got down and started walking out at 9:30 when I noticed a blood trail! This was not from any of there hunters either. That evening I hunted a ground blind near where that buck was and saw a few deer. Had some does come in close right at dark and was going to shoot one but could hardly see my pins.

The stands were awful, tiny seats, and ripped up pads. Some stands didn't have bow ropes or hooks.

I have tried to contact Dick or Leo and neither one will respond to me. I still receive spam emails about rebooking for next year on one of their "trophy managed properties"

So many other things went wrong on this hunt and I'm sure I've left some things out but after seeing the ad in QW I had to let people know.

Man that bites. I am here gritting my teeth and rolling in laughter on the joggers and other traffic going by you. I have this visual, but man I would be pissed. Sorry about all that. Hope you get some resolution.

That sucks! What did you pay? LMAO at the joggers! Sorry about that!

It really was funny when it happened, they were less than 5 yards from my stand and when I stopped them they asked what I was doing and I said "well I'm trying to deer hunt"

When it was all said and done, over $7,000, this was supposed to be a once in a lifetime hunt that we would remember forever...we won't forget it that's for sure.

So was this hunt at the towns park???or public land???

A paid hunt and you had joggers and bikers runnin around the woods?! I'd be pissed. Sorry man!

There making a TV show for 08 called "CIO Land Of Giants" Maybe they should rename it "CIO Land Of Joggers??""

Maybe you should let them know if they don't respond you will be contacting their sponsors or whoever is airing their shows, or something.

I posted this on the qdma forums so that should get the word out alright. Leo was talking big about them becoming the only outfitter to become endorsed by the qdma. When I get time I'll post on one of those outfitter review sites.

Oh yea Mike Stroff of southern outdoor experience is the one doing their show and he was hunting Dick's personal property, most likely for free.

I sent them an email with no response so I think they are too busy promoting their new show.

Why were there people on the hunting property? I would ask for my money back unless they said to expect to see bikers and dogs around your stand. You can hunt East Texas much cheaper.

I am sorry you had that type of experience. But, for all that money you paid I would have put my foot down as soon as I saw the accomodations!! I surely would have bowed my neck at the joggers and bikers coming by the stand. There would have been a mess to clean up for sure....arse woopins for everyone!!

It really didn't all hit me until it was over with. Fortunately when I went back to kansas I had about a 160-170 to hunt. I leased a ranch through an outfitter and he has let me hunt his own private places, one that they had seen 2 different 200"+. I'm going back up tomorrow for one last crack at it. It was nice to get back and hunt with someone that knew what it was all about and wasn't obsessed with money.

They did say there was a chance at seeing joggers, but they didn't have the place posted well, maybe 4 signs on 1,100 acres. Finding the blood trail was the worst part in my opinion.

I would wtite to a staff writer or put it in one of the magazine columns or all the magazines that thought that was a great hunt.

Tx Defender, do you have any emails from these guys saying what they offer like the lodge and stands and what you get for $7000 ? Or there website would be a start also. False advertising.I would chek into it with the JP for sure. If you have you can file in a small claims court to get some of your money back or all of it if you can prove the services were not correct as promised. I hate bad outfitters. ( May all the good one's rise to the top and all the bad one's sink to the bottom !!! ) Sorry about you bad trip ! I would try my best to sink his ship !

I' sure it was a horrible experience Roy.

And this is why we are forever suspicious of any guided hunt. I would call my lawyer.

SPrry bout that. Hope you get a response or money back

was the blood trail fresh? what was it from?

My dad was actually hunting near there two days before and he heard a diesel pull into a corn field behind him, he could hear two guys talking and cussin etc.

I am sure it was a deer trail. Shot from the stand I was hunting, followed it and it pooled up about 60 yards. Then there were drag marks back to the corn field where there were truck tracks.

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And this is why we are forever suspicious of any guided hunt. I would call my lawyer.

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Go easy there with your comments.

There are some of us on here, and some folks that ain't on here that do deliver what we advertise.

While there are some folks out there that do their best to screw hunters over, there are a bunch of folks that don't.

I feel bad for the man because of the conditions he ran into, but anyone contemplating doing a guided hunt, needs to keep their chit together and check out the guide/outfitter thoroughly, BEFORE committing.

The problem comes in on situations like this when the client stops paying attention to what is being said by the outfitter/guide and starts getting their hoppes built up about the hunt.

One of the first things a client should ask for and check out is a list of references.

Secondary to that, a client needs to listen to what is being said, and to what is not being said by the guide/outfitter.

I could do a whole thread on this subject by myself, but just because this person had a bad experience does not mean that ALL guides/outfitters are out to screw someone.

Try KickapooCreekOutfitters.com. Stan will treat you a lot better than this. You'll see deer, pigs, and turkey. The best part is that you can stay in Texas. He's located at Bronte, TX., south of Abilene. Great place...great people.

I called references, but I should have been more hesitant. Since they are on all the hunting shows, sponsor of qdma, etc. I figured that this is the kind of outfitter you don't have to worry about.

Also I went to Illinois to kill a monster buck, I have plenty of hunting available in texas and now I've found the "place" in kansas, so I don't need another outfitter. I just wanted to let everyone know, don't believe all that you see on tv

Well DICK called me today, I found out that DICK does not stand for Richard. I’m not real sure what the point of the converstation was. The only reason he called me was because another on of his hunters called him, even though a member of another board contacted him, which he acknowleded, it took an actual client, I guess he was worried about the possibility of the guy not rebooking. $$$

He didn’t even know about the blood trail that I found, among other things that went wrong on our hunt. It went on for 25 minutes on how I had my expectations set too high. That couldn’t be further from the truth, I hunted all season in kansas this year and didn’t kill anything, I’m still gonna go back next year. He tried to deny that Leo personally reccomended the Jersey farm, I was on the phone with DICK when it happened. DICK showed me how much class he and his operation has today.