A group of 4 recently hunted with Larry Gene Pate, owner of Texas Prairie Dog Safaris, in Lubbock. Huge waste of money. He has access to 1 (ONE!) PD town. One ranch with only one town. That is it. Needless to say that town is shot out. He hunts that one poor town practically every day. 4 guys killed less than 10 dogs in 4+ hours. Most shots were over 800 yards. You shoot from 2 trailers that he apparently NEVER MOVES. The few dogs left in that town live on the far edge of the town, 1000+ yards away. I would estimate we saw around 20 PD's in 4+ hours (most at over 1000 yards), with most running quickly from inside of one mound to inside of another mound. I would not recommend this guide to anyone.

Please note, I take no joy in writing a negative review of a hunting guide. I just do not want others to experience what we experienced. After booking this trip a year in advance, loading 100s of loads, spending a considerable amount of time to site-in 3 guns, learn valid ballistics on them at all yardages, travel, motel, etc, this trip sucked!

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I heard... I heard... that he had a stroke and hence he is having a lot of difficulty in a lot of areas.... sad.

,Seems like that would be all the more reason for him to inform people in advance.

He never mentioned having a stroke, nor did he have any signs of being a victim of stroke. He did tell us, at least 3 times, about his prior intestinal problems. He said he had surgery. It appears that was several years ago.

Just an update. We emailed Pate shortly after the trip and let him know we were very disappointed in the hunt (we also told him this in person) and asked for a refund. He never replied.

Yep, another rip off . Thanks for this information. We deserve to know this type of info. I've been ripped off on several hunting and fishing trips.

Let me say thanks also, you have saved several of us here on THF a lot of our hard earned money, not to mention all the aggravation.

Another update. Finally, after 11 days Pate responded. We asked for a full refund of $225 each for a full days hunt for 4. We originally booked a two day hunt and prepaid for one full day ($900). After a few hours all parties agreed a second day of hunting was not going to happen.

He has now replied that he will only refund 1/2 of the daily rate ($450), as we actually "hunted" for 1/2 of a day. He also put two other hunters with us for that 1/2 day, 6 total. The other hunters also left after 4 hours as well. So if he refunds us $450 he still made $900 for 4 hours of "work".

I will post if and when we actually receive the refund.

I am just trying to be fair to Mr. Pate and post all the updated details. My complaint is really not so much about the money as it is about about pulling in people through a website for a hunt that truly is a waste of time and effort IMO.

You are doing this completely on the square JM, props to you

Final Update:

Our group did receive a partial refund of $450, which was appreciated. In truth, the refund came after one of the other hunters threatened to hire an attorney.

Moral of the story, research your guided hunts, check references and do not rely on the guide's website alone. Also, ask questions. If we had simply asked "How many prairie dog towns do you hunt?" and he responded "One" we would have never booked the hunt.