Monster Whitetail Outfitters

For someone who has never been on a semi guided hunt in another state I had an awesome time. I hope that my review can help someone in a similar situation. 2024 1st Week of Rifle I arrived to the camp on Friday around 1pm. Everything was a bit chaotic at first but there are a lot of people coming from all over the country. Things calmed down pretty quickly once everyone got unpacked and in their rooms. I stayed in the new lodge. which is a little extra(its totally worth it). Everything was awesome about the new lodge. Luckily we got to watch some football on Sunday in the great room. Plenty of bathrooms and room to move around. Food is pretty good. Breakfast is continental, lunch is sandwiches and leftovers from the dinner the night before and dinners are provided. Buffet and family style. Dinner isn't served until everyone is back. My one negative, and its really not a negative, but maybe just my taste, the coffee was terrible, lol. We were assigned our guide on Friday and kind of given the run down of time scheduling for the following day. Meet up at 345am and on the road shortly after. All day sits. Be prepared to sit from 430ish am to 7pm. Depends on how far away you have to travel. I was last dropped off and 1st to be picked up. Pack plenty of food and water. It is a long day. The stand I was in was very comfortable. I sat all day and was fine. Cell service. I had almost zero service the entire time in the woods. Depending on cloud cover and wind I got service. The lodge has WIFI. The hunting. My 1st morning I had 2 doe walk under my stand literally as I was getting settled. I can say for the stand and farm I was on, this meant low or no pressure. I had a buck come out at shooting time but with cloud cover I couldn't see tine length. Still a bit early for a shot. I did see three other doe in the evening. 2nd day hunting. I dropped a buck within 100 yards about 9am. With no need for a track I got down and went over to the buck. Took some photos and got back in the stand. I did purchase a doe tag(honestly, don't waste your money on the doe tag). While I was standing at the bottom of the stand texting my family/friends, another buck walked out and was circling the buck I shot. Him and I were staring, Id go back to texting, he continued circling the other buck. Eventually, the second buck moved on. I got picked up around noon/1 pm. My guide, Drew, took care of everything. I brought coolers to bring meat home. As of Nov 2024, there was no ice at the lodge. If you are going to keep the meat and transport by cooler, make sure to ask the guide to grab you ice, or run out and grab ice before the local store closes. The local store is not close by and they close kind of early. I'm from southeastern PA and we have Wawa. I was part of a group of 3. Myself and one other shot buck by day 2. The 2 of us hung out for 2 more days waiting for last of the group. I have never had a better 2 day vacation. He ended up not shooting a buck in 2024 and he was totally cool with it. He saw at least 1 shooter. My mind set was this is not a guaranteed hunt. We booked and waited almost 2 years for this hunt. I have already re booked and cant wait to get back in 2026 and will probably go in 2027. Met some cool people while I was there, Josh the owner, my guide Drew, Doug and Jake, and a few of the other hunters I got to know, are still in contact now and again.

How do I begin.. this is a great place to go. The owner Josh is a hellava guy. Friendly, personable and knowledgeable. His guide Hunter is an absolute monster finder. Put us on some great deer. My husband tagged out first day and I tagged out last day. I seen giants that were not shooters but loved seeing them anyway. When they come out your heart beats like crazy and was very lucky to have seen up to 16 buck a day. My last day was my day.. hunted hard for 3 days and our guide moved me to another spot and hit pay dirt. These hunts are all day. This is real hunting. Before sunrise to well after daylight. You have to be ready for anything. Weather and wind. If you want a monster.. you will need patience. This is not fenced property.. if that is what your looking for or thinking it is, then this is not the place for you. They don't lie, they tell you we have giants, believe them. Was able to take a blonde coyote too. Incredible sunrises and sunsets. The lodge is very comfy and cozy and very homey. Rooms were great. If you're used to having a fan.. bring your own. I had an amazing hunt, and hope to return in a few years for another great hunt. Thank you Josh and Hunter for an incredible memory for my husband and I. I will say this, this hunt tops all my others.. until next time..

(I Hunted Missouri) Please read this review before deciding to hunt with Monster Whitetail Outfitters. I want to start by saying I believe Josh, the owner, has good intentions. However, I'm giving this a 1-star rating based on my experience. First, if you opt to stay in the new lodge, be aware that it is neither homey nor comfortable. The rooms have only two beds and no fan, so I don't think it's worth the extra money (unless things have changed since my visit). Now onto the hunting. On day one, we were encouraged to do all-day sits, which I was fine with, as this is hunting after all. I was placed in a stand overlooking a large field and saw only one doe late in the evening before dark. Unfortunately, this deer was scared off by neighbors driving around on their side-by-side. They even drove onto the property I was hunting on and shined their lights my way. I reported this issue to Josh after the hunt. He contacted the game warden and moved me to a different spot for the next day. On day two, I sat in the stand and saw three deer: two small bucks and one doe. Keep in mind, this was after sitting in a deer stand from 5 a.m. until 5 p.m. (12 hours), sometimes longer because the guides drop off four guys at a time, and if you're the last one picked up, you'll be sitting in the stand well past dark. On that note, you aren’t eating dinner until 9:30 p.m. On day three, they switched my spot again to a property almost an hour away from the lodge, meaning I had to wake up at 3 a.m. to ensure everyone was dropped off before daylight. We would return to the lodge around 7-7:30 p.m., giving us just enough time to eat dinner and go right back to bed to wake up at 3 a.m. again. That day, I saw three deer: three small bucks, none of which were worth shooting. On day four, they moved me to yet another spot. I sat all day and saw one doe. So, my opportunity to harvest a shooter buck was zero percent. I understand this is hunting; I've hunted my whole life. However, to pay so much money and see only eight deer with no shooters, despite putting in over 48 hours in four different stands in four days, is ridiculous. Especially considering the trespassers on day one scared off the only deer I saw that day. You typically go on these hunts to avoid these kinds of issues and to hunt unpressured property. In my opinion, this was some of the most pressured ground I've ever hunted. Their only explanation was that the weather was too warm, but I know that's not the case because I know plenty of people who took nice bucks in Missouri during the same time. Please do your homework before deciding to hunt here. One positive note: the dinners were good. If that's worth thousands of dollars to you, then this is your place.

Bill and I have been coming to Monster Whitetail Outfitters for a few years now. We have gone both Turkey and Deer hunting here and I can’t imagine going anywhere else. Our first day in Iowa (2022) we saw over 120 deer within the first three hours, yes we were keeping track on paper because they just kept coming. Bill ended up shooting a beautiful buck night one. Last year (2023) we sat in Missouri and saw between 10-15 deer every day with multiple shooters. This year we both pulled our Iowa tags and can’t wait for late season muzzleloader to get here. As far as turkeys we have hunted three years in a row and have brought home three beautiful birds!!! The one thing I know for sure is… The deer and turkey are NOT pressured here. Josh loves these animals and has limited hunters in camp every year. I know I haven’t been hunting as long as some, but I do know that if you want the opportunity for an Iowa Giant, this is the place to go. But please keep in mind, this is NOT a high fenced preserve with Bucks on a leash waiting for you to come hunt it. It’s called hunting for a reason! Josh and his crew get 10 out of 10 stars from us!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Let me share my experience with Monster Whitetail Outfitter, spanning the good, the bad, and the ugly. My journey began at the Great American Outdoors Show in Harrisburg, PA, where I met Josh. He made an impressive pitch, which led me to book an archery whitetail hunt for the peak rut from Nov 9th to 13th, 2024. However, the reality did not match the expectations set. Upon arrival at the lodge, we were greeted by the head guide, Ty. His first words were, "I hope you guys are better than last week's hunters. We had 18 hunters in camp and five penalty bucks killed." Penalty bucks? Josh charges $100 per inch for every inch below 130 inches - a detail never mentioned in our prior conversations with Josh. It wasn't our intention to shoot anything under 130 inches, but the unexpected charge was concerning. We paid extra for the main lodge, which was quite nice with a large sitting room, a huge garage area for dinners, decent-sized bedrooms, and enough bathrooms. However, the amenities couldn’t compensate for the numerous disappointments that followed. On the eve of our first hunting day, we were asked to sign a waiver (attached for your reading). We met our "guides" that night. I use the term loosely because their primary role was to drive us to and from the stands. Once dropped off in the morning, they returned to the lodge to nap and idle away. I witnessed this firsthand. At no time did they scout fields or use cameras to track better deer movement - Josh controlled all access to the cameras. A typical day started at 4 AM. The first hunter up had to make coffee, and breakfast was a basic continental spread. Lunch consisted of sandwiches. We departed by 5 AM, and most hunters had a 30-45 minute ride to their stands, arriving an hour to an hour and a half before legal shooting light. The first two days, I sat in a lock-on stand in a large, wooded area for 10 hours each day, spotting just four deer 100 yards away. On the third day, I moved to a box blind at the edge of a cornfield, with limited visibility. I saw one small buck (under 100"). The fourth and fifth days were spent in a ladder stand in a smaller field, seeing one small buck (110") and five does about 120 yards away. Based on Josh's Facebook posts, I expected more sightings, even if out of range. One of the most aggravating aspects was Josh's absence on the morning of our departure. Despite his promises, he was nowhere to be found, reportedly tracking a deer. Why was the outfitter personally tracking a deer when five other guides were in camp? I’ve hunted with various outfitters across Canada, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, and Missouri. This was one of my most disappointing experiences. I won’t be returning to Monster Whitetail Outfitters.