Dual Shot Outdoors

Hunted with Charger several years back. Had a great time and he was a pleasure to hunt with. I grew up in WV and had never killed a turkey there as there wasn’t many around when I was younger. After sharing this charger made sure that I got my first turkey in WV. I even had a chance at a second one the next day but my excitement and inexperience at that time got the best of me and I missed. All in all I had a great hunt. And since then he’s added a nice lodge from what I’ve seen. Only reason I don’t hunt with him yearly is I now have a place in WV to turkey hunt where my family is from.

I turkey hunted with charger this past may. I had hunted with charger on a previous deer hunt several years ago. I found the lodge to be comfortable and clean. Charger prepared our meals and one night we decided to visit a local restaurant that was very good. I took a nice bird in the second morning and heard multiple birds on the third morning. Im from "flat " country so the mountains added an extra challenge. Overall I'd say top notch

Hunt dates were 5/1/24 thru 5/4/24. Hunt was set up and booked by a very good friend of mine who is an outstanding turkey hunter. While I am a lifelong hunter and waterfowl guide, I would consider myself an inexperienced turkey hunter. Unlike a previous reviewer, Tom Martin, I was not disappointed in the lodge. While it was not spotless and void of clutter, it was comfortable and inviting. The food and snacks were adequate. I volunteered to cook dinner on 2 occasions, and the outfitter was accepting of my offer. Nobody went hungry. As for the outfitter/guide, Charger… he was friendly, knowledgeable and seemed to want to provide the best service possible. As for the hunt… there were 6 of us in camp. All of us are experienced hunters in one form or another. None of us were able to harvest a turkey. I can only speak on my experience as to the hunt itself. The first day we were set up in a box blind. We were cautioned to keep our faces out of the windows, as the turkeys tend to look towards the blind and if they were to see movement, they would be gone. At some point in the morning, we heard a turkey cluck. It seemed to be close but with both of us looking, we never saw it. Come to find out later, the bird, what appeared to be a Jake, was under the blind about 10 feet away(trail cam picture). Without sticking our faces out the window, we had little chance of seeing it. And to be honest, being the first day, I don’t think we would have shot it as its beard was about 2-3 inches long. Little did we know, that would be our only opportunity to harvest a turkey. The second day we traveled to 3 separate locations with the guide. We heard one gobble at the second location but it was a long distance away. The 3rd day I hunted with my buddy who set up the hunt. This was my favorite day as it was what I expected a turkey hunt to be. We got set up early, sitting next to a tree. We used decoys(something that we hadn’t done the previous two hunts, at the guide’s recommendation)We watched the sun rise, and saw several deer within 15 feet. It was a great morning without seeing or hearing any turkeys. We changed locations and after a while, he called in a hen. It was decided that we would all leave the morning of the 4 day. It was foggy and was supposed to rain. Overall, it was a good experience. Sure it would have been great to harvest a turkey, that’s what we came to do. But harvesting can’t be guaranteed. Things I would recommend be changed… the box blinds need smaller windows or at least the ability to shade or close off some portion of the window. The door to the blind was an old storm door that was 100% glass. The windows were large, like 30”x40”. Way too big in my opinion, especially without the ability to shade some portion of them. Also, on a final note… my friend who set up the hunt was told that since we were a group of 6, there would be no groups hunting the week before us(opening week). This was clearly not the case.

Please be aware and make your own decision. There are 2 take aways to know: 1) Honestly there are plenty of turkeys. I hunted 3 days and saw turkeys each day. None close enough to harvest. Outfitter not good enough to call them close. 2) The facility and food is not good. Cottage was dirty with junk laying around in rooms and outside around the house. Ground blinds had miss-matched junk chairs that made it impossible for long seated hunts. Food was bad and not much of it. Example; one evening meal for 4 hungry hunters was splitting a medium size frozen pizza with water to drink. No breakfasts were offered. Hotdogs for one evening meal and the first night I was told to find my own restaurant for dinner. Be careful of the hype from the outfitter. I was told they have a 100% success rate on the first turkey and 97% success rate on the second bird. Only one hunter killed 1 turkey for our entire trip.

Have hunted with Charger the past three seasons - beautiful farm in the Little Bluestone River Valley. I bring my own pop up blind - chair and decoys. I have harvested 5 longbeards on those hunts - 2 with my longbow and 3 with my shotgun. Cabin is adequate and located in the middle of the hunting grounds. Planning to hunt white tails with the bow this fall.