Thunder Ridge Outfitters-Iowa-Thumbs Up!

[RidgeRunner]

Three of us went to Southern Iowa (Zone 4) in January of 2009 to hunt with Thunder Ridge Outfitters on a late season muzzleloader hunt. This was by far the funnest hunting trip that I've been on.

In late season you only hunt in the evening because the deer are very close to food sources. The owners (Wade & Tony Sehman) leave standing crops and the deer come in from miles. On a slow evening sit we would see 30 to 40 deer. On the days that it was colder we would see anywhere from 80 to 90 deer EACH per night. One evening I had 21 different bucks within 100 yards of me at one time.

They have a 140" minimum on bucks and we ended up going 2 for 3. Had the temps not climbed into the 40's i'm confident we would have gone 3 for 3.

Guides were great and they have some outstanding bucks on their properties. If you're looking for a great hunt I would highly recommend giving them a call.

[Dor]

Cool!
What did that run ya?

[RidgeRunner]

Cool!
What did that run ya?

Their hunts are normally $3,250 but since the late muzzy hunt is fairly weather dependant they switched to $2,500 with a $750 trophy fee. I've been on a few different outfitted hunts and have become a fan of the trophy fee. It leaves some skin in the game for the outfitter.

[Grasshopper]

I met these guys at the wedding of a mutual friend last summer. I could tell talking to them that they knew big deer, and I know they have a lot of quality ground. Glad to hear you had a great hunt

[dacoop77]

I hear the deer in Iowa are amazing though I've never had a chance to hunt up there. I generally hunt southern MO and Illinois with pretty good luck.

I am looking at potentially having a booth for Huntfishguide.com at the one of the Iowa sportshows in March. I would like to get a few outfitters from there on the website. We have a program to review outfitters on our site for positive experiences. It seems that there are quite a few folks out there who have bad experiences hunting whitetail with outfitters and we want to make sure folks that find outfitters through our site have positive experiences.

[Grasshopper]

We have a program to review outfitters on our site for positive experiences. It seems that there are quite a few folks out there who have bad experiences hunting whitetail with outfitters and we want to make sure folks that find outfitters through our site have positive experiences.

This is a much-needed service. I've talked to some guys who have just been burned by disreputable outfitters. It's really important to check out the outfitter before you go. I hate to see people lose hard-earned money on a bad hunt. Hope this works for you guys

[MortgageMan]

Did you and your buddy by chance stop in mankato at scheels before heading to Iowa?