Disappointed with Bostick Plantation hunt

They say all experience is useful…even if it just means you learn not to make the same mistake again.

I hope that’s true of my just-completed deer/boar hunting trip to the Bostick Plantation, given to my father in May as a birthday present. During this trip, we saw virtually no game, were housed in a hovel (the "fully-renovated" main lodge) and were forced to listen to our guides’ pained tales of better times. The hot weather, we were told (it was not hot), was keeping the game from moving. The guides were pleasant; the office staff less so.

The 24 hunters in camp during our stay on the 10,000-acre plantation got a combined total of one tiny 8-point deer and three small hogs, most of that total coming from the non-trophy area not touted by Plantation literature. We were allowed two hogs a day or one hog and one deer. I personally saw three small deer (biggest was a 3” spike buck), NO pigs during hunting hours (our real objective in going there to hunt), four turkeys, about 20 armadillos, one raccoon and countless squirrels. My father shot at one small hog, saw 5 tiny deer during the 30+ hours that we hunted and a couple turkeys. This from the place which boasts the “hunt of a lifetime.”

Spare me.

From their website:

“We do not allow any buck to be harvested unless it has a spread of at least 16". We want all of our younger bucks to have the opportunity to grow up, mature, and become a trophy for some lucky hunter in another season or two. Our very strict Trophy Management Plan combined with our habitat management program have allowed us to maintain some of the BEST HUNTING in the South!”

If true, and game was truly abundant, that practice should have resulted in scads of young deer running around However, they just didn’t put in an appearance during the four days we were there. Judging by some other reviews, they’ve been scarce at other times too.

I looked out in my own pasture this morning and saw seven deer and 12 turkeys. Game over…the Rantmeister’s own plantation has a better claim to the title…and I don’t sell hunts.

I should have researched the place more thoroughly on the internet before choosing to hunt there. I would have found numerous reviews from people complaining about the lack of game. You can’t run 30-50 people per week through a free range, non-stocked hunting area and expect to have a good hunting experience. All hunting at Bostick is also done from stands which have mainly been in place for years…and all the game knows the location of the stands (which probably stink to high heaven with human scent from years of high-intensity use.) Hunters are prohibited from stalking game and must remain at their stands, even after shooting something – which could mean leaving the game rotting in the sun while waiting for the guides to come back at the end of the hunting session.

I saw a few hog tracks along muddy sections of the plantation, but virtually no deer tracks. I also saw only two deer during our after-dark rides back to camp – leaving me to the conclusion that game is in mighty short supply there.

The guides also seemed to know each of the very-few deer seen…not a good sign for a place supposedly bursting with gamey goodness.

In the end, I can’t blame the Bostick people for trying to make money…but I can blame myself for not checking their reviews more thoroughly. Lesson learned…fool me once, shame on you…fool me twice, shame on me.