Just returned from a Hog Hunt at Pure Adrenaline, Four Oaks, NC.
Avoid any business dealings with these crooks if you want to keep you money and not waste time sitting in a blind for 12-hours to see nothing. They have a fancy Web site and photos (some dated 2012) with some nice hogs, however the background is Not from their hunting area.

The so-called Guide dropped us off in run down blinds with a feeder barrel about 50-yards away. We were told "stay in the blind, do not get out and walk around as you will spread your scent". We stayed in the blind from 5:00PM until 5:30AM and nothing. Not one hog came by, only a raccoon just after sun down, and he was just passing through. After sunup, we walked to the feed barrel, and to our surprise it was Empty. There was no corn in bottom groves in the barrel and no corn scattered around the barrel. No tracks, no droppings, no sign at all. Talk about felling like a couple of idiots, sitting in front of an empty barrel for 12-hours, expecting to see some hogs.

After walking back to the shed (could not reach the Guide who dropped us off) we spoke with the owner. It was a useless conversation. He started by saying "well there were hogs there earlier this week, maybe they went somewhere else". When we brought up the empty feed barrel, his response was "maybe the Guide forgot to fill it up, I will ask him". I said, fine what will you do about the $750.00 ($375.00 each) we paid? His reply was "nothing, that is why it is called hunting not shooting".

We work hard for the money we paid these these rip-off artists. Plus the $120.00 each for Virginia Out of State hunting licenses, 14-hour round trip, and other expenses for what should have been a fun weekend, at least seeing some hogs and maybe getting a shot or two.

Maybe we expected too much from a hog hunt in NC.

Very poorly managed and run operation. Also, they do not take checks or credit card, Cash Only.

That's why I use dogs. And cellular cameras. I can sit at the house until the camera texts me a photo, load the dogs up and roll out to some hot scent.

That's pretty screwed up.

I didnt know they had wild hogs around Four Oaks.  Southeast NC or western NC are where the hogs are.  Did they have good reviews?

They even have a facebook page full of photos

That's fucked up

You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a half dozen hogs around here.

X2 the public land where we deer hunt is overrun with hogs cause people are to lazy to hunt them. The game department brings in a helicopter to run them onto private land every spring.

Are you sure the people are too lazy to hunt them?  Here the public land restrictions are so harsh to hog dog hunters, we're only allowed on the properties for one or two weeks per year and that's not nearly enough to knock a dent in the population.  If we were give access for 6 months when deer hunting and turkey hunting isn't going on, the hog numbers would be reduced by 3/4ths.   We have ALOT of hog dog hunters in the area.



 

So this is your very first post on arfcom.

Sounds like a bad hunt, maybe make a complaint with the state fish and game folks if they have to maintain a license.

NOT siding with the rip off "hog hunt" service, but hogs come and go.    Sometimes they are all over....sometimes they are not.

HOWEVER............the no corn feeder and the smartass response to your legitimate complaints prove that guy IS A GODDAMN RIPOFF ARTIST.   He has done before and will do it as long as he can.

Damn shame you got ripped off.   Hope you ask a few questions next time.....especially from previous customers/hog hunters who know.

Lesson learned.    Glad you posted the rip off for others to avoid.  Thank You

Same gig here in NC. You can only hunt on game lands when other hunting seasons are open and the regs are a real pain to try and keep up with. So I just avoid them altogether. Laziness doesn't have anything to do with it.
Our hunt club is on the northern most border for using dogs in NC. There's a coupla dog hunters using at the next club over and they have pretty good success when they do get in there.

OP- I might be mistaken, but from what I've been hearing hogs are real thin up that way. They're mostly in the southern and southeastern part of NC best I can tell. SC down around Horry County (Myrtle Beach) is s'posed to be eat up with'em. Sorry your trip to NC was a gyp. Whot azzoles.    d:^)  Jake..

Too rough for the doggy boys to keep up with their dogs if the dogs head up some of the canyons. Ground is to brushy to ride through with 4 wheelers and 4 wheeler restrictions kill them. But they did get 10 off the mountain where I hunt in January. People don't want to walk or stalk em. The duck ponds to the south of me are in a swamp and people won't get that far off the road. Besides down here after you kill a couple 100 hogs hunting them gets old. And you can't night hunt them on public land. The Hog doggers have gotten such a reputation for turning them loose nobody wants them around.

Sounds like a rip-off outfit.
Spread the word far and wide so others don't get shafted too.

I worry about stuff like that happening everytime I look at a guides site. I notice on some sites that the customer pictures never change on alot of these sites.

The owner stating that the guide may have forgot to fill the feeder might be a repeated response. If there was no corn shavings its apparent that a few coons didn't climb the feeder and empty it.
On my hunts if the client comes in at regular price and gets blanked and I feel they put in enough time in hunting I return half the money. If they come in with a discounted price that is the price of the hunt.
To say it's called hunting not killing is fair but not taking care of pre-hunt preparation on one feeder is pure human error.
I wouldn't rely on watching one feeder any time, just saying !
OP you are hard core to say the least to stay in a box for 12 hours !

X3 three and half to four hours and the skeeters make me light headed. I wish you would have connected with that kinda intestinal fortitude.

Thanks for the heads up.

I hunted with them 2 years ago; there were 4 of us. Young guy ran the place,but from what I understood it was his parents land. From the start we could tell he hadn't been in business long. I saw one hog (I missed); One of the others saw 7 & connected on one. Our feeders did have feed. It was our first time hog hunting so we didn't know what to expect. 2 hunters sat in separate little ground blinds in a marsh--which sucked, while me & another each had ground box blinds. It was one of the coldest weeks they had down there in a while (it had snowed a few days earlier) so we froze our asses off. We decided after the hunt that you really can't guarantee a hog, but we felt they did not do anything to increase your chances. We felt the feeders should have had corn in them all the time (he filled them right after we got there). We went to them because a friend told us about them and they were close. I wouldn't go back to them but for our first time hog hunting it was Ok.

Reading stuff like this makes me appreciate how good I have it.

Damn.
I saw their ad and was half thinking about them. I'm in VB,VA area and am looking for a night hog hunting place. Thanks for the heads up...

That operation flat out robbed you.  I'm certainly not an expert on hog hunting, but I would think a professional operation would keep feed in the feeders and have out enough trail cams to give them a good idea of where the hogs were at.  Granted it's called hunting for a reason, but there's also a difference between leasing an area to hunt and a guided hunt.  If you pay for a guided (or semi-guided) hunt, then it's reasonable to expect a certain minimum effort.  Unfortunately I think your party received almost no effort or concern.

I was taking to a buddy of mine about my trip.He told me he has gone to Buffalo Creek guide service for the last 6 years.Says it's great(took his wife & daughter also)says the people running the place are friendly and helpful.But they only do day hunting.Does anyone else know anything about this place.Being in Va I don't want to have to drive for days.