Independence Ranch

Had to cancel due to COVID, emailed in regards to a refund and was completely ignored. If this is how you conduct business then Ill never reschedule. Still currently waiting for a response to my email....

Below you will find my very in depth and honest review. I don't normally write reviews but I decided to for 2 reasons. 1, because I told Paul I would and 2, because I feel like 99% of the negative reviews are at the fault of the reviewer. Our group of 3 were looking for a quick few day TX hog hunt. . Now here is where I am about to offend somebody so hang tight. Most everybody that I know can read pretty clearly and they have several packages to choose from. With a little thinking and a calculator you can sum up the cost of the trip. As a matter of fact, you can find every piece of information you need on the website very easily with a few clicks. There are no hidden fees whatsoever. I'll say it again, THERE ARE NO HIDDEN FEES. Do yourself a favor and read ALL of the information BEFORE you book a hunt. We decided to go with the 'All inclusive' option as I figured it would be easiest to go that route with less headache (as it turned out perfectly). Ill let you read up on those yourself.Now, I read up on all the negativity pounding this place and Ill be honest, I had my hesitations. I almost had a preconceived notion that something was going to wrong quickly. We were told to be at the gate between 2pm and 3pm. After a 15 hour drive we landed at the gate at exactly 2:30PM. When they tell you to be ON TIME, they mean it. This place is Johnny on the spot when it comes to timing everything perfectly and this is in your favor. We weren't greeted with hugs and kisses but the guys were nice enough and gave us clear instruction of where to go and what to do. from here you can find the itinerary on the website. It goes EXACTLY as stated so I wont go into depth on that. After dinner we were assigned a blind. Here is where I see people getting upset. This is a semi-guided hunt. If you don't know what that means read on. They give you directions of where to go. I honestly do not understand why people get so upset about not having a 'guide'. You do not need a guide. You need to know where to go to kill hogs. I don't know what benefit a guide would do anyone here. The hogs come in, you pick one and shoot it. Its that simple. I do however understand paying a $100 guide fee and feeling like you go ripped off for not having a guide. I would recommend changing the wording of that to 'administration fee' or something of sort. It doesn't matter, the fact is you pay $100 for the labor and services while you are there. You don't work for free and neither do they. We opted to pay an additional $100 for a private room just for the fact we wanted our own private bathroom. We could have stayed in the bunkhouse and used the bathhouse at no additional charge. Once again, we knew we had this option from the information on the website and decided to do that. Our room was perfectly fine. It had A/C, bunk beds, a bathroom and was extremely clean and comfortable with no frills. Now to hogs. This place is literally over-run with hogs. I knew I had a 50lb and a 150lb hog I could kill and not be out any money. I knew any weight over that I would be out $1lb and any additional hogs I would be paying $1lb. Cool with me. I also knew I wanted to kill a Boar hog with cutters. I calculated my shots and ended up with a 58lb and a 170lb Boar hog with large cutters. I happily handed over $28 to Ranch Boss at settle up time for the weight difference. We ended up killing 7 hogs between the 3 of us and all got exactly what we came for. We probably saw 300-400 hogs in groups of 30-50 at a time. All of our hogs were shot in the head/spine and no meat wasted. Our coolers were full. If you shoot a hog in the guts or shoulders don't blame the ranch for cheating you on meat. We had an absolutely fantastic time. The food was outstanding. All of the staff was extremely accommodating, friendly and hard working. We have hunted all over the country and probably had the most fun on this trip. We will definitely be back are discussing making the trip to Independence Ranch a yearly tradition. A big Thanks to Steve, Ranch Boss and Matt for the good time!

A good place to hunt. We had 13 people hunting on the ranch and it was perfect. The following day it was 30. It was still comfortable and great hunt. We hit our weight limit and harvested numerous piglets.

Thanks for a great experience great food great hunt great lodging very very clean perfect size cabin we bunked with a guy from ohio and a guy from Minnesota great guys just like we known for ever cant wait to use second hunt already got couple friends wanting to join in next spring thanks paul matt and steve. Thanks again joe fisher

We Are Heading Back Down There From South Illinois Next Week ...... Cant Wait! , This Is Our Second Year In a Row ......... Had a Fruitful Harvest Of Swine Last Year ........ Me And Uncle Kevin Bagged Four Nice Ones Each With My First Kill During a Night Hunt...... The Food and Cabins Are Stellar and So Is The Staff.......... Look Forward To Seeing You Guys