Mustang Guide Service

[yotegetter]

Well I got back on Saturday from hunting wild pigs up in King City, CA with Mustang Guide Service (Frank Morasci). This is my first guided hawg hunt, although I've shot my share of pigs. Prior to this hunt I heard good things about this guide, but not at all what I expected. From a scale from 1 to 10 I'd probably give this a 4 (just because I bagged me a pig). I don't think this guide was as good as people made him to be (overall service). I'd call it a semi-guided hunt. I was told by him and others he helps you with the dragging out of the pig (had a hell of a time dragging it out a good distance out of a canyon), skinning, gutting, and quartering (not that I don't know how to do it, but some help would've been nice). Also when I say no dogs, that's exactly what I mean. But anyway, got some pork in the fridge and it sure tastes good.

Here's some pics of the pig Sorry they're not great pics, but I had to take the pictures of myself with the pig.

 

[HOGHUNTER714]

Yotegetter,

I've been waiting for your report. Glad you bagged a hog and it looks a good size pig. I pretty surprised on your experience with Frank. I have only hunted with him one time and it was a "First Class" operation. Dont know what to say except, you have pork in the freezer. Still curious, did you spot & stalk or just run the dogs until they picked up a scent?
Bryan

 

[bigtusker]

Glad you got a hog, sorry it wasn't what you expected. You should take up bowhunting, I know a great place where there are lots of hogs but its archery only.

 

[Csbishop]

Congrates yotegetter to bad you could'nt at least get a good picture did'nt know you had to have a third arm with a guide around.

 

[BoarExpGuide]

yotegetter,

Sorry you had a bad experience with a guide. We are not all like this. I am surprised to hear this about Mustang Guide Service, I have heard so many good things about them on this site.

Since I am a guide and have been doing it for quite a while I always tell people who are interested in going on a guided pig hunt to make sure they ask the right questions; i.e. will dogs be used, do you process the game, etc. I do this because I want new pig hunters to be sure of the hunt they are paying their hard earned money for, I don't care if they go out with me and my outfit either.

If you or anybody else has questions regarding what to ask a prospective pig guide or general pig hunting questions please email me or begin a new topic with this as the title.

Thanks
Dwayne
www.boaring.com

p.s. I always carry my own camera and take a ton of pictures for clients (if they need me to) and then send the pictures to them (I even pay for the developing). I want every client to remember their hunt with me, not to mention it looks good and I will probably earn their buisness again in the future.

 

[m57jager]

yotegetter,

Sorry to hear that. After hearing all the good talk about Mustang I scheduled a trip for myself and four others on Jan 31. Semi-guided is actually what I'm looking for. Three of us are bowhunters. None of us want dogs used at all. What exactly did you mean about the dog comment? Will they skin the pigs or did you do it? Did you see any big boars out there? Would you have seen pigs if dogs weren't used? Could you PM me please?

Thanks,

Matt

 

[Loye]

Sorry to hear about your experience. But you sure got a nice looking pig.Congrats!

 

[SDHNTR]

Wow, Thats the first unfavorable impression of Mustang Guide Service I have ever heard. I'm really sorry you were'nt happy, especially since I was one of the ones who highly recommended Frank. I have hunted with them 9 times and have always had a great hunt and been completely satisfied. We have never had any problems with dogs, they were used when we wanted them and not used when we did not want them. We also have always had plenty of help dragging, and cleaning too. I like to help out but never felt like I had to in order for the job to get done. More than once my hog was dragged out, gutted and skinned without me even touching it. Maybe you caught him on a bad day or something. Perhaps you can elaborate more on what went wrong. Anyhow, sorry for the experience but glad you got a pig. Lets hear the story on how you got him.

 

[Speckmisser]

I'm with SD, I'd sure like to hear more detail if you have time. I have never hunted with Mustang, but they sure get a lot of raves from those who have. It really makes me wonder what happened on your hunt.

So come on, man.. .out with it!

 

[yotegetter]

I'll give you guys the story and this is how it goes:

Day 1:

I met Frank at the time he said he'd be there, which was 5:30 AM on friday. We drove out to his work on seperate trucks. We got to the yard and we took off on his truck (noisy crappy truck w/ a bad tranny) to a ranch right off the 101 near San Ardo. He threw a couple of dogs in the back of the truck, but I specifically and firmly told him I didn't want to use dogs to get the pigs, only to chase a pig if I wounded it with my .243. He then took me to a spot where the rancher had told him he saw pigs. We got there before dark and we saw nothing. At this point, I loaded my rifle with nothing in the chamber, which is the way it should be. We drove around and saw plenty of sign, but no pigs. At around 9 AM he took me to another ranch across the 101 and dropped me off on top of a bluff and told me to look out for pigs and he'd be back around 12:30 PM for me. He said if I saw pigs behind me to shoot it and if they were down near the river to keep an eye on them till he got back. Well I saw nothing and he got back. Then he drove me across the ranch, beautiful ranch by the way, and dropped me off at the top of a hill and had me scout the place. Saw no pigs, but some sign around. If you click on the link you'll see the hill with the pig trails. On the way to this place, Frank mentions that one of his frequent hunters is coming out. Anyway, he gets back around 3 a clock and says we're going back to the yard to pick up his buddy hunter guy. So we head back and pick this guy up. Then we went back to the other ranch to look for some pigs that the rancher told him he saw after we got off the ranch that day. We drove around and saw nothing until about 6 PM. We jumped about 15 hogs on a hill and they just disappeared into some thick brush. That was the end of that day.

Doesn't sound bad, but he didn't tell me he had to work that day and he'd be dropping me off all over the ranch to scout. To me it sounded like he wanted me to do scouting he didn't do for the buddies he had coming in on friday evening. Don't get me wrong, I'm not lazy and I will take hikes as some of you that know me personally on this site, but this is a guided hunt. Not a drop, scout, and look for your pig hunt. If I knew that was going to be the case, I'd a gone with the Williamson Bros. or a pig-o-rama (which is $100 cheaper). Second, he made a comment about me over packing when all I had was my rifle, a side pistol, and my backpack. OK, so I accidentally brought my box of ammo along. I don't think a small backpack was overpacking since I had some stuff to snack on in there, water (after he uses my other water bottle to clean his windshield!). Hell, I didn't eat anything all day until 8 PM. The little stuff I had in my pack kept me going and I ran out of water.

Day 2:

Met at Denny's as I believe he usually does on Saturday mornings before hunts. We then headed out to the work yard again and we split up into 2 different groups. I was with Frank and his buddy, and the other group was part of his buddy's group. He had 3 dogs in the back of his truck this time, again what I thought were to be used for a wounded pig. We headed back to the smaller ranch and after driving around for about a half hour, a good sized young boar jumps in front of us, one of the dogs in the back rips the chain it's tied to and chases after the pig. That dog had the pig up on a hill for a while and then it disappeared along with the dog. We drive around for about another hour and Frank spots a herd of pigs up on a hill. They were about 600 yds away, so he tells his buddy to shoot at one since he had a 30-06. Well he wasn't even close. So the pigs take off into some brush. We drove to another hill to see if we can get close to them, and at this point Frank was between looking for the dog and some pigs. Seemed like he was more focused on looking for his dog. We start going up a hill and his truck starts giving up and I think, "great we finally run into a herd of pigs and his truck is giving out now". We finally managed to get up a hill and the pigs start moving into some more brush. We then moved around and Frank gets out to check it out while we're inside and he releases the dogs. After I said I didn't want dogs. I was thinking more of a spot and stalk. We then drove to the hill where the pigs were at and the dogs are on them. I get into the brush with Frank and these dogs have some of those pigs cornered. They're running across and Frank tells me to shoot at the ones in front of me, which were behind some thick brush and I didn't manage to get into my scope since they were only about 15 yds in front of me. One runs behind me and tells me to shoot that one, at his point I thought, "man this guy doesn't give you a choice at want you want to shoot". So he's running through the brush and wants me to stay right behind him. We get to a pig that his dogs have gotten to. So we head down there to shoot that one. Kinda starts yelling at me to stay behind him. He had me wait until the dogs got out of the way. He then tells me when to shoot. The pigs was about 40 yds in front of me then I shot him right behind the shoulder. Pig goes down on the first shot. Out of normal procedure and from hunting hogs in the past, I immediately reload my rifle just in case. He then starts yelling at me to take it out of the chamber. At this point I thought, "alright this guy doesn't have to be yelling at me". He congratulates me and looks at me and says, "ok drag your pig out to the end of this canyon and I'll pick you up", I thought he was kidding. And I said asked him if I'd get help. He just took off into the brush trying to get his dogs back and took off to his truck and said, "have the dogs go with you". At this point, I was way out of breath after sliding down the side of the canyon. I went to drag my pig out and I took my time I was so out of breath. I finally got to a road thinking he'd already be there. Well he showed up around a half hour after. OK so he helps me throw the pig on the truck. I thought they took off looking for a pig for the other guy. Turns out they were looking for the dog that broke its chain in the morning. After his yelling, I didn't know whether he'd get mad at me for gutting my pig out where I was waiting for him. So I didn't. I should have though even if he would get pissed because he then wanted to drive around to look for his dog and maybe find a pig for the other guy. I'm thinking I have to get my pig gutted asap. We finally left and he gets a call from the rancher saying he saw some pigs behind his house. So Frank drops me off and says to look for the back scoop (tractor) with keys in it and drive it to the other side of the yard to skin my pig. Well luckily I have driven a tractor before, but does he know that? I ended up dragging the pig to the tractor instead and hanging it there. Then I ended up skinning it, gutting it, and quartering it after a few hours. I know how to do all that, but I just had the impression that he helps you on all that. His buddy did help with some of the quartering after a few hours of looking for the other pigs. Frank had then taken off to feed his dogs somewhere while his buddy stuck around. Well about an hour later the other party gets back with a pig. The other guide and Frank then get the pig off and start skinning it and gutting it for them. I also asked the other guide if they got help dragging out. They sure did! Heck I didn't even get a decent picture with my pig!

Well that's why I didn't have such a good experience there. I just expected something different from the good things I heard from Frank on here. Maybe I should have went with another person, but at the time no one was up for it of the people I hunt with. Most of the time Frank was cool, until the backpack comment and the yelling with the follow up shot. He did work hard on trying to get the truck around the ranch and have the dogs look for pigs, if you catch my drift. Not really what I expected and didn't get the treatment like the other guys did. Would I go back? NO! I'll be joining you guys at the March pig-o-rama. I'll be doing those for now on until the populations are up at my uncle's ranch. I'm over this experience. At least a I bagged a decent boar though.

Maybe you guys that go in a group will have better treatment!

Oh yeah, BTW, I have nothing against hunting with dogs, just not what I wanted here.

Cheers,
Yotegetter

 

[yotegetter]

BigTusker, I'd a gone with you on your ranch if you did rifle hunts! Trust me, I would have. Not an archery hunter.....yet!

 

[SDHNTR]

Wow, Yote. I'm really sorry. That's no good. I've always gone with a group, hunted on a weekend, and have never had anywhere near the treatment you had. I'm not gonna make any excuses for Frank, you were the paying customer. Thats just a bummer time for your first guided hog hunt. I sure hpe you have fun and get another hog at the Pig O Rama.

 

[yotegetter]

It was definitely an experiece. Costly one! Maybe it would have been better if I went with a group?

 

[1SoCalHunter]

yotegetter:
Sorry to hear the bad experience that you had even though you managed to bag a nice hog.
Congratulations on that hog!

 

[Speckmisser]

Thanks for the info, Yote.

I can't believe he put the dogs in despite your multiple requests that he NOT do that. Of course, what could you do at that point? Tell him you want your money back and go home? Once you shot that pig, any chance of that is definitely out of the question.

It really sounds like he shouldn't have accepted your reservation for Friday if he had to work, or at least he should have told you before you showed up so you could either reschedule or plan on a "do-it-yourself" hunt.

It also sounds like he was a lot more interested in hunting for his "buddy" than in your hunt, which sucks for you.

The whole bit, though, about the dogs would really have sent me over the edge...especially when he wouldn't even help you drag the pig out but went to catch the dogs and feed them while you did all the work of handling your animal.

I would recommend sending him a letter letting him know how you felt about things. Copy the list on it, if you want. He may or may not respond, but at least you let him know that he lost a customer (and maybe several other potential customers) through his actions.

I sure hope you didn't tip him!

 

[Kickaha]

Sorry to hear you had such a terrible time. Thanks for the story though. It's good to know specifically what to expect and whether that's normal. And if you do end up writing him a letter, you can definately mention that he probalby lost a few customers over this. Whenever I get around to going on a guided hunt, it probably won't be with him.

 

[JungleBoy]

I too am sorry to hear about your experience with Frank, especially that I am one of the guys who highly recommended him. In my personal experience, as well as all other who have hunted with him, he has been nothing but the most honest, hardest working guide. I also know a few who hunt with him on regular basis, and they too rave about him, and have a great time, every time.

I am very surprized about a lot that went on the day of your hunt, as he actions were NOT at all what they usually are. For example, in all cases that I know of, he or his crew will drag the hog out, and field dress, and skin it. Unless, of course, you'd rather do it yourself. That in itself is a big deal, as the hunt fee includes that.
As for the semi-guided part, believe it or not, I prefer it that way! As for the dogs, if he used them for baying the hogs against your wishes, that too is very disapointing. I think you should have re-stated your position on the use of dogs at that time. I am not putting any blame onto you, but your experience might have been greatly different had you been a bit more firm and assertive regarding what YOU want your hunting experience to be like. The same goes for him leaving you there and taking off. I would actually prefer it that way, however, that is NOT what you wanted, so he should NOT have done it.

Maybe he was having a bad day (at your expense, which is NOT good) or something, as a friend of mine is a muzzle-loader, or archery-only hunter, and Frank has accomodated him (to his satisfaction) and his daughter I believe 3 times in the past 4 or 5 years or so with a spot-and-stalk muzzle loader (2), and archery(1) hunts.

In short, sorry to hear about your experience. If it will make you feel better, I'll tell you about some of the NIGHTMARISH guide experiences that I've heard about some guides (luckily, not first hand experience).

Regards,

JungleBoy.

 

[Hook]

Jesse, I am sorry you had such a bad experience with Frank, I was one of the guys who recommended him,

but no more. I hunted with him several times and never had the experiences you had. Never had to drag my hog out, never gut it, or skin it. His operation has gone downhill.

I would definately write a letter to him and let him know how you feel.

 

[traxman]

Wow, this is a pretty telling report. I have been shopping around for a good pig hunt, and this operation has definately been one that I've looked at. From what you report, this sounds like a totally unprofessional operation. I now have serious doubts about considering booking a hunt with Mustang.

I completely disagree with JungleBoy on the part of you needing to be more firm or assertive. You are the paying customer, and therefore are ALWAYS in the right. If I did this on my daily job I would be FIRED. There is absolutely no excuse for any true lack of professionalism on the part of the guide. This is a business, and if they want cash, they should deliver exactly what they promise.

This forum is a great place to air concerns or praise, for places that would otherwise either get away with murder, or not get the exposure they deserve, without a place like this to report to. When someone comes back from a hunt and posts here on the results, we all win, regardless of the outcome.

HOWEVER... I would definately encourage you to write a letter, and allow them to make good on the "bad day" this guide must have had. And post the letter for us to read. I think with the rates these outfits charge, they need to be held under the public microscope. So that when they don't deliver on their promises, they have to pay the price. But please, give them a chance to defend themselves, as we are on the internet, and sometimes, not all is as it seems.

Nate

 

[Speckmisser]

Good post, Nate.

I kind of lean the same way. Considering the number of highly positive posts regarding Frank's operation (and consistently good reviews in Hog Hunter Magazine), it seems like Yotegetter's experience was an anomaly. That certainly doesn't make right, and Yotegetter has a definite greivance, but this hardly seems to be the normal treatment. With that in mind, I'd love to know why the days went the way they did.

I'd be very interested in hearing what kind of response Frank has to a letter or phone call from Yotegetter. He can do himself a world of help or a world of hurt in that simple thing, and it would be telling of his operation and attitude toward the hunters that pay good money to hunt with him.