Shortest Hunt/Greatest Outfitter

[Tomme]

I went Antelope hunting last month with Fred Eichler of Full Draw Outfitters. I'd looked forward to this one every since my Elk hunt with them last year and hearing of all the record book antelope they had taken in the 2008 season.

I flew in to the Amarillo airport and there my good buddy Jay Fulton, whom I've hunted with for 20 years, picked me up and we drove up to Trinidad. Oh the lies...er I mean memories we shared, as we drove through the Texas panhandle, across Mexico and finally over Raton pass to Trinidad.

We arrived in Trinidad and ate lunch at the local Wendy's. It was cool and a light rain started to fall. We called the ranch and one of Fred's guides said he'd come in to pick us up. In order to save time we told him we'd go to Wal-Mart and pick up our out of state antelope licenses.

Getting back to the Wendy's we shook hands with the guide and he told us that Fred was on his way. Oh yeah, it was still raining and getting harder.

When Fred arrived he greeted us and then broke the bad news. He'd called the ranch and they'd had so much rain that you couldn't even drive on the ranch roads. Basically we were screwed, as it's hard to hunt Antelope at water holes when there's water puddles all over the place.

Then Fred made us an offer that was unbelievable. He said we could hunt, but we wouldn't have much of a chance, or he would move our hunt to 2010. He'd even buy back our $331 Antelope licenses. His comment was that he wanted people who hunted with him to have a good quality hunt and to come back.

Now he did feel he could get a refund on the licenses, but any way you look at it he was giving up several thousand dollars in this years hunt fees. I'VE NEVER SEEN A MORE GENEROUS OFFER FROM ANY OUTFITTER.

So we took him up on it. We spent the night at his lodge (where we got to see a 354 pt (muzzleloader killed) Bull Elk scored). In the morning we got up early and headed back to Amarillo where I caught a standby flight back to Rockport.

Now I've got another year to look forward to my antelope hunt. I am definitely going back. Fred and Michelle are about the finest hunters I know and they run a great outfit. Oh yeah, did I mention that their hunters took 14 P & Y and 2 Boone and Crockett Antelope this year.

I can't wait.