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Iowa Outdoor Guide Busted

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iabwhntr

Active Member
Andy Wulf who ran Whitetail Ridge Outfitters was arrested for scamming clients from all over the country.

The story is in the DM Register. I'd post a link but 1) I'm on my phone and it's trickier than the laptop and 2) I've apparently used all my free articles with them and can't view it again.

If you google it though, you'll find it.

It astounds me that people think they can get away with this!
 
He pleaded guilty back in 2013 to aiding and abetting clients to illegally hunt deer.
 
There has been a facebook page started by his victims..story after story after story. One estimate is that he raked in over $100,000 in just the last year
 
redcorn said:
There has been a facebook page started by his victims..story after story after story. One estimate is that he raked in over $100,000 in just the last year
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Do you have any info on the FB page? I know that there was activity like this a few years back sort of near where my farm is located in Davis County, but I don't know if that activity was related to this guy or not. I had heard from a reliable source that an outfitter would book clients, pick them up at their hotel, etc, and then drop them off along side a gravel road with instructions on how to get to a given stand, etc, only at least some of those times it was found out that the hunter was hunting on land that they did not have permission to be on.

So the, ahem, "outfitter" had virtually no expenses and was collecting handsome fees from the unsuspecting hunters...and pretty much gambling on not getting caught. Pretty clever and lucrative business plan...until you get caught that is.
 
Daver said:
Do you have any info on the FB page? I know that there was activity like this a few years back sort of near where my farm is located in Davis County, but I don't know if that activity was related to this guy or not. I had heard from a reliable source that an outfitter would book clients, pick them up at their hotel, etc, and then drop them off along side a gravel road with instructions on how to get to a given stand, etc, only at least some of those times it was found out that the hunter was hunting on land that they did not have permission to be on.

So the, ahem, "outfitter" had virtually no expenses and was collecting handsome fees from the unsuspecting hunters...and pretty much gambling on not getting caught. Pretty clever and lucrative business plan...until you get caught that is.
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I'm not smart enough to post a link but the page is called Andy Wulf Whitetail Ridge Outfitter Reviews
 
Irrelevant to this situations but the same thing happened years ago in NE. Guy was doing very similar things and I believe eventually got busted or put out of business.
 
Just makes me dislike outfitting even more. I have a bad taste about it for whitetails in 95% of the cases (yes, there's a few exceptions) but overall, especially with this crap, very little good every comes out of it. Outfitter pops up as your neighbor, I rarely see a situation that doesn't end in anything from horrid management, over hunting, young good genetic bucks being culled out, higher rates of wounding so you can keep hunting, guys who "better just kill one cause they paid the cash", crossing fences, trespassing, problems of any caliber I could give countless examples. Then, you get an outfitter who is greedy & dishonest to top it off, lovely. Recipe for disaster to have them in your neighborhood. Like I said, there's a few good ones but I believe that's a tiny fraction of them. Hope this guy is done if he's guilty of this. Crazy how many stories about outfitters we've seen in just iowa in the past 5 years. So many stories that I didn't even realize we had this many outfitters in the state.
 
Good deal this guy was caught and stopped. This is one reason to keep the nonresident tags where they are. If the non resident tag quota was increased there would be 10 more guys like this over night. I do some guiding and recognize the challenge and strain this can put on the resource . If Iowa messes this up by increasing the tags I will have no choice but move to western Canada as there will be nothing left in the US.
 
hans1 said:
Good deal this guy was caught and stopped. This is one reason to keep the nonresident tags where they are. If the non resident tag quota was increased there would be 10 more guys like this over night. I do some guiding and recognize the challenge and strain this can put on the resource . If Iowa messes this up by increasing the tags I will have no choice but move to western Canada as there will be nothing left in the US.
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I have wondered about iowa's spiral from "greatness". It's a fragile system- no doubt. U mess with it ANY WHICH WAY..... late rifle seasons, crossbows during archery, moving gun season into the rut, opening the floodgates, cutting the herd in half, having huge amounts of CRP dissapear: WHATEVER..... this state is fragile and I think a well managed state that is a symbol for common sense good management could blow up. It's under threat every year in some form. Usually with $ motives- almost always. Exploit what's great. You always have to defend things others wish to exploit. 5% timber and we don't have deer #'s in the millions & half our state timber like some places. As the state sits RIGHT NOW: access is tight, finding good managed land is difficult but our herd is a "good quality example of common sense management" right now. I fear for the day that changes and I don't know where I would go or where my kids could enjoy great quality, balanced deer hunting. It's NOT in the vast majority of surrounding states or out east unless you are a gazillionaire. Canada, Kansas. ???? We better fight to keep this state great.
 
Glad he was busted. Kinda surprised he could get away with doing it for that long though. I was pretty excited when that new world record buck was shot in Tennessee. Hopefully it will send some of the out of state pressure that direction!
 
Hard to compete with guys on leases when someone from out of state will pay 2500 to 4500 to hunt during the rut.
 
Boonervilleusa said:
Wow...threw the book at him!

https://ktvo.com/news/local/southea...XvkrZs9cBbLsYXOFDTaz8Ix1fRT_2CDaA0e3uQwS9JEUc


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Good! Glad to see it as it should send a message.

On a similar note, I was reading a farm management companies mailing the other night. They were encouraging farmers to register with their hunting lease program to boost revenue. They mentioned liability coverage, but all that is meaningless when an accident happens. Once the insurance companies are involved, the lawsuits begin.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
On a similar but less successful note, there was an outfitter in SW Iowa that was busted for doing the same thing. The DNR and county attorney went to incredible lengths to gather evidence. Several of the victims traveled from their home states to testify, I believe at their own expense. What appeared to be overwhelming evidence turned out not to be enough. The judge found the accused not guilty. The case started with a call to the TIP line. Even though the information did not result in a conviction the caller was given a reward. This case was from last year.
 
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