This is my third year coming to the ranch and I must say this was by far the worst experience I've had. I read all the bad reviews so I was expecting the same 'scamminess', but usually the service is great. This year, not so. It seemed like being a guest there was an inconvenience to the staff. We paid for a deluxe cabin and there were still garbage in the room. No refrigerator (there was always one during previous stays)shower and toilet were dirty. When we told Paul about this, he said the refrigerator was taken out due to people drinking. Full of shit**. The other cabins had them and my guest and I are not drinkers. The folks staying next to us had many bottles (enough to share I might add) and a refrigerator. The hunting grounds, which in past years have been awesome, were overgrown to the point where you couldn't even see the hogs. The excuse from Paul, 'we had a drought'. Huh? WTF does that even mean? Cut the freaking grass dude. The final straw came when they picked us up from the honeyhole and made us ride back to camp in the back of a pickup truck with dead and bloodied pigs. I come all the way from Washington State and my friend comes from Wisconsin. We look forward to this trip every year, but this year Paul, you lost a couple customers. I've been reading the bad reviews of this place and they're pretty consistent. I also know from personal experience that the apologies you give are $hit because you haven't taken any of them into account. I guess you feel you don't need to change. Your little world on the ranch is all you need. What I don't need is your canned response. I just want folks to know not to come to Independence Ranch. I'll be posting this review EVERYWHERE !!! read more

TERRIBLE Customer Service I wished there was a ZERO-star rating! Paul is the biggest jerk on the planet and has NO customer service. I got tricked by the $400 "Buy-One, Get-One Free" promotion for my buddy and I. Paul called to confirm and told me there'd be another $200 for my friend. He was condescending and kept referring to the fine print on his website. When asked what two typical hunters normally end up spending he said that with fees and such, approximate $1,500! That's a LONG ways from $400. He was rude, condescending, and unreasonable. Then when I canceled he told me NO refund, "read the fine print on the website!" Only offered credit. I'd rather NEVER meet this guy than go get my "credit" from him. There's a MILLION other places to hunt pigs! Avoid this one! read more

My nephew Nolan and I have made 6 hunts with Paul and his staff. WE are scheduled to go back again this month. All of these negative reviews seem to revolve around "hidden charges". Maybe if these reviewers had taken the time to READ the info provided the charges would not be "hidden" Food charges, bunk info, hog cleaning fees,Texas license cost, and more all spelled out clearly. Everything being complained about is spelled out in all of the info the ranch provides. Paul did not "rip you off" You agreed to these charges when you signed up for the hunt. If you did not want to pay them then you should have kept your asses at home. Tom Andry Gonzales, La. read more

The concept of this ranch is awesome; an all inclusive enclosure that is all inclusive and helps maintain the hog population in the surrounding areas. I will say that the crew there is amazing, the people in the lounge are nice and hospitable, and the hog crew are all top notch, super kind, and allow us to hang out and watch our kills get dressed down into different cuts. They also have a meat trade in deal where you can opt to not get the meat, and get pre made sausage instead. There are multiple types of animals at the ranch, all of which are huntable, BUT beware, some are much pricier than others. Hogs themselves are $1/lb, but some of the more exotic ones can be up to $1000/point. Meaning a 10 point buck will run $10k. Down to the downsides, the administration is the downside. There are micro transactions that occur with just about everything you do, and while.. Yes, many of these are printed out and stuck on a wall, most of the time you are too busy to spend the time to read through every piece of paper in the lounge. And NONE of the extras are mentioned verbally. The biggest pain was if you planned to get something done through their taxidermy service. A month or two after the hunt was finished, a shipping company called me to get my card info to pay for shipping on the skull of the hog that I shot. We were not informed of the extra payment and were given nothing but attitude when we contacted the ranch owner to mention it. So while the experience was fun, it was not worth the price as well as the extra charges that incurred. I would much rather go to a normal ranch with a license and ask to hunt their land. I'm comfortable with dressing down game animals and so are the guys I go hunting with... Save your cash and just go with a buddy or two that know their stuff. read more

When we arrived there were over 80 other hunters looking to shoot pigs. The Honey Hole, which is a premium pay hunting spot was sold out and unavailable for all the hunters who wanted to be there. The owner did not allow a walk and stalk as there were still too many hunters to do that. We were forced to hunt from stands in the open part of the ranch. 4 of us were assigned to a small stand where they only had 3 chairs. Talking to other hunters who were lucky to be in the Honey Hole, they said there were more hunters than pigs there. We only heard a couple of shots being taken, Several people never saw a pig their entire visit. One of our group was lucky to shoot a couple of pigs. When he looked in his cooler at his meat, he was short 4 hams. The ranch has a board where they write down the weight of the pig you shot, you pay by the pound, which is how they charge you and the board was erased so you could not tell if you were being charged the correct amount. Breakfast was good, but the lunch and dinners were not very good. The ranch charges a premium for ice for your cooler and for feed to bait your stand for the night hunt. The feed was eaten mostly by cows and a few exotics. The only pig who showed up to eat the feed was about 10 to 15 pounds in size. If you shot him you would be charged the $50 minimum. There were so many hunters for the night hunt, they needed to do the night hunt in 2 shifts of 2 hours each. They did not put out more feed for the second shift, Only 1 bag per stand, although everyone was required to pay for 2 bags each, despite multiple hunters in each stand on both shifts. read more

If you enjoy hunting at a petting zoo, this is your place. Not near enough land and adjacent properties do not allow entry...very dangerous for all. WARNING TO HUNTERS: I know this ranch very well because my family owns the adjacent property. It was irresponsible of the owners to put a caged "hunting" business so close to our ranch with very little property to hunt. The exotic animals are tame and can be petted as I've done so through our fence. Our barn/main house is less than 100 feet from the fence and not only have we taken bullets into the barn through the main sliding glass doors, but stray bullets nearly killed our ranch hand. They falsely advertised that adjacent land owners allow access and were reprimanded for it. The hog hunting is so close to our main house that it wakes everyone up. We continue to find wildlife on our property, left for dead and all such acts are reported to authorities. Short of closing down, Independence Ranch should incur the cost of a high metal fence the full length of the properly line to protect our family and friends from stray bullets. It's no longer safe for anyone on our property and not only are you putting yourself at risk hunting on a spec of land with competing hunters, but you should be worried about your potential liability if/when another bullet strays our way. Please stop shooting in our direction. We will disrupt your hunting if we see guns pointed our way. We frequently walk the back pastures of our property, including young kids and teens. This is no place to hunt safely, especially with high caliber rounds that carry well past property lines. The land is flat so please be extremely careful. Or better yet, find a safe place to hunt! read more

The ad/ information given on the website is misleading. This was my first hunting experience, and one that I would have given a 1-star for if it weren't for the party I was with. This review is mine alone, and should not have any impact on whether or not my fellow party members choose to return. $630 before I get to hunt is a bit pricey considering you're responsible for every hog you shoot (not unlimited). The staff, aside from the boss, were great. Skyler was the man; and made our second day the best. I advise any Californian (former or not) to never mention it. I thought it was friendly banter, but the boss made sure to express his disgust with my origins regardless of my attempts to assuage his protestations. After clarifying that we would be charged for every hog (somewhat understandably) I asked supporting questions to get a gauge what a 50lb hog looks like. He asserted that his dogs were 128lbs (laughably). There was no way to verify the weight of our hog because they were already skinned and refrigerated by the time we got back from the blind. You'll get roughly 13% of the pig's meat (bone included) unless you want to pay additional for deboning. Also, don't plan on getting your actual pig when all is said and done. Your pig will more than likely still be in the fridge; raw, not bagged, and not frozen. If you want ribs, you'd better push for what's remaining in your raw pig bin. The prepackaged frozen bags don't have ribs. Everything has an additional cost. For your hunts, you'd better pay/ push for the honey hole. The rest of the blinds have the ranch's cattle and deer eating the minimal amount of corn they put out (sure as hell never saw the 100lbs of feed we all bought). The $100 service/ guide fee you pay is for a YouTube video that'll direct you to your blind. Also, plan on seeing wounded hogs everywhere. I ensured that the hog I shot was a quick, clean, ethical shoot. We saw hogs running around with blown off legs and intestines hanging out. If you care about ethical hunting, this is not the place. They said to bring an appetite, and ensured there would be leftovers if you're hungry later in the evening (which was never the case). The food was okay, but often cold (at meal time). If you need to dial in your weapon, know that the range is one lane, and open during meal time only. Expect a long line at their "range". Overall, it was a mediocre (at best) experience. This is a high-fenced hunting ranch that has hogs brought in. They are hardly wild being that there's a pen in the front of the camp you can hear them squealing in as you pull up to the ranch. Ultimately, it started going wrong when the boss targeted me for having moved here from California. I mean, a California Liberal sure as hell wouldn't be hunting pigs you dick. Also, he felt it was professional to call someone a disgusting pig for being fat. THE BOSS WAS A COMPLETE DICK! EXPECT HIDDEN FEES, SUBPAR FOOD, WOUNDED/ MAIMED HOGS, and to leave potentially regretting spending your first hunting experience here. read more

Note: the staff and the people at Independence Ranch very thoughtful very kind I don't think you can find a better group of people. The rents boss there is very underhanded and conniving in my book. He will try to get every dime out of you that he can end at any cost. In any way size shape or form he will try to take money from you even when it says it's for the employees who do not receive their fair share if any at all. Example of the ranch boss underhandedness: our group arrived and was checking in. We had to pay a $25 per person change of date fee. Once we were checking in he said cash only even had directions to the ATM. We all received reservations for the bunkhouse the bunkhouse was full he did not tell us that he asked us if we wanted to upgrade to a cabin for $300 we all look at each other and said no we do not want to upgrade to a cabin we will stay in the bunkhouse. He said well I will have to give you a cabin anyway because there is no more room in the bunkhouse. He wanted us to pay for the cabin even though he was going to have to put us there anyway because he was out of room in the bunkhouse. 2nd thing a hunter and his daughter were checking out after they shot a 300-pound pig at a dollar a pound to clean. He wanted everybody to leave a $50 cash tip for the employees. The gentleman said I don't have anymore cash. He said well I will take a credit card. A gentleman said you said you did not take credit cards he said I does but it's not preferred. So you could have paid for your whole trip on a credit card but he wanted cash. Then to get every dime out of you he will tell you at the last minute to leave a tip he will take credit cards. With all these signs that says cash only in direct me to a ATM that is sort of Shady to take credit card just to get every dime out of you. I just don't like that type so forgive me if you do not like this feedback. Now about the ranch. It is overgrown with Elk, elk or running wild everywhere. Four or three hundred acre ranch there were 100 + elk not to include Exotics cows and everything else. The ranch is a nice Ranch do not get me wrong it is. But you can barely shoot without hitting an elk which will you will charged about $7,000. The cabin we stayed in Rick of mildew I think it came from the flood that was in Texas a few months ago. I did not check the other cabins but I was worse. The food was good prepared by the staff. It was serve prompt and on time. Some things that you need to watch for first the $5 bag of ice that he will charge once he puts your meat on ice at a minimum of five bags. The dollar a pound cleaning fee so make sure you pick your animal wisely. Any animal that you kill under 50 lb you will still be charged $50 regardless of the size so unlimited piglets every piglet will cost you $50. Make sure that you do not upgrade to a cabin ask for whatever you reserved in the first place stay in the bunkhouse you might get upgraded just because there is no room without paying upgrade fee of $300. And thirdly you will enjoy the staff that are there. They are very kind friendly and knowledgeable. Just did not prefer the ranch boss. Which after I left he told one of my friends in my party yeah blacks and Mexicans don't like the tip. Well that is my review try it for yourself and see what you think. read more

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From the start, they hit you with unknown fees that you are not aware of until you arrive. The wording on the website contradicts itself and is up for interpretation. But Matt couldn't care less, because he knows that most people travel a long ways, therefore most people will just go along with his con "since they're already there". For example, we paid for "two hogs, unlimited size". Any normal person thinks that the 399$ that you pay initially should cover the two hogs right? Wrong. That money basically pays for a shitty mattress to lay on at night and a total of 5 hot meals. If you shoot a pig YOU MUST PAY A DOLLAR PER POUND. (Live weight) I have ZERO clue why they even include the words "unlimited size" next to it. In addition, you have to pay $100 as a "guide fee", and then also $30 for two fifty pound bags of feed. Oh and let's not forget the $99 registration. So for instance, let's say you only shoot one little 50 pound piglet. All together, you will be paying $680. A bit steep in my opinion, especially for a subpar hunt at a ranch that feels more like a petting zoo. ALL OF THE ANIMALS ARE ACCUSTOMED TO HUMANS. Therefore there is no "challenge". It is nothing more than target practice. The cherry on top was when we were questioning Matt and Steve about our purchase not being honored, all they had to say was "you misunderstood." Well after looking at other reviews, this seems to be a reoccurring issue. Also, halfway through our conversation, they felt the need to ask "where are you from?" Like what the fuck does that have to do with anything? If we were from Texas, would that somehow make you honor the purchase? Needless to say, this is the first and last time I'll be spending my money here. read more

It is mind-blowing that this ranch has any reviews above 1 star. Honestly this place is a ZERO star business. The previous ranch the owner had was shut down by the Texas state AG. When you get there, prepare to hit with additional fees for EVERYTHING. And you can only pay in cash. Probably because they are trying to evade taxes... There is an additional fee for 'guides" which you will never see, and for bait. The bait you will only see when their cows and exotics are eating it... not the hogs. We booked our hunt here as a corporate event, and were told that we were the only ones that would be on the ranch. However, when we arrived, there were at least 40 additional hunters for a total of maybe 55 hunters on this ranch. The staff was incredibly rude and condescending. The individuals in my group are quite experienced hunters, and they spoke to us as if this was the first time we had ever held a firearm, all the while they talked as if they knew nothing about safe firearm use. When the staff took you out onto the ranch, you found yourself using shooting lanes that were a little close to other groups of hunters for comfort, and often times the shooting lanes were into the fence line and neighboring properties. COMPLETELY UNSAFE. One of the members of our group discovered that there had been a hunter death in recent years, but when brought up to the staff, they brushed it off and refused to talk about the incident. The hunting blinds were abysmal. The were no bigger than a 3x5 foot shed that they put 4 hunters in -- way too small. One blind was a broken down truck with no roof or cover 30 feet away from the shooting lane with the backstop into a neighboring property. The hunting isn't great either. If you don't pay an additional $100 per person to go to the "honey hole" you likely wont see many pigs to shoot at. And most of the animals there are so used to people that its like hunting in a petting zoo. There are also several injured hogs running around the ranch and dead hogs scatter the ranch. Save your money and go somewhere better hunting and that ultimately is more safe. read more

Just spent Friday thru Sunday at the Ranch. Tons of fun on the hog hunting with non-stop action. Food was fantastic. What needs help is the logistics and billing. I paid for the "Killing Spree" piglet hunt. No problems with the cost, the issue came down to accountability. I shot 2 piglets that were no where to be found come pickup time for the meat. My group of 3 also shot 7 adult hogs. The ranch lost one of those as well. I wonder who's bill that hog ended up on? Check out time was quite disorganized and the Ranch Boss couldn't be found to discuss any of our problems. Lastly we got locked in to the ranch waiting 30 minutes to finally be told the lock combination. 3 out of 5 for action and quantity of hogs. read more

I also just "Won" a free hunt from this place. But after reading all the reviews of this place I'm definitely going to pass on this free hunting trip. read more

This place is a joke. It's akin to going out in your backyard and shooting Wilbur. The food was fine and the father/son who operate and run it are nice enough but it's not hunting when they are releasing domestic pigs for you to hunt... Don't waste your money! read more

WOW.. still on a high from out trip to the Ranch last week. Wonderful first time hunting experience!! PRO's: *Food was awesome (minus the frozen mixed veggies at two of our meals) *Cabin was nice, better than I expected, air conditioning, electric, fans. *Woman's facility's were nice: shower and restrooms *Animals all over the place: Texas long horns, Elk, and a whole lot of hogs *Staff was for the most part excellent: Wild Bill gets 6 stars.. thank you for making our trip fabulous Cons: *Instruction from the staff was at best ok: on arrival we were told we would receive a text will details on our hunt, no one from our entire group received a message *Ranch boss (one on all of the videos, not on site at all our entire trip) *Some of the videos were not accurate, when you get to the ranch they assign you a blind, no one brings you out to the blind, no one explains how you get to the blind... you are kinda left to figure it all out yourself. This just didn't happen to my group but to all that were on site. There were many of us not sure on what to do or where to go. Thank goodness for Wild bill, he helped us figure out where we go. *first night in the blind we waited about an hour and 1/2 for our hog to get picked up. Overall a wonderful first hunt experience, we will absolutely be back, also all you women out there this is a great place for women and a first hunt. We travel often and by far this is one of my best trips ever... we got 3 hogs, and could have got many more.. we just didn't have a need for additional meat. The stock and hunt was soooooo exciting.. loved ever minute of it!! Thank you!!!!! read more

I hunted here at the Independence Ranch in 2018 and had a wonderful time! I even gave a five-star review. A friend and I just got back from a three-day hunt there. This time it was a completely different result! The food was great, kudos to the kitchen staff The lodging was good even though we had four other hunters in the bunkhouse with us. This was lucky because they were all great guys! There was no lack of pigs as we seen about two hundred fifty hogs during our five sits on stand although at least 85% were piglets less than 50 pounds! The problem was the overbooking. There were 30 hunters using18 blinds! My buddy and I had to share a stand and since I was using a crossbow he always let me shoot first before he would shoot his rifle. This negatively impacted the number of chances he had! Some stand locations consisted of plastic chairs set in the woods there was a group of four hunters sitting together in chairs about one hundred yards from us in the "Honey Hole" ! Our final evening hunt was cut short by one hour because the ranch booked another large group of hunters to start at 8:45 and hunt well into the night, we were supposed to hunt until 9:45 that final night. We paid for four sessions in the "Honey Hole" but were only given two. The Ranch Boss had no explanation for that and did not offer us a refund! He did say that we could have had separate blinds if we asked but that is B.S. as all blinds on the list had more than one person assigned to them! The shower /toilet building is unheated, there is a woodstove in there, but the flue is disconnected making it unusable. I did not use the shower as the outside temperature was in the low twenties, I did use the toilet and that was bad enough! I realize that this is a business and making a profit is not a crime, but a good businessman also thinks of the future by making his clients happy! Even after this experience we each left a $50 tip for the employees. I hope that the money gets to them and that the "Ranch Boss" doesn't pocket it! read more

I am from Colorado and have been driving a thousand miles one-way to hunt here since 2006. Friends, family and kids have all come here for their first experiences hog hunting and no one in any of these groups has ever had an unsuccessful hunt at the ranch. Both my son and granddaughter killed large boars their first times out, my son at 20, my granddaughter at 18. I myself have killed a number of large boars there, including a 150-kilo granddaddy of a Black Russian Boar at 6:30 am on 27 October 2017 in a lone hunt from a stand. Besides the hunting experience--which includes both day and night hunting and stand and stalk hunting--the ranch offers a smorgasbord of outstanding services including cleaning, gutting, skinning and quartering of the kills at the unbelievable rate of $1 per pound, lodging and meals during one's stay, additional meat processing, and taxidermy work. Add to these quality features the first-rate staff of skinners, guides, cooks, and housekeepers, and the friendly and supportive attitude the entire staff displays towards the ranch guests. After years of searching, I cannot find another place in the US which offers the services and hunting opportunities that Independence Ranch offers, or the shocking deals on hunts and packages. Independence Ranch offers a first-class hog-hunting experience, and recommend it above all others. read more

Allot of fun hog hunting. My uncle and I had a great time. We had a chance to shoot as many hogs as we wanted. Got two each.

The ranch makes the clients responsibility to make sure you get everything. However, somethings are out of our control. Meat being deducted twice from a hunt for sausage. The second time when Hunter was in the freezer. He ended up with 3/4 of a pig out of three. I got a Boar and wanted it caped, spouse got a red deer and wanted the hide. we got what was left. Neither of which was ours. Spouse shot his deer in the head, one got was gut shot. Staff person told him when he asked about wrong numbers said it was just mis marked. so he did check numbers on ours but it was the last two. We were stuck to take what was given. numbers are not checked by staff it seems where the freezer is concerned. People being pushed to leave in a timely manner so we rely on the Staff. We are still disappointed to get someone else's momento from a hunt. seems that as long as the money is paid, it doesn't matter. Paul, the hunt was great. The end was extremely disappointing. Posting a photo of a boar not mine is inappropriate. read more

My husband, brother and father were just there for a hunting trip. They had a miserable time, they were put in blinds at the back of the property where no pigs came. The flushed out pigs the next day so they would all go the honey pit for people who payed extra to shoot. If you are a real hunter beware. All they want is money. Charge you extra just to have a cabin with a toilet and shower. Don't waste your money. read more

Won a so called "free hunting trip" 2 nights 1 day. Looked into it and liked what I read. Called and talked to the owner Paul and was told that the package included 2 hogs any size and unlimited piglets at a $50 cleaning fee. Paid the $99 registration fee. Sounded great and convinced 3 others to join me since they got the same deal at half the original cost. Each payed$99 registration, $350 for the package, and an extra $50 for a second future hunt. Booked it a whole year in advance and drove 19 hours from California. Getting to the ranch, my group of 4 paid $100 each for a guide fee and picked up 2 bags of feed each at $7.50 a bag. Right before the hunt that night we find out that the package didn't include a $1 per pound per pig cleaning fee. None were included in the package. Showed the emailed receipt to Matt, which is the owners son, all he could say is that I miss understood. No where in the email did it say $1 per pound. He tried offering a free piglet for our troubles which I took as an insult and declined it. We ended up hunting that night getting a piglet each and checking out the next morning. Had him apply the extra $50 we paid for a future hunt to the cleaning of the hogs since we weren't coming back ever. I wish I would have read the reviews before booking this trip. This place is a complete scam and can't believe how they take advantage of people. The food and crew were excellent though. Please make sure and read the reviews before booking. read more

This was my first attempt at Hog Hunting and it will be my last. Hog Hunting at Independence Ranch is like walking past a pit and just throwing your money into it, while someone laughs at you. For a 3-day 2-night trip you will pay $499.00 for lodging, meals and drinks. It also states unlimited Hogs, but that is another issue. You can book online and pay with a Charge Card, but after your arrival everything else is in cash only. These are the charges you can expect: Did you bring 100 lbs of feed/corn grain? If not it's $30.00 per Hunter - No exceptions. We did not see this used for our hunt. You will be charged $100.00 per Hunter for your Guide. This person acted on our behalf for approximately 30 minutes. Do you want a 10 ft x 10 ft lodging with a toilette and a sink? This is $125.00 extra per Hunter. If you do not shoot something the first day you can ask to hunt in the "Honey Hole", where they actually herd Hogs into the area for you to shoot. This will cost you $100.00 per Hunter for about 3 hours. If you shoot a Hog, they will tell you how much it weighs and you are charged $1.00 for every pre butchered pound. For us this came to $226.00 for a 103 lb and a 123 lb Hog. Your Hog is tagged and taken back to the compound to be butchered. I absolutely say you need to watch this operation to ensure you get what you paid for. They do tell you to check your cooler, but it is filled to the top with ice, so are you supposed to dump it out? I say watch them because after we arrived home, we discovered we had possibly 30 pounds of meat and a cooler that was at least 2/3 full of nothing but ice. By the way, you will be charged $15.00 for the ice. For 2 Hunters Up Front $998.00 For Feed we did not see used $60.00 Extra For a Guide's 30-minute usage $100.00 each Hunter - Mandatory ($200.00 total) For a private Toilette $125.00 Per Person (We Declined This) For the Honey Hole $100.00 per person ($200.00 total) For Butchering 226 lbs of Hog $226.00 Mandatory What we found when we got home was about 30 lbs of meat. We should have seen 8 leg portions 4 rib portions at a minimal. We had 2 rib portions and 3 leg portions. All total we wasted $1,699.00 for about 30 lbs of Hog Meat. I suggest you go to HEB or COSTCO and save money, time and especially Not Get Ripped Off. read more

The owner of this place is an absolute asshole. I think this is very clear by watching any of his videos on facebook or youtube or reading the info on the website. All he cares about is milking every paying customer for every dime he can get out of them. Tried calling to get info/questions answered in planning our trip and was disrespected and ignored every time. That being said, my group's actual experience at the ranch was good. However, that was only because of a number of factors others will likely not experience. First, the ranch boss was gone on vacation. His staff was running the ranch and they were all great, but had he been there I'm sure the outcome would have been different. Second, on the stalking hunts during our trip there were only 7 people of the approx. 25 hunters on property that went stalking and all others paid more money to go to the honey hole. With 7 people the stalking was great, but if more of the hunters on property had gone stalking it would have been extremely dangerous not to mention a terrible hunt. I'd caution anyone considering paying to go to this ranch, and if you do plan to go expect it to cost double and all be paid in cash. read more

This was my first time hunting. I had a blast. Got a 233lbs hog 5 minutes into my first assigned area of the 3 day hunt. Food was good, facilities were good and the staff were friendly. I'll definitely be back next year. read more

Independence Ranch - 233 lbs. South Blind - Wildlife Hunting Ranges Near Me - Waelder, Texas

We went on this hunt in January of 2018. Here is our story of this hunt. Day 1 of the scheduled 2man 3-day, 2-night wild hog hunt: After contacting the Owner Paul, we were not able to access the ranch until 3PM on Monday January 22. We arrived at the ranch and the first interaction we had with Ranch staff was when we were walked into the office and told what we owed the owner of the ranch. We were told that we owed 280$ in cash and that if we didn't have cash there was an ATM located in the town that was approximately 20 minutes' drive from the ranch. We were also told that if we didn't have Orange Hats and vests we would be able to purchase them from the onsite store for a mere price of 20$ for each item. It was explained to us that the Cash was for Bait, and Staff fee. We paid the fee and were told that dinner would be served at 5pm in the cook house. We asked about the hunting and were told that after dinner it would all be explained what we were to do and where we were to do it. After dinner we were gathered in the cook house and explained the rules of the ranch and the importance of doing things on a very strict time schedule. This is due to the very small size of the ranch and the number of high powered rifles that are being used on this ranch at any given time. We were given a blind number to go to for our evening hunt. We were assigned the Grave Yard blind. Once it was time to go to our blind we drove ourselves to this blind and started our first night hunt. A pickup with a staff member riding in the back of it came to our blind and dropped off one bag of corn. Once this pickup left our blind we noticed that all of the exotic animals showed up to eat the corn. It was like a dinner bell went off they were there so fast. Now as far as this was concerned it was fun. We were within twenty feet of several Elk, Antelope, Red Stag and Water Buffalo for the rest of the evening. Once the corn was gone so were the animals. This part of the hunt lasted until 9:45pm. We did not stay at the ranch because we were going to be charged an extra 150$ for a private cabin instead of myself and my partner being put into an open-air bunk house with the other hunters on the site. Mostly men. We opted for a hotel off site. Day 2: Start hunt at the same blind we went to the night before. There is no corn left since all eaten by the domestic animals the night before. Back to the cook house for breakfast at 9am. Once we were at the cook house it was explained that for another fee of 50$ per person we could go to the other end of the ranch which is called the Honey Hole. This was explained to us as the place to go if you wanted a guarantee of seeing the Wild Hogs that have over ran this ranch. Now I have to mention that while we were at the blind the first night we witnessed a stock trailer come into the ranch and drop off a number of pigs. Not sure that the claim of being over ran with wild hogs is true because we are hunting in a high fence enclosure with no chance of pigs getting on or off the ranch without the help of people. We opted for the Honey hole. We were driven to a location on the bottom half of the ranch where we were told where to drive to and where to walk to get to our blind. We were also told about our shooting lane. We made it to our blind and were instructed to shoot along the fence. Now at this blind, we did see some pigs and actually had to opportunity to harvest one. We also saw all the exotic animals as well. At 11:45am we were told to make our way back to our vehicle and back to the cook house for lunch. After lunch we were taken back to the meeting place and told where our afternoon blind would be. We went here and once again were amazed to see what our shooting lane consisted of. At this blind we were actually being instructed to shoot directly into the neighboring property fence line. In Texas it is against the law for any bullet to travel through a fence line into an adjoining property. We harvested two pigs on this part of our hunt. We finished this part of our hunt once again in close proximity to other hunters using high powered rifles. We could now understand why they have such small shooting lanes because of the very small nature of this ranch. We went back to the cook house for dinner at this time. We were again assigned a blind to hunt that evening. We once again were given the opportunity to see all the exotic animals eating the Corn Aka Bait that was being supplied by us via the $100 dollars in bait that we paid for the first time we met the staff. We didn't stay very long at this blind and decided to call it a hunt. Day 3: We made arrangement to meet the owner at an earlier time than the 11AM check out time to go over what we now owed to get our meat and to pick up said meat and vacate the Ranch. We were actually quite surprised to talk to the owner, he seemed very happy and very talkative at this point. Seems money makes him happy........ read more

I had never been hunting before. I called last minute and was able to get a reservation. The food was great and the staff was awesome. I got my first pig 100lbs with a bow can't wait to smoke it. read more

Independence Ranch - Wildlife Hunting Ranges Near Me - Waelder, Texas

Four of us went to this place on October 9-11, 2020. I'll start with the positives: - Food was very good and plentiful. Kudos to the cooks. - Pigs were plentiful, though if you think you're going on a hunting trip...think again. It's high fence hunting, almost like hunting in a petting zoo. That's what I expected; no issues with that. Now the negatives: - Accommodations: adequate but certainly not for the money we shelled out. Four of us had more than 700 bucks apiece invested in this (two were on a so-called "free" hunt). Ramshackle bunkhouse with bunk beds that reached nearly to the ceiling and fluorescent lights in your face. Shower/shit house was just disgusting and inadequate. - each patron was told to bring 100lbs Iof cracked corn for bait. We bought it for seven bucks per 50lb bag at a farm store. If you forgot your corn, you could buy it from them for 15 bucks a bag. Guess where that corn came from? Yep, the stuff we provided, and why not? Through three days of "hunting", our blinds were baited with no more than 100lbs of corn for the four of us. One night we had to call to get them to bait our blind since they "forgot". They came out with bait reluctantly. I'm guessing the rest of the corn was used to feed their "exotics" and livestock. - the place is a fenced in 200 acres that reeked of death! Stunk! Dead pigs and pig parts all over the place. A giant chain link pig pen near the front gate (I assume that's where their pig deliveries were kept) had several dead pigs in it, laying on concrete, rotting away. - butcher area was unsanitary as hell! Figure they're processing 25-35 hogs a day. Adequate drainage for water and blood run-off was nonexistent, instead pooling around the slab/covered area (it was open to the air). Flies all over everything. - overcrowded with hunters. Draw your own conclusions (think safety). Heard more than one ricochet whining overhead. - exotics and livestock came to the bait areas just as pigs did. Made for some difficult situations with shooting. - you will spend double or triple what you planned. In cash. Seriously. When we were making our initial payments, I remarked that I only had 2 bucks left. Ranch boss said, "Don't worry. I'll get that too." That comment really set the stage for the weekend. You will pay too much for everything, particularly dressing and butchering. Then they will want a $50 gratuity per hunter, supposedly for the guiding (never happened) and overall customer service (sucked). We left no tip; we had no more money anyway! - when you shoot a pig, they are adamant when they come to pick it up as to what are your intentions for the meat,ie. debone, sausage, backstrap/sausage mix, etc. The idea is that they start stashing what is yours in boxes in the freezer. Ha! When it came time to collect our meat, they were scrambling to put it together. They had ZERO idea what they owed us! In the end, we walked off with about 60lbs of meat (all in two frozen clumps of "meat cutoffs" in two garbage bags) plus 24-25 packs of brats. Keep in mind, we shot over 750lbs (live weight) of hogs. Shoulda been between 225-300 lbs of meat. That was the final straw. Never again, folks. I could go on and on, but you get the picture. Terrible place. Terrible policies. Terrible staff (mostly). Huge scam. Stay clear, if you're smart. read more

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, we were forced to cancel our trip. My husband is a marine and his leave was canceled due to the virus. He was also given military orders not travel over 50 miles away from base. We explained this situation to them, and they still refuse to offer any type of refund. All they have offered to us is a chance to reschedule within the next year... well being military we have no idea when leave will be permitted again, or if we will even be able to travel at all within the next year. Cancelling this trip was completely out of our control, it's not like we just decided not to go. I'm extremely disappointed in how this situation was handled and that we paid $800 for literally nothing. The virus has effected people world wide, but these people don't even seem to care... they just want to keep their money. After reading more of these reviews, maybe it's a good thing we didn't go at all. These people clearly don't support their military or our troops. Thanks for nothing. read more

ATTENTION: BEWARE I'm gonna review my first and last stay at independence ranch. Before going to independence ranch, i talked to Paul ("ranch boss") on the phone several times and told him that we are bow hunters and that my girlfriend needs a good first archery experience before we go to Africa next year. I asked him about success rates, if he's had other archers, and from what he explained, i expected a realistic hunting scene. Some things were out of the ranch's control, like the weather. It rained for the first time in months so it wasn't ideal hunting weather; no fault to the ranch. Things that could have been more accommodating on their part: roofs on many of the blinds (there were no roofs on any of the blinds we were at so we were exposed to the rain from sun up till late afternoon), a better driveway or at least fair warning that we would get stuck several times in our normal sized sedan. We got stuck pulling out of the parking lot so we could go to Walmart for more supplies, i spent 30 mine alone with no help from staff (after asking for help), once it was 1:30 and i came to Paul for the second time, he then decided to grab a staff member to help. By the time we got the car out of the driveway, we were out of time for our Walmart trip otherwise we would've missed the 2 o'clock hunt. Time could've been made if i had been helped when i asked the first time. We purchased 1 bag per person of feed and when it's spread before the hunt, it looks like 2-3 cups of corn were thrown on the ground. Before the hogs get there, the (very tame) exotic deer have arrived and eaten the corn before we could even take a seat in the blind. Once some pigs finally showed up (on the third hunt of the second day) they had just arrived on the property. So for an archery Hunter, if you can't hit a pig while it's running in a group, this is not the place for you. It is near impossible to get them to stop and make an ethical, clean kill. I was so disappointed overall with what expectations I was given when I booked the trip, that we decided to leave early. The only upsides were that I met some really awesome hunters that are now friends and the chef always had a great meal prepared for us. I hope that this will help anyone that is ready to drop a thousand dollars or more on a hog hunt. Do your research. We failed to check the other Yelp reviews and it cost us valuable time and money for very little return. There's a reason this place only has 3 stars. PS the one star is for the cooking. read more

Never been hunting before but this was a great introduction. The people I met was greatn the staff was friendly and unlike prior reviews there were no hidden fees. The only problem is they're still in a transition phase when I went so there were slight issues that I'm sure will be resolved in coming days read more

Never got the chance to hunt at Independence Ranch because I chose not to. The moment the owner answered the phone I could tell the guy had a major attitude problem. As I proceeded to inquire regarding the ranch's $399 2 for 1 hunt he interrupted me and told me to read the website. Then I asked if I could be "allowed" to ask any further questions and he told me once again that everything is written on the site. During the very short and abrupt conversation, I discovered I'd have to pay an additional fee to simply watch my son hunt even though it says 2 for 1 and I would not be hunting. The 2 for 1 means you have to come back and spend even more money at another time, not 2 for 1 like it normally means in the real world. If you read the reviews from others on this site, Google and Trip Advisor you'll see many have commented on the owner's "less than ideal" demeanor among other unfavorable points, and that's why we will not be inquiring further about this outfit. Considering the time, money and travel we'd be investing, there are too many other places to hunt in Texas where the people might actually treat you nice for being a paying customer. Imagine that! read more

Where do I begin, A buddy won a 3 day hunt sometime last year and asked if myself and 3 others would like to join. Being the outdoors men we all are we of course said yes. We loaded up the cars this last weekend and hit the road for the 15 hour drive to the "ranch". During our check in we purchased the 1000 pound package and and a 10 piglet package. With the guarantee that even if we don't hit our weight we would be given frozen sausage to make up the difference. However the "boss" stated that we would most likely fill our two coolers the first night So of course we ran to the closet town and bought another... thank god we kept the receipt. We paid our balance, guide fees and paid for our 100 pounds of exotic animal and bird feed and began to unload our cars excited for the first hunt. We met in the lounge for a briefing and got assigned "blinds" more like folding chairs in the open. Are first night we were placed 11 yards from the high fence and didn't see a single hog. It's okay we thought. Must be a slow night. The next morning we meet at 6am for the second hunt briefing, in which we were told we most likely won't see anything. (Wait, what?) Well he was right. We went back to the same chairs in the open and again didn't see a hog. The next 9am hunt we were assigned the Walk and Stalk. Let me start this by saying it's a amazing that people are not killed out here every hunt. We started our walk with a 7 person group walking in a line towards the back of the property. (Towards the so called Honey Hole) which had about 20 hunters in it. We did manage to kill 2 hogs and a 3 piglets. We could have killed a few more but no one in our group was comfortable shooting in the direction we were told since it was right towards the direction of the other hunters. Are afternoon hunt, we went to Bobcat Ally. Jesus, what ever you do do not go to these chairs, we were right in the middle of what sounded like World War 3 with shots all around us. We could see hunter orange in all directions and at one point our group was standing behind trees to to maybe protect ourselves. We could see the direction the group in front of us were shooting and yep, right at us, unbelievable. I could go on and on about the remainder of our hunts but everyone gets the picture. Now, let's talk about the check out. Remember we bought the 1000 pound package. We killed roughly 300 pounds of hog. So we expected the "boss" would make up for the 700 that we paid for. Yes, I know they go by hanging weight and a dressed hog only gets you about 30% or useable meat. So by that math we expected about 200 pounds of sausage. Well... we got 80. When asked why no answer was given. He signed our card and smirked as we walked out. I honesty with I could give this place negative starts. It was absolutely the worst trip I've ever been on, It was unsafe, and the staff was down right rude. The food was awful and the "Wild Hogs" had ear notch's. A hog with a ear notch is not wild. You get the point, I'm done. I personally will never be going to the Independence Ranch again and would advise that you do your fair amount of research before you even consider this place. read more

Great experience! The Food was amazing and the staff was so nice and welcoming. Can't wait to come back and stay the weekend! Beautiful ranch and plenty of hogs to hunt. Well worth it all. Thanks independence Ranch ! read more

Beware the numerous hidden fees when you arrive. $100 additional guide fee per hunter (what does the $400+ hunt fee pay for? Lodging? The lodging that doesn't include sheets, pillows, blankets, towels, or toiletries?) Plus you have to bring a 100 lb bag of *cracked* corn feed per hunter, or be forced to buy it from them when you arrive. Plus $1 per pound for processing the hog you shoot, (they won't let you clean your animal yourself) ...so...say you get lucky like one reviewer and shoot a 700lb hog. Congrats: you just cost yourself another mandatory $700 bucks... Plus they expect a minimum of $50 gratuity. And if you accidentally shoot one of the many tame trophy elk they use your cracked corn to feed -- which baits the elk to the blinds they instruct you to shoot hogs from, a practice that makes the trophy animals crowd the "hog" field of fire -- That'll cost you $7,000. ...No joke. Seven thousand dollars for an elk that has been domesticated to the point that it won't run away from humans trying to get a shot off at a feral hog. Read the fine print, then find a ranch that actually wants their invasive hogs removed. Hunt those hogs for free or, better yet: get paid to do it. (**There are an estimated 2.6-3.3 million feral hogs in Texas, which do an estimated $500-$750 million in damages to crops, land, and native wildlife in the state annually. They reproduce so quickly that 66% of them would have to be killed every year just to hold the population steady at 2.6-3.3 million. There is no closed season and no state bag limit. Wildlife agents in Texas have found aerial shooting to be the most cost-effective method of pig control, even though the price can run the state as high as $600 an hour. Texas agents kill 25,000 pigs a year and half of them are shot at from the sky. We, the American taxpayers via the USDA, pay $20 million annually, while Texas pays $7 million in taxpayer dollars just to have as many killed as possible.**) With that in mind: Don't shell out hundreds or thousands of dollars for hunting a prodigious invasive animal species that is considered a nuisance pest and costs the agriculture community, the state, the federal government, and taxpayers millions every year. Go find one of the property owners who wants to get rid of them and take home all the free pork you care to shoot. read more

Customer Service was good, and it was fun hunting hogs for the first time. However, there were a lot of hidden fees that cost us significantly more than expected when booking the trip. We were nickel and dimed on a lot of stuff, and had to stop our hunt a little early for financial reasons. Also we paid $100/person guide fee and a tip was expected, even though the extent of the guiding was "go down to the end of the lane, turn right, and start walking." They also tell you to bring 100 lb. of corn per person, and then use maybe 1/4 of that during your hunt. I expect they do this to keep their cows fed for free, since there are at least a dozen cows on the ranch; these cows eat the bait corn they put out for your pigs anyway. I am expecting to go hog hunting again, however it will not be here. read more

Don't sign up for the giveaway! It's a scam! You have won! Wonderful! But you have to pay $99 to register $100 for guide you have to tip the staff and pay $1 per pound to clean your kill!! So what have you won. ? What? The $ is too high! Please read other reviews!! They have been reported to the Texas Attorney General other than the AG reporting which I have on read about. All other charges were listed in the you won email!!! read more

This place is a money pit. If you look at previous reviews at https://www.yelp.com/biz/hog-hunting-in-texas-waelder you will see what others thought of this which I assume is why they changed the name of the ranch. I can say that the staff was pretty god and the food was decent. Other than that we brought 23 people in at one time and had a terrible experience. All of the other reviews rang true. Additional cost after additional cost and nothing to show for it except some barn pigs and 8 boars. That's 8 boars for 23 people in 3 days. I would not recommend. read more

This was a first hunting trip that my son and I went on. It was a blast. Great staff, food, and let's not forget all the hogs. We are planning on heading back. read more

I booked a hunt in April of 2017 and had a GREAT time. If you someone who just wants to show up and get a chance to dispatch and take home some wild hog with the least amount of worries, this place is for you. You can show up and over 2-3 days get opportunities to shoot more hogs than most can afford. There are definitely fees associated usually $1/lb for full processing of your hog ($50 min for piglets). But if you've ever cleaned a hog you may find it well worth the price. I opted to do this with my bow, and had a GREAT time getting several opportunities to shoot and connected almost every time. My favorite part was shooting the ranch hand a text and that was all I had to do to take care of my downed animal. They came out, retrieved the pig, gutted, skinned, and cut up and packaged my pig to take home. The only two things that were less than perfect for me was: 1. The shower facility had some issues while I was there, I guess the hot water heater sprung a leak. 2. The booking experience was a little confusing. Not the fact that there were extra fees, it just could have been a little more straight forward, I happened to miss the FAQ that said I needed to bring 100lbs of cracked corn, not a huge deal but I could have purchased it off site ahead of time and saved some bucks. Concerns aside, to understand how much I enjoyed myself last time, I'm headed back early next week. read more

Looking forward to a great visit! Such an interesting place. Taking my son on his first hog hunt. Actually his first anything hunt.

This ranch is amazing can't wait for my trip to Kill some big O pig's. dealing with the staff has been top notch