Lonesome Bull Ranch

I wasn't really sure what to expect considering I had never heard about this ranch until I got there. The hospitality was top notch, the accommodations were simply better then most bed and breakfast you can stay at in all parts of Texas. Large bedrooms, kitchen area and TV/Trophy Room were well maintained and clean. Smoker and BBQ pits and a large outdoor fire pit made the nights outside grilling and sitting by a fire telling hunting stories and enjoying a good laugh made it a priceless experience. The staff JR and Dee are the most professional guides I have ever been around and I have been hunting for over 25 years. One of the things I liked was how attentive they were to making sure we had everything we needed when in camp. So without even leaving the camp house... I would definitely go back just to see those guys! Now lets get to the reason we went hunting. The ranch has a large array of exotics from Axis, Fallow, Buffalo, Black Buck, Ram, along with many more and they have Cull Permits available for Scimitar Horned Oryx, Addax, & Barasingha. Also Whitetail and Turkey for days! The ranch is 2600 acres and the layout and terrain is outstanding. The animals that I did see were solid high quality looking animals. Protein feeders setup all over the ranch along with ponds and plenty of natural vegetation make this ranch a must hunt destination. The hunts were successful and when in the field our guides knew everything about all the animals so it was like riding around with a biologist and a game warden, informative and educational. It was one of the best overall hunting experience that I can honestly remember.Bonus*** Ask them about the Critter Gitter! WOW, this vehicle is a must see to believe!Shooting Range - 200 Yard Steel Targets of various sizes to claim your bragging rights.I WILL DEFINITELY BE GOING BACK HERE!

GO TO TEXASHUNTINGFORUM/LONESOMEBULLRANCH.COM TO SEE WHAT OTHERS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THIS PLACE!writing this review to try and help any dads out there that are thinking of trying to take thier kids hunting on this ranch. what happened to me is i contacted fred rich the ranch manager and set up a father/son turkey hunt with a fallow deer hunt added on, went and dropped off my deposit at there portland, texas real estate office. the time came for our weekend hunt and i hadnt recieved a call to let us know what time to be there and any additional info, so i called fred rich friday afternoon, didnt get an answer, so i left a message. well the whole weekend has come and gone with me making several phone calls and leaving messages and i still havnt heard anything. they were real quick on cashing the deposit check, but arent as fast at returning a phone call to let a paying customer know whats going on. wouldnt care if it was just me, i'd just go and spend my money else where. but this involved my son,and it was going to be his first hunt, what a huge dissapointment for him. I can already feel i'm going to have a hard time trying to recover my deposit and will probably have to take legal action. what a mess! just trying to be honest here and i hope i can save dads out there alot of anger and grief.i'll even include my email just in case anybody has any dispute or [email protected]/19/2011-------UPDATE------finally got a call from fred rich the "ranch manager" and we got into it a little bit,wanted to put the blame on me,funny, when i called him several time through the weekend with no response. well he informed me that the only way i could get my deposit back is if i took down my reviews and signed a waver, well fred you can keep the money. the thing about it is i recorded the phone call so i'll be posting it to youtube. they can try and dispute this but I have the hunting form(contract) i turned in, the cashed check, the phone records of all the calls i made with no return calls, and his phone call recorded. look people bottom line is think twice about hunting this place, the decision is yours to make. i can only post my honest experience. I'D HATE FOR ANOTHER KID TO GET DISAPPOINTED

Hunted here in January, 2023.1st off, was scheduled to arrive on a Thursday, called Wednesday before I left town to confirm what I needed to bring. NOBODY had a record of us coming to hunt. Story was that nobody told the ranch manager we were coming. Red flag!Purchased Axis Trophy hunt. Traveled across the country - before we took the luggage out of the truck, they wanted CASH payment and signed contract.They offered us to hunt for about an hour and a half in the am + an hour and a half in the pm. Ranch had very few species and the species they did have were very young, year and a half at the most. Last morning of the hunt, after not seeing any Bull Axis deer, manager offered me to shoot a Fallow for the same $4000.00 price but it was running across the field. I discussed getting a refund because I purchased an Axis Trophy deer package but they had NO Axis deer to offer, was told by the ranch manager I needed to contact Fred Rich, the ranch owner. Unfortunately, ranch manager never showed his face again, didn't say bye, thank you for coming, NOTHING, sent his brother to do his dirty work & collect his tip.Called owner Fred Rich after returning home, stated my name and his immediate response was "you can come back for $495.00 a day guide fee + $69.00 a night for the room." Told him I wasn't interested in spending any more money there, just wanted to get a refund. He proceeded to tell me "I'm not the owner, talk to the ranch manager" & HUNG UP ON ME.Called the ranch manager and he said this was all out of his control and he was not authorized to that.BAD BUSINESS. Ranch offered no satellite, meal plan is you buy your groceries and the ranch managers wife will cook you 2 meals a day for $125 a day. Not to mention, they want EVERYTHING paid in CASH, CASH, CASH. If you're considering purchasing a hunt @ Lonesome Bull Ranch, I highly recommend doing some research. You won't have to look far. Texas hunting forums, yelp, Facebook, etc.This is Fred Rich -I tried to post review on Facebook and was blocked. This was their response on Facebook prior to being blocked -

This was the worst ranch that I have ever hunted at. I arrived there for my scheduled hunt to find the gates locked and nobody there. I finally got in touch with the ranch manager, who was extremely rude and obnoxious. The price I paid for my hunt was supposed to include overnight accommodations but instead I had to camp at a nearby campground. I had paid for a trophy aoudad sheep but there weren't any available on the ranch so the ranch manager wanted me to just shoot any pathetic animal that came along just to get the hunt over with. The whole hunt only lasted for about two hours. The ranch manager was so incredibly rude and obviously didn't want me there even though I had paid a large amount of money for my hunt. Never did get the aoudad that I had paid for and the animals that were advertised on their website simply didn't exist. False advertising and extremely poor hunting experience. Not recommended. Ranches like this place give all hunting establishments a bad name. Please don't waste your time or money going to this place.

If I could, I would put zero stars. I attended a Nilgai hunt on property this past weekend. Firstly, they were dishonest with their population. The ranch is around 1,710 acres and have only 6 Nilgai bulls. Early on, the guides demonstrated even more dishonest or a disability to perform simple hunting tasks such as ranging a target. After being told it would be made right, they denied us our money back or the ability to shoot another animal in a similar price bracket even when offered to pay the difference. This ranch has demonstrated both dishonesty and the inability to be proficient for any kind of hunting. To any considering, I implore you to stay away. You will be scammed out of $5,000.

The old reviews are indicative of what I recently experienced. Offered animals, sent check, got a limited number of animals and constantly told "we are catching them next week" which was certainly not true. Finally asked for refund and after awhile received it. I certainly won't deal with the ranch or Fred Rich again - do so at your own peril!

I brought my son to LBR for a whitetail hunt. We had a great time, and he loved seeing the exotic animals throughout the thousands of acres on the ranch. I shot the biggest whitetail in my life here, and will be back for some exotic hunts this year. They have HUGE Addax, and lots of other great exotics. I heard they are getting some bad reviews from a couple of outfitters who were thrown off the ranch, but I personally had a great time and had great service from the hunting guides and the ranch manager. Their prices are very reasonable. Only problem was that we had to bring our own food since they don't supply meals. Worth it for the price! Craig Sparks Dallas TX

NEVER PURCHASE AN ANIMAL FROM OWNER FRED RICH - he is in it for the money only and I just want to warn others what happened to me!! Purchased a zebra this past summer who died 3 days after leaving the ranch and was 6 days old. The owner, Fred, was never there from the day the baby was born to the 3rd day when she left to go to the bottle feeder that was recommended by Fred Rich. After months of warnings and allowing chances for him to refund us or exchange us with another zebra, all he told us was we could get $200 off the next zebra (mind you - she cost $3850 plus shipping, bottle feeding, vet work, etc.) Never saw one vet record, cancellations of blood work that was never completed, receipts, bill of sale, transfer of ownership, etc. Not one document was ever provided from Fred that proved our ownership of the zebra before we received her and he never answered phone calls or purposely ignored them, clearly to avoid the situation. I DO NOT want anyone else to suffer like I did, do not trust him. I have not seen a single dollar back for my experience with his terrible business and I will never recommend him to anyone for the way he treated the situation after taking $4000 from me and giving me a dead zebra in exchange which I never even saw with my own eyes! Never purchase an animal from Fred - If you are unlucky enough to have your baby die after it leaves the ranch, he will tell you AFTERWARDS the facts of the survival of the young animals, but has no problem rushing you into a deposit as soon as what you want is born and he has it. I NEVER received my money back, I NEVER received an apology (instead he tried to turn the blame on me), I was pressured into sending a deposit, NEVER received a bill of sale or ANY paperwork what so ever, I NEVER received any vet work - NOTHING after I paid for all of that, not even a receipt and if Fred does not want to pay us our money back or replace our zebra, I will gladly let the public know how horrible his business and service is. I also have recorded evidence of phone calls with him, including his offer of $200 off another $4000 animal.

for anyone looking for dove we found some at the lonesome bull yesterday, they told us the birds were weak but we limited out in the am, and while we were there we saw so many animals we decided to get some meat for the freezer. we all pitched in and shot a cow elk. borrowed a gun, and I got to shot her because I drove. the grass was a little high and she ran off a bit , but Norris finally found her. there is a ton of animals here and I would have to recommend this ranch to everyone