Interesting he added some details and left others out. Makes me wonder how true most of these are. Especially about this outfitter. But at least he was successful.
Posted in Facebook , Public by David Cooper I wanted to share a few photos from my recent trip out to Cody Carr's Hunting Adventures in Plains Montana, for the opening week or Archery Season. I had booked this trip in January of 2019 and had counted every single day anxiously. After arriving in Missoula, I was picked up and driven up to Plains. The views were serene until we were closer and then the mountains grew much more steep and tall. At the lodge every single person i met was friendly, positive and motivated, made a big difference to me since I traveled alone and had many questions. I met my guide Shane, and we discussed a plan for the week. It was decided we would head back to Archery Camp which was about 6 miles back into the woods and hunt out of their wall tent setup. Riding in we were hit with a nice snowstorm mixed with gusting winds up to 30mph. Having not ridden a horse in maybe 30 years this was a change for me, but was awesome none the less. Cody's father Jerry lead us in(he's an exceptional person, and getting to meet and chat with Jerry was worth the trip alone) and after a few hours we arrived. We did a brief hike that night and returned to start our hunt the next morning. In the AM it was cold, we headed out and stopped to bugle all along the way. We called in a small bull and cow not too far from camp and it was amazing to see them just appear like ghosts from the depths below. After a few minutes we moved on and continued, we reached the same point we had the night before on our hike and sounded again... then we heard a few bulls call back, it was ON! We setup, they were both coming in, but for some reason they hung up and left us high and dry. We decided to formulate a plan to persue them and hiked up high to rest and relocate them. After a few hours we got on them again and made our move, a difficult ridgetop hike lead us to a slope where we called and then holy $hit they were coming in. 3 bulls came to the call, a spike, a raghorn and a nicer bull. I was about 40yds from Shane, down the slope next to a nice size burnt tree(on my way to the tree i slipped, fell and miraculously didn't blow out the bulls), and got myself mentally ready. They were coming in on a string to Shane's cow calls and bugles, it was all about to happen like I was out of body watching a hunting show. Years of shooting my bow, training, preparing all came down to this... I ranged a few trees to get my distances down and the last bull came into range. I stopped him at 40yds, steadied my pin on his vitals and THWACK, the broadhead drilled him dead where I aimed with that hollow thump bowhunters love to hear. He leaped and took off a bit, while the other bulls milled around. Fast forward to 45 minutes later and this guy was just standing there, he didn't drop, made no sense to us at all. He was insanely tough, Shane reviewed the video and you could see the exit hole and some blood but this old warrior was standing tall. His two pals decided to go back home and he began to follow, I crept down and needed to put another shot on him. Ranged him at 72yds, dropped my pack and setup my shot. Drew back, released the arrow and it was tracking perfectly to drill him, when the arrow began to drop down it deflected off a branch, went left and lodged itself behind the bulls jaw on the left side(we have this all on video to be posted soon, it's pretty crazy to watch). This bull, arrow hanging out of his head just walked off and went home. He bedded down and we watched this guy for around 3 hours before he slowly walked off, it was clear he was wounded but he wouldn't go to the light. We followed in but decided to back out and not spook him. Just before we left the area, Shane said to me "hey, hold up, can you hear that?" "hear what?" "sounds like heavy breathing, like gasping for air"..... The hike back and that night were gut wrenching, the thought of wounding a bull and not locating him, his pain, possibly demise to wolves, etc kept me up staring at the tent ceiling. Calls were made to the lodge to send up some help to locate the bull and bring mules/horses just in case. We woke up and headed to the area fast, making sure not to blow out any other bulls on the way in. We began to walk from where we last saw him, and while exploring found a large sinkhole, deep and rocky, all i could think of was a massive bear popping out to say good morning. While standing there, Shane says "hey, can you smell that?" "smell what?", "smells like dead elk".... and about 40yds above that hole on a small shelf was my bull!!! A flood of emotion came over me, too many to list and I got up to him and finally put my hands on him. I was thankful to G-d for providing this animal, thankful to the incredible skill of my guide Shane, thankful that he didn't suffer too long and he had only traveled about 100yds from where we saw him. Turns out, Shane had heard him the evening prior as he finally laid down and succumb to his injuries. The broadhead had entered perfectly and possibly deflected off a rib, it blew through his lung and clipped his liver. This bull held on a long time, truly astounding how strong and tough these animals are. We began to process the bull and shortly after the others showed up to assist, grateful we had located the bull and we began to pack out. Luckily the mules were only about 500yds away, so we loaded up and headed out. The roller coaster of emotion, exhaustion, excitement, you name it was running through my head and it all leveled out on the ride out to pure gratefulness. I had went on this trip expecting to have an adventure and memorable experience and came home rich with memories, images and motivation to return. It's hard to capture it all in words, there was a lot more that happened on this trip and all my expectation were fulfilled. Here's just a few pictures, videos will come soon in a few days. None of this would have happened without Dustin Broken Rack Archery and Pure Perfextion Strings & Cables, Billy Gibson and so many others. After beating up my bow up and around those mountains, it was there at the moment of truth and hammered! Thank you to Cody, Shane, Eric, Owen, Zach, Nick, Colissa, Rebecca, Jerry, Chloe, Sarah and everyone else at Cody Carr's Hunting Adventures!!! I count the days till Archery 2022!!!
KHNC's Link
But it is odd that the Facebook story makes it sound like he met the guide and they headed into the snowstorm and archery camp. The Bowsite review talks about hunting the first few days of nothing in heat, then deciding to go in deeper.
That’s the sum total of my internet sleuthing.
Yes, the stories are different for sure. Especially no mention of the 6x6 in his original FB story. And he left out the arrow in the head on the review. Not that it matters, but interesting he felt the need to post different versions. Both are public.
Where do I start. Before the hunt started I offered Kenny’s money back to him as he was writing stuff negative on forums about the hunt before it ever started. I had numerous conversations with Kenny which turned into a bragging session about his hunting ability and his ability to shoot over 1200 yards. I told him we would not be shooting this far and would get as close as possible for the shot. His hunting partner warned we about his strong personality. Kenny called me before the hunt to inform me he did not care about his hunting partner as he did not know him well and did not want him to hold him back. When they arrived in camp I could quickly tell that Kenny’s hunting partner was in great shape and Kenny would be the one struggling. I place Kenny with a 33 year veteran guide named Darren who is one of the best guides Montana has ever seen. The first two days of the hunt was solid fog. On day three Kenny Shot at 150 yards a 180-200 inch mule deer buck. Instead of listening to his guide Kenny started celebrating and the buck laid there for a long time and eventually got up and took off. This was a shame as the guide said there was ample time for a followup shot. The entire camp watched the video and it was a shame Kenny did not finish the buck off. They tracked the buck the rest of the day and was not able to get back on him. Kenny insisted on hunting the same area the next two days even though the guide told him they had chased most the game out of the canyon. They tracked many bull elk through the snow and was unsuccessful in catching up to them throughout the week. Reading my guides diary he had spotted well over 100+ elk and 100+ deer during the week and even spotted a great big bull to go after the last day. Kenny was asked to go but did not want to do the hike and told Darren and his hunting partner to go without him. Kenny stayed and hunted one of our private leases. Darren and the hunter missed that big bull on the last night of the hunt. I reached out to his hunting partner and he was excited about the hunt and did not agree with Kenny! During the time of his hunt we had many different camps in the mountains and at anytime they could have went camping. What really happened Kenny had blown an opportunity on a world class mule deer buck and wanted to go back to the same spot day after day. I do believe Kenny should have tried to recover that buck, but when it did not work out for him now he was upset. Most hunters never get to shoot at that type of deer in a lifetime. I reached out to a longtime friend of Kennys and he told me that Kenny is not allowed to go back to another outfitters camp because of how he conducted himself and how poor of a tip he left the staff. In 33 years of guiding that was the least tip that my guide has received in all the years of guiding. I am now the second outfitter that will not allow Kenny Hollingsworth back in his camp. I am thankful that Kenny said we have exceptional food, knowledgeable guides and beautiful lodging. The lack of success Kenny experienced during this hunt was entirely his own fault. I have only met a few people in my life that possess the ego that Kenny brings to camp. Please realize as outfitters I cannot make every hunter happy given their differences in expectations. I wish Kenny the best!
Point being you have posted your review as have many other some good/some bad. You have beat this to the point of coming off as a scorned school girl. IMO time to give it a rest.
I refuse to hunt with just anyone. Kenny puts out 100 percent on every hunt, he's a beast in the Mountains (has won several "Train to Hunt" competitions). I always know Kenny has my back, one of the best Friends I've ever made through hunting connections.
Also, I've never heard Kenny talk about (or, "bitch about") this hunt with Cody Carr one single time, on any of our elk hunts, over the last 8 years.
Just my two cents...flame away, if so inclined!