Recently had the displeasure of hunting spring bear with Josh Rhodes of Eastern Ridge Adventures. Without getting into details for this forum, I found him to be a less than reputable outfitter with only $$$ on his mind instead of providing a top notch service to his clients. Also, his feable attempt to find a seriously wounded bear prompt me to file a complaint with Maine Fish & Game and the Passamaquoddy Indian Warden Service.

If anyone is considering hunting with Eastern Ridge Adventures, please feel free to email me for a complete run down of problems I encountered with Eastern Ridge Adventures.

I have hunted with Josh and had a great time! I feel he runs a great operation and his hunters have great success. I would go back anytime.

Just thought I would add a line or two on my experience to be fair!

quote:

Originally posted by ED Heckman:
Recently had the displeasure of hunting spring bear with Josh Rhodes of Eastern Ridge Adventures. Without getting into details for this forum, I found him to be a less than reputable outfitter with only $$$ on his mind instead of providing a top notch service to his clients. Also, his feable attempt to find a seriously wounded bear prompt me to file a complaint with Maine Fish & Game and the Passamaquoddy Indian Warden Service.

If anyone is considering hunting with Eastern Ridge Adventures, please feel free to email me for a complete run down of problems I encountered with Eastern Ridge Adventures.

Why post this crap. Without details it is a useless post.
That would be like me complaning about a construction company building something for me and then complaining that I wasn't happy and not telling why I wasn't happy.
If you want everyone to know so bad why you are not happy then freaking post it here

Josh was the first outfitter I ever hunted with. I had an excellent experience. I've referred plenty of hunters his way.

So, I'm quite surprised by your experience. Sorry to hear it was less than you expected.

I thought they had dogs that aided in tracking bears.

Anyway, sorry to hear your hunt went bad.

Sorry to hear your hunt went bad, but if you are going to post about it, you really do need to chronicle more details.

I have never hunted with them, but a fellow who frequents one of the same gun shops that I do hunted with Josh a couple of years ago.

I don't recall exact details anymore but do know that he had nothing but positive things to say about his experience.

OK - If you want details the here are the problems encountered with Eastern Ridge Adventures during my June 2007 bear hunt on the Passamaquoddy Indian Land. Now keep in mind that our $2400 fee was suppose to be all inclusive (7 nights / 6 days of hunting with all meals included)

1) Eastern Ridge website advertises that only 6 hunters are allowed in camp. During our hunt we had 7. We were not told of the extra hunter prior to our hunt. We only realized it when we got to camp.
Josh said that my group requested a 4th hunter and he allowed it. We were led to believe that another hunter had canceled and that there was an opening.

2) The camp was at Porter Point Cabins which Josh had rented out for our hunt. The cabins were filthy. Water pressure was almost little or none resulting in showers being basically a sponge bath. One day, we
even had to go down to lake to get a bucket of water to flush toilets. No electricity even though the camp had a fairly new generator on site. He was obviously too cheap to pay to run the generator.

3) His camp staff was lazy. Most of us were up every morning 1 - 2 hours before any of his staff we awake. We woke up to dirty dishes every morning. The previous nights dishes were not washed until after
breakfast.

4) Meals were terrible. He advertises a lobster boil on the first night in camp. He said he could not get lobster so instead he got steak. One would think if you are promised lobster and the outfitter
could not get it, he would at least get some decent steaks (T-Bones / Rib Eyes). Not a chance - we got a cheap cut of steak that was tough as hell. Breakfast was never enough for all 7 hunters. In fact, on the
4th day we ran out of eggs. He never went to get any more for the 3 remaining days. One day all we had was some hash and nasty pancakes made with apples and cinnamon - boy there were terrible. Our last day's
breakfast consisted of some bacon, some sausage, has again, and cereal with only a quart of milk for all of us. We also ran out of soda on about the 4th day. Suppers were always spaghetti or some type of
casserole. My group always got back to camp at least an hour after the first group so we always had to eat what was left over and it was usually barely warm. When questioned about the lack of food and
quality, Josh said there was plenty of food in camp for twice the people we had in camp. And that we were the only group ever to complain about the food.

5) He only baits the stands that hunters our sitting. There were 7 of us so he only baited the 7 stands we were on that night. He did not keep any other stands active/baited to keep bears interested. The guys
that changed stands did not see any bears on the new stands for at least 3 days if ever.
6) This is the one thing that caused me to call the Maine Fish and Game and the Passamaquoddy Warden Service on him. A friend of mine shot a big bear. We figured it was well over 300 lbs. The bear was hit
with a .308 that knocked it over the bait barrel. We found bone, muscle tissue, and plenty of blood. That night we only followed the blood trail for about 70 yards. Keep in mind the blood trail was huge. Josh
said it was too thick to continue and he would come back the next morning with the dog. Well they did go back with the dog, but quit after the dog lost the trail which was only an hour. I was astonished.
I told him that any hunter or outfitter I know would have spent all the next day looking for this wounded bear. I am certain this bear was laying dead somewhere nearby. He said it was hit in the shoulder and would probably have no problem surviving. 2 nights later, another bear was hit and again he only spent about an hour looking for it the next day. When I called the Passamaquoddy Warden Service about this, the warden I spoke with said that this is not the first complaint against Eastern Ridge Adventures and that they were concerned with the excessive number of wounded bears not recovered by them. By the comments made by the
warden, I got the feeling that Eastern Ridge will not get their Passamaquoddy hunting leases renewed for 2008.

Well these are the problems we encountered. We tried to get some of our money back but Josh got down right nasty with us. I told him that I have been hunting with outfitters in Arizona, Texas, Canada, and Africa,
and that his service was the worst I had ever seen by far.

Thanks for the report.

Reloader

Sorry to hear you had a bad hunt.

Why didn't you and your buddy go look for his bear if you were so concerned? He pulled the trigger did he not? Isn't it the hunter’s responsibility to find his quarry?

I know you paid for a 'hunt' but if it was me, I would have told the outfitter I was going to look for my bear until I found it or gave up myself.

Why would one extra hunter be a big deal? You're all sitting over a bait pile. Sounds like he had lots of stands to hunt from. Not sure why they weren’t baited for you though, that sounds a little lazy to me.

Sounds like the accommodations sucked too.

All I can say is WOW.

That is terrible. Things have changed since I was up there in 2004. Back then, he didn't have the Indian Reservation to hunt. Moreover, you couldn't hunt in spring in Maine anyway if I recall.

Josh had at least 7-10 baits running per hunter when I was there, we could hunt a different bait each night if we wanted to. We did have lobster and steak on night one. Cabins were clean and no problem with water pressure, but keep in mind, this is in his other area, not the Indian Reservation.

Food was always good, never any dirty dishes to deal with. All in all, my experience was the opposite of yours.

Obviously the biggest difference between my hunt and yours is the Indian Reservation and spring hunts. Maybe he has too much on his plate now?

In response to why we did not look for the bear ourselves.

The outfitter only let himself, another of his staff, my friend and his son go out the next morning to track the bear. He would not let me go along.

We were also at the mercy of the outfitter due to a transportation issue. We rented a car to get to the cabins. We would have needed a 4X4 to get back to the area the bear was shot in.

If I had a vehicle capable of getting to the bear, and if I had the GPS coordinates of the stand, I would have gone back and spent all day looking for the bear.

Sounds like a terrible setup. Some lessons learned I guess.
1. Rent a 4x4 for hunting(really good idea)
2. If you shoot it you make sure its dead, Don't assume someone else will track it down and kill it for you especially a lazy bunch like the outfitters you happened to be with. Sorry again to hear about the food thing, that is really a piss off after a good day of hunting.

Sorry to hear your hunt went south Ed. How did you find out about this outfitter? You may want to contact the advertiser or agent and see if any other complaints have been filed. Reports are our best defence against finding ourselves in a less than desirable situation. Good hunting, David

quote:

Originally posted by holiday:
I have hunted with Josh and had a great time! I feel he runs a great operation and his hunters have great success. I would go back anytime.

Just thought I would add a line or two on my experience to be fair!

To be fair, huh? You know, holiday, you're not only a phony, but a flat-out dishonest sonofabitch to boot. All, this guy represents Eastern Ridge in one form or another, of that I am all but certain. Have any doubts, do a quick search on him. EVERY SINGLE POST he's ever made here (all 18 of them over the past 3 years) have been to pimp for ER and do a dog and pony routine for them. A man comes on to AR and says he has a hunt for sale, fine. You come here and act like a disinterested 3rd party while pumping up an outfit, I'm calling you a liar and a sneak. With the report that Ed posted up, I'm not the least bit surprised that holiday is associated with them. What a crock of shit.

Ed, sorry you got shafted. Not all Maine outfitters are snakes, but it sure sounds like you met one of them.

KG,

You were not exagerating........all 18 posts are about this outfit??? He never has posted any photos of his hunts, just a link to the outfitters site..........

Ed,

Sorry about your hunt.

Good Hunting,

Bob

Hiya Bob,

No, I wasn't exaggerating. A ways back I saw him here for what he was, and called him on it. He flatly denied having anything to do with the outfit; he was just passing along info for the benefit of his fellow hunter, don'tcha know. Mmmhmm. Hope this thread helps put him where he belongs--which is elsewhere. There's nothing I hate more than a snake-oil salesman, especially when it comes to hunting. Having dealt with a few bad apples so far in my day, it's my distinct pleasure to expose them for what they are--liars and cheats, and run them off if at all possible. Trouble is, the vermin will probaly just come back with a different handle. At least he's not clever enough to post on other topics and gain at least some credibility, and is easily sussed out.

Cheers,

KG

quote:

Originally posted by ED Heckman:

4) Meals were terrible. He advertises a lobster boil on the first night in camp. He said he could not get lobster so instead he got steak.

Did a quick reread and caught this gem. Couldn't get lobster? IN MAINE? That's like saying you can't get corn in Iowa, a pineapple in Hawaii, or a hooker on Kneeland Street in Boston on a Saturday night.

Ed, sorry again about your horrible experience, but thank you for doing your fellow hunters a good turn by sharing your experience with ER. Lots of people read here, and many will take note of how you and your gang were treated. Hit 'em where it hurts: in the GD pocket book!

Ed-

Thanks for posting the details. Sounds like his operation has gone way south of what it used to be.

4) Meals were terrible. He advertises a lobster boil on the first night in camp. He said he could not get lobster so instead he got steak. [/QUOTE]

Did a quick reread and caught this gem. Couldn't get lobster? IN MAINE? That's like saying you can't get corn in Iowa, a pineapple in Hawaii, or a hooker on Kneeland Street in Boston on a Saturday night.

You know, it's not as easy as it used to be.... at least that's what I hear...I mean I've heard. Yeah, that's what I mean......... Really!

You're not looking in the right places. I'm beginning to worry about you, Slug...

Holiday, dumb crap how come you don't have anything to say for being exposed for what you are??

quote:

Originally posted by Jarrod:
Holiday, dumb crap how come you don't have anything to say for being exposed for what you are??

I think cowardice and/or shame explain it pretty well. On second thought, shame is probably not the reason; one has to have a moral compass of some sort for that to apply. Ole AssHole-iday is clearly lacking in that department, the rat bastard.

KG

I just PM'ed Holiday and asked him if he worked for Eastern Ridge Adventures. I'm curious.

I think that I will check on some other hunting forums to see if he's doing the same thing there and if they have noticed it.

This is Josh Rhodes of Eastern Ridge Adventures. I first want to thank those of you who have hunted with me for e-mailing and calling about his post.

Ed heckman certainly has the right to voice his opinion on this site, but truth should also be involved. There is much information that you all should know.

First, A member of Ed's hunting party contacted me and wanted to bring a fourth hunter in their party. It was explained we book three hunters per guide and for this to happen their group of four would need to go with the same guide. That was no problem with them so we ACCOMODATED them so the fourth friend could come. The other three hunters in camp went with their guide. I never led them to beleive otherwise.

Second, the cabins are not filthy- they are a set of remote camps in the Maine wilderness. When water pressure ran out or got low we turn on the generator for fifteen-twenty minutes and it pressurizes 300 more gallons. You could take as many hot showers a day that you wanted. If pressure got low you told a staff member- not hard to deal with. If I am too cheap to run generators than why did we run one every day Ed and others needed it to just charge their cell phones? I think this is pretty accomodating.

Third, my camp staff worked 16-20 hours per day-is that lazy? Breakfast was set at a time chosen by all hunters in camp. If you woke up earlier fine. The policy in my camp is open kitchen when ever you want and need something. Meals were always prepared and served as scheduled to accomodate all hunters in camp. If there were dirty dishes in the sink in the morning it's because water pressure ran out the night before and we did not want to run the generator because some hunters were in bed. It's called being respectful and courteous.

Fourth, I'm sorry Ed thought the meals were terrible. We put on a good spread every meal regardless of what he wants you to believe. As for the Lobster, the paperwork Ed and every hunter filled out regarding planning for meals clearly states Lobsters are ONLY for the Fall hunts. Ed had this conversation with another hunter while there and the other hunter even told him it was in the paperwork as did I. I don't understand his confusion?

The steak we had was a great cut of steak and hunters loved it- I'm sorry Ed did not. When we ran out of Eggs one of my staff did go and get more THAT DAT! If you did not like your pancakes with apples and cinamon ask for plain-other hunts did and it was no big deal. When the quart of milk was gone, all you had to do was grab the full gallon in the back up fridge or ask a staff member and they would get it. I guess it is obvious Ed did not like the meals but to be dishonest is not right. There were four weeks of hunts out of those camps and there are plenty of hunters to talk to about the meals. I won't beat a dead horse on this issue.

If I only bait sites that are being hunted what were all those bait buckets on the trucks and on the four wheelers? In fact, ED'S buddy switched stands and he saw bear EVERY night of his hunt. Another hunter switched stands and saw a sow and two cubs with a boar right behind them. The next night he shot the boar which will make the Maine State record book for skull after drying. In fact my hunters shot 5 of the 7 largest bear in the 2007 Maine Spring bear hunt statewide, including the largest. 7 of our bears will make the Maine State record book for 18+ inch skulls, per Tad Proudlove the official scorer.

As for the two bear that were wounded that week, Ed forgot to mention that they were BOTH shot by the same hunter. When we went to shoot the guns before the hunt started, his friend could not even hit the target. Another hunter attempted to show him how to sight in his rifle. He elected to use Ed's back up gun. We looked and looked for the first bear regardless of what you lead these readers to beleive. It was your choice not to help go look for this bear. Since you decided not to go another hunter in camp who was not even part of your group went.

Then this hunter swithched to another buddies gun who had tagged out. He shot another bear. The reason you could not go with us to track this one was because it was a bait site ONLY accessible by ATV. Myself, the hunters son, and my dog rode on one wheeler, and the hunter and the other guide rode on another. We looked and looked for that one (for much longer than an hour). Unfortuneatly that bear was not recovered. This group of four shot five bear, they all went home with one except the friend who's bears were not recovered.

There, I have had my chance to defend myself and will leave it at this. I would be happy to send anyone a list of references to discuss how our operation is run and the experiences they have had. I will not continue to argue back and forth with Mr. Heckman. As I said, references are available from the 2007 Spring hunt. There is always two sides to a story.

Josh Rhodes

Josh counters with a few jabs, but seems a bit punchy; not much damage done. Who knows what Ed will throw next? I've got my seat and drink; who's bringing the pretzels?

So Josh, just curious: who's Holiday, your son/cousin/brother?

KG

I've got the pretzels!

Lack of communication sucks! I would imagine that somewhere right in the middle of the two conflicting stories is the truth.

Too bad Atkinsons not in the arguement, I havent seen a good cussin' in a long time

Drum

'Attaboy. Brown mustard, right?

I don't know either party, and some here that are stand up as best I can tell have hunted with ER and stated that their experience was good. Who's telling the truth? Well, not BOTH of them! All I know is that I HATE hearing about hunters getting ripped off/scammed (BTDT), and since Josh's obvious shill Holiday opened his piehole on the thread, am skeptical about anything having to do with ER. If I am proven wrong, I'll extend a public apology to Josh, but won't hold my breath.

KG

quote:

Originally posted by Fjold:
I just PM'ed Holiday and asked him if he worked for Eastern Ridge Adventures. I'm curious.

I think that I will check on some other hunting forums to see if he's doing the same thing there and if they have noticed it.

You actually have doubts? Check huntamerica, 24HCF and a couple others I can't recall at the moment. I've seen his slime trail on other sites.

ED Heckman sounds like some rich boy cryin cause the toilet paper was to rough.
AWWWW! No lobster? "surely Muffy, civilized people dont eat sirloin."
Whats wrong Ed? no jaccuzi tubs?
perhaps what you want is a covered Hummer to carry you to the stand were a record book boar is tied to a tree for you to shoot. then the guide will carry you back to camp for Caviar appatizer and Lobster dinner w/ conac. while he dresses your kill you can soak in the jaccuzi tub and smoke a Cohiba. meanwhile the servants will turn down your queesn sized bed and fluff the 800 thread count cotton sheets. mint on the pillow? of course.

I don't know either of these gentlemen, but I have to agree with KSTEPHENS. If you are hunting the wilderness, you should EXPECT to not be at home sipping cognac with a fine Macanudo that was brought to you by the staff.

Mr. Rhodes,

Who's your shill that goes from site to site pimping your operation?

It give the appearance of a less than honest operation when you use deceptive advertising to promote your hunting business.

quote:

Originally posted by KSTEPHENS:
ED Heckman sounds like some rich boy cryin cause the toilet paper was to rough.
AWWWW! No lobster? "surely Muffy, civilized people dont eat sirloin."
Whats wrong Ed? no jaccuzi tubs?
perhaps what you want is a covered Hummer to carry you to the stand were a record book boar is tied to a tree for you to shoot. then the guide will carry you back to camp for Caviar appatizer and Lobster dinner w/ conac. while he dresses your kill you can soak in the jaccuzi tub and smoke a Cohiba. meanwhile the servants will turn down your queesn sized bed and fluff the 800 thread count cotton sheets. mint on the pillow? of course.

KSTEPHENS,
You took the words right out of my mouth and what you said is just putting it mildly..

Too funny!

Nasty pancakes with apples and cinnamon?

No milk for your cerial? milk is for babys and children. Men dont drink milk

i found a recent pic of Ed Hackman on Safari...
Seems like a reasonable chap.

quote:

Originally posted by Josh Rhodes:

As for the Lobster, the paperwork Ed and every hunter filled out regarding planning for meals clearly states Lobsters are ONLY for the Fall hunts.

"All meals are prepared and served
by the staff in the main cottage. The
night of arrival for all fully guided
hunts includes a fresh Maine seafood
dinner with lobsters, steamers, and
blueberry pie."

Says above 'all fully guided hunts includes', does it not? Any guesses as to where I got that quote? Your website.

Here's another from your site: "We
have been known to track bears for hours when other guides would have given up and ended your hunt due to drawing blood. Not here! We have one of the best tracking dogs in the business and never give up easily. We understand how
much this hunt means to you!"

Hmm again. Seems like we have yet another contradiction, because in your post above, you say,

"We looked and looked for that one (for much longer than an hour). Unfortuneatly that bear was not recovered".

Interesting. 'Much longer than an hour', eh? What's that mean, like 75 minutes? 90? What is 'giving up easy' to you? If you didn't put in a bare minimum of half a day to try and find his bear, I think you failed him.

As far as Ed's report, I don't think that expecting what has been promised and paid for is unreasonable, and I'm not convinced that Josh lived up to his end. Wilderness camp or not, if I paid for a service, I'd expect a follow-through. The complaints about the food were a little bit much, I'll give his detractors that. When I'm out on a hunt, I'm there to hunt, not be terribly picky about food, but I'd expect to not have to worry about dirty dishes, having enough to eat, a working toilet and whether or not someone I'd paid was going to give finding a wounded bear 100% effort.

At any rate, based on Josh's shill alone, I'll never hunt with his outfit, or recommend him to anyone. From his response here, I wasn't convinced he held up his part of the deal with Ed either, and to me, that shit don't float, as they say.

KG

Well I have to agree with KSTEPHENS,

My first impression when reading Ed's post on all the horrible things about the camp was.

What a little mamby pambi soft city boy cry baby!

As far as the wounded bears HOW IN THE HELL does a guy wound two bears at close range with a rifle from a stand?

Sounds to me like a group of Orvis wearing Eddie Bauer catalog reading stock brokers on a quest for high adventure in the rugged woods.

Next time remember to bring your personal staff with you so you won't have to rough it with "sponge" baths, "low water pressure" and substandard dinning.

I am thinking the adjective that describes this guy starts with a P and ends with a Y and sounds a lot like wussy.

You might want to stick with cruise ships for your future holiday plans.

quote:

Originally posted by surestrike:
Well I have to agree with KSTEPHENS,

My first impression when reading Ed's post on all the horrible things about the camp was.

What a little mamby pambi soft city boy cry baby!

As far as the wounded bears HOW IN THE HELL does a guy wound two bears at close range with a rifle from a stand?

Sounds to me like a group of Orvis wearing Eddie Bauer catalog reading stock brokers on a quest for high adventure in the rugged woods.

Next time remember to bring your personal staff with you so you won't have to rough it with "sponge" baths, "low water pressure" and substandard dinning.

I am thinking the adjective that describes this guy starts with a P and ends with a Y and sounds a lot like wussy.

You might want to stick with cruise ships for your future holiday plans.

You guys are obviously entitled to your opinions but it sure sounds like he didn't get what was advertized. I don't mind roughing it when hunting but if I'm paying for something I want it to match what I was told to expect when I paid for it.

I've got the popcorn and beer...

Right on, Todd. That's pretty much how I see it too.

KG

Glad to see this thread is still active.

I agree with the comments of surestrike, two wounded bears from a stand and the "Orvis hatch" as my son in MT calls them.

Bit, with that in mind, I'm still waiting for word from the entertainment specialists on Kneeland Street!

Kamo, I've been laughing for a week!

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