Reference: Randy Higgins, Jennifer Higgins

                   Musselshell Outfitters

                   Lic # 3398

Nature of Complaint

1)      False Advertisement, Fraud, Miss Representation, Breach of Contract, Mail Fraud, Assault.

a.       Mr. Higgins on the phone told me ALL of his guides are experienced bow hunters. They ALL are experienced Archery guides and they ALL been with him for a minimum of 5 years. He also stated that ALL of them have harvested Elk with a bow.  Also, One of his guides is a MT state 3D champion.

                                                               i.      ANSWER: one of his guides Doug Sorenson just got his Lic in 2002. If you refer back to Docket NO. CC-03-0262-OUT you will see Mr. Higgins hired him on October 3, 2002 and you received his application for a guide Lic. On October 7, 2002 . My hunt was September 2004 which make him 1 year 11 Mos. You also gave him a fine and a placed his Lic. On 18 months probation for this violation, which as of this date he is still on active probation.

                                                             ii.      None of his guides shoot 3-D according to them let alone a champion. One Guide Justin just took up bow hunting in the last year.  The Guides I spoke to in camp did not even hunt with a bow.

                                                            iii.      My Guide, Justin, this was his first year guiding and also the first time he had guided a bowhunter, in fact he just arrived at the camp a few weeks before I  got there. He has also NEVER taken anything with his bow according to him. He Said he could never get close enough, well how the hell did he think he was going to get two of us close enough!!

                                                           iv.      If you refer to State of Montana Department of Labor and Industry Hearings Bureau Case No. 1046-2002 and Case No. 1120-2002 you will see that he hires VERY inexperienced guides and his statement of having experienced guides is FALSE an misleading.

                                                            v.      His web site also states “Half of our hunting guests see bulls that score 350"+ every season. We have at least three opportunities at 350"+ elk every season……. “We are consistently producing 100% opportunity for our elk hunting guests. Many guests have had multiple shot opportunities at 300"+Bulls!” http://www.musselshelloutfitters.com/bow.htm. I think if you check the records (and the names provided with this complaint)  you will see this is a False statement and again misleading

     Here are some more FALSE and Misleading Statement from Mr. Higgins Web site. “ Private land insures that the general public doesn't run over you. Bow-hunting wild elk doesn't get any better  ” As stated below I only hunted private land a few days the rest was on public land where we were being run over by the general public. Again I bought and paid for a private land hunt not a public land hunt. An his web site advertisement says PRIVATE LAND HUNT no where does he say or state that you will be hunting public land, in fact it states the exact opposite.

     “We only book hunts for the period of time when the elk are in rut”.  I think if you check MR. Higgins Log book you will see he has archery hunters during the entire archery season (10 per week, 40+ for the archery season). This statement is very misleading and false.

      “We use bugles and cow calls to bring them in close. We occasionally use stands and blinds” The truth is just the opposite, all he wants to do is have his lazy guides drive you to a worthless stand over a plastic bucket of water an drop you off so they can go back to the truck and sleep.

     “We always do our pre-season homework. Hard work plus a positive attitude equals success!” That is pretty hard to do when some of the guides arrive in camp the day before the hunters, or like mine has never even been himself to the areas he was taking me to hunt.

      Overall opportunity for bowhunters with us is about 95%. We very rarely have a bowhunter who does not have an opportunity. Again please check the witness list that I have supplied with this complaint an you will find this is a False statement and misleading to potential clients.

       Here are a few more quotes off the Musselshell web site, all false and very misleading:

      We are consistently producing 100% opportunity for our elk hunting guests.

      If you are an elk hunter you know that these facts are extraordinary, but true. If you are going to bowhunt elk, you might as well hunt where there are big elk.

     Bow-hunting wild elk doesn't get any better we only book hunts for the period of time when the elk are in rut.
Again a false an misleading statement to entice potential clients. Please look at his log book he has clients the entire hunting period.

b.      Private Land : Mr. Higgins web site says this  ”All of our hunting is done by staying at one central camp. All of our hunting land is exclusive to the hunters that we guide. Over 50,000 acres of private ranch is available to only our hunting guests.”…. “ Private land insures that the general public doesn't run over you http://www.musselshelloutfitters.com/location.htm

                                                               i.      I was taken 5 + times to public land as were the other hunter’s name I have supplied as Witness to these facts. The Locations are Musselshell Road N.46.30.413  W108.08.704. The second public place he referred to as Unit #5 46.24.054, W108.16.750. Another place was N46.21.510, W108.06.856.  this public hunting area I was dropped off an was unguided ( even though I PAID for a GUIDED HUNT) and told to make my way back up to the road at dark where I would be picked up.

                                                             ii.      As per the web site address above he states RANCH which means ONE, but the truth is he has a few “small” areas he has leased, an I can guarantee he does not have 55,000 acres of hunting land as he states which again is misleading and false. You get the impression from talking to him on the phone and his advertisement he has a 55,000 acre ranch that he manages for World Class Elk as he advertises on his web site ”Musselshell Outfitters, LLC  in Roundup Montana provides world class elk” May be you can tell me how many “WORLD CLASS Elk he has taken on his 55,000 private acres that are in the record book??.
     He personally told me on the phone he has a resident heard of Elk on his 55,000 acre ranch that he manages for trophy quality and he only takes a limited number of hunters each year during the peak of the rut. He personally told me ( after I got there an on the ride from the airport) the ranch area with the cabins does NOT have any Elk you need to go 15 miles away before you get into Elk Country.

                                                            iii.      One area we went to in the afternoon did not have anything but a bunch of farm cows running around like most of his “leased” land, than after about an hour the rancher was driving his truck all over the ranch blowing his horn. We stopped hunting as he was running all over the place blowing his horn, so we ran into him  on the way out an talked with him. Justin asked him if he had seen any Elk on this ranch as this was also Justin first time there and he said there are NO Elk in this area but he does see some deer, my guide Justin jaw dropped and said well we better not waste any more time here!!! Randy  told Justin in front of me we should try over here as it has not been hunted this year (An that is why NO ELK!!). On the way out of this ranch we ran into a rancher and his wife in a pickup who told Justin (my guide) he was trespassing and Randy Higgins did not have permission to cross his land he (Justin) better tell him to stay OFF.

c.       Safety: One evening Randy told Justin he should take me to the “Waller” N46.21.510, W108.06.856 (PUBLIC HUNTING AREA). I asked Justin if he had ever been there, he said YES. When we got to the parking area and started in Justin looked like he was lost, he kept looking around and walking in circles. When he finally stumbled on this this “Small” mud hole (with NO fresh tracks I might add) he looked around a bit than pointed to a old rusty tree stand, he said “that is your stand”, I said “really, do you have a safety Harness” he said “NO don’t you have one”, I said “Yes back in Maryland, I was told by Randy on the phone he provided them.” Justin told me he has not seen any but would check with Randy. He than told me to make due this time. Justin said he was going to ride around an do some glassing an do some listening for Elk bugling and he would meet me back at the road at dark. I had PAID for a guided hunt yet I was left alone on this Public land without any guide. My understanding with the outfitter sponsored Lic. is that I am to have my guide with me, PLUS I paid for a GUIDED hunt. The stand looked like it had been there for many year, the chain had grown into the tree, and there were no steps to climb up and no rope to pull up your bow. I tried a few times to get up wiggling around old dead branches and decide this was way to DANGEROUS. I decided to hunt from the ground, while looking for a good place to sit I found about 30-40 yards down from the rusty stand a fairly new stand which I did get up into. There was no safety harness there and the stand was leaning on a downward angle which made you feel like you were going to topple out of. This inexperienced guide who obviously did not know this area placed me in harms way with a total disregard for my safety. Also at dark I made my way back to road an the truck and found my guide all cuddled up on the front seat asleep, I had to bang twice hard on the window before he woke up to let me in, All for the scouting he was suppose to do!!

d.       It is Randy Higgins reasonability to make sure we as hunters are provided with safety equipment if he is going to have us hunt out of tree stands. Randy personally himself placed me twice in a tree stand without providing any safety harness and told me they were back at camp an there was no time to drive back and retrieve one. Every tree stand I was placed in was dangerous and not easy to get into or out of. All of them used old dead limbs for steps most of the time. There is a total disregard for the safety and welfare of the hunters he is entrusted to care for by him and his staff an sooner or later someone is going to be seriously hurt or killed. I am sure now that you have been officially notified of this you will be included in any legal action that derives from his lack of care as you are his governing body if steps are not taken immediately.

e.       I over heard Randy telling one of his guides (he was from Bozeman) and just got in that day from guiding in Alaska, as he was going to start guiding the next day with a new group (So much for the statement on his web site “We always do our pre-season homework”). , they seem to be old friends. So this also shows his guides do no pre scouting as was told to me on the phone an advertised on his web site. The last day of my hunt while they were dumping some water on the ground for the NEW batch of hunters that were coming in the next day that one of his guides had taken a bad fall out of the ladder stand over this “water hole” this year. So this tells me a couple of things, one his stands are unsafe even for his “experienced archery Guides” and his guides are hunting the same areas as his PAID clients.

c. I was also unguided an left alone on public land on September 17, 2004 the coordinates are N46.21.510, W108.06.856. The Guide dropped me off an told me to make my way out to the road at dark. What I paid for was a guided hunt thinking that the guides would be experienced guides form the area. If I wanted to hunt alone on PUBLIC land I would not have paid Randy Higgins of Musselshell Outfitters $4500

d. ASSAULT on Wednesday September 22, 2004 at approximately 11:30 am I was physically and verbally assaulted by Randy Higgins. After another morning of NO ELK we were back into the truck with Randy driving with my Guide Justin in the front passenger seat. I was in the back an said to Randy “Ok what is the big plan for the afternoon” He than went off the deep end an started screaming obscenities  “You and that other group before you are nothing but a bunch of fucken cry babies, this is Montana hunting and you ass holes from the east just can’t take it” , “this is Real Montana Elk hunting not a fenced hunt”, “the problem with you ass holes are you think you know more than me”  I stated a few fact he had told me on the phone about all the Elk he had, his 100% shot opportunity. His experienced archery guides, I would see herds of elk everyday, his lack of private land and I felt he had mislead me. Well he really started screaming and cussing and told me ”he should just leave my pansy ass in a tree stand all night so the Mountain lions would have something to do instead of chasing his elk”.  I told him they must be full already cause they have already ate all the Elk around here. He was cussing and saying a lot of threaten things  like “I have shot better men than you” “ It is not unusual to have a accident out here and no one would find you” things like that were making me feel like I was in some danger,  I decided he was getting a little dangerous so I just sat in the back closed my eyes like I was sleeping and let him ramble, he finally calmed down on the ride back to camp, I guess he thought I was asleep. When we arrived back at camp there was another guide there that I had not seen before that was assigned to that camp. As soon as Randy parked the truck and I opened my door to get out he came flying around the passenger side where I was exiting and started to scream and yell obstinacies again, this time he was louder and more violent, he said  “you fuckers just don’t want to listen to what I tell you” “you’re a pussy an this Montana hunting is for real men, you need to go back East and hunt in a fenced pasture” “You’re a fucken crybaby and all you want to do is whine about not seeing any Elk, this is REAL hunting” “ I should just throw your fucken ass off this mountain after I kick your ass” While he was doing all of this he  had his arms crossed an was bumping me with  his chest  making me move backwards. I felt at that time that I was in imminent danger and I had a fear for my life as I knew he was out of control, I was obviously outnumbered and on foreign soil. Justin my guide as soon as Randy started screaming went inside the cabin and did not come back out. The next day when he took me to the airport I asked him why he had done that an he said he did not want to be a witness to anything, he had a wife back in Bozeman and needed the job. The other guide saw the whole thing and just leaned up against his truck. When Randy finally got done he told me to go have my “fucken nap” an the MEN were going into town for supplies. I was not feed any lunch or dinner that day (which was my last hunting day) they were gone about 2.5 hours and I was left at camp all alone. I was not even sure they were coming back. When they did get back Randy said you are going to the “steel wheel” which is a water tank. He drove me to an area told me to walk a mile or so down the road till I saw the water tank and than look up the hill for a tree stand. I asked him if there was a safety belt there he said “NO and I don’t have any here if you don’t like it than don’t hunt out of it, an to come out at dark and they will pick me back up. No one offered to give me any food and the next morning there was no breakfast or even a cup of coffee. I asked to leave for the airport  ASAP even though my flight was not until 4pm . I had Justin stop at a conveyance store for coffee and a few donuts.

The reason my dates an times are so precise is I keep a daily journal on a leather bound journal book I was given for Christmas many years ago an take it on all my hunting trips.

This is a quote off:  http://www.huntinfo.com/reviews/outfitter_reviews.php3

From: Jim Duncan, jmdm1985@hotmail.com

I have hunted with Musselshell Outfitters several years. Great people, great operation. I have always seen good animals and had a great time. Bow hunting big elk is my passion, and that is why I hunt with Musselshell Outfitters. I don't hunt in canned hunt areas or fenced in African concessions. I also listen to my guide when I travel to hunt. Too many easterners are going west for the first time to hunt elk, then talking like they know more than the guide!!! You have to HUNT and enjoy being in the woods to be a true bowhunter. Its not for everyone.

            Maybe you can check Musselshell Log book to see if this guy Jim Duncan even exist since he clams he has hunted with him several years. But you can see the words are coming right out of Randy Higgins mouth an the same things he has said to me personally. Maybe it is just a coincident but both Randy Higgins and this guy both have a “hotmail” email account. If this guy does not exist than this is just another avenue that Randy Higgins is using to mislead the public with false and misleading information.

            Mr. Higgins Attorney has also contacted me (see letter enclosed) threatening legal action unless I remove key words off my web site. He does not mind using the internet to mislead people but does not like it when someone exposes his lies. There is nothing on my web site that is not 100% true and accurate.

            All of the above are true and accurate to the best of my knowledge

Larry C. Reese
215 Lands End Road
Centreville , Maryland   21617
410-758-2000