Guide Life: Clay Forst
Walker Davidson for SPLIT REED
Situated in south central Oklahoma, nestled nearly directly between Dallas and Oklahoma City, lies the 33,000 acre Stuart Ranch. The Stuart ranch has been in the same family for six generations and continues to operate as a horse and cattle producing ranch. With the red dirt, mesquite tree laden landscape, Stuart Ranch provides some breathtaking sunsets and sunrises, along with some pretty sporty waterfowl hunting.
Clay Forst, the owner of Stuart Ranch Outfitting, started the operation 11 years ago to compliment the already successful cattle and horse operations on the ranch. What started as mainly whitetail deer and turkey outfitting has now also turned into waterfowl guiding on the many cattle ponds, sloughs, and moist soil units managed by Clay. Clay spends a lot of time managing his wetlands to insure wintering waterfowl want to pay them a visit. With plenty of other water on the farm, as long as he can provide food, the birds will be there.
A hunt a Stuart Ranch begins by being picked up at their lodge and taken directly to a permanent blind, layout blinds, or an a-frame. Based on the previous afternoons scout, Clay and his team of guides devise a plan sure to put clients in front of birds. At shooting light, it is apparent that the scout was not wrong, as birds begin coming into the decoys. Clay explained, “We’re never going to be the guys trying to shoot 100 a day, but we are really good at shooting 20 or 30 a day and sometimes we’ll do even better than that. We want clients to enjoy a more intimate experience with a few friends shooting decoying birds.”
The experience of an Oklahoma sunrise and hunting a cattle pond, “the Stuart Ranch special,” as Clay dubbed it, isn’t like other waterfowl hunts. It has a special simplicity to it that makes it fun. Mallards, pintails, widgeon, gadwalls, teal, spoonies and the lovable ringneck all fill straps, providing good wing-shooting and beautiful mixed bag hunts. Wildrose labs are there to retrieve downed game, adding another fun and impressive element to the hunt.
I can attest that from my time spent there, Clay gets it right. We took turns shooting birds in the decoys, Gentleman’s hunting. In between flights of birds we laughed and told jokes and stories like old friends, even though we’d met 12 hours prior. In a rustic setting, on Oklahoma’s oldest family owned ranch Clay and the rest of the crew at Stuart Ranch provide great waterfowl hunting and make it feel like you have been friends forever. A final exciting tidbit is Clay is planning on building a new lodge for the 2021-22 season!
Click on Walker to find him on Instagram
Click on Clay to find him on Instagram