Stanfield
Ryan Barnes for SPLIT REED
In January of 1992 brothers, Tony and Jeff Stanfield decided to start a new guide service in Knox City, Texas. That guide service would grow into what we know today as Stanfield Hunting Outfitters. Starting out, they offered hunts specifically for ducks and geese in their local area. Today, they offer guided hunts for just about anything that can run or fly in Texas, South-Western Oklahoma, and even Western Nebraska as of this year.
Recently SPLITREED had the chance to talk with co-owner Jeff Stanfield about his operation down in Texas and to talk about how he and his family have turned a hunting outfitting business in the small town of Knox City into one of the premier outfitters in North America.
“We had a piece of property that we could hunt, and the farmer called me and told me he was going to have to lease it for the rest of the season for the money. We didn’t have any money. I was a college kid living on $5 an hour and beer money, and I told him that the only way we could make it work was if he let us guide some hunts on his property and he said we could. We started with just ducks and geese” says Stanfield, talking about how he and his brother began guiding. “When we started everyone told us ‘ain’t no way you’ll be successful’ and this was back before everyone was getting into guiding. But we had a passion for it and stuck with it and it paid off for us.” says Stanfield. And stick with it they do. Starting their preparations for the season in August, then hunting through September to May, the guides down at the Big Honker Lodge work to keep clients successful through all available hunting seasons that are available.
When asked what made Stanfield Hunting Outfitters successful Jeff says “We live in a very small community. There’s about 1200 people here. The county next to us is the least populated county in all of Texas. So we’re in a very small, remote area. We decided to build a lodge, build a place to eat, we wanted to give our clients somewhere nice to eat, so we built a really nice dining hall. We just really focus on building lifetime customers. We’ve had customers who’ve hunted with us for 20-25 years. It’s a family business. My brother and I are partners. My wife takes care of all the food and she’s in charge of all the things like that. She’s like a den-mother around here. My dad has done pheasant hunts around here. It’s a family business but we’ve employed a lot of local people, and we’ve had guides from all over the country. It’s really provided a boost to the economy in such a small area.” With 10 to 20 and sometimes up to 35 people working at the lodge, between guides, cooks, and people to work with up-keep on the lodge, Jeff makes it clear that running a tight-ship business is a top priority. “We want to take care of the people who work for us, because if we take care of them, they’ll take care of the customers, and that’s what makes us successful”.
But isn’t the hunting most important? I mean that’s why most people book guided hunts after all. Well, Stanfield Hunting Outfitters doesn’t take the process of hiring guides lightly. “We check our guides egos at the door,” says Stanfield. “We make sure they know what’s expected of them.
Sometimes they bring down their guns and their ammo and expect to be hunting with the clients and we have to tell them ‘Nope, that’s not how this works’. Their job is to get other people to kill birds, not themselves.” He continues, “We’ve hired guides from all over. We’ve had some amazing guides. The guys we have right now do some amazing work. Don’t get me wrong I’ve struck out plenty of times on some guys. We’ve had some real slapsticks show up, but for the most part our guides are great guys and do a really good job” When asked about how they find their guides down there at the Big Honker Lodge, Stanfield says “Most of it is by word of mouth. If one of my guides suggests a guy then I go by that.” He goes on to talk about the fact that as a guide, you’re not hunting, you’re working. “When you’re guiding, you’re working. You’re putting on a show for someone. A lot of my guides don’t even carry guns. We hired some new guides this past year. But everyone I hire is someone I trust, or someone recommended by someone I trust.”
One of the things that makes Stanfield a special destination for so many hunters is the variety of hunting available to you when you visit. Clients have the ability to do a morning honker hunt, and an evening duck hunt. Or the option to do a morning duck hunt, then an evening pheasant hunt. Because of the experience and the available land they have at their disposal, Stanfield Hunting Outfitters gives their customers the ability to hunt just about anything that they want to shoot at (so long as it’s in season of course). In one day you can hunt anything from honkers to cranes. “I think that’s something that gives us an advantage. We offer a lot of combo hunts. Guys can come down and hunt geese in the morning and ducks in the evening. They can hunt cranes in the morning and pheasants after lunch. We do a bunch of stuff like that.” says Stanfield. The option to even do a winter dove hunt, with ducks, and hogs, is a possibility. Making Stanfield Hunting Outfitters one of, if not the only, guide service in North America that offers such a variety of hunts. “It’s a big draw for people to have such a variety of animals to hunt. You can shoot a goose one morning, a duck that evening, a crane the next morning, a pheasant that evening, and a wild hog after that. I don’t know of anywhere else in the country you can do that.”
Stanfield Hunting Outfitters is a highly family-oriented business. With Jeff and Tony Stanfield being co-owners of the business, and Jeff having his two boys Zach and Andy working as guides, his other son Payne recently left for basic training (and we wish him the best of luck as he pursues his efforts to defend our country). He also has his wife handle the cooking and his father having previously guided pheasant hunts, it’s a close-knit family orchestrated ordeal. “Having so much family involved makes it really special for me. It can also make it a real pain in the ass because you can’t fire anyone! But it really is something special to have everyone involved like this” Jeff says. He goes on by saying “And anyone that comes on, like our guides, they become family. My wife just becomes like a mother to them. We want everyone that comes down here to feel like they’re a part of our family. Whether you’re a guide, a client, or you help at the lodge, we want to take care of you like family”. This is part of why their books fill so fast for their hunting season. Stanfield went on to say about his clients “my favorite clients to have are grandsons, fathers and granddads all there in the blind. I think it’s just the coolest thing ever when you get three generations of waterfowlers represented there in the same blind. You get grandpa teaching his grandson how to hunt and that’s really cool to be apart of. I know my guides just love it.”
Another thing that makes Stanfield Hunting Outfitters a unique and distinct icon in the world of waterfowling is the “Big Honker Podcast”. The Big Honker Podcast started back in April of 2018 and has grown to be one of the biggest waterfowling podcasts in the industry. Jeff and his son Andy Shaver co-host the show and discuss anything from basic decoy set-ups to politics. “I was a mayor and I was a judge. It gives me the chance to talk about whatever I want” says Stanfield about the podcast. “I was completely blown away that people actually wanted to just listen to me and Andy and the people we had on just bullshit about geese and football or whatever it was we were talking about, but it really became popular.” The podcast has become so popular it has even accrued its own Facebook listener’s group to discuss some of the things talked about on the podcast. “It’s really been a help to the business. I have people call in all the time who tell me how much they love the podcast and then book a hunt. When people book hunts for the first time I always ask how they heard about us. Usually it’s either a friend or the podcast. So it’s been nice to have. Not even for the boost to business, but also just to get on there and meet new people and talk about hunting or whatever else we want to.” You can find The Big Honker Podcast on most popular streaming services.
Now, with hunting season upon us, it’s not too late to try to get on a banger hunt with the guys down at Stanfield. “If we have a big push of birds and I’m not too overbooked I always try to open up a few dates. If there are small groups we can usually try to work them in” Jeff says about his bookings for this year. You can find the dates for your next hunt at the Big Honker Lodge at www.stanfieldhunting.com and book your next hunt with Jeff Stanfield and the killers down at Stanfield Hunting Outfitters.
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