Outfitter Pitfalls?

[woodsman196]

I am in the process of planning a guided Caribou hunt for myself and a friend for 2011. Neither of us have hunted with an outfitter or out of the country.

What are the things I need to be extra diligent to not overlook when booking our hunt?

What are some of the common "hidden" charges I need to watch for? It seems each outfitter has a different list of what is included. That makes an apples to apple comparison very difficult.

[Horner]

I swore off hunting with an outfitter over a bad Maine bear hunt.  
If I was going to do it again, I would check more references than the ones the outfitter gives you.  Ask them for a list of hunters phone#'s that have hunted with them in the past two years.

Ask people on tradgang who they have hunted with.  This could be your most valuable piece of information.

There also should not be any hidden charges if the outfitter is strait up with you.

[Biggie Hoffman]

This is a good place to get info on outfitters. Honest references here with loads of info...do a search for caribou hunts

[woodsman196]

I have searched Tradgang and found a lot of great information. I know I should call and talk to outfitters and references, but my problem is I don't know what to ask. Having never been on a hunt like this I have no idea what to expect.

[Horner]

How many hunters are going to be in camp with you?

Do you take care of your own meals, or are they provided?

How do they handle the animal after it is harvested?
Do they cut up for you, or are you responsible for doing that yourself?

What is there hunter harvesting an animal success rate?  Not getting to see the animal or misses, but real world harvest percentage.

What do you need to bring as far as sleeping and bathroom stuff?

Is it one on one guide, or are they going to take a group of hunters out with one guide?

How long have your guides been guiding-hunting the area to be hunted?

[Tom Phillips]

A number of Caribou Outfitters claim they will  Fly you to another area if the area you are hunting is short of caribou ( and this is reflected in cost of hunt so you are paying for it),some have no intention of moving you !!! Ask outfitters policy on this.

[Tom Phillips]

Be sure to ask if parking area where you will leave your vehicle while you are away on hunt is secure & safe.

[joevan125]

I would talk to as many people as possible and im not talking about the outfitters buddies.

I have been on about 10 paid hunts and a couple of those hunts were a mess to say the least.

I once went on a Elk hunt and my guide had never even been on the land. I was lucky enough to kill a nice bull and my guide didnt even have a knife.

I had a pocket knife and i did all the skinning myself and also caped the animal with really no help at all. He had never even seen a elk up close.

When we got done the guy took of on his 4-wheeler and said he would see me and my buddy back at camp.

Well we got lost on the way back and it took the outfitter 2 hours to find us, he was really mad at our so called guide for leaving us.

We were on a 4-wheeler also but the lights didnt work and we had to use our flashlights to find our way back. I was so mad at that guy for leaving us i could have strangled him.

The last paid whitetail hunt i went on was in northern Ill. and the outfitter had some friends who were suppose to be guides and help with camp chores.

These 2 friends of his (guides) killed the biggest deer that week and all the hunters were very upset.

I told the outfitter i had never been on a paid hunt where the guides did any hunting. He told me he had plenty of people that wanted to hunt this farm and if i didnt like the way he ran things i didnt have to come back.

I never went back and the last i heard the landowner took the land away from the outfitter because a lot of the hunters told him they wouldnt ever come back because the way he was running the hunt.

[SCS]

Check Bowsite. They have a rating system for outfitters for pretty much any animal. Also have a place for comments and rebutal from the outfitter if the comments were negative.
Steve

[Horner]

What kind of physical shape do you need to be in, to hunt at your best?


What type of hunting will you be doing?

Spot and stalk, sit and wait, or riding around in some vehicle trying to get shots off?

I know the last one sounds funny but this is hunting to some people.

[Mint]

If I ever go back to hunt caribou it will be with Three Rivers Lodge out of Labrador. All i ever heard about them has been great. I'd rather spend a little more than be sitting in camp and hearing

"I have good news and bad news, the good news is the caribou is coming but the bad news is they aren't hear yet"

[Biggie Hoffman]

I'm with Mint. 3 Rivers was the best caribou trip I've ever been on. Not the cheapest, but you get what you pay for.

[woodsman196]

Thanks for all the reply's. This is just what I was looking for.

I am looking hard at Three Rivers Lodge. The money is not a huge deal. We don't have a blank check but we do have time to save up.

When traveling to Three Rivers how long did it take to get there. It looks like an overnight is in order both coming and going.

Is the migration in Quebec as much of a roll of the dice as people say? I have read several people say they will not hunt Quebec because of the chance of missing the herd. I would guess the odds of missing the migration with an outfitter who has several camps over a large area would be tough to do.

[woodsman196]

A couple of other outfitters on the short list are Leaf River Lodge and Jack Hume Adventures. Has any one hunted either of the camps?

[LV2HUNT]

I do not know all the details but a year or two ago a large outfitter folded in Quebec and took a lot of people's money with them. Apparently the Govt and Outfitters Association were not real helpful in trying to recover people's money or make some type of restitution.

Again, I do not know all the details but if you do some searches you will turn it up and you can make up your own mind.

Bottom line, do the research and keep your deposit as low as possible. If the outfitter states otherwise think real carefully about the consequences and explore the details of how the deposit is being held and or insured.

FWIW

[Don Stokes]

When getting references, be sure to ask for numbers for people who didn't make a kill.

Make sure the guides are accustomed to guiding bowhunters. Many rifle guides just don't understand, and don't know how to get you close enough.

[Hot Hap]

Don't forget your passport. Hap

[wapitimike1]

I too was looking to go in 2011 and have been talking with Exploy-Silva. Many options and prices. One thing I do know is you can't go to far north or you run out of trees/scrub to hide behind with the stick. I'm going to look into this 3 rivers joint, leaf river seems a bit Hollywood priced compaired to the rest. Exploy had a number of pics with stick bow guys. It did include moving around 20 something areas in all.