paulyseggs

a few friends and myself wanna go moose and/or caribou hunting (05 or 06), am thinking about going to canada, whats the best way to go about it. never been on a guided hunted before. or even hunted outta the country.

Montana Bob

It's not really that difficult. Your guide or outfitter usually gets the tags for you. The other thing is the meat. You can save some pretty good money by driving up and bringing your meat back yourself. If you have to fly it out it's going to cost alot more. I did a hunt in Canada this year and my first step was to figure out my budget. Then I figured out when I wanted to go and made sure I had time off. Then I figured out what animal I was going after. Moose have a rut and Caribou have a migration and so forth, so make sure you plan your hunt and get time during the peak period for that animal. Myself.. I then figured out which area's I could drive to and wanted to hunt. Then the search was on for an outfitter. You should get a bunch and whittle them down as per your needs.(Fully guided,Fly in, Drop camp). The internet is a great source for that info. I am doing Alaska this year and started out with about 25 outfitters and have narrowed them down to about 3. Make sure you get referances, as well as ALL that is included and what is NOT included. I like to email or talk with the outfitter to kind of get a feel for the guy and his operation. The next thing is to book the hunt. It will require a deposit and some will let you make monthly payments on the balance. This has been my experiance so far.
Any questions feel free to shoot an email. I could give you a list of outfitters and their email address's that I checked out,but it looks like you are on the other side of the country and won't be hunting Western Canada where I hunted.

paulyseggs

thanks montanabob i;ve been on a few bluewater fishing trips so it;s basically the same thing just with huntin. any restrictions on guns in canada?

stubblejumper

Do not try to bring handguns into canada.As far as your rifles are concerned,you will need permits to bring them into the country.Your outfitter can help with the paperwork beforehand to greatly speed things up at the border.

Montana Bob

Here is a link to the firearms policies in Canada along with the forms you can download. www.cfc-ccaf.gc.ca/faq/default_e.asp
Your outfitter should send you one when you book your hunt. It's about $40 US at the border when you submit the form.. You should stop on the US side and get a Certificate of origination for your firearm as well. This shows where your firearm originated. Meaning you didn't get it in Canada or elsewhere and it is from the US. It's free and I didn't have one when I went to Canada and on my way back to the US side, US Border Patrol said they could confiscate my rifle. It takes a minute to fill out.
Make sure you get an FDA form for bringing back your meat to the US. Due to the Mad Cow scare you will need one and your Outfitter should give you one before you leave camp with your meat. The only other thing is make sure you keep the tag on your animal when coming back to the US. My outfitter said I didn't need it and kept the tag. At the border Fish and Game said I should have had one but were pretty cool and filled out a form to let me bring it back into the US.
All this paper work doesn't take long and it's really not a hassle. The other tip I could give you is to take 20's with you instead 100's. Some people in Canada will not give you an exchange rate for 100's and it's almost a $20 differance.

paulyseggs

thanks guys, i do know about those folk and change!! used to goto montreal alot in college. always carried small bills.

rgagnon

paulyseggs, If you want information on caribou and moose hunts in newfoundland and nova scocia e-mail me or better still check out swaybackcamps.com

mustad

Hi Pauly,

The only challenge that I have found in hunting Moose in Canada, specifically Quebec, is that the license fees are applicable for only one zone of the province. If you are not having success, and you want to go into another zone, you will need to buy an additional license (i believe the licenses were U$ 200 each). That said, there is no lottery system like NH or ME and with the proper outfitter, I would assume you have a good chance of getting into something fairly quickly.

For a caribou trip, my recommendation would be to look into Jack Hume Adventures (www.jackhumeadventures.com). I just booked a september hunt with them after doing a fair amount of research and conversations with them and other outfitters. Moose is not an option with them.

If you are looking specifically for a Moose/Caribou Hunt, I would look into the various outfitters in New Foundland.

Good luck

Champlain Islander

I have hunted Newfoundland the last 2 years and going back again this fall. I have only hunted for woodland caribou but had the opportunity to hunt moose if I wanted to get a tag. The outfitters have all the tags and many people do a 2 animal combination on a 5 or 6 day hunt. We drive 16 hrs from Vermont to the ferry in Nova Scotia rent a berth and sleep on the midnight crossing. It takes about 5 hours to get to the outfitters place after the ferry docks in NL. I used Snowshoe Lake Hunting and Fishing out of Millertown NL [email protected]. They are wonderful the food is first rate and the guides are really lots of fun in addition to being excellent at what they do. You see a ton of game, the county is beautiful and the people are friendly.