Newfoundland moose

[Paradox]

I wanted to let this go, but don’t want anyone else to make the same mistake.
hunted with Art Ryan and Mountain Top Outfitters.
we paid extra for the fly in hunt. First thing I noticed was there were no amenities for guests, as in snacks etc. then day 2 we ran out of drinking water. No effort was made to replenish, they gave us lake water. They were not even going to boil it until I threw a fit. Lunch was some sort of mystery meat on dry bread and 2 burnt cookies. Same lunch EVERY day! Dinner was usually some form of overcooked meat with potatoes, turnips and carrots every day! On Thursday we got a special dinner….leftovers from the rest of the week! Housing was a plywood shack with no heat, tho they did have a wood stove in the dining area our room was on the far end and you could usually see your breath in our room, bedding was discarded folding beds from garage sales. We found out we could not hunt from the Argos after 2 days because Art did not bother to register his trails. So we spent 2 days chasing moose away from camp, then had to walk from then on.
I did harvest a cow and calf on the last day. My guide spent most of his time glassing moose several miles away that we couldn’t get to. I think my success was due to the many moose, not to the skill of the guide.
Good luck and hope this helps someone.
Ed

 

[wildwilderness]

Sounds like a bad deal. Happens some times

 

[pacoalcracker]

This is exactly why you need to do your due diligence and get recent references and call those former clients. Otherwise, its a crapshoot and you might have an undesirable experience. When I was there I not only spoke directly with the outfitter and his 2 brother partners face to face, but also spoke to 2 references. I did well and had a great experience taking a bull caribou and bull moose. It was everything I thought it should be and then some. I would certainly explain my dissatisfaction to the outfitter/owner...they NEED to hear about these issues.

 

[Bowslayer1]

I wanted to let this go, but don’t want anyone else to make the same mistake.
hunted with Art Ryan and Mountain Top Outfitters.
we paid extra for the fly in hunt. First thing I noticed was there were no amenities for guests, as in snacks etc. then day 2 we ran out of drinking water. No effort was made to replenish, they gave us lake water. They were not even going to boil it until I threw a fit. Lunch was some sort of mystery meat on dry bread and 2 burnt cookies. Same lunch EVERY day! Dinner was usually some form of overcooked meat with potatoes, turnips and carrots every day! On Thursday we got a special dinner….leftovers from the rest of the week! Housing was a plywood shack with no heat, tho they did have a wood stove in the dining area our room was on the far end and you could usually see your breath in our room, bedding was discarded folding beds from garage sales. We found out we could not hunt from the Argos after 2 days because Art did not bother to register his trails. So we spent 2 days chasing moose away from camp, then had to walk from then on.
I did harvest a cow and calf on the last day. My guide spent most of his time glassing moose several miles away that we couldn’t get to. I think my success was due to the many moose, not to the skill of the guide.
Good luck and hope this helps someone.
Ed

Just had the same experience with mountain top we also paid extra for fly in and we had to ride 7 hrs. On Argos out at end of hunt my guide said he had 40 yr experience but did not know how to gut a moose I had to hire one of the other guides to call me in an animal because my guide had no call or gps would get lost all the time I did check there references must have been a list of friends because they gave good reviews

 

[keller]

That sucks. Sorry you guys had a bad experience. I was in nl last year.we had a good camp
Good food. Would have liked to hunt harder .I posted this before. Guides were more interested in smoking dope and getting drunk every night.

 

[Sako76]

Sorry to hear this, in 2015 I had a similar bad experience with a drive in camp run by Bob Efforts. He's supposed to be one of the best, we called his references and they were all good. One reference did tell us Efforts sold the camp we were supposed to hunt out of (Efforts never told us this till we asked him) and he dumped us in his Thornburg Lake fishing camp which was a 3 hour ride one way to the hunting area which was loaded with local road hunters. That's also what we did, road hunt. Didn't matter, two of us never saw a moose, one hunter saw a cow and a calf and two hunters shot moose on the road, some hunt!

 

[Doc Holliday]

That sucks. Sorry you guys had a bad experience. I was in nl last year.we had a good camp
Good food. Would have liked to hunt harder .I posted this before. Guides were more interested in smoking dope and getting drunk every night.

Did you get a moose? If so, were you happy with it/did it meet your expectations?

 

[Doc Holliday]

Just had the same experience with mountain top we also paid extra for fly in and we had to ride 7 hrs. On Argos out at end of hunt my guide said he had 40 yr experience but did not know how to gut a moose I had to hire one of the other guides to call me in an animal because my guide had no call or gps would get lost all the time I did check there references must have been a list of friends because they gave good reviews

Did you get a moose? If so, were you happy with it/did it meet your expectations?

 

[keller]

I did get a moose and it was about what I expected. Seen bigger ones around town but this was the biggest live one I seen.

Did you get a moose? If so, were you happy with it/did it meet your expectations?

 

[Doc Holliday]

I did get a moose and it was about what I expected. Seen bigger ones around town but this was the biggest live one I seen.

Nice. Were you able to get all of your meat back to the L48?

 

[keller]

Yes drove .with a freezer

Nice. Were you able to get all of your meat back to the L48?

 

[Doc Holliday]

Yes drove .with a freezer

Sorry, last question....how many # of meat would you say you got?

 

[Doc Holliday]

Tuckamore Lodge $6,600 for 6 hunting days
Ironbound Lake $9,200 for 6 hunting days
Hinterland Outfitting $5,300 for 6 hunting days
Efford Hunting $6,650 for 5 hunting days
A1 Hunts Twin Lakes $6,020 for 5 hunting days
Sou'Wester Outfitting $7,750 for 6 hunting days
Mountain Top Outfitters Not on website, Reached out and no response.

Usually, but not always, you can find differences in price usually reflect quality of game, logistics, and experience. Curious where Mountain Top Outfitters ranks in here.....if they get back to me.

 

[JGRaider]

Tuckamore Lodge $6,600 for 6 hunting days
Ironbound Lake $9,200 for 6 hunting days
Hinterland Outfitting $5,300 for 6 hunting days
Efford Hunting $6,650 for 5 hunting days
A1 Hunts Twin Lakes $6,020 for 5 hunting days
Sou'Wester Outfitting $7,750 for 6 hunting days
Mountain Top Outfitters Not on website, Reached out and no response.

Usually, but not always, you can find differences in price usually reflect quality of game, logistics, and experience. Curious where Mountain Top Outfitters ranks in here.....if they get back to me.

Following your lead here. I was booked with Mountain Top in 2020 and obviously that didn't work out, then got pretty ill with auto immune problems and couldn't got in 21-22. I'm starting to plan for 2023 and am looking to gather information. Several on your list caught my attention.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Following your lead here. I was booked with Mountain Top in 2020 and obviously that didn't work out, then got pretty ill with auto immune problems and couldn't got in 21-22. I'm starting to plan for 2023 and am looking to gather information. Several on your list caught my attention.

Art Ryan @ Mountaintop just sent me this:

 

[JasonM]

Next Ridge Outfitters is legit. You pay for it but they are legit. Killed a 48” first morning and a nice bear mid week.

MVO moose valley outfitters will work hard for you as well. Killed a 32” on day 4 had to work for it but guide nor I ever gave up and it paid off.

Yes do your homework.

ALWAYS ask for at least a references of clients that did not kill