I just got back in town from our annual Spring Bear Hunt. We had an exceptional season! We accommodated 40 hunters this past Spring and evenly divided between archers and rifle hunters. Many of our guests that hunted their full week  - saw and passed up as many as 25 mature bears – this is truly super bear hunting and it’s just getting better in our exclusive hunting area.

Many of our hunters hunted just one night and took their trophies giving them the opportunity to relax at our comfortable lodge for the rest of their week and taking in some great fishing for northern pike and beautiful brook trout.

Many first time bear hunters inquiring on our trips ask the obvious question “Am I going to see a bear”. Our answer is absolutely yes and you will see more than one – count on it. We don’t just want you to a take any bear – we want you to take a bear of your choosing. Let’s review what happened this past season.

40 hunters hunted a total of 168 nights out a possibility of 240 nights based on 6 hunting nights per hunter. The 40 hunters spotted 326 bears during their hunt for an average of 1.94 bears spotted per night hunted. The average opportunity for success at Peribonka Lodge is well over 100%.

Unfortunately a couple of our hunters did not take bears home but they certainly were provided with opportunity and did pass up bears and both wounded big bears that were not found. Our 3rd unsuccessful hunter was our regular client and friend, Ben Bolton who has visited our camp many times. Ben enjoys the camp life, the fishing, looking over fine bears but passing them up. Ben already has a number of trophy bear in his trophy room taken at Peribonka and he is looking for that exceptional giant – and I respect him for his choice. The final tally - we provided more than a 100% opportunity to every one of our hunters to take a mature black bear.  

Thanks again to everyone who joined us at Peribonka Lodge this past season.  We had several of our past friends and clients and also many new hunters. Also a special thanks to our staff Gordy, Bucky and Dwayne who made everything possible. There’s a lot of time spent by the guides to make things happen for the hunters. There’s no secrets in the bear hunting business – a lot of work and setting up plenty of good baits makes the hunts successful and we certainly don’t skimp in that department.

On another note, Dwayne, our fulltime cook, partime guide puts in a lot of effort into his cooking to make sure no one leaves the table on an empty stomach. We even had a few complaining about getting too much food! Between his baked goodies and deserts… Thanks again Dwayne!

We are getting prepared for our caribou season. I’ll be going up North next week to unload our containers of supplies and get ready for our early season salmon fisherman. The season looks very promising. Good weather this past Spring and the caribou are in fine condition with indications of a good year for antler growth. I still have a few openings available for the coming season if anyone is interested – these spaces are recent last minute cancellations with deposits that were retained that are being offered now at great savings. Give me a call if you are interested in taking a couple of big caribou.

Finally, we will also have access to internet at our base in Kuujjuaq this coming season, so I will be updating my blog weekly to let our hunters know how the season is progressing.

Good hunting and have a good summer,

Nick Cantafio