Hunting Guide Required for Ontario Non-Res Moose Hunt

[HuntenNut]

Greetings all,

I live across the St Clair River from Ontario. I was interested in coming over for a Moose hunt. I was reviewing the law and see that a guide is required for Non-Residents. A search of the web reveals the prices are way out there, cheapest I found was about $1900US for "do it yourself" with no real guide or food.

I don't really want a guide and would rather take care of the details of the hunt myself, but for $1900, seems quite steep. Anyone know of any less expensive guides for a "do it yourself" style hunt? I would prefer to either fly in or canoe into a remote location.

[ratherbefishin]

I think that's true of all the provinces for big game hunting, as far as I know.It's certainly true for BC.Notsure if there's any diferance made  between Canadian non residents and non Canadian non residents

[Rick Teal]

Unless there have been recent changes to the regulations, I believe that Ontario law requires that you use the services of an outfitter, rather than those of a guide.  

Since the cancellation of the spring bear hunt, the major portion of the income of outfitters was removed.  Many tags that were formerly allocated to residents have been redirected to outfitters, and the outfitters have increased their prices to make up for the income they were denied by the cancellation of the spring hunt.

Its my understanding, however, that there are many outfitters who will still provide you with a cabin etc. and let you do your own hunting at a reasonable rate.

You might want to look in on www.huntontario.com .  I believe they still have an outfitters section that you may want to check into.  Most of the outfitters in Ontario are part of the Northern Ontario Tourist Outfitters association (NOTO).  You may be able to find the addresses and contact info for more outfitters there.  If there isn't a link at HuntOntario, a search may turn one up.

[HuntenNut]

Thanks for the reply,

Doesn't look like I can do much better than around $1900us plus tag for "do it yourself" hunt. For that, I can go to Alaska and hire a bush plane and also be allowed to carry a backup handgun. I would rather go to Ontario, though, as I can drive there in a few hours vs flying for a whole day to Alaska.

I think the Canadian provincial governments would be better served to charge a higher rate for their Non-Resident tags and allow holder to do their own hunt planning. There is already a strong contingency here in the states to boycott Canadian hunting due to the gun registration requirements and inability to carry a handgun. I must admit the beer is better, though :lol: