It is difficult to believe that the 2006 big game hunting season has come and gone at our lodges. The old saying is that "time flies when you are having fun", and this past hunting season was definitely fun. With animal sightings being up and trophy quality being the best we have ever seen, coupled with a compliment of very appreciative hunters and overall good hunting weather, it is easy to see why this past hunting season was so successful.

To see a photo sample of this past fall hunts please click on 2006 Hunt Photos.

Overall woodland caribou trophies were outstanding this fall, with almost all our hunters harvesting animals well in excess of the 220 inch Pope & Young minimum, as well as a fair number in the 265 inch minimum Boone & Crocket range. The largest caribou by rifle that was rough scored at the lodge provided a NET score of 328 inches, while the largest archery trophy had a 312 gross green  score. Only 2 of our caribou tags remained unfilled this year. One was due to hunter selection, as the rifle hunter was only interested in a rack larger than a previous trophy at one of our lodges from several years earlier. The only unsuccessful archery caribou hunter had a couple of excellent shot opportunities at trophy animals, but both situations did not work out.

Moose sightings were definitely higher than they have been for a number of years, with overall trophy size being our very finest ever. While we do not normally profess to produce a high percentage of real trophy sized moose at our lodges, this year about half our moose hunters took animals which had good palmated antlers. This was also the first time we have taken a moose with antlers in excess of a 50 inch spread. Only one of our rifle moose  hunters did not get an excellent shot opportunity.

While bear sightings were also good at some of our lodges, 3 shot attempts only produced one bear. This provides excellent expectation of good bear activity for next year, with such a small harvest. As expected, ptarmigan numbers were also very good, with some excellent sport being experienced by those who took part. As is normal, Rocky Ridge Lodge was the very best area for the bird hunting, and it also provided one coyote kill.

Weather was overall quite good, with a high percentage of clear sunny days which certainly added to the great hunting atmosphere, as well as making spotting much easier. Rainfall was fairly normal, with only the occasional day with lost hunting time due to poor visibility. Most guests were able to fill their tags by Thursday of each week, which was partly a result of the consistently good weather. All guest transfer days went well, with no delays significant enough to affect any of our guests’ travel plans.

For those guests who chose to fly to Newfoundland for their hunt this we had a little different meat shipment procedure. While shipment was still by Air Cargo, our taxi service transported both hunter and meat to a local butcher in the Deer Lake area, who then cut (as per instructions of each hunter) , vacuum packed, froze and then took care of the meat shipment by air. The butcher also did the shipment of antlers/capes with the meat, unless these were being left for local taxidermy work. Using our excellent local taxidermist has worked extremely well for our guests for the past 4 or 5 years, and is definitely recommended for any of our future hunters.

As might be expected following such a successful hunting season, there has been a continuous chorus of praise and "Thank You's" from our hunting guests once again this year.

Marc from CT wrote: "I want to let you know that my recent hunting trip to Salmon Brook Lodge was the finest big game hunting experience I’ve ever had."

Mike from MD said: "Spending a week at Caribou Lodge was a truly wonderful experience for my father and me. Not only did we have an extremely successful hunt, taking three nice caribou, we had the pleasure of spending a week in a wilderness camp with three marvelous people.

Lou from NJ wrote: " I had great time and enjoyed meeting all of the great people and my guide (Dave) was excellent. Thanks"

Tom & Claudette from Montreal: " your lodge is a real gem. Excellent is not exaggerated. The food was more than adequate. The staff was friendly and professional. Thanking you all for a wonderful time. "

Dean from CO: " the return trip went real smooth and I got my antlers and meat just fine. Again, I just want to thank you for the greatest hunting experience I have ever had. Feel free to use me as a reference any time."

Mike from PA wrote: " Awesome hunt Tony. Had great weather and seen lots of caribou every day"

Donald from NY : " Wallace & Dave (guides) were the best. Last but not least our cook Naomi did an outstanding job in the kitchen. My son & I had a great 6 day hunt. "

All our lodges experienced banner years during the past hunting season. Our Caribou Lodge excelled in the caribou category, although the unusual access of 3 moose tags resulted in the harvest of 3 very nice bull moose, which was a nice bonus and the area also provided a good number of black bear sightings.

Salmon Brook and The Forks lodges supplied our highest overall moose activity, as well as the best quality moose trophies. Bear activity was good, as normal, but there were none taken, with a high percentage of sightings being sows with cubs.

Rocky Ridge Lodge had increased moose sightings with some very nice trophies, it’s normal high quality of caribou and excellent numbers of ptarmigan.

Looking ahead to the 2007 hunting season, expectations are high for another excellent fall of hunting success at all our lodges. The past couple of mild winters with little snow accumulation is believed to have given the health of our game populations a good boost, with this benefit believed to continue into 2007.

As usual, there are a number of hunting periods which are already full. Current high level of hunter interest indicates that our next year’s schedule will be mostly full earlier than normal, so an early reservation is definitely advised.

Please feel free to get in touch at any time regarding the possibility of reserving a future hunt at one of our wilderness big game hunting lodges.

For more information, including copy of our hunting video, or reservations, please contact

Grey River Lodge Ltd.
22 Riverview Drive, Shoal Harbour, NL
Canada     A5A 4M9
Tel:  1-877-466-2440  (Toll free)    Tony Tuck
Cell:  709-427-3494       
Fax: 709-466-2536
E-mail

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Last updated November 2, 2007