Makwa River Outfitters Ltd

Submitted by: Jack Vickery

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Review Submitted: Mar 10, 2012

Hunt Date: May 15, 2011

Species Hunted: Whitetail Deer

Days Hunted: 5

Hunt Type: Guided

Primary Terrain: Farmland

Method: Rifle

Price Range: 4000-4999

don't book with this camp

I booked hunt with Makwa river outfitters for the 2011 bear season I took my bear on the second night. I had planned to return for the 2012 deer season. I sent my 2012 deer hunt deposit out in may 2011. Due an unexpected death in my family in DEC 2011. And finical reasons I had to cancel my deer hunt for 2012. I gave the camp 10 months notice. Of the cancellation of my hunt, when I emailed the camp about having my deposit refunded. She told me 3 Things, 1) since I did not give her a year notice on the cancellation of my hunt. 2) she claims that she could not find a replacement hunter. They would not refund my deposit. 3) She also said that since I didn't buy trip insurance that was my fault for not buying it. I did not sign a contract locking me in to the deer hunt, she claims that the bear hunt contract that I signed last year was also a deer hunt contract. I had no clue that a bear contract from last year, was also a deer hunt contract for 18 months later. when I was thinking about booking for 2012 she told me that if I needed to cancel my hunt they understood due to how hard times are now days. And that my deposit would be refunded. Beware if you book with this camp read every word on there web site before booking.

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Submitted by: John Hall

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Review Submitted: Dec 5, 2011

Hunt Date: Nov 5, 2011

Species Hunted:

Days Hunted: 5

Hunt Type: Guided

Primary Terrain: Any

Method: Rifle

Price Range: 4000-4999

Perfect trip

This was my first guided big game hunt. I had heard good things about Makwa from my brother and his father in law. I was not disappointed. Kathy, the owner, and the guides make you feel very welcome. They want to know what your needs are. The accomodations were very comfortable. The guides were very knowledgeable and had worked there for years. The best part though, was the hunting. I shot my buck the first morning over bait. He scored 144.25 and was the 2nd largest of the week. 10 of 10 hunters got bucks. One hunter saw 19 bucks in 5 hours before he shot his. Another saw 14 bucks one day. My only complaint was that my hunt was over so fast (1.5 hours). I could have gone back out armed with a camera though. Feel confident in booking with Makwa. Many of the customers are repeats, some have hunted for many years, every year. It's like deer Disney World. Make sure to check out the website. I drove 1600 miles from Michigan and would go back tomorrow if I could.

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Submitted by: Tom Tisano

Review Submitted: Jul 25, 2010

Hunt Date: Dec 3, 2009

Species Hunted: Whitetail Deer

Days Hunted: 6

Hunt Type: Guided

Primary Terrain: Farmland

Method: Muzzleloader

Price Range: 4000-4999

Saskatchewan Whitetail Deer Hunt

This was my second trip to Makwa River Outfitters and this time I brought my 83 year old father and two friends. I had previously taken a 155" buck with them and was hoping for the same or better on this trip. Kathy Dopko runs a CLASS A+++ operation. The accomodations are fantastic, the meals all cooked in her own kitchen, the guides, the transportation the entire operation is great. The stand locations are deep, deep, deep into the Saskatchewan bush and miles apart from each other. Each hunter has a "fresh" stand when they arrive, meaning it has not been hunted at all during that year. There were 8 hunters in camp the week I was there and we all tagged out. The largest being a whopping 205" non-typical and the smallest a 120" 8 point ( shot by my Dad as he was too cold to last all day in the Saskatchewan winter). If I were looking to go on a quaility, class hunt I would certainly recommend Kathy Dobko and her Makwa River Outfitters operation.

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note: The following reviews predate the numeric rating system and are not included in this outfitter's overall rating.

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outfitter review submitted by: Frank Pierce on Apr 22 2009

Species Hunted: Whitetail Deer

Game Quality: Excellent

Accommodation Quality: Excellent

Camp Condition: Excellent

Food Quality: Excellent/Outstanding

Guide Experience: Excellent

Other Personal Experience: Excellent

Overall Impression: Outstanding

Recommend: Absolutely

Reviewer Comments: My wife and I hunted with Makwa River Outfitters during Thanksgiving week of 2008. This was actually my second hunt with them having hunted there previously in 2003. In 2003, Kathy's husband, Kenny ran the operation. Unfortunately, Kenny passed away about 2 years ago and Kathy now has Barry Brucks running the operation as the primary guide/outfitter. Barry proved to be every bit as good at what he does as Kenny - an excellent outfitter with a great deal of knowledge and experience as well as a great person with real down to earth people skills. Kathy prepares home-cooked meals fit for a king every day and all hunters/guides and the Dopko family sit down for dinner in their home dining room. Breakfast is home-cooked and delivered to the hunters log cabin every morning and lunches are packed for each hunter to take to the bush for their all day (daylight til dusk) hunts. They are licensed by the Province for up to 40 hunters per season. They have approximately 250 square miles of provincial and private properly in which they have exclusive outfitting priveleges. They take only 8 hunters per week for the 5-week season. Each week they hunt a different zone of approximately 50 square miles. When a buck is killed that stand is shut down until the next year so they do not over hunt any particular area. The deer move naturally with the major activity coming between 10 AM - 2 PM. In 2003 I took a 138" 10 point after passing up 3 larger bucks earlier in the week. I killed this buck the first thing in the morning on day 5 when the temperature was hovering around 10 below zero for the second consecutive day. I had seen a total of 30 different bucks during the first 4 days but I wasn't prepared to spend another day in a treestand in such cold weather. One hunter from Missouri was holding out for a booner and went home without filling his tag. The other 7 hunters all filled out with the average B&C score being 142" +, with the largest scoring 158" (a big 8 pt). I might add that the week prior to our hunt, 7 of 8 hunters took bucks averaging 161". In 2008, my wife took a nice 8 pt scoring 133" and weighing 230# (live weight). It had a 10" spread between the brow (G1) tines! I ended up taking a 149" 10 point on day 6 which weighed in at 270# (live weight). I had seen 24 different bucks (up to 130") the previous 5 days. Two days after taking my deer on the first day of the week 5 hunt, one of their hunters took a 210" non-typical. All of the pics are on their website. Both of my hunts were rifle hunts but I believe they will also host bow hunters. They also guide spring bear hunts with excellent success. This is one hunt that every serious deer hunter should do at least once during their lifetime.

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