Pine Ridge Lodge

Submitted by: Blackheart US

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Review Submitted: Feb 5, 2012

Hunt Date: Jun 19, 2011

Species Hunted: Black Bear

Days Hunted: 7

Hunt Type: Guided

Primary Terrain: Any

Method: Rifle

Price Range: 3000-3999

Spot and stalk Black Bear Hunt

I have done the Spring spot and stalk bear hunt for 3 years. Wayne is a great person and hunting guide and will work his ass off to allow you to get the best hunt you can. That being said, this trip is great if you want to write a journal for the National Geographic Channel. The actual bear hunt though is very dissapointing because the odds are stacked so much against you its almost impossible to get a shot let along a kill. I did harvest one ok size bear my first year, but wasted thousands of dollars the next few years. Reason is THE WEATHER IN NEWFOUNDLAND IS TERRIBLE THIS TIME OF YEAR. All the years I was tent bound for at least 2-3 days and taking just one day out of this hunt decreases your odds to basically 0 which they are close to anyway. I play minor league professional sports so I am in better shape than most guys that come here and I walked 50 miles/week in the bogs and still I was not able to even GET A SHOT..THATS RIGHT..NO SHOTS FOR 3 YEARS.. I saw bears, but they were too far way and there IS NO WAY TO TRACK THEM IF THEY ARENT MOVING IN YOUR DIRECTION. Basically, this is a 100% luck hunt. You can only cover 2-3 miles day and in this country thats like a blade of grass. If you happen to glass a bear you better hope he is moving towards you bc if he isnt your fucked. Forget it. Also, the wind blows 30 mph pretty much every day and you will get winded if you hunt any other direction than upwind. That wind will kill you. Im telling you, I hunt backcountry hard in my home state (Maine) and I would challenge anyone to some of the shit I do, so Im not bagging this trip bc I didnt get anything. Im bagging it bc its too much money to spend to have odds that dont even equal those of a $10,000 craps table in Vegas. I understand hunting is hunting and not killing, but I can do this for $25 in my home state and the bears may not be as big , but at least Im not spending $5000 and not even getting a shot. Thats all Im saying. The bottom line is that you should be prepared to spend alot of money, hunt your ass off and go home without even popping a cap. There are guys that have gotten bears, but like I said its pure luck. Some of these guys couldnt walk to the latrine 25 feet from camp, but just happen to have a bear walk in front of them at 200 yards and be preoccupied long enough to get a shot off. Other than that I took some great pictures/video's and had a great time being in the wilderness.

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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: MIKE PAYNE on Oct 31 2007

Species Hunted: CARIBOU

Game Quality: DECENT

Accommodation Quality: EXCELLENT

Camp Condition: EXCELLENT

Food Quality: EXCELLENT

Guide Experience: EXCELLENT

Other Personal Experience: EXCELLENT

Overall Impression: AWESOME TRIP OF A LIFETIME

Recommend: HIGHLY

Reviewer Comments: HUNTING IS HUNTING, WE WERE NOT OVER RUN WITH MOOSE, BUT I DID HARVEST A NICE MOOSE! THE GUIDE WENT OUT OF HIS WAY TO MAKE THE HUNT AS SUCCESSFUL AS POSSIBLE, HIS GAMEFACE WAS ON UNTIL IT HIT THE PILLOW! FOOD AND LODGE WAS EXCELLENT! STILL LOOKING FOR A CARIBOU, THE MIGRATION WAS LATE DUE TO WARM WEATHER. THE TERRAIN IS VERY MARSHY, THEY CALL IT THE BOG,IT IS A WORK OUT BUT MANAGEABLE,ALL IN ALL I HIGHLY RECOMMEND A NEWFOUNDLAND MOOSE HUNT WITH PINE RIDGE LODGE, GOOD LUCK!

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outfitter review submitted by: MIKE PAYNE on Oct 12 2007

Species Hunted: MOOSE. CARIBOU

Game Quality: AVERAGE / POOR

Accommodation Quality: EXCELLENT

Camp Condition: EXCELLENT

Food Quality: EXCELLENT

Guide Experience: GREAT

Other Personal Experience: EXCELLENT

Overall Impression: TRIP OF A LIFETIME

Recommend: YES

Reviewer Comments: YOU KNOW HUNTING IS HUNTING, AND WHEN THE WEATHER IS HOT ANIMALS JUST DON'T MOVE! I WAS THERE THE FIRST WEEK OF OCT O7, KILLED A NICE MOOSE, HAD A GREAT TIME, BUT IF ALL I CARED ABOUT WAS KILLING I WOULD HAVE SPENT MY HARD EARNED AMERICAN DOLLARS IN A HIGH FENCED AREA IN TEXAS,,, BEEN THERE, DONE THAT! I FIGURE THIS MOOSE IS GONNA COST ME SOMEWHERES ABOUT $15 PER POUND,, BEST MONEY I HAVE SPENT ON A HUNT IN YEARS!!WHERE WE WERE AT IN NEWFOUNDLAND WAS AWESOME! NOT A ROAD, LIGHT, SIGN, COW, FENCE OR BARN AS FAR AS THE EYE COULD SEE! MAGNIFICENT!! TRIP OF A LIFETIME!!

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outfitter review submitted by: Chad Brummel on Oct 22 2005

Species Hunted: Caribou/Moose

Game Quality: Good

Accommodation Quality: Good

Camp Condition: Good

Food Quality: Excellent

Guide Experience: Good

Other Personal Experience: Good

Overall Impression: Good

Recommend: Yes

Reviewer Comments: Not quite what I expected for qty of animals. May have been the weather but only seen 2 Moose and 8 Caribou all week at Eastern Pond Camp. Other camps were having the same struggles. I did take a nice bull Moose w/ a bow and a nice Stag Caribou w/ a gun so all in all it was still a success. Got those on the two nicest days of the week so weather is definately a factor. Guides were very good but take care if you have "Ralph" for a guide. I would have expected the guides to have better equipment too, such as quieter clothing to sneak up on moose (they wore plastic rain wear, noisy!)and their own binoculars. Dave Holloway was great to work with, food was great, and accomodations were cozy.

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outfitter review submitted by: Rob Childs on Sep 19 2005

Species Hunted: Moose / Caribou

Game Quality: Fair

Accommodation Quality: Excellent

Camp Condition: Excellent

Food Quality: Excellent

Guide Experience: 1 - Great, 1 - Poor

Other Personal Experience: Excellent

Overall Impression: Disappointed

Recommend: No

Reviewer Comments: I submitted the following email to the outfitter after our hunt and did not recieve a response: Wayne, Comments from our 9/04 hunt (I intended to send this sooner): Arranging our hunt with you was very professional and pleasant. All answers concerning our hunt were answered thoroughly and promptly. We were picked up promptly at the airport by Dave and delivered to a hotel (since the weather was too poor to go to the cabin). We spent Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and 1/2 of Wednesday at the hotel due to the weather. We were disappointed that some sort of allowance or arrangement was not made for this unfortunate event since we paid for 1 week of food and lodging. Fortunately we brought along extra money to cover these unexpected expenses. During the 3 1/2 days were stuck in the hotel we were not well informed as to the status of our departure. A call each morning would have been very helpful. Each day we waited until around 8 - 9 am for a call from Dave and finally contacted him for a status report. Often times he was unavailable and " on his way to our motel". It was common for us to wait until around noon without an update of our travel status to the lodge. On Wednesday afternoon a helicopter was arranged to transport us to the lodge. This was a great experience. The lodge was beautiful and accommodations more than expected. Our cook Clyde was extremely accommodating. 2 hours into the hunt I shot a small caribou. We went back to camp for the Argo to retrieve the caribou. The Argo broke down a short distance from the cabin and we walked back. On Thursday we spent the day packing out my caribou and a moose my Dad later shot. Note: The Argo was one of the reasons we booked a hunt with you. Our guides were both personable. My guide was a nice kid but very inexperienced. His tracking skills were poor, he did not know the country well, he had only killed one moose in his life (from the back of a truck). I don't recall him talking about ever killing a caribou himself. When it came to game preparation I was extremely disappointed with the training you had provided him. My Father's guide on the other hand was very experienced and excellent at game care and preparation. Meals were very good and the cook was a pleasure to be around (though a bit unique). Another reason we booked with you, was your claims for game care and shipment to the processor. I shot my caribou on Wednesday pm and my father shot his moose on Thursday am. These animals were ready to be shipped on Thursday pm. The plane did not arrive to pick up our meat until midday on Saturday. Friday and Saturday both approached temperatures of 70 degrees. No other shoot able game was spotted other than the 2 animals we took. We waited for over 2 months to get our meat and trophies back and the cost was substantially more than expected. My caribou rack was wrapped well. Packaging of our meat was disappointing. The moose and caribou meat was not separated or labeled. Much of the packaging was open by the time it arrive to us, we ended up repackaging much of it when it arrived. The packaging also will not protect much against freezer burn. Paper packaging and labeling would have been preferred. We found Dave very difficult to contact and our numerous calls were not returned. The insulated boxes used to ship our meat were very nice.

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outfitter review submitted by: Joe Lesko on Feb 22 2000

Species Hunted: Moose. Black Bear

Game Quality: good

Accommodation Quality: excellent

Camp Condition: excellent

Food Quality: excellent

Guide Experience: excellent

Other Personal Experience: excellent

Overall Impression: good

Recommend: yes

Reviewer Comments: The facilities, equipment, the guides and the camp staff are superior. Even though I was not hunting caribou, everyone else in camp was and they all tagged out. I saw caribou everyday. I took a moose on the opening day of the hunt and saw a total of 6 moose during the hunt. I hunted black bear the remainder of the week and saw no bear. October is getting a little late for quality bear huning in Newfoundland, but the moose and caribout hunting at this time is very good. Wayne Holloway and Pine Ridge Lodge do an excellent job of taking care of their clients and getting you in a position to take your trophy.

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