jgv

thanks kagcamper
thats what ive been trying to say. there is alot of guys here who are defending there actions. i read the other post i started. i've been beat up bad here. i wasnt looking for any simpathy. just want it known. my freinds are trying to fight it but at what cost?? and also know one knows if the fine is paid with a guilty plea what then? are you ever alowed back in? or is that were it ends?

fire3517

jgv last year when i was there i was stopped by the fish cops and i was driving had my .338 by my side no bullets in the gun but on the side of the gun that slips over the stock they never said anything to me about that they checked the guns and licences and said good luck. I am a volunteer firefighter and had a lightbar on my truck also so maybe that helped i dont know but i do know that you and your boys got screwed royaly sorry about that man

kagcamper

An infraction of this type is treated the same as a driving violation basically.All they are interested in is the money, and there is no criminal record. Your friends should file a complaint with the Quebec Ombudsman( there is an English site and instructions on line). There is no guarantee that anything can be done, but if you give his office all the details along with the officers names,maybe they will be called to task. You could also write the MP for the James bay District and complain to them also- Tourism is a big part of their lifeblood.Sorry about your luck, but unfortunately incompetent and dishonest authorities are not confined to any one place or country.

luv2hnt

I got back from my hunt on the 30th of November and we took 8 bous for 8 guys. We hired a guide from Asselin's and he brought to a lake by snowmobile. Asselin supplied 2 snowmobiles driven by guides and they each took a passenger. We had three snowmobiles for the other 6 in our crew. We paid $350.00 for the 8 of us and gased up their machines considering it would have costed us $300.00 to rent one machine. The hunting was tough and we could have taken at least 12 bous if party hunting was allowed. Not everyone got to shoot, but I'm thankful we got some bous. That was about the only good thing about the whole trip. The $1.80 a litre for gas at Mirage was nothing less than highway robbery. We kept our money and decided not to go there for diner our last night. If I go back up the truck box will be full of gas cans. To add to the frustration one of the old timers who we let shoot 2 caribou did not want to share his bous so we ended up splitting the bous unequally. The butcher did a ****ty job and said he had to trim off the dry meat for the outside of the bous and we had just skinned them the day before. I helped skin the animals, but I wasn't there to drop them off at the butcher's, but next time I will make it clear that it will not be done. I have butchered plenty of deer, moose and caribou on my own that were hanging longer than 2 days with the hide off and never have I had to waste meat like that. We ended up with one small box of meat each. Next time I am going caribou hunting on my own or with one other person. No more of putting up with other people's B.S.

jgv

hey fire3517 thanks. i cant fiquer it out. like i said before we were just driving along. no reason to stop us. we did have our orange on in the truck and n.y. plates are obvious. so who knows. i was told by one of the gas pump guys at camp that there are to teams. 1 young team and one older team. the older guys are ok but the younger are trying to make names for themselfs. the guys who stoped us looked like they were in their 20's. he also said last year it was so bad that hunters left early because they were following them every day in the woods and harraseing them so much they could not hunt. not good for buisness.

jgv

thank you kagcamper
finally someone with good information. we are meeting with a lawyer tommorrow i will pass this along. thank you again.
they are going to make formal complants with as many pepole as possable. they know thier chances of beating this is slim but they have to try.
one more time thank you wish we could buy you a beer

got a hunch

Left Mirage Dec. 4th. Toughest hunt in ten years. Probably my last winter hunt. We took four animals for five hunters. We went way back in north of Transtaiga Road at K350 about a mile from 22A. We got this information from a guide at Mirage the night we got in. We weren't the only ones there. It looked like a parking lot. Hunted hard for four days and over those days saw 15 animals come out of that area. It was not easy hunting and other guys were cutting you off all the time. I'm dissapointed in the new management at Mirage. Price increases in services like doubling snowmobile rental and guide service from last year. If you were staying at Mirage they gave a 20% discount on fuel but it was fifty cents a liter more than last year. Their bookings were down and I think the idea was to make up as much as they could from those who were there. The atmosphere is not as friendly as it was before the new management and they have gotten rid of almost everyone who worked there before. The guy in the snowmobile shop tries to skin you by coming up with damage that he says you did and wants you to pay for it. He tried that with us two years in a row. He's a little weasle. We never had that trouble when Paul ran the snowmobile shop at Mirage before he went up to Kisk. All in all it was a tough hunt, the outfitters have no control over the migration but when the hunting is that bad they should give you options. Mirage did that inI beleive 05 or 06 when it was bad. That was under the old management. Mirage guides were reasonably successful but their measure of success is when they put in shooting distance of a calf. I say Mirage has dropped considerably on the rating scale since Luc left and this new operation took over. I've been going to Mirage for ten years but if I do another winter hunt I will check out Kisk.

bjess

Hey got a hunch,
Happy to hear you at least got a few animals, it really is a tough year.
Mirage certainly has increased their rates since the new owner took over and I suspect the service will get better as people get more experience.
We were there on Nov. 19th - 22nd and it was also tough then, but we got lucky and tagged out. There were many guys there that week that didn't get 2 bou so you guys getting 4 bou for 5 guys is very good, you must have worked hard for them.
I checked out kisk and it looks like a good deal, about $800. less then Mirage for early November. We were happy with Mirage, it had good food and was quite comfortable and we have rebooked for 2010. There are only so many outfitters up there and Mirage was far from full when we were there, I am sure the price had a lot to do with that. We rented snowmobiles also while we were there although there wasn't much snow, we had the guy mark all the little spots that were damaged or marked so he couldn't say we did it and when we returned them he just did a quick walk around and we were good to go.
It seems that every few years the hunting is tough so next year should be another good one if history repeats again, going to keep my fingers crossed anyway..lol
You have gone for 10 years, I think caribou hunting is in your blood and you will be back for 2010, maybe at kisk but none the less, back caribou hunting.
Hope you enjoy your meat and maybe if you go earlier next year we will see you.

Nord QC Bouman

Tough hunt to be sure - we tagged 5 of 8 tags and were glad for this. Without a sled we would have been skunked. Cannot believe he gas price and I let the new guys at Mirage know it. Many guys dropping out and I do not think the Mirage management has a grip in the impacts.

Migration is always the issue and we can get by this with some help from the guides and the lodge - I find us giving more advice to newcommers than we should. We actually gave up a nice pod for some guys from Ontario - had a bunch of fun anyways - real sorry to hear the new of many long term dudes not coming back.

One comment on the fish cops and GOD help me I am not a fan of the badge in your face tactics that I have been up against. 2003 - herd is in good and many animals - off the side of the road watching a big group (1000 +) move thru - truck pulls up and a barrel is out the DS window and wacks 2 or 3 and drives off. Total shame and the reason for a lot of the regs that we have seen over the years. I do not agree with the nature of the fish cops in dealing with us, but I also see the issues they are up against with many, many son's of bitches that should not have a gun in their hands. My 2 cents...

Hoping for a better 2010 - keep the faith and Happy Holidays to all in the field.

Bouman

spike00

Nord, I agree with the your ideal about fish cops we have had about five different encounters with the OPP in the ten years we have been going caribou hunting, two stand out the most:
1. we were up past the dam hunting, riding snowmobiles with with our guns loaded six of us, a five hundred dollar fine each they let us off with a warning.
2. Coming back one year OPP were doing road checks/blocks it was about 2:00 in the morning Six OPP, three cop cars and one flat bed tow truck. we were stooped the guys were all business they ask us for our hunting license, gun permit, we gave them what they ask for, I ask the officer if they wanted our passports his response was if I ask for your passports you are in trouble. ten minutes of questioning & checking our animals we were on our way.
With that said this was the first year in ten years we didn't go caribou hunting. Our group didn't agree with the what we felt was a large rate increase at the Marge ...
So we went moose hunting in October we all tagged out , As for me I miss the caribou hunt it gets in your blood.
Remember life is short focus on the good times and let go of the bad ... Merry Christmas