My name is Luke Anderson. I live in Greene, Iowa. In no way shape or form do I need to hide behind a keyboard. I'm here for fun, to share my experiences and learn from a bunch of people just like me. I am very pleased that you had a good hunt with Safari Nordic. I myself have hunted with Safari. I was even successful in taking 2 bulls (both with a rifle/missed with the bow). You say you were relieved that you even got to go....? Why? Its a hunt that you paid for. There shouldn't even be any question. You say that "we" are bashing people and situations we don't even understand. It appears that you were not fortunate enough to read the things that Kurt wrote. I was. I'll also tell you that as a manager in a small company, if Kurt was any way shape or form affiliated with working for me/us, then he would no longer be. I, while never ever planning on hunting with safari again, would actually Love to see safari do the right thing. It is a simple fix. And one that they could have fixed as soon as it happened. As soon as they found out that not enough tags were issued, then everyone should have been notified and refunds given. That or trips moved to the next year and probably with a good discount. Where I work, the customer is number 1. If we forget something, they get it free. If its defective, its free. And most of the time if you broke it, we'll fix it for free. If I were you I would do myself a favor and go to the outfitter review. There is a wealth of knowledge there form everyday guys just like us that can't afford to do this yearly. There is a much better caribou outfitter out there. And a much more trusted one. Have a nice afternoon and good luck this year.
There seems to be more to the story than what is out there. If an outfitter buys the tags from the Quebec government and they give you less than you planned on, the suspicion becomes that you never paid for all the tags the previous year. If this is the case the company is going to be continually playing catch up and that is a hard hole to dig out of. I hope the hunters in question get their hunt or their money back but I wouldn't bet on it and I certainly would be avoiding booking anything with SN in the future. It sucks but outfitters are far from the only industry that this happens to.
Just asking.
I realize this as I read his comments on this board and when I save enough money, I’ll book with him. (if Quebec goes back to 2 caribou!!!) Unfortunately I booked with Safari Nordik, and while I had a good hunt, I did not get what I paid for in the all-inclusive platinum package!
I’ve withheld my story from this site intentionally…….. until now!
So here’s how it went down.
We arrive at the hotel in Montreal where we are supposed to have a meeting with the SN staff at 6 PM. Kurt aka Trophy Manager finally showed up at 10:30 PM. We fly out the next morning to Kuujjuaq and spend the next two nights there (one day of hunting) waiting on weather to fly out to the camp.
During this time we had to pay for our own meals and were unable to shower or really do anything other than sit around and stare at each other.
Now before you start in with the “weather is not their fault” comments, I will refer you to the SN web site and brochure that clearly states “A Twin Otter plane with Instrument Flying Rules to get you to most camp sites.”, and that was a major reason why I booked with them.
BOTH days we were sitting in Kuujjuaq there were Twin Otters buzzing overhead all day!
There were seven people total, and apparently they would not fly there twin because they only use it for full loads of 8 to 10 people!
At the time I thought to myself, OK no twin otter, I’m here, it’s beautiful, and it can’t rain forever. Sure enough, the weather broke and we climbed on the float planes and made it to camp.
I got my bags in the cabin, made sure I was sighted in, and two men walked up to me and one stated “this is your guide Mayo, he doesn’t speak much English, but you’ll be OK”.
Mayo points to a ridgeline about a mile and a half away and there are 4 nice bulls bedded down on it. He says “we take a walk”.
Well this just got a lot better! I thought to myself. Off we go and I end up taking a bull at about 150 yards.
We had caped and qtr’ed him out and were cruising across the ridgeline looking for another one when a call came over the radio about a bear near camp. We had seen it flying into camp about 5 miles out, and it was HUGE.
Of course, I’m all about shooting a bear, and we are less than a mile from camp (all downhill) but Mayo starts (trying) telling me it’s on the other side of the lake miles away. So we continue scouting. About an hour later, we are headed back and I see a big black “rock” motionless next to the lake maybe 900 yards away and point it out to my guide. It’s just a rock he claims, and we keep heading to camp.
Once in camp I question a few people, and find out that the bear was IN camp, they had told Mayo over the radio (in French) because they knew I wanted to shoot one.
The black “rock” was the bear, and he knew it! He flat out LIED to me.
The next morning I get paired up with two other hunters that flew in the previous afternoon (I was hunting on my own, more on that later). Now don’t get me wrong, they were really nice guys, but one was 78 years old and had just had a hip replacement 3 months prior, the other was 79 years old and had both knees replaced the previous year. Because they were unable to walk, we spent the day sitting 300 yards off the lake waiting on a caribou to walk by. No walking, no cruising the HUNDREDS of miles of shoreline, just sitting in the SAME spot for 10 hours.
I’m 47 at the time and in good shape, I was there to hunt, not sit on a rock!
I went to the camp boss that evening and expressed my concern, and requested that I go out with the group of two (father and son) that I flew in with. After a couple of days staring at each other we had become friends, and they told me to join them.
The camp boss refused, and stated that the guides worked a rotation and only for tips. (Lie number two)
Later that evening the same camp boss began bad mouthing Ronald Reagan and George Bush, and well, I’m not turning this into a political discussion, so let me just state I was quite pissed that people in a service business should NEVER talk political trash and that I have never voted for a democrat!
(The father and son were quite ticked off as well, and they are from California!)
The last day of my hunt I had pretty much had about all the sitting on the same rock for the two previous days I was going to tolerate. So I decided to head off on my own. (Mayo didn’t like that at all, but I didn’t care!) I got about a mile away and spotted two really nice bulls roughly a mile out, and put a stalk on them and shot a wall hanger.
By now you’re probably thinking; well at least you shot two animals, so it wasn’t that bad.
I’m not even close to finished.
I get back to Montreal, and meet up with Kurt (trophy manager) at the hotel and explain everything to him.
The father and son were standing next to me and confirmed everything I told him. There was another man there Kurt claimed to be the CFO of SN, and Kurt told me that he / SN would make it right. He said that if I covered my transportation to Kuujjuaq the next year (2013), he would personally guide me on a 5 day hunt at no charge.
At the time I thought that’s darn sure making it right!
I paid Kurt (trophy management logistics) to ship my capes and antlers to me and headed for the bar!
I get all the way home and discover my 2 boxes of meat are 80% ground meat, no tenderloins and no backstraps! After a several unanswered emails and phone calls I finally get in touch with Kurt to discuss this year’s trip.
I finally got a reply from him on Feb 6th 2013, and do you think he honored what he promised? NO! Here’s the cut and pasted text from his email to me: THE BEST TIME WOULD BE AUG 30 OR AUG 31. FOR YOU IT WOULD BE $5500 PLUS LISCENSE (355) WITH YOU FLYING TO MONTREAL.
I said nothing because he STILL had my capes and antlers.
After 10 months (July) I finally got my antlers and capes, and only after I contacted California Department of Fish and Wildlife in Fresno. The lieutenant I spoke with refused to say anything derogatory about Mr. Santoro, but the tone of his voice told me everything I needed to know when he stated that he was *very familiar* with Mr. Santoro, and that he would pay him a visit to help expedite the receipt of my trophies.
Why hunting alone? Because my father coudln't be there.
I’m not looking for sympathy, as my father always said; “you can find sympathy in the dictionary, right between sh!t and syphilis”.
I booked the hunt after watching a caribou hunt (Jack Hume) on TV with my father while he was hospitalized in late Dec 2011.
My father told me he was really sorry that he and I had never gone on a caribou hunt and that we should have done it while he was able. He told me I should do it, and use the money my mother left me and go on that hunt (she had passed just 40 days prior).
He passed away Jan 11, 2012 and as he instructed me, I used my inheritance and booked the hunt on Jan 19th. I took a rifle because He didn't bow hunt, and I had to shoot one for him.
On the positive side, I have stayed in close contact with the father and son I met, and they are headed to my place this year to shoot some hogs and whitetail (with BOWS!)
Long story short, DON’T trust ANYTHING you hear from Safari Nordik and more specifically Kurt Santoro!
Is Sammy Cantafio still in business? (Ungava Adventures)
I've heard too much funky stuff about other operations to take a chance on them.
Does anyone know anything or are we screwed again?
