Safari Nordik or Jack Hume
Caribou
I would like to hunt Caribou next year and I was wondering which outfitter I should choose, Safari Nordik or Jack Hume. Costs are about the same but I was wonder what sets them apart? Better hunting area? Ability to move to a more productive camp? Has anyone hunted with both? Everyone on this site loves Jack but I was wondering if Nordik is the one for me. What are your thoughts?
I'll be able to tell you real soon as I leave saturday morning for Montreal and my first trip with Jack Hume Adventures. We went with Safari Nordik on our first hunt basically because we got an awesome deal. Our taxidermist got to go for half price if he took 2 people. Dad and I went with him. In return for saving him thousands we got a free caribou head mount. Great deal all the way around.
Our hunt with Safari Nordik was good. Had great cabins and good food. Lots of people in camp. That part I wasn't fond of.
For our second hunt we did some looking around. Safari's prices had jumped and they were kind of known as a high volume caribou hunters. Meaning they were trying to run way to many people through their camps to make it an enjoyable hunt. We did notice that on our hunt but like I said, still had a great hunt. Just felt more like a number than a person though.
We went with Club Chambeau on the next trip. Went unguided for a great price. To be honest kinda over looked jack hume adventures.(they had an awesome unguide hunt package that you road up there on a train). Would be fun to do once your life and a great price. Anyway Club Chambeau was fine. Lots of bad reviews but we did have a good hunt. Again felt more like a number than a person. Very disorganized outfit. But once we got to camp and were in control of our own hunting. Had a blast.
After that trip we imediately made plans to go back. I had talked with Richards wife on our flight back to Montreal. Super nice. After ariving home 3 years ago started talking with richard and made plans to hunt with him. Unbeleivable comunnication. The guy is great. And to be honest I have nno reason to believe he won't do everything in his power to give everyone as good as hunt as they can have. Read the outfitter reviews. Read the forums. Call the contacts. He's the real deal.
Hunted with Safari Nordik in 2005 and took a couple good bulls with my bow, but in light of the recent caribou numbers and changes, I am not sure my experience would be very helpful now.
I would get the logistics of the operation directly from the outfitter rather than relying on second or third hand opinions on how the outfitters operation works. It's good to get other hunters experiences, but don't rely on other hunters to tell you about how the outfitters operation works. Generally a simple phone call will give you far more useful and accurate information.
Trophymanager is correct on somethings here. Safari's camps are located farther north. And JHA did lease some camps to locate himself farther north. We actually flew over the camp I stayed at on my 1st trip with safari 2 weekends ago when I was up with JHA. JHA recently relocated their entire operation farther north just to be closer to the caribou.
Just because safari is located farther north doesn't mean you are gonna see more caribou and deffinately doesn't mean they can fly when others can't. Bad weather is a way of life up there. All outfitters are prone to it. And everyone relies on the migration. No matter where you hunt. Hitting the migration is pure luck. Just 2 weeks ago after we had tagged out we all went fishing. A group went north and we went southeast. They saw 2000 caribou. We saw 0. and we were 7 miles apart. Its all luck.
There are very few operations running anymore up north. From roughly 50 to 5. Like anything its survival of the fittest. Personally I will book with JHA again. I've been to Safari,Chambuex and JHA. The operation was smaller and much more family based. I liked that.
On a side note the taxidermist is the same guy for both operations and chambueax as well. Same guys cuts up meat and packages it for you as well.
Wow that is impressive! Maybe JHA and Club Chambueax had the same taxidermist then. I remember seeing the guy before. What was the price to have one mounted and shipped to your house?
Thats sounds about the same as the guy in montreal.
Only been with JHA but it was nothing short of fantastic from start to finish. If I ever go again it will be with Richard at JHA!
trophymanager (Kurt) don't beat around the bush tell the bowsiter's you are the Taxi that does the work for Safari Nordik, running the West Coast office and they advertize you as part owner. When we went in 2010 we had a great trip and your help on getting the bou back was huge and they came back perfectly.
Now on the other hand, return calls or emails by Bernie since we went have ceased to exist, I sent 3 different groups based on our success then had a question about a couple other items and had been blown off. This past year I haven't recommended anyone because of that and I have had some wanting to go.
Second Shot, Kurt was great in helping get the bou back and EVERYTHING he said he would do he did. Period. Another shining spot was Martin Levec, that guy is golden and will do what he can to get you in the right camp.
Suprise suprise a caribou outfitter/owner not quite being totally truthful. My constructive and positive take on things would be to tell us bowsiters that you are involved with safari nordik and also the taxidermy you can provide them and become a bowsite sponsor. Honesty usaully wins out with bowsiters. No need for cheesy comments about your businesses acting as if your just a client.
After two trips with him, I would say JHA all the way. When somebody starts giving out "guarantees" on hunts, I get real nervous.
TBB
I hunted with Team Caribou, out of business 1 time and then 2x with JHA. JHA has relocated it's base to Lac Pau over a year ago so they are in position to hunt the leaf river herd and have been quite successfully. JHA has camps above he 57th right in the migration so nothing new there either. JHA did everyting they said they would for me and more, they have the logistics down pat....being a former military logistician, that means a lot to me...There were no screw-ups and I will hunt with them again. I also used JHAs taxidermist in Montreal 2x and had a fish mounted also....The bou were done and delivered as promised. Cost was $900...not bad and it comes in nice crate and all paperwork done byPierre...also used the butcher 6 times as I was luck to have taken 6 caribou in 3 trips...Just my opinion have never hunted with Safari Nordik, but I like smaller operations....
Why are all the Quebec Caribou hunting posts I read always controversial?
I'm no super slam guy but I've been on a quest to successfully bowhunt a number of North American big game species. When it came time for me to go after a Caribou I did a fantastic DIY adventure in NW Alaska with a couple partners. Had a great trip but didn't get a bull.
I seriously considered Quebec, and did a pile of research on various options there before I went to AK but just didn't feel comfortable with anyone in Quebec.
I ultimately killed a great Mountain Caribou in the NWT. Had an unbelievable hunt up there that turned out to be one of my greatest wilderness adventures ever. It's a bit more money to hunt NWT vs Quebec but the memory of the adventure lasts much longer than the sacrifices you make to be able to afford the hunt.
A Mountain Caribou is the largest Caribou species, the Makenzie Mountains in the NWT are some of the most pristine wilderness left in North America, and a Mountain Caribou hunt is like a Sheep hunt at a quarter of the price.
I know it's not for everyone but I really think more guys should consider a Mountain Caribou in NWT vs a Quebec hunt. You'll be happy you did.
And I'm saying all this with no potential to gain here, unlike the taxidermist above who is trying to guide guys to Nordik for his own benefit (seems so typical for a Quebec hunt!).
All that being said, I've talked to Richard many times, I've read all the Bowsite posts regarding his operation, I've read the posts regarding other Quebec Caribou operations, I've talked to a ton of hunters that have hunted Quebec with many different outfitters, and there is absolutely no question that if I were to ever hunt in Quebec for Caribou it would be with JHA.
Trophymanager, you just made a perfect case for going with JHA. Unbelievable that with all the problems with unscrupulous Quebec outfitters you come on here and intentionally misrepresent yourself. What a poser.
wo - the guy is listed as a safari nordik director,owner, and the owner of the taxidermy factory and that only gets uncovered by bowsite sleuths.
what a joke.
everything you said may be 100% true, but it is certainly not unbiased.
First off, thanks to everyone who had positive things to say about Jack Hume Adventures as it is greatly appreciated. Please allow me to take a moment to clarify what Trophy Manager had to say about the differences between Jack Hume Adventures and Safari Nordik. 1st of all he is absolutely correct in stating that I do not own any camps above the 57th as I do not wish to partner with anyone from above the 57th and instead chose to rent all 5 hunting camps from Arctic Adventures allowing me to maintain my independence and which also gives me access to not only hunt bellow the 57th (where I coincidentally am operating from this week with one camp) but also gave me access to hunt above the 57th. I could have easily rented many other camps above the 57th from any one of the many outfitters who used to operate and who are now closed down but chose Arctic Adventure's camps because of the location of their camps. (The 5 camps I have rented are in my opinion 5 of the very best locations to hunt from above the 57th and are home to not only the #1 P&Y caribou but also the #2, #3, #5 and #6 entries in B&C record books.) Secondly I spent a considerable amount of money to rent these 5 camps in order to have access to the herds whether they choose to migrate above or bellow the 57th, Safari Nordik did not bother to rent or purchase any camps bellow the 57th and therefore does not have access to the caribou when they migrate south of the 57th. Actually this week we booked a last minute hunter who had his hunt cancelled by Safari Nordik and rather than lose his airfare and vacation time he chose to rebook with us. The reason Safari Nordik gave this gentleman for cancelling his hunt was that they did not have any caribou at their hunting camps! Our hunters nearly all tagged out since the start of the season...Thirdly Safari Nordik does operate out of Kujjuaq which is definitely closer to the camps above the 57th. I too, have sent hunters through Kuujuaq. Actually our first group of hunters went through Kuujjuaq and were stuck in Kuujuaq with my wife for three long days due to weather delays and just finding accommodations was a challenge not to mention the cost involved with staying in Kujjuaq. The motel we housed our clients at did not even have running hot water! I will be the first to tell you that I'd much rather operate from Lac Pau as we have full control over our own private facilities where we can comfortably lodge all of our clients and we have access to 5 Turbine Otters. (In Kuujuaq they only have access to 1 Turbine Otter.) If the weather goes out then we can quickly get caught up with our flying as Air Saguenay is by far the largest float plane operator in Quebec with over 20 float planes. (as we just happen to be their biggest client they take particularly good care of us). I don't like to "toot my own horn" and that is certainly not my intention but on the other hand I don't like sitting back while someone with very little knowledge about my operation "toots his own horn" while making false or misleading statements about my operation. I'm far from being perfect but I grew up in this business and I'm an avid sportsman myself. All I can say is that I offer my clients nothing less than what I'd expect if the roles were reversed. That isn't to say that everyone will see thousands and thousands of caribou but one thing is for certain I will do my best and nobody in this industry has any more experience at outfitting caribou hunts in northern Quebec than we do. I'm not in this business just to make a fast buck. I'm an outfitter/bush plane pilot/avid hunter who was raised in this business since the age of 12 (30 years). I believe I have the best guides in this industry working along side of me and with their help and the help of my staff (including my wonderful wife) and we will do our utmost to ensure your success and safety while offering you a quality "fair chase" hunt. Thanks to all of you who choose to hunt with us!
Richard Hume
So let's see, the choices are an outfitter whose owner comes on here and is deliberately deceptive to try and get some free promotion vs. one who is a paid sponsor and gives an honest explanation of how things are. Trophy Manager has probably just sold more hunts for JHA than he will for his own operation.
And true no bs statements like that are excatly why I went with Richard and will again.
"And true no bs statements like that are excatly why I went with Richard and will again" X2
See u again soon Richard!
Wow, interesting....
Life Like Taxidermy is owned and operated by Kurt Santoro, and is based out of Madera, California. With our sister company Trophy Management and Logistics, we are proficient at expediting your trophies to the studio in California or to your preferred destination from their place of origin world wide.
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Also by representing Safari Nordik and many other top outfitters in the world, we can arrange hunting excursions globally. From the booking of the hunt through to the finished taxidermy piece being delivered to your home, we are able to provide all of our clients with worry free hunting destinations anywhere in the world.
This isn't a debate. It's simply an example of the type of shenanigans that have given Quebec caribou outfitters such a bad rap.
I hunted with Safari Nord. about 10 years ago. There were animals, however, not much to choose from. All 8 guys in camp shot 2 bou apiece (gun) expect me. I choose to pass on the second due to only average bou quality. Food was good and guides were great.
Some people thought the population was too low and asked about another camp. NO WAY. I do understand that this is a business and you can not just keep flying people around (inless you are one of those high $$$ clients).
Things that I did not like: 1. meat was spoiled when we got back. I believe due to poor processing and cooling by the processors. The cape was also starting to rot and could not be saved. I am not sure how the meat and cape were cooled down, however, it wasn't in an acceptable manner as seen by the outcome.
good luck to all the dog
I just returned from a hunt with Richard at JHA. I'll tell you the honest truth; if I had the means I would hunt with JHA every year. Outstanding operation!
Interesting...................... ;-)
Do research on all the guys who got a guarenteed Caribou hunt and I'm sure you will find the percentage of people that got a free return trip are very low. I know I was with them. Never again when I go again it will be with JHA.
+1 Jerry, could not have said it better! JHA Outstanding!
I just got home from a trip with JHA. We were the group that hunted below the 57 with the hunter that had his hunt cancelled by Safari Nordik that richard mentioned. Although we didn't see 1000's of caribou, there were more than enough to go around and everyone tagged out, most of us by the 2nd day with some pretty nice animals. I was a victim of the LUCO mess a couple of years ago, but decided to try again with JHA after doing some more research. JHA is a first class operation and I can't wait to get enough money together to go with JHA again.
I have been to Quebec twice (years ago-skunked 1st time) & took my son the 2nd time with the same outfit just because everything else was great. Migrations can't be predicted for the most part. I was skunked as the entire camp was the entire season the 1st time. Anyway, 2nd trip was great, we got our Caribou. If I would return, I know it would be with JHA.
Just looking thru old threads- let's hope he went with JHA! ;-)
