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Conne River VS Effords

Im looking at a moose hunt and think Newfoundland hunts are more my budget at the moment. Both outfitters seems to be reputable but which did you choose and why?

I hunted Conne River twice, at their bowhunting only camp. I got a moose both times. An 8 pt. the first time (my first moose), a 16 pt. the second time. I would have no qualms about going back there again. I have no idea regarding Effords...Conne River and Ray's are the only two places I've hunted in NF.

Thanks! I haven't looked into Rays. Would you consider them again?

My group switched from another NL outfitter to Conne for a trip in 2017. Everything with Conne was excellent. Two of my group went back with Conne in 2019. Surgery prevented me from going and Conne sent back my deposit promptly. Going to try to go with Conne one more time before I hit 80. It would be my 9th trip to NL.

Great! Thanks for the information!

Also take it for what it's worth that I was at Conne when the outfitter quit and had a poor hunt that was a big disappointment after years of saving for that dream hunt.

Buckeye...was that when the band pulled the outfit from the owner who set Conne up years ago? I know the bid went to a new owner. That is why I pulled out of the 2019 hunt.

curious, what's FAHL?

Conne river sold their air access camps/tags to Effords when it changed ownership so all conne river hunts are accessed by road or Argo. Whereas Effords apart from their road based hunts mostly done in the late season are all fly in. G5smoke21. Sorry to hear about the lack of communication from Effords they currently are not taking deposits as the back log of clients from covid and border uncertainties make it feel like it is not the right thing to do. I’m just a guide there so hope that helps answer your unanswered questions

Newfi- I was there in 2018. The operator and pilot quit in the middle of our hunt which made for a crummy few days. He came back to work and flew us back out. They sold the next year

BUCKeye...thanks much for the info as I was considering trying to go back in 2-3 years after outfitters can deal with postponed hunts. Our hunt in 2017 for our group with David McDonald was simply put...super. We rebooked for 2019 right on the spot. Did not see the sale coming. Since the very early 1990s I have worked on-and-off for four different outfitters in QC...one in MT...and one in NL. The one in NL was for over 9 years. He sold and that makes me very cautious. (that one was not Conne). Going from a good outfitter to an unknown can also make possible clients cautious. I knew of the sale by early 2019 but not all exact details were disclosed by the band when it came to 'bidding', etc. I could be wrong but my conversations with the previous owner was that he bid on everything...tags, camps, planes. I believe he was the only pilot. The 'new' owners bid only on the land-accessed camps. The band awarded the bid to the new owners. That was when I requested my deposit back and it was promptly sent. My two friends went on their 2019 hunt w/Conne under the new owners in mid-Nov...the quality of the hunt was NOT the same as the 2017 hunt. My personal feeling is that band politics entered the picture just as such a similar political issue caused the demise of a caribou outfit in northwestern QC on Lake Minto.

Tyler. Thank you very much for the clarification. It makes sense. I'm not sure why that was not brought to my attention but oh well. Hope you guys all the best up there and hope you get back to guiding clients soon. I have seen a few videos of you guiding up there and looks like you do one hell of a job. All the best Nick

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