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Input on Ironbound Outfitter in Newfound

Has anyone had experience with Ironbound Outfitters in Newfoundland? Looking to book fiirst moose trip for Sept 2016. I've never booked an outfitter before....what kind of questions should I be asking?

Thanks.

Fuzz

No first hand info yet, headed there in 17 and I think it'll be a great trip. Everything I've read has been great.

Sent u a pm Nick. Thx

One of the best outfitters out there from all I've heard from people who have gone with them.They would be my choice.Nick, your really flying out of moose country across Canada to hunt NF?? I'm thinking of going in a few years just to experience NF

Yes, I "really" am! Can hunt them in October in NL and we are going to hunt Woodlands as our main focus but will have moose tags too.

I have been talking with this outfit and will more than likely be doing a 2018 moose hunt with them. Have heard all positive reviews so far.

I do not have any good things to say about Iron Bound. He screwed me and my buddy on our woodland caribou hunt this year, we booked this hunt 2 years ago. Bought fights and hotel. I got a phone call from the booking agency in july this year that Iron Bound cancelled the hunt due to no caribou tags. How do you not have tags when you have hunters that book 2 years out? The booking agency found us another hunt $1000 more and 6 days later. (Pm me ill give the outfitters name and info)I did not buy travel insurance, my fault -just lazy on my part. To change fights it was another $400 and no hotel cancellation. So what do you do? I spent 13 days in newfoundland, 5 days sight seeing with my wife, we could not cancel her tickets. We stayed at the DEER LAKE HOTEL, I think every hunter that was hunting stayed there. Several of which came from Iron Bound and where not happy! Most of them were gun hunters. (CALL MIKE FOR A LIST OF HUNTERS THAT HE HAD IN 2015)Maybe he will call you back he never contacted use he did send our deposits the new outfitters a plus for him. All and ALL Ironbound cost me $2000 more to go .My buddy and I KILLED OUR CARIBOU ON DAY ONE. look at the caribou form on my story some bad gramer and spelling sorry

I do not have any good things to say about Iron Bound. He screwed me and my buddy on our woodland caribou hunt this year, when I booked this hunt 2 years ago. Bought fights and I got a phone call from the booking agency in july this year that Iron Bound cancelled the hunt due to no caribou tags. How do you not have tags when you have hunters that book 2 years out? The booking agency found us another hunt $1000 more and 6 days later. (Pm me ill give the outfitters name and info)I did not buy travel insurance, my fault -just lazy on my part. To change fights it was another $400 and no hotel cancellation. So what do you do? I spent 13 days in newfoundland, 5 days sight seeing with my wife, we could not cancel her tickets. We stayed at the DEER LAKE HOTEL, I think every hunter that was hunting stayed there. Several of which came from Iron Bound and where not happy! Most of them were gun hunters. (CALL MIKE FOR A LIST OF HUNTERS THAT HE HAD IN 2015)Maybe he will call you back he never contacted use he did send our deposits the new outfitters a plus for him. All and ALL Ironbound cost me $2000 more to go .My buddy and I KILLED OUR CARIBOU ON DAY ONE

One thing to keep in mind regard whether an outfitter will have tags for Caribou in NL for a given year. It's entirely possible that the outfitter didn't screw you, but he was screwed by the government. The Government of NL has a history of pulling tags from a unit at the last minute and leaving the outfitter high and dry. Often the outfitter will try to trade or work a deal out for tags with another outfitter in ordedr to accommodate his booked hunts.

I have never hunted with Iron bound and know nothing about them, but this may not have been their fault.

I would say its their fault if they didn't make it right in the end.

My wife and I booked a moose hunt in 2014. No shots, few moose, we walked 9-13 miles a day. I was happy the other hunter in camp shot his moose as he had the prime hunting area and told his guide absolutely under no circumstances would he allow my wife and I to hunt in his direction. So our guide refused to take us out of the area we hunted and not the other area where moose were being seen everyday. I have rebooked my hunt, with another outfitter needless to say.

My son and I hunted with Mark and Ironbound this past September. We had a terrific hunt - would go back in a heartbeat. Everything including travel,accomodations ,guides ,camp was great and we were able to take two moose home.If anyone would like more specific info they can pm me.

Curious how an outfitter would "make it right" if the government doesn't issue the tags.? Presumably he refunded the money. If he doesn' t have the tags, there isn't much more he could do. Seems to me if he cancelled the hunt and returned the money, he made it right. Keep in mind i'm only guessing at what happened, I have no knowledge of the actual events.

bb Im still bitter like I said hunt was booked for 2 years (January 2013) its not like I booked on a spur of the moment. You know you hear and Read all the things that happen in canada with caribou hunts.And my buddy talked to him at P&Y in april and got blown off there also im glad we got our woodlands and every thing worked out

I always been the guys who does his own research, references ec ect before any hunt is booked. However I am seeing more and more value in using a top quality booking service. , if nothing else in case things go south. Glad the trip worked out for you, congrats on your woody. I am looking forward to my trip to the rock this year, I am taking my father on his first moose hunt.

good luck on your hunt Nick.I think Ironbound offers different levels of hunting.ex. flyin areas,trophy hunts ect..That may explain the differing levels of satisfaction.If I ever go it will be fly in for a trophy hunt.I haven't researched them much as of yet,but have read many good stories from guys using them

I hunted with Ironbound in October. Our group went 3 for 4. We had two rifle hunters and two bowhunters. I was the only unsuccessful one, but I chose to never pick up a gun. Weather was main factor. It was unseasonably warm during my hunt. Closest I got was 70 yards.

We hunted the Sharon Valley camp and Don was my guide. He was great and our food was great too. This is a good hunt, but it is a hunt. You will get a moose if you are willing to pick up a gun.

Lenny

Mathewsshooter, I hear you, I know how you feel, having gone through the Tutilick fiasco myself. The reason I'm playing devils advocate, because I know an outfitter in NL that had all his Caribou tags pulled when the government decided to shut down all Caribou hunting in his area. He had no prior warning and had hunts booked several years previously. he had to scramble to find hunts for as many as he could with other outfitters and those he couldn't place he refunded the money, some he was able to convert to Moose hunts in exchange. I'm sure there was some people that weren't happy with the outcome and blame him but at the end of the day, it was out of his control.

Whether that's the same thing that happened with Ironbound, I don't know, they are still advertising Caribou hunts on their website so they obviously at least until this point still had tags. I would like to think they had a reduction of the amount of tags available to them for the year you hunted and they handled it by canceling the newest bookings first. The outfitters really are in limbo from year to year, not knowing how many tags they will have if any, they don't find this out until after February.

I would hate to think they just plain screwed you. Which I suppose is always a possibility.

We just got back in October from going with Ironbound we had a absolute awesome hunt passed 7 different bulls with our bows the first 3 days and ended up seeing 60+ moose in 5 days My wife and I both came home with beautiful trophys.

I have hunted with Ironbound twice. I have not come home with a moose but would book with them again in a heartbeat. The first hunt found us with terrible conditions. It was so foggy, the choppers were all grounded so we stayed 5 days in a little motel in Burgeo on the southwest shore of the island. Finally the fog lifted and we were able to hunt two days in the Sharon Valley. Don was a great guide and his wife was a great cook. Saw several moose but nothing anywhere near bow range. I had booked well in advance and Mark felt so bad he offered me a free trip back the next year including my air fare. I flatly refused that as he cannot control the weather. I did settle on a reduced cost hunt and I paid the airfare the next year. The second hunt was with my rifle. My partner did get a very nice NF moose with a rifle but I came home empty handed again. My ONLY critique of Ironbound is that in my opinion, they are not really geared to bowhunters. That is certainly not to say that you cannot get one with a bow there but most of the guides don't seem to be in sync with bowhunters and they do not even have any practice targets for bows in the camps. Camps are comfortable, food is great and the people are great. Every Newfie I have ever met was a really nice person and friendly. The area that Ironbound hunts, at least the ones I hunted, can be pretty tough and I suggest being in shape. The walking can really be tough and the tuccamore was certainly created by the devil himself. The terrain is always wet and slippery and can be pretty danged steep especially for a flatlander. There may be some outfitters who cater especially to bowhunters but I still would highly recommend Ironbound.

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