Sylt Lake Tent Camps- Newfoundland Moose hunt review

[smitty55]

One has to wonder about these one time posters that conveniently joined the site in the last few days and long after this thread started.

You nailed it. I don't think there's any doubt as to what their purpose is. I'll bet if you come right out and ask them how they happened to join just to post on this thread you will not get any response.

Cheers

[skull]

MarcoD
Brett-M
How did you guys find out about this tread?

[toddy]

I think this thread as a whole is odd as hell. As I said, I have some skin in this game since we are booked with this outfitter in 2020.

The OP wrote some negative things about a bunch of incidences that happened during the trip that (at least if it was me) would have been corrected/dealt with immediately. Then its followed up with some very positive feedback from guys that are posting on the site for the first time. The outfitter hasn't put a post on Facebook since 2014, and their isn't hardly a single bit of info other than the website about them online.

I have been bear hunting with outfitters in Ontario now for almost 8 years in a row and one observation I have made is that peoples expectations of WAY WAY to high. I don't know if its TV shows that has caused this but my observation is that if clients aren't seeing animals, no matter how hard the guides work than they aren't happy.

I have talked things over with the group we are going with. We aren't going to try and get our deposits back. We will proceed with the hunt and I will be happy to update after our return in October 2020.

[jaycee]

I have been bear hunting with outfitters in Ontario now for almost 8 years in a row and one observation I have made is that peoples expectations of WAY WAY to high. I don't know if its TV shows that has caused this but my observation is that if clients aren't seeing animals, no matter how hard the guides work than they aren't happy.

One very important part of these TV Shows, is that they are promoting the outfitters and people expect to see lots of game or they wouldn't bother booking with them.
There is a lot of editing done to make these shows , and it may take two weeks of filming and a lot of editing to show potential customers a lot of game inn that 20 minute segment on a 1/2 hour show.

[toddy]

One very important part of these TV Shows, is that they are promoting the outfitters and people expect to see lots of game or they wouldn't bother booking with them.
There is a lot of editing done to make these shows , and it may take two weeks of filming and a lot of editing to show potential customers a lot of game inn that 20 minute segment on a 1/2 hour show.

So True!!

[skull]

People don’t take the time and do their proper research.
Toddy, i have a question for you...
Did you believe everything the Outfitters told you, or did you call for some references.
Just like you mentioned, no new posting on Facebook.
Did you ever do a search on the Outfitters?
What made you to book a hunt with this guy?

[Ahuntr300]

Thanks so much for the review OP. Sounds like a nightmare to me, to be avoided at all costs. I wish we saw more reviews like yours.

If I hand over hard earned $4,250 per person to an outfitter for a moose hunt you bet my expectations are going to be high! Certainly won't include a wish to be a tire jockey LOL!
$4,250 plus all the other expenses like getting there is a lot of money for normal everyday folk!

[toddy]

People don’t take the time and do their proper research.
Toddy, i have a question for you...
Did you believe everything the Outfitters told you, or did you call for some references.
Just like you mentioned, no new posting on Facebook.
Did you ever do a search on the Outfitters?
What made you to book a hunt with this guy?

Before we booked the 4 of us pretty much took that list of outfitters from the government website and divided it up and started making phone calls. We made a big spreadsheet with all the questions, costs etc. Our budget was between 4 and 6 grand Canadian. We eventually ended up with a short list of 5-6 that we wanted to book with. All of the outfitters on the short list had also given us, at our request a Canadian rate. Sylt Lake wasn't even on the list at that point. I will also add, after hours of research and viewing websites – Sylt lake’s website is just as bad as 2/3 of the outfitters in newfoundland that I looked at.
What became very apparent to me and pissed me off was how the majority of the outfitters wouldn't return phone calls or emails. To this day, of the 15-20 outfitters I contacted 10 of them never got back to me. If we waited more than two weeks for a response they were immediately off the list.
From our short list we had agreements on deposits, dates and prices with two outfitters only to have the outfitter go completely AWOL. It was so odd, it was like the outfitter was making a deal with they weren’t good with, so they avoided us. I don’t know, maybe it’s because one of our party members has mobility issues. At this point we were very frustrated. I almost felt since we were Canadian customers, they didn’t want to deal with us.
This all took place before we met Angus at Sylt lake. I personally haven't met the outfitter. My good friend (who is also going on the trip) met him at the Sportsman show last March. We were in contact with Angus on a constant basis the week of the Sportsman Show. He answered all our questions and sent us a whole pile of pictures of the accommodations etc as we had told him his website was shotty. Given what we were experiencing with our short list, and the general frustrations of booking in Newfoundland, we were excited about Sylt lake. We had an outfitter more than happy to cater to us and answer all our questions and he seemed far more generally interested in booking us more than any other outfitter we were dealing with. We felt pretty good about the place, and as such we booked.

[skull]

Before we booked the 4 of us pretty much took that list of outfitters from the government website and divided it up and started making phone calls. We made a big spreadsheet with all the questions, costs etc. Our budget was between 4 and 6 grand Canadian. We eventually ended up with a short list of 5-6 that we wanted to book with. All of the outfitters on the short list had also given us, at our request a Canadian rate. Sylt Lake wasn't even on the list at that point. I will also add, after hours of research and viewing websites – Sylt lake’s website is just as bad as 2/3 of the outfitters in newfoundland that I looked at.
What became very apparent to me and pissed me off was how the majority of the outfitters wouldn't return phone calls or emails. To this day, of the 15-20 outfitters I contacted 10 of them never got back to me. If we waited more than two weeks for a response they were immediately off the list.
From our short list we had agreements on deposits, dates and prices with two outfitters only to have the outfitter go completely AWOL. It was so odd, it was like the outfitter was making a deal with they weren’t good with, so they avoided us. I don’t know, maybe it’s because one of our party members has mobility issues. At this point we were very frustrated. I almost felt since we were Canadian customers, they didn’t want to deal with us.
This all took place before we met Angus at Sylt lake. I personally haven't met the outfitter. My good friend (who is also going on the trip) met him at the Sportsman show last March. We were in contact with Angus on a constant basis the week of the Sportsman Show. He answered all our questions and sent us a whole pile of pictures of the accommodations etc as we had told him his website was shotty. Given what we were experiencing with our short list, and the general frustrations of booking in Newfoundland, we were excited about Sylt lake. We had an outfitter more than happy to cater to us and answer all our questions and he seemed far more generally interested in booking us more than any other outfitter we were dealing with. We felt pretty good about the place, and as such we booked.

Thanks for reply Toddy
I just look at there website and the first thing I see there is not one single reference
Did you guys call any references?
I hope you guys do good on the hunt
Good luck

[Brett M]

you'll be fine , see my rebutal to this unfair review by one individual ... i have been there three hunts and can't wait for my next one. they are wonderful hard working people and will do whatever they can to put you on a moose . Contact me directly if you want more info