Outfitter Review - Black Bear Outpost Camps

Outfitter Information

Outfitter Name: Black Bear Outpost Camps

Outfitter / Contact: Walter/Mary L. Fleming

Location: Ontario, Canada

Hunt Information

Animals Hunted: Black bear

Game Quality: None

Game Quantity: None

Accomodations: adequate

Camp Condition: adequate

Food Quality: poor

Guide Experience: extremely poor

Other Personal Experience: poor

Review Information

Hunter: Richard Burchett

Phone:

Email:

Would Recommend: I would not recommend this tri

Overall Impression: worst trip of my life

In 1996 I decided to do a black bear hunt. I did LOTS of research, checking magazines, calling references, getting prices, talking to outfitters, etc..... I even made sure to pick an outfitter from the NAHC "approved guides and outfitters list". After doing all my research I decided to go with Walter and Mary Fleming. I got prices ranging from $650 to Walter's $1200. We decided that the more expensive hunt SHOULD be better. WRONG. We arrived in camp at about 10am on Sunday morning. Walter was already drunk or stoned. We met our "guide", a college boy from Tennessee! I had to sharpen Walter's chainsaw and go cut wood for the upcoming week ( I am a timber professional) while Walter got more intoxicated. We paid Mary after we got back from cutting wood, and got ready to attend the MANDATORY hunters meeting that night. If a refund was possible I would have got it that night! Walters' meeting consisted of over an hour of listening to him INSULT every client he had in camp. He told us he didnt care who we were, where we had been, what we had hunted, or how many we had killed, we were mere DUMBA$$E$. And that basically, he was God. He even went so far as to tell us not to turn the radio on in our trucks when going out to our baitsites because THE BEARS COULD PICK UP THE RADIO SIGNALS IN THEIR HAIR! Please keep in mind, WE HAD ALL ALREADY PAID by this time. After the meeting that night my partner and I decided to just hunt like **** and make the most of it, after all this was Canada, surely we could find a bear without Walter if neccesary. Monday morning consisted of us and our "guide" going out to set our baits! This should have been taken care of weeks or months in advance! The stations were there, they just hadnt been ran in a loonngg time. We set 10 baits over roughly a 10 mile line and upon our guides "expert advice" set our stands up over what he said was the best sites. We hunted Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday over the same INACTIVE baits, always leaving camp by 11am and never getting back before 11pm! This made Walter and Mary look very bad to the other guys in camp. The hunters KNEW we were hunting HARDER than anyone in camp and still had NOTHING to show for it, so they started asking questions. Good ole Walter and Mary used this as an opportunity to make us look bad and said that we were bait hopping, riding around, getting drunk, running all the baits etc... The other hunters told us all about this on Wed. night when we returned. Oh and by the way, WE NEVER GOT AN EVENING MEAL the whole time we were hunting. It was always so late when we returned they had cleaned up the kitchen and gone to bed! I confronted Mary about these accusations of Thursday morning, ( Walter must have already been passed out somewhere). She played it down and tried to deny most of it. Upon our "guides'" suggestion, we ran our baitline on Thursday, the first time it had been checked all week, looking for an active bait. THERE WERE NONE. We went right back to the same ones we had sat on all week and hunted them again. on Friday, the last day, Mary decided to move us to another line. it was dead too, big surprise! We packed our gear Friday morning before heading out to the stands, hunted till dark, and never looked back. I was afraid to go back to camp because one more FOUL word outta Walter and I would probably still be in a Canadian prison. If all this keeps just one person from booking with them then it will be time well spent! As far as Marys 100%active bait guarantee, sned me an email Mary and I will give you my adress to send the refund to.

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