Set your sites on NEW BRUNSWICK
Every good hunter knows that the most memorable adventures have as much to do with habitat as they do with the catch. New Brunswick is renowned for having the best of both! Trophy white-tailed deer, black bears and waterfowl. You will find this and more in the sprawling forests, secluded marshes and coastal woods of New Brunswick! A great hunting trip awaits you in New Brunswick!
Set Your Sights on a Trophy White-Tailed Deer!
New Brunswick’s white-tailed deer is a prize take and there’s plenty of them! Take your rifle or your bow and take home a trophy rack! The average dressed weight of an adult buck exceeds 175 pounds (80 kilograms), with bucks recorded each year as high as 270 pounds (122 kilograms). White-tailed deer season begins in late October and continues through late November.
The Very Best in Big Game!
Towering moose… trophy black bear… beautiful and challenging habitats and healthy game populations. That’s why hunters from across the continent and around the world come to New Brunswick! Black bear hunting has three seasons: a spring and fall season, plus a fall bow-hunting season. Moose hunting season opens in September and a limited number of licences are issued.
Waterfowl and Upland Game
New Brunswick’s wetlands are preserved to promote increased populations of waterfowl. You’ll find an abundance of grouse, woodcock, black ducks, sea ducks and more!. It’s always a challenge… are you up for it? Waterfowl season runs from the beginning of October to mid-December.
Before the Game Begins, You Should Know....
Regulations on hunting in New Brunswick
Non-residents must be accompanied by a guide. New Brunswick has some of the top outfitters in the country to guide both residents and non-residents.
Here's what the experts are saying...
"I know people that come back here year after year for New Brunswick’s trademark combination of pristine habitats; healthy populations of white-tailed bucks, black bears and moose; and even the wetland challenge of waterfowl. I can see why. No two trips here are the same. It just keeps getting better and better."
Ron Tussel , Host Exploring the Oudoors
Bear Hunting Overlooked in New Brunswick
We were sitting around the lodge, lying about past hunts and drooling over future ones when the kid asked a good question. "Where would you go," he said, "for really good bear hunting?"
I guess I blew the minds of some of the veterans with my answer. Most would expect me to say Alberta, Saskatchewan or Alaska. But what I said was New Brunswick, Canada. Well, everybody started talking about colour phases and record book skulls. "Why in the world," said veteran number one, "would you go to New Brunswick?"
There are three distinct reasons for my choice. 1–big bear; 2–a large, growing and mostly under-hunted bear population; 3–superior value for your dollar. Let’s examine them one at a time. First, the big bear. What is a big bear?
When it comes to spring bear hunting, most hunters would agree any black bear weighing in over 300 pounds (136 kilograms) is a big bear. And they’d be right. While fishing in New Brunswick last year, the bear hunters at the lodge where I was staying, brought in five bear for five hunters. All made Pope and Young and three weighed over 400 pounds (181 kilograms). One topped 500 pounds (227 kilograms). That is a big bear. That is the size bear you might pay two grand for in the western provinces. A quality hunt in New Brunswick will cost you a little over half that. There are some outfitters up there who only book 15-20 hunters a year. They have bears dying of old age. Remember, a Pope and Young bear only needs 18 inches (46 centimetres) of dried skull. A lot of 250-pound (113-kilogram) black bears have that.
Not every hunt will result in a huge bruin attacking your bait every night. But when you look at the odds of a bear reaching in excess of 400 pounds (181 kilograms) you just have to take a serious look at New Brunswick.
Many of the lodges in New Brunswick are under-booked by hunters. They make their main income from the fishing, so they don’t pack the hunters in. They have huge tracts of land and they kill few bears, even though the bear population is high. One fishing guide and host told me he had 38 baits out last year. I asked how many were being hit. "All of ‘em," was his reply. The biggest bear was over 500 pounds (227 kilograms). Yet he only booked 13 hunters.
You stay in modern, comfortable lodges, not tent camps, and the food is outstanding. The guides do it all. All you do is shoot. And since few of the lodges are true wilderness camps, if you fill your tag early, you can visit some of the surrounding countryside and meet the friendly people of New Brunswick.
John L. Sloan , Outdoor Writer/Nashville, Tennessee