Hello Everyone. I just wanted to get the word out on a recent black bear hunt I went on in Quebec. The name of the outfitter is Wayne Tanner, Tanner Forestry, Inc. This will be a bit of read but I hope to keep someone from spending money on this guy. Here's the story. One month prior to arrival to the bear camp, we paid the balance of the money due for the trip. Which was 80% of the total for the trip. The day of the trip, 2 of us got delayed by the airlines and we were re-booked to arrive in Canada the next day. Upon arrival we were picked up at the airport and everything went good until we got to the lodge. It wasn't what was pictured on the website. Ok, things change. I can roll with that. Accommodations were good so I couldn't complain. We met Wayne and he said he would be happy to extend our hunt the extra day to make it a full 6 day hunt that we paid for. I asked if he was willing to pay the fees that airlines would charge us to change flights. No was the answer. Ok, would he be willing to refund some of our money since we would only be hunting 5 days instead of 6. No to that as well. Ok, I guess that's one thing. The next morning we went to the nearest store to purchase our bear tags. The owner of the store is a relative of Wayne's. I go to pay for the license with a credit card since I knew that the bank would automatically make the conversion from Canadian dollars to American. The young lady behind the counter said the card was declined. I had no cell service at the time so I couldn't call the bank. I asked the young lady if they would accept US Dollars, she said yes. I asked her what the conversion rate would be. She said there wasn't one. Well, ok, that's slightly irritating but it's the beginning of the trip, let's get things rolling. We paid $186 us dollars. I get back to camp where I could use a landline. I called the bank to see why the card was declined. They said that it wasn't declined by the bank, the transaction was cancelled at the store. I found out the amount that I would have been charged would have been $150. Note there were 6 of us and we all paid $186 US rather than $186 Canadian. I know some of you might be thinking, well at least they accepted US currency and didn't make you go exchange some money. I was happy they accepted US currency, I was not happy that they didn't even try to compensate for the exchange difference. I would have even been happy to pay a little extra for their troubles. Nope, they didn't even want to play that game. I brought this to Wayne's attention. He gave me a song and dance about sometimes the US dollar is worth more and sometimes its worth less but they always accept US currency just like Canadian currency. So we got blown off. All this going on, I just bit my tongue and kept going. The hunt starts and stops without me seeing a bear. The first 4 days there was not a sign there was a bear in the area. They haven't hit the bait at all. I mean the bears, not the raccoons. The raccoons are having a feast. There is only enough bait put out each day to feed one raccoon. When the raccoons were finished, the bait would be completely gone. The 5th day of the hunt, it was apparent that a bear had finally been to the bait site. But alas, I didn't see anything the last day besides the friendly local raccoon and unfriendly black flies. Ok, well, it's called hunting and not shooting. Regardless, I wasn't impressed with their baiting methods. It didn't look like there was a bear even remotely interested in the baits until day 5. No tracks, no scat, no trampled foliage around the baits. Months later, I get a phone call from Wayne saying that he never deposited the check that I sent him and when he tried to deposit it, it didn't go through. He asked me to send another check. This was the last straw. I vowed to spread the word about the guy in hopes no one else would end up dealing with this crook. I have a copy of the check from the bank showing that the full 80% that I owed him was indeed taken from my account before I even arrived. Come to find out, the reason why the accommodations were different than what was on the website was because Wayne had run afoul with the Revenue Department (Canadian IRS) and he had to sell off the lodge to pay for whatever problems he had. In conclusion fellas, stay away from a Tanner Foresty, Inc. and Wayne Tanner.
Wow. At least you were smart enough to see the signs. I wonder how many others he has done this to. What a scumbag.
its hard for me to trust a guide, i know their is some great ones, but i seem to hear more bad than good on outfitters
It is also hard to trust a person that signed up to a forum just to bash a guide with their first post. Chances are we won't even see him again unless he is checking this thread. There are plenty of people who will bash a guide just because they didnt shoot anything.
My thoughts exactly. First, I couldn't even find the guy's website. When I did I was hard pressed to find a photo of a hunter with a bear. In total I found 3, none of which look impressive. Bad website - bad photos - social media page hasn't been updated in over a year - no photos of clients on it - and no references. Call me crazy but that's not a guy I'd book a hunt with.
My thoughts exactly. If this was a long time standing member, I would be angry with him. Id take this "review" with a grain of salt
