OUTFITTERS/GUIDES - SEE BEAR COMMITTEE INFORMATION BELOW

Welcome to the New Brunswick Professional Outfitter Guide Association Web Pages.

New Brunswick has a long history going back to the 1880’s of providing quality outfitting and guiding services to hunters and anglers from around the world. Our forests provide habitat for 80,000 white-tailed deer. Approximately 22,000 moose roam here. About 16,000 black bear hibernate through our winter. New Brunswick also has excellent habitat for waterfowl and upland birds. The New Brunswick Professional Outfitter Guide Association continues this rich tradition by offering you a choice of world-class professionals to make your New Brunswick adventure a trip of a lifetime. Our members are “the best in the business” and can provide quality equipment and first class services to ensure that your trip is hassle-free.

The New Brunswick Professional Outfitter Guide Association maintains a high standard of professional conduct and ethics to which all members are expected to subscribe. Members of the NBPOGA are licensed professionals who are legally entitled to provide outfitting and guiding services for hunters and anglers as well as other outdoor recreational activities. Check out our outfitters and guides directory and call a few of our members or check out their websites to plan your dream hunting or fishing trip. The outfitters and guides contained in the directory are all licensed and registered members of the New Brunswick Professional Outfitter Guide Association. We hope you come and join a New Brunswick outfitter or guide for an adventure of a lifetime.

Click on any of the historic photos for a larger view

Bear Committee Meeting

This committee, formally named the Minister’s Industry Committee of Non-Resident Black Bear Allocation and Utilization met in Fredericton on April 16, 2008 and was chaired by Mac Rossiter. Cade Libby, Gert Lawlor and Kevin Craig attended from DNR.

The Committee will be structured as follows:
* New Brunswick Professional Outfitter Guide Association 1 delegate and 1 alternate
* New Brunswick Outfitter Association 1 delegate and 1 alternate
* Independent Outfitters 1 delegate and 1 alternate
* Independent Guides 1 delegate and 1 alternate
The terms of reference for the Committee were reviewed as well as the Committee structure. Each group will have one vote on Committee issues.

Paul Leahey and Mark DeJong represented the New Brunswick Professional Outfitter Guide Association at the meeting and brought forward the following issues and concerns:
1. Established outfitters should have access to redistributed bear tags in the zones that they hunt before new outfitters. This is not the way it is at present.
2. The concept of a pool where outfitters or guides with allocation could distribute tags that they would not be drawing on in a year that was slow and have them used by others but still retain the attachment to their lodge.
3. The minimum allocation of 6 tags for the zone that the established and graded lodge resides in. At present this is not so and people have lodges and cannot access tags in the zone their lodge is located in.
4. The industry should be involved in accessing the resource and determining the quantity in zones.
5. Assignment of tags to agricultural rich regions to avoid nuisance bears being destroyed and reflecting poorly on the industry.

The Committee agreed that their work would consist of two aspects:
1. How the regulations and policies affect the industry.
2. The actual license allocation based on harvest data.

Committee members agreed to meet again on August 13, 2008 to review Item #1 above. Other issues raised were noted and are to be referred to the appropriate Industry Liaison Committee as proposed by the NBPOGA.

Paul Leahey, Director
New Brunswick Professional Outfitter Guide Association