Curious how is the deer hunting in New Brunswick? A few years ago I was told they had a number of bad winters which hurt the herds.
Are there any guide services that you would recommend?
Not very helpful but general observations. Wife's co-worker owns a place in the south/central part of the province and does very well. I cross in Perth quite often and head to either Plaster Rock or Grand Falls. I see deer all summer but it doesn't seem much different there than here. One of the largest land owners there is the same as northern Maine with many of the same harvesting practices and mindset...... if that tells you anything.
Well I hunted northeast Maine very close to the the NB border (near Houlton, ME) and a friend of mine hunted across the way in NB. He hunts there every year. He usually does better than me getting a buck most years but neither of us scored this year. This year it seems rut sign and activity was scarce, as well as fresh tracks, etc.in both places.
He hunts a camp used to be Parsons, run by Lloyd Parsons who passed away a couple years ago but his son still accommodates their regulars that come and hunt unguided. I hunted with Parsons 25 years ago and there were decent deer numbers, but the place had a lot of camps and hunters back then, not so now, a lot of them closed up.
If you're a stand hunter I think NB is better suited to that due to the type of woods, but I understand they've done a lot of clear cutting in that particular area. I believe NB also allows bait piles, or at least they used to, but not sure about that now.
Whereas Maine IMO is more conducive to the still/stalk hunter who prefers to go after 'em on the ground with open sighted lever and pump guns, through thick woods and swamps (map and compass skills essential, take your chances with GPS). There aren't too many places where you can hang a stand and see for any distance in that area (Aroostook/Washington county)
I'm actually considering trying NB next year but we'll see. Both places harbor some monsters, but of course seeing one and getting him is another matter. Maybe someone else will weigh in.
I live there and would choose almost anywhere else is if I was paying to hunting. As has been eluded to the timber harvesting practices here, spraying glyphosphate to kill hard wood browse as well as harvesting deer wintering yards has had a severe negative impact upon our deer herd. I hunted a week for an urban nuisance deer between the pressure 7 other bow hunters on the same 20 acres and the river rising and flooding the deer's sleeping cover I didn't see a single deer in a place I could legally kill it. I also spent a week hunting an area that 20 years ago if you weren't at least seeing deer it was cause you either had your eyes closed or didn't leave camp. I saw a single deer during legal shooting time. I haven't killed a buck in over 10 years and even with getting drawn for an either sex tag 2014, 2015 and 2016 its been 4 years since I killed any deer other than on a antlerless nuisance tag.
Speaking with environmental engineers and looking at the management of our public lands I will be surprised if we ever again see our deer herd recover to what it once was. The only medium to large game species doing well here is the black bear, not only do they see mild hunting pressure they hibernate most of the winter and the province provides subsidies to land owners for creating blueberry fields.
Sad to hear James, but now that you mention it my friend that hunts there also mentioned the spraying to kill hardwoods. Some timber companies couldn't care less about the deer or wildlife impact. In Maine it seems the bears are also doing pretty well. For us, Maine and NB is within a day's drive and is a cheap hunt compared to other places, success is not very good but beats sitting home on the couch.
Dogslife
There is a ton of herbicide spraying here. You don't have to go very far west, south or north of Houlton to find it either.
Like I said, same landowner in NB as in Maine.