Chaparral Hunting Adventures Team
Greg Lavoie (owner):
It’s a team, and when I talk about Chaparral, it’s a team. It’s like a hockey team you can’t win the Stanley Cup unless you got the best team.
To decide who goes, for Bear and Deer, for who goes to which stand, you know, of course we’re using our trail cameras, our intel, myself and my guides, were checking cameras all the time so we know which bait sites we’re going to hunt. So for example if we’re hunting deer we got eight guys in Camp, we got eight stands picked for that first day. So we take those eight stands, they’re all named, throw them in a hat, draw cards, whatever we decide that day, it’s youngest to oldest, picks cards, and so high card picks out of the hat first and it’s luck of the draw where you go. I mean of course every we pick the best bait sites that we have at that particular time, so they’re all good spots. But there’s no favoritism if it’s your first year here or if it’s your 10th year here you get a fair shot, you get a fair shot at every stand. So I believe that’s a huge huge point in what we do ’cause everybody’s here for the same reason.
Terry Parsons (hunter):
It’s hands down just one of the one of the best places. As far as the guides, Greg and his team, they actually, you can tell and see, like when you’re sitting around for a bear hunt, and I know for Whitetail it’s the same thing. So when we’re in the lodge they’re out there in the field, checking stands, rebating, looking at cards, to try to actually get you on the game. I know for Whitetail it’s the same way, bustin their butts to get you what they have on the camera, and although on camera, you know something new could come in daily. But yeah, they work hard for you and you can tell that they really like their jobs and what they do.
Mike Graham (hunter):
He’s got a really nice setup here I mean you’re up in the tree high. I mean he explains to you about cover scent and moving, explains to you sizes. It really helps, you know. everybody I think said the same thing in there, would it fit in a drum. Mine wouldn’t fit in the drum, there’s no way. I could not even shove that bear into that drum, he so big. So that kind of gives you a size and understanding, what you’re looking at for bear. It was a fun hunt, that was fun, that was a lot of fun.
Bill Falcon (hunter):
Greg’s had an idea, a vision for this place to make things grow, and if you don’t let them walk, they won’t grow. So he’s always saying you can’t, this ain’t like fishing, you can’t put ’em back.
Tracy Lee (hunter):
I guess I’ve been hunting here in Chaparral five or six years, Whitetail for sure five or six years. This is my fourth year for Bear. I enjoy the crap out of it. These guys are well organized. They’ll absolutely positively go out of their way to to make sure that you have a quality hunt.
Steve Bartlett (Whitetail & fishing guide)
They know, down the road, I think they’re very confident in the people that are running the operation, Greg and Shelly and all the guides, the cook, that they want success.
Greg:
Killing bigger deer, our average score’s going up. You know 2019 our average score was 138. Our average score last year was 153. I want that score to be in the 160s. You know so just the numbers, the numbers show that it’s working.
Mike:
The camp itself I mean, the camp is it’s great, I mean it’s awesome. You’re well taken care of you know. They got an extra area you can store your gear so you cover scent control. They pick you up at the airport. You know everything’s kind of taken care of, you don’t have to worry did I have this or did I have that, and if you don’t have something, you know, odds are they’re going to have it and they’re going to cover you on it.
Steve:
Well they go the extra mile, they’re they’re always willing to get out, bait more, check more, check cameras. We’re willing to go that extra mile to make sure that their customers are successful.
Terry:
The guides, the cook, it doesn’t get any better. Bernice, the cook, is just amazing. She just cooks five course meals, the sweets, everything, just outstanding.
Tracy Lee:
Second to none, just you know the the the food is wonderful, accommodations in the bunk house are wonderful. I have been on real nice hunts, you know as nice as this, but this is a really cool area. You’ll see moose walking through the yard or a 150 class buck walking down the road or God knows what you’ll see in this in this area. The accommodations are second to none.
Greg:
We always get those surprise deer. You know, twice it’s happened to us, we’ve harvested deer that we never seen on camera and one of them was 174, beautiful deer. So cameras is a great tool, we for sure use them, but it’s it doesn’t tell you everything.
Steve:
The equipment that he uses is topnotch. We don’t have breakdowns and if we do, we get them fixed, but it’s very seldom. Tree stands are like, there’s a lot of people comment on the tree stands, how comfortable they are, right. You got people coming back four, five, six years in a row, sometimes twice a year, bear hunting and deer hunting, so that pretty much tells you there’s there’s a good thing going on here.
Bill:
Bernice makes a killer lunch for you, it takes a good lunch, good meal in the morning, a good meal when you come home. Everything about here, it’s perfect, everything here is perfect.
Bernice (camp cook):
I think it’s a lot of fun to find out how their days went. Whether they saw what they were looking for, the deer or the bear, if they didn’t see the deer or the bear and they’re a little tired or a little discouraged. I feel my job is to make the rest of their day a little bit brighter. I can’t control anything that they do out there but I can control what happens right here at my table, so I try to make sure that when they get here the coffee is hot, the soup is good, the sandwich is right, or the roast beef is perfect. That’s that’s my job.
Steve:
It’s kind of a family thing after you’re done almost. They get together and it’s a good bunch of guys. And you know what, we always have good guys, we don’t have, I don’t know, whether it’s a hunter thing or what it is but they’re good people and they stick together.
Tracy:
Oh you know getting to to see Greg and his family. Those guys treat you like extended family. That’s why I like coming here. He gets to know who you are who you be. Keeps in contact over the year that goes by and what’s going on. He sends you a feed and what kind of deer he’s seeing what kind of bear he’s seeing. He’s pretty engaged in the people that he allows to come up here.
Bill:
I mean this is home. This is like when you come here you’re not staying at the Ritz the Dukane or you’re staying at the Waldorf or you’re staying at a Holiday Inn. You’re staying at somebody’s house and they treat you like family. That’s why I come here and that’s why I have a relationship with Greg and with Bernice and with all the boys out here.
Bernice:
I’ve had a guy come into the kitchen and be so excited that he got the biggest deer that he’s ever seen. I get a hug in the kitchen on his way through and that’s the kind of stuff that’s I like. I had a guy, I think there was a grandpa and a grandson and they spent a few days here. They were hunting and on one of the last days he got his deer and that’s that’s what he did. On the way through he was so excited he’s like Bernice I did it and you get the big hug and that’s great because they they include me too.
Bill:
And another thing that happened to me in this deal, I see my old friends. It’s like the old friends that I see. I come out here, I met Tracy Lee three years ago. I met Terry three years ago. I met big big sexy three years ago. I call Big Mike big sexy. I met him three years ago and we’ve hunted with deer, we’ve hunted with bear, and we fished together.
Bernice:
My favorite trophy, I really like the bear because the bear has been here, that’s one since I came. That hunter I met. I don’t remember the name of the hunter but I met the hunter. and uh I was here when when he got the bear so that one I think is one of would be my favorite for that particular reason because I know the kind of the origins of the bear. The moose have always impressed me because, that one watches me in the kitchen all day, so because of that I’m kind of fond of that one.
Greg:
But you know so as far as black bear hunting goes, I mean, we have my existing forest allocation was 60,000 acres. Something very exciting is we just purchased an additional 100,000 acres in the forest that adjoins to our existing area. Along with that we also have three farmland zones so I’m really excited about fall 2024 and and spring 2025 because a lot of that new allocation, that 100,000, has not been hunted, heavily, at all. So I really think there’s going to be some low-lying fruit in there, so I’m excited for that.