Do It Yourself: Fishing, Upland Bird and Waterfowl hunting do not require a licensed outfitter or guide in order to fish or hunt in Saskatchewan. This means you can do it all yourself. This usually requires driving of some type, either you drive all the way from home or you fly commercial airline to major city, then rent a vehicle and drive to a road accessible location or you catch a float plane to a remote outpost wilderness camp called Fly-In Trip.  Fly-in trip costs are a product of distance, not the quality of the hunting or fishing! Estimate the total cost of your fly-in vacation to driving costs, driving times.  Then compare to the potential of a fly-in camp vs drive-in camps, You will see the difference between fly-in camps and drive-in camps. This may or may not save you money depending upon your experience.

What is fly-in fishing or hunting?

Wilderness Camp: Some outfitters simply fly you in to a remote location and drop you off. There is no cabin or shelter, you pitch a tent and totally fend for yourself. This type of fly-in trip is obviously for experienced campers only. Slleping in a tent is definitely roughing it. Setting up a warm dry and comfortable camp site is something that takes experience.

Outpost Camp: Some Outfitters fly you into a nice cozy cabin or lodge out in the middle of nowhere. These provide you with the luxurary of bed, refrigerator, freezer, stove, sink, shower, wood or porpane heat and often well worth the extra cost. Staying warm and dry allows for more time to fish as doing the camp duties cuts into your hunting or fishing time. Someone has to be camp cook and someone has to do the dishes and that someone is you.

You may also find that you do not save much money because you have to pack in more gear. Most outfitters will allow between 45 and 150 lbs per person in weight, this includes everything you bring.  Any extra over this limit will be charged at an extra rate and have a penalty fee for every pound over limit. TIP: make sure to ask outfitters about weight allowance and penalty fees for gear coming in and for game coming out.  

Almost all outfitters are going to require a deposit, after all they have only so much time and resources to use.  They are allocated a certain number of game tags and if you book a hunt then cancel they loose revenue they could have gotten from another hunter.  Or they may have turned away another hunter or group because you had booked already.  Outfitters understand things come up and are willing to credit you if you give them a certain number of days warning so they can try to resell the hunt or fishing trip. This means you will be credited for another hunt date but you usually will not get your money back.

There are many types of Fly In packages: 

Fly-In Remote Outposts/Wilderness Camps usually include:

Air charter service via float plane

Fishing: Boat, motor, gas, life jackets, nets, paddles

Fly-in camp checks or Radio Checks

Maybe Wilderness Cabin or Walled Tent

Maybe solar power or generators

Maybe running hot and cold water depends on remoteness

Extras

Some provisions

Maybe Satellite phone rentals

Fly-in trip costs are a product of distance, not the quality of the hunting or fishing! Estimate the total cost of your fly-in vacation to driving costs, driving times.  Check with the outfitter sometimes there is no savings advantage between the 2 but the time you spend doing other duties and the gear and supplies you have to pack in.

Below are some great Camps: