Complaint Review: Ena Lake Lodge - Edmonton Alberta

I am Don Brown, the owner and operator of Ena Lake Lodge and the person that Fred so slanderously wrote about. What Fred has stated is totally false and twisted to fit his own perception. Fred and his father hunted with us in the spring of 2003. Some of the things Fred says are correct, they did land by float plane and they did land in the rain. We are a 95 mile float plane ride from the closest airport on a 22,000 acre lake in NW Saskatchewan. From there Fred's story gets going in the wrong direction. First off I did not meet them in the lodge. I personally greet every guest at the dock then help unload and sort their gear. At no time did we inform them that we had not been able to get the baits out in advance of their arrival. In fact we had been baiting for well over a week. Right from the time the ice went off and we were able to get out on the water to set and freshen the baits. The baits were out and the stands were in place. Fred states that we told them AFTER they paid their money that they were staying in the cabin not the nice lodge in the flyer. That is a complete lie!!! Out literature clearly stated that the bear hunters were going to hunt out of a cabin in the north end of the lake. At no time did we say or lead anyone to believe they would be in the lodge. Further it would have been impossible to have a picture of the lodge in any flyer we had since we just built the lodge that spring! The cabin was not primitive! It was freshly built, had a 4500 watt generator and full cooking facilities. The water pump was not working well and we did have to haul water from the lake about 50 yards away. To say they arrived at the cabin at dark, with no electricity is BS. The generator was working and where we are it is 24 hour daylight. I have tracked bears at 1:30 AM without a flashlight so how dark can it be. During the week the generator did quit working. What did we do? I ordered a brand new generator from Prince Albert, had it on the next plane up to Stony Rapids and flew it into the camp on a special float plane all within 2 days of the generator quitting. I don't think that is bad for being in such a remote setting as we are. As for the food, the reason that Gord came to the main lodge every day was to pick up fresh baking and additional supplies. The fridge at the camp had a small freezer so we stored the frozen goods at the main lodge. We bake fresh bread daily and Gord would come down to the lodge every day to pick up baking, bread and supplies. This group of hunters did not see a lot of bears. The weather was terrible with rain almost every day and cold weather. The bears were not moving. Further, these hunters were told before they booked that this was a relatively new territory as we had just bought the camp in 2001. Fred and his father were given a generous discount when they booked the trip as it was a newer area. On about the 3rd day, John wounded a bear with his bow. We spend the next 2 days tracking the bear and finally found it dead but totally ruined. We did bring it back and managed to salvage the head for him. The conversation did get heated at the lodge one day. Hunters are not allowed to shoot wolves in Saskatchewan. This group bugged me all week to allow them to shoot a wolf and I said NO. After John wounded his bear he was on a stand a couple of days later and took a shot at a wolf. Thankfully he missed. After giving them a discount, tracking a wounded bear, having them break the law by shooting at a wolf I finally let loose. The thought of offering any kind of refund hit me the wrong way especially after I had just paid over $2500.00 to fly in a new generator specially for the bear camp. Gordon may have told them he was going to quit after the next group, however, the truth is that he and Naomi stayed on till the end of July then moved to Yellowknife to be with Naomi's son. If there were going to be any lawsuit it should be us suing them for liable and slander. What Fred has said is a pack of lies and we have lots of satisfied hunters and fishermen to back that up. If anyone is interested in hearing more about this or would like a list of our references please feel free to call me. My name is Don Brown and I can be reached toll free at 1-866-443-5740 anytime. By the way we are still operating, have a high repeat guest ratio and are full most of the time. Does that sound like someone that rips off people? You decide for yourself. Don Brown PS, to the editors of this site, I would like to see some sort of mechanism to notify a party if someone posts an entry about them. I don't check this site because I have nothing to worry about but it is upsetting when there is something said and we don't know about it until someone tells us about it. Thanks Don