The season starts with our VIP Moose Hunt which gives select hunters prime exclusive territory in the peak of the rut. This hunt is truly first rate! Your hunt starts long before you arrive at the lodge with our experienced guides scouting for animals all through the pre-season. Beauchêne’s carefully managed moose herds offer unusually high chances of success for guests. Over the long term, deer and moose alternate in their predominance but right now the moose are the favourite quarry for our guests. Quebec regulations permit hunters to hunt moose without entering into a draw system. Here at Beauchêne we offer several different packages for the moose hunting season. The first one being our “VIP” hunt where only four guests per week will have access to our 50,000 acre territory during the peak of the rut (Example September 10 to September 24). Our guest will stay in one of our luxury “Bird” Chalet’s”, where they will enjoy excellent quarters, great comraderie around the beautiful granite fireplace, and fine meals at the Lodge. This package is all inclusive! From the use of lodge vehicles, boats and motors when needed to the butchering and preparation of meat for the home trip! Guided or unguided each hunting party will be assigned an exclusive “high percentage” hunting area within our 50,000 acre territory, allowing you and or your party to focus on the hunt without the crowds or competition from other hunters. You will be accompanied throughout the hunt by an expert guide, familiar with our territory and the habits of our Moose. After your Moose is down, enjoy the small game hunting Beauchene has to offer. Here at Beauchene there is a great number of Ruffed or Spruce Grouse and Snowshoe Hare that will provide excellent sport for a keen eye if you wish to carry a shotgun along the miles and miles of bush roads and trails. After a successful hunt enjoy the fabulous fishing Lac Beauchêne offers. Other packages available are our outpost cabins where the rates include accommodation (no bedding or towels), utensils, propane fuel for stove, refrigerator, barbeque and lights, and an extensive, private territory for each group of two hunters (boats, motor and fuel included where required by area assigned). Or you may decide on our main accommodations (white house, bear, fox / otter cabins) where the rates include your accommodations (all bedding, linen, maid services, etc.) meals and private territory for each two hunters.

Spring offers a unique chance for black bear hunters to enjoy a VIP hunt on our exclusive territory and great fishing at the same time. Our “VIP” spring bear hunt / fishing packages are available for a 3 day, 4 day or 7 day stay in our main accomodations or one of our outpost camps. You will be assigned to one of our baited sites. When you are not checking your site, you can be on the water trying for one of our many trophy fish.

Other hunting packages are available under the American Plan or European Plan. Beauchêne encourages bow hunting, for which special seasons are available.So, treat yourself and take advantage of this exclusive hunting season and the outstanding service here at La Reserve Beauchene.Let us take care of all the details, with our award winning accommodations and fine food at the Lodge under the American Plan or enjoy a more “do it yourself” experience at one of the well maintained Outpost Camps under the European Plan. Guide service is available upon reservation only. Naturally all hunters are required to wear bright red or orange vests/jackets. You will be required to supply your own gun and your Quebec hunting and fishing permits and success bonus. Make your hunt “the hunt of a lifetime” and book a“truly VIP” Moose or Spring Bear hunt here at La Beauchene Reserve. All packages include fishing rights!

For guests who wish to burn some calories while taking a more intimate look at our forests, we offer a woodland trail. The trail starts at the Lodge, winds up over a steep hill past majestic white pines, northward toward Foley Bay. It then swings eastward through a magnificent sugar maple park and steeply down into “the Valley of Giants”, a mysterious grove of ancient arbor vitae (cedar). It then winds upward again toward the Foley Narrows, from where it is down and uphill by road back to the Lodge. There is a shortcut through a grove of massive hemlocks for those that would like to pass up the last loop. Many of the specimen trees bear identification tags, adding to the interest. You will find most of the species indigenous to Beauchêne. Bring good hiking boots or at least lug-soled runners. There are some fairly steep spots, but we have been told by one our woodsmen that “his grandmother would have no trouble making it in her wheelchair”. And, there is nothing to stop you from using the miles of bush roads for your hike or jog, as many of our guests do.

Located on the interface between the St. Lawrence and Boreal forest regions and close to the Ottawa River, the spinal chord of one of the most important eastern migration routes, Beauchêne provides plenty of opportunity for ‘Birders’. From early spring, Great Blue Herons begin to congregate at one of the largest heronries in the region, located on a small island (Ile des Oiseaux) in the east end of Lac Beauchêne. The Island is also home to many nesting families of Herring Gulls and some American Mergansers and Black Ducks. Large flocks of Brant Geese rest on the Big Lake for a week or two in late spring before heading on to the high Arctic. In addition to Wood Ducks, Hooded Mergansers and American Mergansers, you may find Red Throated Grebes on the water. You will doubtlessly see various Sandpipers and Belted Kingfishers along the edges. Happily, most of our lakes have their families of common loons. Lac Beauchêne is used as a staging area before fall migration by this wonderful bird and so we enjoy the annual September spectacle of flocks approaching 100 individuals, an extraordinary sight. Osprey, Broad-Winged Hawks, Goshawks and Merlin live here and we are regularly visited by Bald Eagles. Ruffed and Spruce Grouse are common and, in season, Ruffed Grouse hens and their large families of chicks are often seen scuttling across the roads and sometimes around the Lodge. As you would expect, the woods are home to many varieties of warblers, sparrows and thrushes and often ring with the work of various kinds of woodpeckers, most notably the spectacular Pileated Woodpecker, the famous ‘Cock of the North’.

The most popular starts at the Lodge, enters Foley Bay from where the longest portage leads up McDonald Creek to McDonald Lake. Paddle up McDonald, take a short portage (on the road) to McConnell Lake, paddle across the west end of McConnell and portage into Fox Lake. After crossing Fox, a short portage leads to Birch Lake. Then paddle eastward on Birch and take the short portage into Little Birch and from there to Little Beauchêne. Paddle down Little Beauchêne and take the short portage into Noah’s Bay on Lac Beauchêne and from there hug the east end of Lac Beauchêne to our Bear Bay Campground. The campground keeper will telephone the Lodge to arrange a water ferry back to the Lodge for you. A second loop mainly through Brook Trout country) leads from McDonald Lake through David, Taggart, Jeffrey, Foley, Rainbow and Laurie Lakes, then to Foley Bay and home. About portages, you will find no difficulty locating or managing them. They are kept open, most are short and both ends are marked with arrows.

Beauchêne’s water is sweet, clear and clean (it’s perfectly potable, but we advise caution in drinking from the smaller lakes – too many beavers). The big lake warms (at least on the surface) around the beginning of July each year. From then on, its wonderful for swimming. The beaches at the Bear Bay Campgrounds and Beauchêne Beach Outpost are particulary appealing on a warm summer afternnon. Their gentle, clean sand bottoms are heavenly playgrounds for children. Because the water is irriistable in summer, we ask parents to keep an eye on their families. There are no lifeguards on duty.

Many of our guests enjoy a workout before or after a day on the water. We keep on hand 4 mountain bikes for free use by our guests. There are many miles of bush roads (most with no vehicles) of varying difficulty in Beauchêne that offer plenty of challenge for ardent bikers. Along the way you may see some of our wildlife and certainly you will come across a lot of tracks. If you plan on biking, please bring your own helmet.