Kenauk Nature

Kenauk Nature is one of North America's largest and oldest private fish and game reserves: 265 km² (65,000 acres) of protected temperate forest and more than 60 lakes, in Montebello, in the Outaouais. A seigneurial estate granted in 1674 to Monseigneur de Laval, it has had only five owners in nearly 350 years and is protected today through a partnership with the Nature Conservancy of Canada. Some twenty off-grid chalets are for rent — from a one-bedroom hideaway to a seven-bedroom lodge sleeping 19 — most of them on their own private lake, along with a yurt and three ready-to-camp tents on Lake Papineau. Fishing is the headline act: rainbow trout, brook (speckled) trout and lake trout on private lakes stocked by the estate's own hatchery, in operation since 1920, plus smallmouth and largemouth bass and northern pike on Lake Papineau (14 km²) and the Kinonge River. Day outings on a private lake, guided fishing, a Fly Fishers International-certified fly fishing school and ice fishing in winter. Moose and white-tailed deer hunting is rifle-only on private territories, fully guided and framed by a habitat management plan established with the Quebec government (Quality Deer Management since 2008). Add to that 42+ km of hiking trails, a 9-station sporting clay course, a climbing tower, canoeing, kayaking, paddleboarding, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, dog sledding and a floating sauna on Lake Papineau.