For those of you coming from the United States whom want to fly most of the way but still be economical- your best chances are flying to International Falls, MN from Chicago or Minneapolis. You can then arrange a rental car from International Falls. It then takes about 7 hours to drive from International Falls to Pickle Lake (3.5 to Sioux Lookout).

 

All travelers crossing the border are required to have their passports. If you don’t have a passport make sure you get your application in 2 months before your trip to save on the expediting fees and stress. If driving you can use a passport card but if you are flying across the border you must use a passport book.

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Below is some additional border crossing information:

• For those driving, don’t forget your valid driver’s license, vehicle registration and insurance card.

• If you are traveling with a child and both parents are not present then bring a letter of permission, including the name of the child and contact information for the other parent in case the Border Officer wants to verify that you have permission to bring the child into Canada.

• You can bring in the following amounts of alcohol duty free: 1.5 liters of wine; or 1.14 liters of liquor; or 24- 12oz cans or bottles of beer.

• You can bring in the following amounts of Tobacco products duty free: 200 cigarettes or 50 cigars. You can bring more but you will have to pay 13% in duties on them.

• Some items worth mentioning that you can NOT bring into Canada are live bait, chicken eggs or meat, stun guns, pepper spray, handguns, fully automatic firearms, potatoes, dog food, firewood or radar detectors.

• If you are bringing fish or game back to the United States it is critical that you closely follow all Ontario regulations including having your License, Tags, Outdoors Cards, and any permits on you for Customs to verify are in compliance. Also game and fish need to be wrapped to specification. Moose can be on the bone or deboned, it doesn't matter. For fish only wrap one per package, leaving a portion of the skin on, and only transporting the legal limit for the specific passengers in that vehicle. For moose you also need to purchase a non-resident Export Permit before your cross back over the board with the meat. This can be purchased at any place that sells fishing licenses (ie. Service Canada, Canadian Tire or local fishing shops in Sioux Lookout, Dryden, Fort Frances, and Etc).

 

 

Customs Contact Information:

Fort Frances, ON Canada, Phone: 807-274-3655

International Falls, MN U.S.A., Phone: 218-283-2541

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