Hunting in BC

Alberta gets a hard time but is actually in all likelihood #3 in Canada for hunting, which puts it pretty high in the world, too. You have open wild wood bison, bighorn sheep, open and rather spectacular elk, decent moose, good black bears, world class deer both mule and whitetail, and grizzlies to look at and improve the experience.

Like every province, plan to travel and it'll open right up. Willmore wilderness by Grande Cache is utterly spectacular, as pure of mountain hunting as it gets, and no ATVs permitted in the entire 4,500 square kms. Vancouver has all but killed hunting within 3-6hrs of it too, here in BC. Certainly, within an hour of Vancouver or Calgary you can bag game with an over the counter tag, and for that we should be grateful. But to get into world class territory, just take a remarkably beautiful drive in either of these provinces.
 
Ardent said:
Willmore wilderness by Grande Cache is utterly spectacular, as pure of mountain hunting as it gets, and no ATVs permitted in the entire 4,500 square kms.
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This is one of the reasons that I briefly considered the option of transfer to Grand Cache Institution. After talking to people who transferred from there I change my mind since housing pricing can fluctuate significantly and the remoteness of the city itself. I like everything else about the area, I have some friends in Hinton and they love it out there.
 
Shoulda done it, I still own a place there, it's a remarkably reasonable place to rent or own. You have to enjoy small towns but if you love to fish and hunt, it's as good as the best of this country. You're in Jasper National Park but allowed to hunt for all intents and purposes, and you wouldn't know you're not in BC if not told. I hunted literally ten minutes from my front door in sheep and elk country with over the counter tags, you get to rivers that are packed with fish before the truck's engine has even warmed up. The shooting range is ten minutes from town too, and quite good. If I wasn't from BC and dying to get back, I'd have hung my hat in Grande Cache.
 
Ardent said:
Shoulda done it, I still own a place there, it's a remarkably reasonable place to rent or own. You have to enjoy small towns but if you love to fish and hunt, it's as good as the best of this country. You're in Jasper National Park but allowed to hunt for all intents and purposes, and you wouldn't know you're not in BC if not told. I hunted literally ten minutes from my front door in sheep and elk country with over the counter tags, you get to rivers that are packed with fish before the truck's engine has even warmed up. The shooting range is ten minutes from town too, and quite good. If I wasn't from BC and dying to get back, I'd have hung my hat in Grande Cache.
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Well, nothing is every written in stone. Every couple of years one of the technicians moves on creating a vacancy. I've only been getting out there to hunt white-tailed deer but I really want to do a pack in hunt for Elk. My uncle isn't up for that I am afraid. He's a meat hunter so the first legal animal he sees is the one that gets shot. If he can be back home by 0900 on opening day, that would be his preference.

I was out there last year after the Ontario rifle season so later in November. The first day we were out, we saw five White-tailed deer, seven Moose, twenty Mule deer and zero Elk - all on the same property! We did come home with one of those white-tailed deer. We didn't have Mule deer nor Moose tags unfortunately.

He does have a friend with 960 acres in the Wildcat foothills but last year it was so warm that the Elk had not come into his property yet. When we went up there all we saw were Mule deer and a trespasser.

medvedqc said:
finally Yukon is still not that bad when reading some of the stuff here ...
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I thought the Yukon would be amazing. Am I wrong?
 
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In Grande Cache most guys just bugle from the side of the highway, make sure bulls are present, then walk up the hill and start calling. One of the few hunts that would suit you both!

I went and got a park permit to hunt the river in the park (there's a small park 2 mins outside town you can hunt after pulling a free, 5 minute to fill out permit with the CO). This is in there outside of hunting season (well, spring bear open).

 
Cintax said:
Well, nothing is every written in stone. Every couple of years one of the technicians moves on creating a vacancy. I've only been getting out there to hunt white-tailed deer but I really want to do a pack in hunt for Elk. My uncle isn't up for that I am afraid. He's a meat hunter so the first legal animal he sees is the one that gets shot. If he can be back home by 0900 on opening day, that would be his preference.

I was out there last year after the Ontario rifle season so later in November. The first day we were out, we saw five White-tailed deer, seven Moose, twenty Mule deer and zero Elk - all on the same property! We did come home with one of those white-tailed deer. We didn't have Mule deer nor Moose tags unfortunately.

He does have a friend with 960 acres in the Wildcat foothills but last year it was so warm that the Elk had not come into his property yet. When we went up there all we saw were Mule deer and a trespasser.



I thought the Yukon would be amazing. Am I wrong?
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if you can survive without elk deer or turkey hunting yes this is a great place ... never lived among the three cited so this is the paradise for us.
 
burnt_servo said:
become a resident ....... Otherwise you are stuck with non-resident status .

Also , don't forget to be respectful of the locals that live in the area ...... I've seen too many people with alberta plates on their vehicles with "attitude " .... It stands out like a sore thumb .
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exactly ! ! ! ! !
 
^ you can but it is a mishmash of accessible and non accessible land is also a very busy public use area. As I mentioned before even finding out where you can hunt is a chore; it's almost like they made it difficult on purpose but there is no way the gov't of Alberta is competent enough to pull it off so well. Going to go get the "official" map of 406 this week to try to figure it out again.

I hunted in 408 this deer season; NW of K country and it is similar. Shrinking in size and only hard to access land or very busy area is accessible. If you lived in Calgary you would be pretty disappointed if you headed out for a day hunt. Not to mention the Fortress Mountain area which is an island of legal land for hunting was shut down for a tourist business of some kind.

You can be hunting 5kms from nowhere and have a pack of hippies appear out of nowhere and look at you like you are strangling a baby.


Also someone from BC cut me off going 130 in the slow lane today as I was trying to exit onto highway 1. I hold all of you personally responsible cou:
 
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Driving in BC is a joke. Highway 1 on the mainland is full of aggressive fails. On the Island, Highway 19 is full of "well I'm doing the speed limit so why should I move to the slow lane??????????" Sorry, back to the OP's post, hunting is good here.
 
VanIsleCam said:
Driving in BC is a joke. Highway 1 on the mainland is full of aggressive fails. On the Island, Highway 19 is full of "well I'm doing the speed limit so why should I move to the slow lane??????????" Sorry, back to the OP's post, hunting is good here.
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While I won't excuse the poor driving of BC, especially around urban areas....Have you driven in Alberta and experienced the "I need to make a left hand turn in 20KM so I will stay in the left lane and drive just below the speed limit while there is a line of cars behind me" phenomenon? :)

I've driven extensively in BC and Alberta in both regular vehicles and in heavy trucks and the Red Plates are annoying as hell.

That said, the road network around Edmonton is excellent, and the Edmonton drivers seem to know how to use it well, often at breakneck speeds. Around there, I stay int he right lane, ans I have no real desire to go over 140KM/hr :)
 
I suppose everyone has heard the old story that came about when Alberta licence plates on their vehicles were yellow and at a time when so many Albertan's visited BC.
Four Americans were travelling in BC in two cars and stopped to eat in a little town on the trans Canada.
One American driver said to the other, "British Columbia sure has a good plan in car licencing, they give a yellow licence to the bad drivers!"
 
H4831 said:
I suppose everyone has heard the old story that came about when Alberta licence plates on their vehicles were yellow and at a time when so many Albertan's visited BC.
Four Americans were travelling in BC in two cars and stopped to eat in a little town on the trans Canada.
One American driver said to the other, "British Columbia sure has a good plan in car licencing, they give a yellow licence to the bad drivers!"
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good one, now they're green.
 
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