Calling all land owners in the East Kootenays! (MU 4-20)

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forb3s

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Hey everyone,

This month (March 2017) I'm moving to beautiful Kimberley, BC and would love to do a bit of Squirrel hunting. I see that there's an Open Season & NBL on Columbian Ground Squirrels, but they must be hunted on Private Land.

Are there any land owners in the area who wouldn't mind having a conversation about me hunting on their land? I'd be happy to meet in person once I'm fully moved (closer to the end of March) and chat about it.

PM me or drop a message in the comments below :)

Thanks!
 
OP......... you have me confused...first you ask about squirrel hunting and then you make reference to gophers...........so which is it squirrel hunting (they live in the trees) or gopher hunting (they live in holes in the ground) ???????????????????
 
the spank said:
Gophers......aka Richardson's Ground Squirrel.
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The Columbia is quite a bit larger than the Richardson's.

They are also only out when it is sunny. They hibernate by mid-August, likely due to the vegetation drying up.

Years ago I collected a group for a reference collection.
 
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c-fbmi said:
OP......... you have me confused...first you ask about squirrel hunting and then you make reference to gophers...........so which is it squirrel hunting (they live in the trees) or gopher hunting (they live in holes in the ground) ???????????????????
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The op didn't reference gophers, the second poster did. Colombian ground squirrels live in burrows not in trees.
 
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If your seriously looking at hunting on farmland offer to clean a barn or a chicken coop you will make a friend in the process and will pay off big time come fall
 
j_06..............The OP very specifically asked about squirrel hunting in the East Kootenays, where I live. Then in his second sentence he refers to the no closed season and no bag limit on Columbian ground squirrels AKA gophers. The reason I queried him is because these are two totally different types of hunting..........one is for tree rats and the other is for gophers. Squirrels I eat and gophers I don't, is another big difference.
 
Got Juice? said:
Don't worry about the badgers, they have lots to eat.
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I disagree, the Kootenay Badgers have extremely large home ranges, this indicates scarcity, not abundance. These large home ranges decrease their reproductive rates and increase their chances of getting squished on the roads.

Forest ingrowth is a big problem in the area. As well many gopher colonies are gone, either poisoned, plowed under, or possibly killed of by disease.
 
MiG25 said:
I disagree, the Kootenay Badgers have extremely large home ranges, this indicates scarcity, not abundance. These large home ranges decrease their reproductive rates and increase their chances of getting squished on the roads.

Forest ingrowth is a big problem in the area. As well many gopher colonies are gone, either poisoned, plowed under, or possibly killed of by disease.
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You can disagree all you want, but the badger pop is alive and well. They do not reproduce every year in case you did not know. If you went to the last Cattlemans meeting and the meeting about crown ranges 3 weeks ago, habitat maintenance was one of the bigger topics. Were you there? No? If not, why not? Then ask yourself if are you part of the solution or the problem :)

I hear lots of talk from people who like to run the mouth or complain, without becoming involved by going to these meetings and getting educated :)

People like me in the field with livestock are out every day, and have a pretty good idea of what is out there. I do agree poisoning is contemptible at best, and it kills more than the gophers. The collateral damage is huge. Hence the reason I encourage and ask other farmers to hunt on their land, so they learn to reach for their phone and call me before reaching for the strychnine or other poisons.

Last year, I could not even make Gopher Stew (yes I eat 1 batch a year) but it was unsafe due to spotted liver disease (tularemia (sp?) )

Plowing gophers under does not work. The plows work to a maximum of 18-20" and the wishek discs only run 12-14" Gopher burrows run far deeper. Yes some get munched, but their colonies interconnect enough so they stay ahead of the equipment.
 
Got Juice? said:
Oh , for the record, I was chased by hissing females last year when walking a couple of fields. I was probably 10 feet from their burrows, and it was a maternal den. I ran scared until they stopped coming!!!
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You weren't carrying a suitable longarm for badger defense? For shame!
 
BigUglyMan said:
You weren't carrying a suitable longarm for badger defense? For shame!
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Hell no! I was mapping a wildlife wallow, and looking at tracks to make sure the cattle were not using an active wildlife wallow, went another 20' around, and the chase was on!!! Besides, badgers are protected here. If FAW or MOE found a dead one with a bullet hole in it, I would get the first call.

Not into that kind of attention :)
 
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