Saskatchewan's Primitive Weapons Season. (Shotguns Anyone???)

One?

Has SK gone that far down the outhouse hole? CWD culls? Weather/winterkill?

Was 3 over the counter for white tail, and an Archery mulie, if so inclined, when I was there. Plus any draws that you may have been pulled for.

Nothing compared to the 20 or so tags you are allowed in Alberta, if you are willing to travel, use various harvest methods, etc., but still lots of meat.

On the 'then, it's a Muzzle Loader' comment, yep, it is, but when the separate seasons were put in place initially, a 300 yard capable Muzzle Loader was not something that everyone could buy in the morning and be shooting deer with that afternoon either.

As per the quote of the CO. Thank the scoped inline, for that. So no real need for a separate season any more.

IIRC, someone had raised the issue of a compound bow not being the same as a stick bow. Well, nope. It isn't, but the max effective range of a competent user is still only out to 100 or so yards on a pretty darn good day. Most won't shoot half that distance well, and many not even that far. There are a few guys out ther ethat can reliably shoot farther, but they are essentially freaks, and practice like a concert pianist does, to maintain the skills.

As a case in point for other factors coming in to play, in Strathcona County, the area around Edmonton, the Archers got handed pretty much a freebie, in that the zone was designated for Archery only. But the Archers could not keep the numbers down to levels that the biologists wanted, no matter how many tags they bought. So they opened the area to shotguns and ML's and the Archers howled like they had been branded (some of which went on here on CGN at the time), foretold doom and accidental shootings, etc., none of which came to pass.

It's not always about the technology levels. Differing methods used during each hunt type also need consideration. I recall one year where the Archery and Rifle seasons for Antelope overlapped in SK. When you consider that the normal method to bow hunt antelope was to tuck yourself in behind a decoy, and ambush the incoming Antelope, as a Bow hunter, you could see the concerns when you may have found bullet holes appearing in that same decoy, eh?

Cheers
Trev (Back home in BC where the Archery season is what, a week or less?, And no ML season.)

Yep one of each species, they have shortened the regular white tail season.

What does CWD culls and winterkill have to do with what you choose to use to get your deer?
 
Here we go again. We complained about bow hunters a few days ago and it is ML hunters turn now.
Maybe we should ban hunting altogether.
 
Here we go again. We complained about bow hunters a few days ago and it is ML hunters turn now.
Maybe we should ban hunting altogether.

Or just get rid of the separate seasons. One long season for everyone, use whatever you want. The issue on the bowhunting thread wasn't that they had their own season so much as that they had their own over-the-counter tags mule deer tags to go with it.
 
Or just get rid of the separate seasons. One long season for everyone, use whatever you want. The issue on the bowhunting thread wasn't that they had their own season so much as that they had their own over-the-counter tags mule deer tags to go with it.
No offence to you but I don't want to hunt at the same time with you while you are hunting with a rifle. The separate season is for safety reasons.
 
Yep one of each species, they have shortened the regular white tail season.

What does CWD culls and winterkill have to do with what you choose to use to get your deer?

CWD culls and winterkill has everything to do with the numbers of tags that will be issued. Thus, opportunities.

If the numbers are actually down that far, that would explain the hard luck of getting stuck doing without. The method used, when I was hunting in SK, reflected that there were NOT any severe limits on tag availability, thus, starting off one's hunting season in September with Archery, For a month, then Shotgun/Muzzle loader, for another month, then picking up the rifle for rife season, was a pretty reasonable way to go about things, and there were both lots of opportunities, plus there was always the 'backup' plan, that there was always the rifle season if you felt the need to top off the freezer.

Over the years I harvested exactly one mule deer (with an OTC Archery tag) a large number of WT with shotguns, one large WT doe with a .45 caplock ML, and a fair handful of WT with a rifle.

With a bunch of deer available, there was no pressure to shoot the first thing that crossed your path, there was lots of time to watch their behavior, play around with calling and rattling, while being able to watch their reactions starting from the point where you knew that they were not already going in whichever direction, and so on.

Clear as mud?

On the subject again, even then, there was some discussion about what effect the rifled shotguns with Sabots might have on the Regs in the Shotgun Zone around Moose Jaw and Regina, as the range was thought to be considerably longer than using smoothbore with rifled slugs, or Buckshot.

If one considers that the actual intent of having the different zones requiring the use of, at their core, 'range limited' weapons of choice, then it isn't much of a surprise that as the technology came along which made those limits less, then the regs also would evolve to take those technologies out of the picture again.

I don't figure it should come as a surprise to anyone that went and bought a scope equipped inline to be able to hunt the ML season, that eventually, the ML season just, well, went away.
I don't see any real difference in Shotguns either. Certainly nothing 'primitive' about a rifled barrel and a scope that groups well at 100 plus yards, is there? And that, in a nutshell, is the type of shotgun that they will look at when they make the decision whether to allow shotguns in 'primitive', not some guy's single shot Cooey loaded up with pumpkin ball slugs.

Cheers
Trev
 
You have to remember....SERM and Govt. just want to sell tags....$$$$$

They really do NOT care IF you are successful or not.

I do think that some muzzleloaders are no longer primitive.

One could argue that modern compounds are too technically advanced....but ALL you gain is maybe 40- 50 yards max...when compared to a recurve or longbow.

I have seen multiple videos of Long Range Pursuit crowd taking game out to 700 yards with their muzzleloaders??? That far exceeds what most rifle hunters are capable of doing???

I havent been drawn for Mule Deer for years....and I do not bother with OTC Archery tag either because unless you scout ALOT the likelyhood of being successful on a large Buck is miniscule!
 
Nicely put Trev.
I have tried to put forth (what you nicely worded, better than I) this concept before... couldn't seem to wrap it nicely so intended readers could understand.
But you nailed it very well.
There has to be a line; at which technology makes the original intent no longer a valid course of action. Modern inline ML have pretty much accomplished that; not unlike crossbows in Archery, "you went to far, now it's off the table"
I'll get flamed on it, we all have our opinions.
But really, when the ML season was first introduced...inlines with scopes were pretty much unheard of, no?
Things changed; so the seasons changed with them, in my part of AB...ML season just went goodbye. Which was a bummer; sorta liked the early season, was nice wandering the treeline with an ole Kentucky front stuffer...even if I didn't get a deer.
Some folks have to get a deer, hence they used rifles quite far removed from those envisioned when the season was introduced. Am I Butthurt about it, a little.
LOL; should have seen the deals on In-lines locally the summer after the season was cancelled, folks getting rid of the now useless In-line "Can't use this anymore"
Funny; I still have my frontstuffers, even take them out a day or three if the season allows it ( some years I don't have much time to wander the treeline )... does that make me a snooty Purist?
Stay safe
Tok
 
Or just get rid of the separate seasons. One long season for everyone, use whatever you want. The issue on the bowhunting thread wasn't that they had their own season so much as that they had their own over-the-counter tags mule deer tags to go with it.

Yep...that makes sense???...LOL!!!

Nothing like being in full camo hunting Moose, Deer or Elk.

Especially IF one uses a decoy.

How long before a cidiot with long range cannon starts flinging lead at decoy...?

I would just rather they eliminate regular rifle seasons all together.....Rifle seasons should be last and should NEVER coincide with RUT either....there is no more " fair chase" when using a high-powered rifle with 30x scope...???
 
Think some of you guys should just stay at home with the amount of complaining and regulations you want the state to impose on you, why even go out?? The whole system is simply unfair. I'm shocked some of you guys wanna even drive a pick up...maybe we should all go back to horseback and ban all motorized vehicles on the roads from Sept 1 -Dec 30 if you have a hunting licence on you, make it "fair Chase".
 
350 Mag,
Saskatchewan is the only place that I've hunted where I had to wear safety colours of any kind. We've been wearing Santa Claus suits for so long that some people just assume that being in neutral colours or full camo is a death sentence. It isn't, and is quite normal elsewhere.


I wouldn't hide behind a BG decoy either but if you wanted to there is nothing stopping you from doing just that in camo, during a rifle season as long as you're carrying your muzzleloader or a bow.
 
Last edited:
You have to remember....SERM and Govt. just want to sell tags....$$$$$

They really do NOT care IF you are successful or not.

I do think that some muzzleloaders are no longer primitive.

One could argue that modern compounds are too technically advanced....but ALL you gain is maybe 40- 50 yards max...when compared to a recurve or longbow.

I have seen multiple videos of Long Range Pursuit crowd taking game out to 700 yards with their muzzleloaders??? That far exceeds what most rifle hunters are capable of doing???

I havent been drawn for Mule Deer for years....and I do not bother with OTC Archery tag either because unless you scout ALOT the likelyhood of being successful on a large Buck is miniscule!

Do you think anybody envisioned 1000yd shots with a rifle when everyone was using a 30-30?

Why are these 1000yd rigs allowed in rifle season?
 
Another thread proving that you can't please all the folks. They always want more, less, other, but not to touch their sacred cow.
Saskatchewan deer are coming back nicely from the brutal winter kills of four and five years ago.
Muzzleloaders still offer hunters only one well aimed shot. Even long range ML rifles have to deal with bullet drop and wind drift, to say nothing of the appalling shooting by the average hunter. Long range ML shooting with a good rest, lack of our usual howling wind, a rangefinder and a great scope is quite possible, but really doesn't apply to the majority of hunters.
Most deer are still shot at 100 yards or less.
SERM is concerned about ethical kills, equality of access to hunting opportunity and trying to balance hunting opportunity with available surplus of animals. They do this while chronically and severely under funded.
Slagging SERM or taking cheap shots at other people's legal hunting methods is not a helpful exercise.
If you want to do something useful for wildlife and hunting opportunity you need to get politically active to ensure that SERM gets the tools they need to do their job.
End of sermon.
 
Think some of you guys should just stay at home with the amount of complaining and regulations you want the state to impose on you, why even go out?? The whole system is simply unfair. I'm shocked some of you guys wanna even drive a pick up...maybe we should all go back to horseback and ban all motorized vehicles on the roads from Sept 1 -Dec 30 if you have a hunting licence on you, make it "fair Chase".

I think what we are seeing is a result of too many hunters and not enough game?

Some hunters are unsuccessful and blame it on the archers or M.L.s?

Everyone one has their own opinion as to what defines " fair chase" and everyones ethics are different.

I do think we need some restrictions...otherwise we will have remote controlled rifles and drones harvesting animals?

Where do we draw the line?

I do not think Crossbows should be allowed in Archery season.

I do not think long range scoped Muzzleloaders should be allowed in Black powder season.

I do NOT think there should be a Regular Rifle season that coincides with the Rut of Elk, Moose or Deer....that should be all draw.

I do not think a hunter should be eligible for multiple draws on different species. If you put in for Antelope, M.D, Elk or Moose and you are drawn for 1 species your application for other species should be nulled.

I do not think hunting off an ATV or road hunting from any vehicle should be allowed either. ATVs and vehicles should be used strictly for retrieval and setting up and taking down camps.

The baiting of Big Game(except Bear or Wolf) should be BANNED!!!

The use of electronic calls for hunting should be BANNED!
 
That just proves my point.

At one time the 30-30 was carried by most rifle hunters, then along came advancements that made possible shots that were never dreamed of.

If we want to use that same logic to ban modern muzzleloaders, then why not ban rifle calibers with more effective range than the open sighted 30-30?
 
At one time the 30-30 was carried by most rifle hunters, then along came advancements that made possible shots that were never dreamed of.

If we want to use that same logic to ban modern muzzleloaders, then why not ban rifle calibers with more effective range than the open sighted 30-30?

Primitive definition - 'relating to, denoting, or preserving the character of an early stage in the evolutionary or historical development of something'
A Model T with a 4 cam, twin turbo, V-8 mill is not considered 'primitive' ... no more than a polymer stocked, 209 primer lit, scoped bolt action, pellet fed rifle is considered 'primitive'. Yep; it's a front stuffer, but that is about all it has in common with a Kentucky or Pennsylvania rifle.
Muddying the water with conjecture about 30-30's won't change it. The season was likely ( not speaking with absolute certainty here, as I wasn't consulted by Sask NR ) brought out as ML were not 300 yd guns, hence the amount harvested was not expected to be that great.
Some folks have to test limits; it's not like squeezing more efficiency out of a car...mpg or HP, it's supposed to be fun...
I've wondered if some folks aren't compensating for perceived short comings in their world.
Why the frantic need to push the limits?
Trying to prove something to the world? It don't care; why not just enjoy the sport, last I checked...hunting is a sport, just not a competitive one IMO
Signing off this topic; it has been done before, and now I am done with it as well
 
Primitive definition - 'relating to, denoting, or preserving the character of an early stage in the evolutionary or historical development of something'
A Model T with a 4 cam, twin turbo, V-8 mill is not considered 'primitive' ... no more than a polymer stocked, 209 primer lit, scoped bolt action, pellet fed rifle is considered 'primitive'. Yep; it's a front stuffer, but that is about all it has in common with a Kentucky or Pennsylvania rifle.
Muddying the water with conjecture about 30-30's won't change it. The season was likely ( not speaking with absolute certainty here, as I wasn't consulted by Sask NR ) brought out as ML were not 300 yd guns, hence the amount harvested was not expected to be that great.
Some folks have to test limits; it's not like squeezing more efficiency out of a car...mpg or HP, it's supposed to be fun...
I've wondered if some folks aren't compensating for perceived short comings in their world.
Why the frantic need to push the limits?
Trying to prove something to the world? It don't care; why not just enjoy the sport, last I checked...hunting is a sport, just not a competitive one IMO
Signing off this topic; it has been done before, and now I am done with it as well

Hunters keep improving the pump, increasing the pipe diameter and bring about more consumption. And yet we are still dealing with the same well.

Imposed limits aren't a bad thing.
 
Back
Top Bottom