Another newbie hunting question: how far away from your car/camp do you hike?

evolture

evolture

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Langley, BC
I don't really like the whole road hunting thing that people seem to do close to the city here. So I have been driving my car to various clearings and trails and hiking from there.

Amazing scenery so far. Plus a variety of game sign.

I could really see anything more than a few hundred meters getting really difficult to bring something back..

My question though; How far do people hike into the bush?

and

Am I on the right track here guys?
 
Anywhere from minutes to days of hiking away from my truck. It depends on how much time I have to hunt and how far I'm willing to carry my game back!!
Good habitat exists all over- just because you only walked five minutes into the bush doesn't make that a crappy spot to hunt, it just means you are five minutes from the road.
 
It's not that difficult to bring game back. If it's easy going consider a game cart. If it's a long ways or a rough trail you just have to debone where you kill and then lug it back. When you're on a backpack sheep hunt you're days away from your vehicle and still have to haul back camp and game if you're lucky.
 
Try google earth, you would be very surprised what is out there just under our noses and within reasonable distances.

I have gone many Km into the bush our a couple hundred yards, game can be found in a multitude of places.
 
I need to do a good multi-day hunting trip!

It really is amazing how much there is so close to Vancouver. I was 2.5 hours drive and found fresh moose poo!
 
I hunt the same 1/2 section every year. Each day I park my truck in the same spot 1/2 mile from the road, then walk another 1/2 mile along a fence line to my chair. Yes, my chair. It is there all year round. Kinda like a ground blind without the blind. :)

I am 1 mile off the road. I can see 1/2 mile east, west and south. There is a hill and bush between myself and the road. Heavy bush to the north. (at my back). There are always deer there at sunup until about 10am. If I hear a vehicle go by on the road, the deer usually pick their heads up and look toward the road, but continue their routine.

Funny, the road warriors and fellas from out of the area always complain there are no deer to be seen!!! A ten minute walk would cure that, but I won't let the cat out of the bag.

EDIT- I can drive in to where I sit as well, but it just scares the game away. If I have something down, I can back the truck right up to it usually. One would have to go through a farmyard to get there, and no-one from out of the area usually asks for permission, thus, does not get to go there.
 
I find it now depends on my age. 20 something it was 5 miles. 50 something its now 1 mile. I now can almost debone a deer so that its only 2 trips out. Moose is still 5 trips!!
Some of the less accessable land has the nicest animals. Some times, its there first contact with humans. Don't leave anything in the vehicle, that might provoke a smash and grab. I found a "cheap" open empty guncase lying on the seat, stops that sometimes.
Prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Being lost bites, so take a compass, topo map, lighter, flashlight, flask of whisky.
 
tigrr said:
Don't leave anything in the vehicle, that might provoke a smash and grab. I found a "cheap" open empty guncase lying on the seat, stops that sometimes.
Click to expand...

I've got personal exprience with that. Met the hunt buddy at our parking spot, and headed out ... for whatever reason, I left my open gun case on the back seat and he dumped his into his trunk. We got back to the vehicles and his had been ransacked and mine was left untouched.
 
I'm 72 now ,got a titainium knee,pacemaker,CHF,etc. I drive my quad to the watch and sit there,do a few calls, and wait. Oh yeah the younger ones say jim ,knock it down build a little fire and we.ll do the rest! Some times its good to be THE OLD GUY in camp JITC
 
Where I have been hunting is along a logging road in the mountains. If I hiked 5km, I'd fall off of a cliff.

I'm going to check the backroad mapbook to get ready for the weekend.
 
I hunt from my campsite, I would hunt in my campsite if the deer and moos ewould hang out a little closer :D I use a quad and will go up to 10km back, if I get cold and stiff I'll get off and walk for a km or so, and hunting in November, your going to get cold on a quad.
 
Deer hunting, I do a lot of walking, but generally, I'm not too far from one road or another. 2K is a long drag in rough country, particularly by yourself, five miles is much worse.
We used to hunt a spot (and this was before ATV's) that the hot watch was five miles in. Thankfully, a group of young fellas can pull long and hard when they think they have something to prove.

Moose hunting can find me 13k or more off the main trail, and much further from any road. But the guys have always managed to get an ATV in when we needed it, no matter where the moose goes down.
 
This was about 5 hours uphill and about 3 linear kilometres from the truck.


Sowaqua2011055.jpg


A nearly dry little lake

Sowaqua2011045.jpg

tracks in the mud

Sowaqua2011061.jpg
 
Nope. It was really really windy and I think they were timbered up. Didn't see a thing.

There were rubs

Sowaqua2011064.jpg


wallows

Sowaqua2011042.jpg


beds

Sowaqua2011067.jpg


But they were mostly from moose and moose isn't even open in that area.

Quite a bit of deer sign too though.

Don't know who made this

Sowaqua2011066.jpg
 
just thought id throw a question up in this thread, Im going hunting for small game for the first time with a noobie buddy :), we found some crown land but it doesnt seem like tehre is anywhere to park, is it illegal to park on the side of a road and just walk into the bush and hunt? its not a super busy highway.... any tips ??...just doing squirrel and grouse for the time being, and might as well scout for deer
 
Where are you from?

The logging roads are all ok to park on in SW BC. Just get out of the way of logging trucks. Grouse are the easy part of starting to hunt, I drive by them now. I'm on my quest for bigger things.
 
In Ontario, as long as your vehicle is clear of the traffic lanes, and it's not posted "no parking", then you should be fine. We've dropped trucks on the side of the road (to save a 2 hour walk back to the truck with a canoe after rafting downt he river looking for ducks) all over the place and never had an issue.

At worst, it can draw the attention of the Fish & Game guys and we've had them sit and wait for us to return. They'd ask to see our Mibratory Bird Stamps and PAL's, compliment our success then be on thier way.
 
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