British Columbia hunting

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GcG166

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Im from Newfoundland and am in negotiations for a job in british Columbia, Vancouver. Wondering whats it like there for hunting? As in what animals, quantity of animals. Is it a big sport there? Generally whats the hunting scene like?

Here in Newfoundland i go moose hunting when i can get a license, rabbit, duck, try for coyote but not easy to get here turr, seal. Pretty muc hbc anything that on my part of the island.
 
As mentioned by Machman, Vancouver is a huge ( third largest in the country) city and most nearby area is covered by urban sprawl and large areas of farm land. Within an hour or two drive you can find deer, coyote, black bear and grouse, geese and ducks but competition is fierce. If you are prepared to take more time and do some travelling and exploring you have mule deer, whitetail deer, Columbia blacktail deer, black bear, moose, elk, caribou, cougar, wolves, mountain goat, bison, four sub species of mountain sheep as well as many species of small and medium game, waterfowl and upland bird species. Grizzlies are present in many areas but no longer legal game in this province. This is a huge province, it will take 10-12 hours to drive across it east to west, not counting Vancouver Island which is nearly the same size as Nova Scotia, over 24 hours driving from the US border to the Yukon border in the north. The available species varies depending on where you are and the quantity of game varies in the same way. The potential is vast, but the answer to your questions is not simple. Success depends on you and the effort you put out.
 
BC is a big province. About 9 times bigger than Newfoundland if I recall correctly.

You definitely would have to travel
to get away from Vancouver to get into a variety of species.

But to put a short answer to your question, there isn’t a province that has more opportunities to hunt a variety of animals every year with an over the counter tag.

Every year I hunt sheep/goats/caribou/moose/elk/bears/whitetail and mule deer/cougars/lynx/wolves/and coyotes. Plus small game, and migratory birds.

BC has a lot of opportunity.
 
If you are planning on living in Vancouver you will be working two or more jobs in order to afford a home and you probably won't have time to go hunting ......


In all seriousness there are plenty of hunting opportunities in BC but as mentioned by others you will have to travel a fair bit to participate.
 
Tons of opportunities, but as mentioned, you’ll have to travel and that takes time. So try to negotiate more vacation into your contract..... off the top of my head you can hunt moose, mule deer, black tail deer, white tail deer, Rocky Mountain elk, stone sheep, California bighorn, Rocky Mountain bighorn, mountain goat, black bear, cougar, and some introduced species that I can’t think of every year with over the counter tags. Bison, Roosevelt elk, and call sheep are only available on a limited draw, grizzly, and the blue and white colour phases of black bear are no longer open. I’m sure guys with far more experience than me will chime in also.
 
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Mission is a little more than an hour from Vancouver, lots of forest service roads to explore for Blacktail(Mulie) as well as plenty of waterfowl in the farm lands. Limited entry if successful has produced some record book Roosevelt Elk PM me if interested
 
From the lowermainland you certainly have options
Lots of migratory bird hunting opportunities from Richmond to Chilliwack though for the best areas you might need to join a rod and gun club and meet a few people.
If you want a challenge, there is excellent black tail deer and black bear hunting in the mountains north of Vancouver as well as out in the valley.
Within a 3 hour drive of Vancouver you are in mule deer country , along with black bear, California big horn, some immature bull moose openings..... Drive a little further and you are into white tail country and the possibility of elk.
coyotes are distributed throughout the province and I'm sure a guy could quite easily find some areas to hunt those as well.
 
it's been years since I've been there but there used to be a shop in Vancouver that you could go and buy full size charts and topos
It's where I purchased all my marine charts. I'm sure the place must still exist?
 
Is the job actually in Vancouver, or is it in one of the suburbs around Vancouver?

From my place I can walk to the skytrain in 10 minutes and drive to a spot for waterfowl in 20. Just over an hour gets you into blacktail deer/black bear territory, although I usually go more like 2 hours away (with a chunk of that time being spent going 30+km up a FSR).

BC has lots of opportunity and variety. If you're in Greater Vancouver its not straight out the back door (I get bears coyote and deer in my neighbourhood but you can't shoot em in the city) but depending what tickles your fancy its not far to get into something.
 
45ACPKING said:
it's been years since I've been there but there used to be a shop in Vancouver that you could go and buy full size charts and topos
It's where I purchased all my marine charts. I'm sure the place must still exist?
Click to expand...

With a city this big, there must be a shop doing this sort of thing. A quick google pulls up a shop in Richmond called International Travel Maps and Books - www.itmb.ca
 
As has been said already, you are looking at a minimum of a 2.5hr drive( maybe slightly more) to get to a dirt road that will take you into bear and deer territiory. I lived in the lower mainland 6yrs ago..friends of mine and I would hunt around the far end of harrison lake. If memory serves we spent almost 5hrs total driving to and from the area we wanted to hunt in.
 
murph83 said:
As has been said already, you are looking at a minimum of a 2.5hr drive( maybe slightly more) to get to a dirt road that will take you into bear and deer territiory. I lived in the lower mainland 6yrs ago..friends of mine and I would hunt around the far end of harrison lake. If memory serves we spent almost 5hrs total driving to and from the area we wanted to hunt in.
Click to expand...

Yeah, when I first started hunting out of Vancouver I went for day trips, but that 5 to 6 hour round trip to the places I wanted to hunt started to be a strain so while still driving a car, I'd camp out in a pup tent and be on the spot at daybreak instead of already exhausted after a 3-hour drive. Then I got a 4x4 pickup with a canopy and had my own mobile camp then. If I'm staying more than a few nights I'll put up a tent ,leaving the truck for getting around now.
 
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