Calgary, AB hunting regulaions

denlion

denlion

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Hi fellow hunters,

I am thinking about moving west from ON to AB in order to find simple and better quality of life - less people, more nature. Hunting is a part of that decision.
Can some fellow hunters from AB help me to figure out our regulations?

I found the following WS:

http://albertaregulations.ca/huntingregs/season-wmus.html
and
https://www.albertarelm.com/cust.drawsummarywtd.page

I guess all the info there, but what I can't find is the "crown land" maps we have here in Ontario. So, I would like to know what part of land is "private" and which one I can hunt on (and discharge firearms). Looking at that WMUs map I would guess that all WMU 100x are taken into the private land and the best bet would be to hunt on 200x and 300x? Am I right in this one?

Also, on that draw result page, what is the "priority" means? It seems I can't find definition of that. How would someone get from priority 0 to higher one? Priority 0 seems not getting anything at all...

Also if you can point me to some rules regarding ATV and 4x4 - where I can use them? What are the rules?

Thanks for your help
 
I think your best bet to determine crown land from privately owned is to buy a "county" map of the area you want to hunt. You can find them at a place like Maptown online.

Most of the crown land in southern Alberta will be in the 400 and 300 WMU units. Some of the best hunting is on private land, and it's an option because permission to hunt isn't always hard to get, depending on where.

You mention Calgary in your post, and it's tough to get permission close to the city to hunt. Crown land closer to Calgary has been getting closed down for target shooting, although there are still places available that you can go. Our NDP government is busy changing the status of what used to be prime hunting areas in SW AB to parks, and a bunch of new nanny state restrictions are slowly but surely coming into place. Shooting clubs are expensive and some have membership caps that are usually full.

That being said, if you're willing to travel a few hours from Calgary, there is beautiful crown land to hunt on, although it's getting crowded in our province.

Priority points are awarded each year you apply for a draw, so our system is not a "random" draw system. The longer you've been applying for a draw, the better your chances to get drawn will be. You start off as a priority 0, and then gain a priority number each year you apply. You can get some draws the first time you apply, depending on what species and what WMU, and others may take well over 10 years to successfully draw.

I hope this helps a bit....
 
One other tidbit in regards to building priority, you can apply but defer being drawn while building up your
priority. In effect you can tailor your draw to when it is convenient to go on a hunt. As an example I have been
building priority points on two different species and at this time could successfully be drawn if I choose to do so
because I have deliberately built up my priority status. It is done by using draw code 999.
 
Priority is explained in the online draw booklet. As for private land, permission is required whether the land is posted or not, but in many locations; it is easy to get. The closer you are to a big city, the more difficult it usually is.
 
stubblejumper said:
Priority is explained in the online draw booklet. As for private land, permission is required whether the land is posted or not, but in many locations; it is easy to get. The closer you are to a big city, the more difficult it usually is.
Click to expand...

Not sure that this is totally true but I may be corrected as its been a few years since I've read the regulations pertaining to trespassing.

Stubble is right if the land you will be hunting is within 1 mile of the 640 acre section that the landowners residence is located on. However, If you enter some private land without permission, you can still be asked to leave any privately owned land by the landowner or by anyone he has given authority to do so , (ex. a leaseholder), regardless of how far from the inhabited buildings it is.

Lots of rural land is owned by 'absentee" owners that live hundreds of miles from the land so it is very difficult to contact them and the "regulation writers" have taken this into account.
 
FYI: Some Counties or Municipal Districts make their digital (PDF) maps available on their respective websites for free.
 
fingers284 said:
Not sure that this is totally true but I may be corrected as its been a few years since I've read the regulations pertaining to trespassing.

Stubble is right if the land you will be hunting is within 1 mile of the 640 acre section that the landowners residence is located on. However, If you enter some private land without permission, you can still be asked to leave any privately owned land by the landowner or by anyone he has given authority to do so , (ex. a leaseholder), regardless of how far from the inhabited buildings it is.

Lots of rural land is owned by 'absentee" owners that live hundreds of miles from the land so it is very difficult to contact them and the "regulation writers" have taken this into account.
Click to expand...

Access to ALL privately owned lands is by permission - either personally gained (phone or visit) or by the landowner posting conditions of access. All other access is called TRESSPASSING and is now also considered a contributing wildlife act offence which can/will result in loss of hunting privledges. The access changes happened a decade ago, and the wildlife act bit has been around for 3 or 4 years.

Had a fellow recently, when I asked for clarification on where he had killed a deer this fall, tell me that the deer was on crown land, because it was standing near the base of a windmill, and you could drive the access road to it.... looking for my Jesus-Face-Palm emoticon.
 
fingers284 said:
Not sure that this is totally true but I may be corrected as its been a few years since I've read the regulations pertaining to trespassing.

Stubble is right if the land you will be hunting is within 1 mile of the 640 acre section that the landowners residence is located on. However, If you enter some private land without permission, you can still be asked to leave any privately owned land by the landowner or by anyone he has given authority to do so , (ex. a leaseholder), regardless of how far from the inhabited buildings it is.

Lots of rural land is owned by 'absentee" owners that live hundreds of miles from the land so it is very difficult to contact them and the "regulation writers" have taken this into account.
Click to expand...

Wrong! If the property is fenced or under cultivation, it doesn't matter if the owner lives 1000 km away, permission is required.
 
Albertarelm is a great place to start and get a good orientation on recreational land use. Lots of reading but good to get your head around it. As far as hunting goes the ihunter app is very helpful to show green zone boundaries, grazing leases etc. Better than trying to piece together word of mouth tidbits.
 
And just so you know, if a landowner posts his Alberta land "No hunting", he can still legally hunt that land , as can anyone else with permission. Harassing a landowner who is hunting on his own property, is a good way to make sure that nobody in the area gives you permission.
 
Guys, thank you all for all your answers. It gave me a lot of information to digest, but unfortunately job offer didn't go through and doesn't look like I will be moving (
But Calgary definitely looks like a good place to live. If you have a job or some money...
 
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