Duck/goose hunting in a different province?

rubberdown

CGN frequent flyer
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Ontario
I'm in Ontario and a good friend of mine is working out west in the oil industry and he has invited me and his brother to fly out and hunt with him and his buddies for a few days. Got a couple questions,

1. Since their bag limit is soooo much higher than in Ontario, lets say I want to get my harvest home, but home has a smaller possession limit, how does that work?

2. Whats the best way to get the birds home and stay fresh or frozen during transport if I'm flying? Overnight shipping? Check them as luggage on the plane?

3. What about checking my shotgun, do I need to let the airport know ahead of time what I am checking if its a firearm? If I do just check it on the plan, should I worry about a baggage guy knowing its a gun case and stealing it? What about it getting buried under hundreds of pounds of luggage?

Anything else I need to be aware of? Like is my Ont. hunting license sufficient for hunting in Alberta? The migratory game bird license is federal so it should be good anywhere in Canada shouldnt it?

Thanks!
 
1) I'd imagine you need to keep to the bag and possession limit in Ontario. Ask a CO to be sure.

2) My uncle wrapped frozen Moose meat in butcher paper and then newspaper and put it in his bag. You should contact the airline ahead of time.

3) Some airlines won't let you check firearms or will charge a fee to check a firearm. I would definitely call the airline ahead of time, even before buying a ticket. Worst case you can ship your firearm ahead of the trip.

4) You need an Alberta WIN card, a wildlife certificate, a game bird license (annual or 3-day) and a federal migratory license to hunt waterfowl in Alberta. You can see more about the licensing costs here: http://www.albertaregulations.ca/huntingregs/licencecosts.html#gamebirdlicence

The WIN Card is easy to apply for over the internet. Once you have your WIN Account you can buy the wildlife certificate (on-line) which allows you to buy hunting licenses. Then you buy the game birds license - either 3-day or the one for the whole year. You'll need the federal waterfowl stamp too.
 
Cant help with the first 2 but i know that with wesjet they permit firearms to be transported as long as it is in a locked case without ammo. A form needs to be filled out and you need to show your pal and thats it. I always ask for a fragile sticker to put on it as well. The wesjet website has all the information you need.
 
MAke sure that each of your birds is appropriately tagged with your name, address as well as provincial and federal licence numbers. That's an area you don't want to trifle with even though you should have no issue if you are maintainin possession of the birds yourself.
 
You keep the possession limit from the province in which you shot the birds. You must wrap them individually with a wing attached and your migratory and provincial permit #'s clearly written on the package along with your name and date and province of harvest for taking them province to province.
As a resident of Ontario when you come here to AB to hunt you will have to purchase a Canadian Resident Bird License. They do not have such a thing as the small game license you are accustomed to back in Ontario. Along with that you purchase a WIN card which is the AB version of the Ontario Outdoors Card basically except it is good for life, not three years. You keep your WIN number for future license purchases. All totalled the bird license and WIN card will run you about $60-$70. I think the Canadian Resident Bird License was $33 last year and the WIN $29 if memory serves?
 
Spank nailed it for you.

I've returned on flighst with a Coleman cooler well packed with frozen dressed birds & dry ice. Use duck tape to seal the lid all round.
Good quality locking hard gun case. Make sure you've got your PAL with you and I trigger lock the gun as well.
Not difficult ... check in through Special Services. Lots of shotguns on the luggage pick-ups in Calgary & Edmonton come fall ... way of life out there.
I'd recommend WestJet ....
 
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