Hunting in southern AB question

Declared Bishop

Declared Bishop

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so, I have gotten my draws for my deer down in WMU 104, right on the Can / USA border, and I had a sudden thought as I am looking at topography maps scouting for good spots to hunt. some of the locations I want to check out are pretty close to the border, like within a hundred yards or so...

What if I shoot a deer near the border, and it manages to run a few hundred yards before piling up, but in it's run it crosses over the border into the USA.

Can I still recover the deer? Do I just bring my passport, go cross at the nearest crossing, declare whats going on, collect the deer and come back?

Do I just count it as lost? Would the border guards even let me bring it back over the border? If it is considered lost, have I burned a tag?

I haven't heard of this scenario before, so I thought it best to ask just in case...
 
I think your best bet would be to try to contact the Game Warden office for the area the deer would cross the border into and ask them what the recovery process would be; my gut feeling is it would be a lost cause.

As for burning your tag; treat it like YOU would treat a deer you wounded then couldn't recover for whatever reason.
 
let's see how rediculess this question is going to get first off what do you think will happen if you go into another country carrying a gun know matter what the reason especially with the state of affairs at this time
second of all with thousands of acres to shoot on you are going to be a 100 yards from the border of another country
have at it and good luck
let us know how it turns out if you have to deal with usa federal agents and usa fish and wild life officers
they have a totally different mind set
 
Our glorious leader Carney is working with Trump on a free trade deal. This means ‘bucks’ can go across the border now without restrictions.
Seriously…cattle cross the border all the time and ranchers retrieve their livestock all the time without hassle….from what we’ve seen is one blackhawk helicopter does one border sweep every afternoon. If you’re not wearing a poncho and sombrero you should be okay.
 
I hunted in WMZ 104 several times, mostly for pheasant, once for antelope and mule deer buck. Have you located a target animal close to the international border, is this why you are inquiring?
 
You are SOL if your deer crosses an Int'l boundary.

Province to Province, not a huge deal, call a local CO on either side and get your deer. Internationally, not a chance, this would be a CBSA/CBP nightmare and chances are, your deer would be spoiled by the time you have an answer.

Crossing at an uncontrolled point of entry with a firearm (even without) is asking for some serious trouble, ie: be detained kind of trouble. You could get away with it and get your deer back in Canada but I 100% guarantee you the RCMP and/or CBSA will respond on the Canadian side if CBP didn't get you on theirs, and you will likely face charges and lose your property.

I personally know someone, under very different circumstances mind you, who crossed into the US briefly at an uncontrolled crossing, for less than an hour, got back to Canada, was arrested by CBSA who transferred him to CBP for questioning. He was eventually released by CBP into RCMP custody and charged in Canada.

Would this stop me from hunting near the int'l boundary? Hell no, but I would make sure I know where I am at all times as well as if I can drop an animal on the right side of the border.
 
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I can not offer any “legal” advice as anything I might add would be speculation since I don’t know the ACTUAL rules ( I can take a pretty good guess but guesses you can make yourself 😁) however, the one piece of advice I feel confident in making is that you use “enough gun”, keep the distance short and shoot IN the shoulder. Even a perfect heart/lung shot can result in a 100 yard dash in odd situations but two broken shoulders will anchor any quadruped. Might have to dispatch the deer when you get up to it but you will not have it crossing any borders.
 
Well, thank you all for the information. As for a specific target, no. I am just scouting Google maps for ravines and draws, water locations… etc.. I found a few choice spots, but one of them is awfully close to the border.

I actually went and called the Alberta Relm help desk, thinking these IT guys could point me in the right direction. Turns out it is them. In my example, dude cut right to the chase. It would be straight up gone. It would be like wounding a deer and piles up on the other side of the fence and the land owner refuses you access to get it. Nothing to do about it.

Under rule of the law, it doesn’t fold your tag, but it comes down to your ethics.

Thanks for letting me pick your mind
 
With the present political situation you might end up in an ICE detention facility for a prolonged period, not a good scenario.
 
I had a crazy experience while hunting birds one year along the border in that zone. I did not actually realize how close I was to the border as there were no signs where I was hunting, just a barbed-wire fence with cultivated fields on both sides. I had met the landowner that morning and he said I had full access to his place as long as I walked and left my truck at his yard. As it turned out, the very south edge of that property was the Canada/US border. During my hunt along that fenceline, I dropped a couple sharptails. I stepped over the fence to retreive the bird laying on one side while my dog chased the other winged bird through the stubble. I then carried on with the hunt on the property to which I had access. A few minutes later a helicopter landed on the field to my south and three officers with American patches bailed out and crossed the fence. I was not handcuffed or anything but they were screaming and hollering at me, then through their foodchain called the Canadian side and the RCMP showed up. The Yanks wanted to charge, detain, and prosecute me for illegally crossing the border and some charge relating to hunting in Montana without a license. One of the Yanks was a real hothead and kept grabbing his pistol and screaming about my "aggressive" Lab as she walked around wagging her tail and wanting everyone to play. The RCMP were quite practical and ran interference, challenged the Yanks on crossing the border to come after me. The landowner came out to watch the show and he kept making fun of the Yanks and made the RCMP officers laugh. It was crazy but there were no charges. The RCMP said I had done what any reasonable person would have done under the circumstances and made a comment about the Yanks having a really slow day if they felt the need to chase me into Canada. They barked at the Yanks about needing a calmer tone and more practical stance on the event.

Jump ahead a year and signs were placed along that fenceline and other nearby properties that border the US. I can't speak for the whole border as I have not seen it outside of that specific area. If that same incident occurred today the RCMP would not likely support retrieving a bird that drops on the US side of that fence.
 
Lots of good spots where you don’t have to worry. When looking for permission ask rancher where you should look, they know. We shoot gophers very close to the border and never see any authority personal. Even so I’d not cross for a deer!
 
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