Question to Quebecers?

[captonion]

I hunted last year in Quebec with an exclusive rights outfitter.

My question is....On my drive in to the outfitter I saw alot of sighns on the trees(on roads going off the main drag) in the zec I was in. These signs had a camp name, and a year on it (Ex. 1972). What does this mean? Does the camp posted have the only rights to these areas?

 

[enoch]

It's to advise other hunters that this site is reserved for the season ... so if you decide to hunt you know that there is hunter posted there and you should go further.

 

[duke1]

Not all ZECs have the same rules so the best thing to do is to inform yourself by checking with the reception office/entrance.

I hunted moose in ZEC Dumoine for the first time last Fall and I saw some signs with such info as (4 Hunters - 2009 to 2020), etc. I was told to disregard these by the reception office as they are the ones to assign hunting areas on a first come first served basis and this is done on a scheduled day (Labour day weekend for example). Groups showing up after the selected day just have to select from what is left.

Once you are assigned an area (you can put your sign up), and if some other groups have used that area for some time, the administration will get the two groups together to see if an alternate choice would be satisfactory. This happened to our group where we agree to give up the area assigned to us and picked another and probably better area (got our moose).

Of course Crown land is usually different as the coexistence of hunting groups is way more informal but as soon as someone puts up a sign, other hunters usually stay out but not necessarily.

Duke1

 

[captonion]

It's to advise other hunters that this site is reserved for the season ... so if you decide to hunt you know that there is hunter posted there and you should go further.

So in other words its to keep other hunters out of the area.
I saw these signs with one particular camps name for several Kms of road. In another spot there was some camp patrons of another camp stringing flouresent ribbon across the entrances of newer logging roads, and putting camp sighns up. This was over a several KM streach also. Unless there are 30+ hunters in the camps this seems excessive!

So is there a written law that says these camps have exclusive rights to the areas?

There is also an issue here on Crown land in Ont where hunters think they to own areas of public land because they have hunted it for many years. In many cases it can turn ugly.
I do see the point of wanting the land exclusivly, but on the other hand these areas are most times very large areas with few hunters using it. Seems a bit greedy in many cases.

 

[dutchhunter]

camps

you have to remember that these camps run as a busness it is all about profit .thy must secure a lot of land to acomadate a full season of hunters over several weeks of hunting with different groups coming and going thru out the season .you would not want to come in to a camp and sit in the same stand that the hunter before you spent a week in doing who knows what .DUTCH

 

[SpoonMan]

You know how they call the ZEC du Bas-ST-Laurent here during hunting season : VIETNAM Yup cause thats how it looks like when you have too many hunters at the same place at the same time. Its a real nightmare and really scarry sometimes. We saw a moose getting shot by 2 different group of hunters. And no they didnt split the meat, the first group that was on the moose took only 12 mins to putt it into the back of the pickup truck.

SM

 

[captonion]

you have to remember that these camps run as a busness it is all about profit .thy must secure a lot of land to acomadate a full season of hunters over several weeks of hunting with different groups coming and going thru out the season .you would not want to come in to a camp and sit in the same stand that the hunter before you spent a week in doing who knows what .DUTCH

From what the outfitter told us these are private camps. Not outfitters.
Our outfitter had exclussive rights to a very large area (438 square kilometers)which I can understand. What I don't understand is the private camps that are posting access roads, and trails on zec land! Trying to get a better understanding of this! This is in Abitibi-Témiscamingue area.