Yellowknife/fort smith, NWT

A

awesomeame

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I want to move somewhere where I can hunt from my backyard type of thing--right now I'm driving 3 hrs away from Toronto (one way) to hunt on weekends, it's crazynuts, this is no life, I'm getting burned out!!! All I do is work and sleep, wtf!!

Anyway, there are jobs up there in nwt for me, and I have many (non hunter) friends in yellowknife. So I was thinking about applying up there...just wondering if anyone can shed light on the hunting situation??

I've looked on the nwt website, seasons are generous in both locations, with a lot of biggame happening. Has anyone visited both locations and can say one is better than the other? Guess I'm wondering about opportunities for hunters-is the land there mostly crown AKA public, or will I need special permission from inuit groups and how hard is this permission to get? I just want to go to work, come home, hop on my quad and go hunting or do hunting activities, is that so much to ask for in this country :p

any insight appreciated :)

Matt
 
Although I mostly hunt closer to YK, there seems to be no shortage of anything in the Ft. Smith area, It's just further to get to caribou is all. There are even a few critters, ruffed grouse comes to mind, that are more plentiful in the south.

There are parks you cannot hunt in of course but pretty much every where else is fair game.

On thing, I guess you looked at the maps a bit if you are considering moving. Our maps are NOT that short on detail, there are very few roads here compared to the rest of civilization. So while you likely will not drive 3 hours on the weekend, you might spend an equal amount of time in a combination of vehicle/boat/ATV. Don't forget, everyone wants to hunt in their immediate back yard.

We find the game more plentiful if we spread out a bit.;)
 
You have to live there two years to become a resident.

3 hours drive or 2 years wait?
 
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Yeah, I read that about the residency requirements. May not be so bad to hunt with a guide up there first for a bit anyways, getting to know the land, people, terrain etc. I'm not sure what they define as a "guide," is it just any resident, or do they need to be licensed or whathaveyou?

What is the terrain like in the YK area? I did look at maps and yes, not many roads. How do people get to their hunting destinations-what is the vehicle of choice? Will a sidebyside or traditional atv do the job, or is it very marshy and those machines will sink/get stuck? Maybe an argo is better?

Thanks for the info guys

Matt
 
awesomeame said:
Yeah, I read that about the residency requirements. May not be so bad to hunt with a guide up there first for a bit anyways, getting to know the land, people, terrain etc. I'm not sure what they define as a "guide," is it just any resident, or do they need to be licensed or whathaveyou?

What is the terrain like in the YK area? I did look at maps and yes, not many roads. How do people get to their hunting destinations-what is the vehicle of choice? Will a sidebyside or traditional atv do the job, or is it very marshy and those machines will sink/get stuck? Maybe an argo is better?

Thanks for the info guys

Matt
Click to expand...

Yellowknife terrain is the same Canadian Shield as Northwestern Ont. only the trees are much shorter and sparser. Going is often slow, there are many small lakes and rocks that are steep enough to be impassable.

In the winter the most common mode of transport while hunting is the snowmobile. The transition from open water to good ice cover on MOST of the lakes and small rivers is relatively short, but you do have to be careful. There are many snowmobile trails and many people will leave from town directly by snowmobile, others will trailer down the iceroad for instance before they start out. Before you equate trailering with your 3 hour drive you now do, remember, our daylight hours are much shorter in the winter up here. You usually have some time before daybreak for travel.

The trade off for this is you can fish pretty much 24/7 in the middle of summer.

Boats are used in the fall. Although ATV are used I don't think there are as many in use as there typically is down south. There are a few argo's around, again because of the rock I think you would have to be very careful.

I've never seen anybody really sticky about the 2 year residency requirement. If you moved here tomorrow, this years season is still on for some game. That's one year missed the way many have done the math in the past.;)

One other thing, you don't have to get very far from town before you are out of cell coverage, roads, fences:D, cut lines or any other signs of civilization. I don't know how that compares with where you hunt now, just a reminder to prepare accordingly.

I believe the guides have to be registered.
 
not many people are sticky about the two year residencey rule but it still is the law, as for using a guide, good luck with that unless you want to pay big bucks. I'm curious as why the choice is between YK and FT Smith, there is not much work in smith and only about 2500-3000 people, Yk has a pop around 20,000, Hay river has about 4000.
 
Thanks for the info

The choice isn't only between those places, I'm looking all over canada, but if I do end up going to NWT it would be yk or ft smith-I'm in aviation so I gotta go where the airports are :) I know there are other smaller companies further north, but I don't want to go "that" far from civilization either..

Matt
 
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