Thread: Hi from Alberta, Canada

Welcome. BC boy just moved to Fort Sask. I'll be hunting NZ in April.

Still trying to figure out how 'Berta hunting and draw systems work. So very different then BC. And all the Private land! Fawk me that sucks.

Love the waterfowl though.

Originally Posted by Penguin

Welcome. BC boy just moved to Fort Sask. I'll be hunting NZ in April.

Still trying to figure out how 'Berta hunting and draw systems work. So very different then BC. And all the Private land! Fawk me that sucks.

Love the waterfowl though.

Lmao, yeah man. Knocking on doors is a necessity here for sure. There’s some good crown land hunting to be had, but not close to you or I lol. shoot me a PM if you got any questions about the draws, can definitely help there man!

well shit.

Welcome to the forum CanuckHunterAB,

Have an aunt and her family in Calgary, she is been pestering me to visit her, maybe one of these days. It certainly is beautiful country up there. Please tell us more about your tags system and hunting on crown land for an outsider.

-Inder

Originally Posted by IamHackmeat

well shit.

Hahahaha, that about sums it up man.

Originally Posted by Inder

Welcome to the forum CanuckHunterAB,

Have an aunt and her family in Calgary, she is been pestering me to visit her, maybe one of these days. It certainly is beautiful country up there. Please tell us more about your tags system and hunting on crown land for an outsider.

-Inder

It would be well worth the visit for you, and shoot me a message if you ever do plan on coming this way. Always happy to show people around some of the hidden gems around here!

As far as tags and crown land go here, its pretty dismal for a non-resident. All big game requires a tag on crown land, much of which is over the counter......the only exceptions to that for big game are Black Bears and Cougar on private land, on private land those animals can be shot without without a tag, bag limit or season, but do require a tag for crown land hunting. The issue for non-residents is that all big game hunting by a non resident requires either a guide (which is very expensive in AB) or a hunter host who is a resident. Those are the only ways for a non-resident to hunt big game. As a resident, you can hunter host a non-resident Canadian from another province yearly, or a non-resident "alien" every 3 years. Waterfowl hunting is a different story, non-resident aliens can come hunt waterfowl basically anywhere, as it is federally regulated. Alberta is not friendly to non-resident opportunities for big game though. I have hosted a couple guys from the US, one from Australia and one from Poland over the years. Its easy to get the hunter host license, its just something that can only be done every 3 years.

I will say though that if you find a resident host, the opportunities are pretty darn good. Most guys who've been around here for a while, and especially those of us that grew up on farms, have access to ALOT of private land in addition to the hundreds of thousands of square km of crown. In the right areas, you could hunt rifle bull elk, rifle whitetail, rifle black bear, archery moose and archery mule deer concurrently....along with bonus wolves/coyotes. The area I grew up in and still have land at, by Peace River, there is great hunting for all the above within an hour radius. The only bugger is non-resident aliens cant hunt sheep....we can hunt trophy bighorn on over the counter tags. Its a great place to live for hunting, tough place to visit without a connection to host or fairly deep pockets depending on what type of tags you have in your bag lol.

Hope that helps!

Originally Posted by CanuckHunterAB

It would be well worth the visit for you, and shoot me a message if you ever do plan on coming this way. Always happy to show people around some of the hidden gems around here!

As far as tags and crown land go here, its pretty dismal for a non-resident. All big game requires a tag on crown land, much of which is over the counter......the only exceptions to that for big game are Black Bears and Cougar on private land, on private land those animals can be shot without without a tag, bag limit or season, but do require a tag for crown land hunting. The issue for non-residents is that all big game hunting by a non resident requires either a guide (which is very expensive in AB) or a hunter host who is a resident. Those are the only ways for a non-resident to hunt big game. As a resident, you can hunter host a non-resident Canadian from another province yearly, or a non-resident "alien" every 3 years. Waterfowl hunting is a different story, non-resident aliens can come hunt waterfowl basically anywhere, as it is federally regulated. Alberta is not friendly to non-resident opportunities for big game though. I have hosted a couple guys from the US, one from Australia and one from Poland over the years. Its easy to get the hunter host license, its just something that can only be done every 3 years.

I will say though that if you find a resident host, the opportunities are pretty darn good. Most guys who've been around here for a while, and especially those of us that grew up on farms, have access to ALOT of private land in addition to the hundreds of thousands of square km of crown. In the right areas, you could hunt rifle bull elk, rifle whitetail, rifle black bear, archery moose and archery mule deer concurrently....along with bonus wolves/coyotes. The area I grew up in and still have land at, by Peace River, there is great hunting for all the above within an hour radius. The only bugger is non-resident aliens cant hunt sheep....we can hunt trophy bighorn on over the counter tags. Its a great place to live for hunting, tough place to visit without a connection to host or fairly deep pockets depending on what type of tags you have in your bag lol.

Hope that helps!

Thanks for the detailed info, Currently neither I have deep pockets nor I know someone who hunts there. Maybe one day. I would like a moose on my wall for sure before I kick the bucket.

Good luck for your NZ visit. Hopefully I will be there when you visit, maybe we will get time to meet for a cuppa.

Originally Posted by Inder

Thanks for the detailed info, Currently neither I have deep pockets nor I know someone who hunts there. Maybe one day. I would like a moose on my wall for sure before I kick the bucket.

Good luck for your NZ visit. Hopefully I will be there when you visit, maybe we will get time to meet for a cuppa.

Would be great and thank you!

Hunted Alberta last year November, had unseasonably warm weather apparently and no snow. Unfortunately I didn’t get the whitetail or elk I was after. Will be back

It was a tough year for sure. Warmest fall I remember. Definitely kept the whitetail movement a bit slower and the elk were more quiet than usual most days. Where about in the province did you hunt? And what time of year? Seemed like the further north a guy went the more “normal” the activity was.

Originally Posted by CanuckHunterAB

It was a tough year for sure. Warmest fall I remember. Definitely kept the whitetail movement a bit slower and the elk were more quiet than usual most days. Where about in the province did you hunt? And what time of year? Seemed like the further north a guy went the more “normal” the activity was.

I was about 2 hours north of Edmonton. As you say it really effected the whitetail movements, very frustrating driving back from the hunt each night and seeing big bucks standing on the road in front of you…

I was late November so the elk rut was over but a bit of whitetail action

Gotcha! Yeah, that can really start to aggravate a guy with them "taunting" you in the fields after dark lol. Elk are always a slog at that time of year.....depending exactly how far North you would have been on the edge of where rifle opens up for them on Sept 17, so by late November most have learned their lesson about coming out before dark, and the ones that didnt are in someones freezer lol. Hopefully the next time your back its good and cold and you can even the score with one of those nocturnal bucks lol. Cheers!