Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada Moose info in BC

I'm thinking of 2017 for a BC moose hunt. With the thread of the bad outfitter. I was wondering if any BC residents could recommend a region where a 45to50 inch moose is possible.I know they get bigger moose up there but trying to keep somewhat of a budget.

The thread of bad outfitter is a great example why i am looking for info. The Kootenays was an area i was looking at. Seems like it gets hunted pretty good?

A guy starts looking at outfitter websites and gets pumped up .But what is reality of the area?

I guess i'm looking for a moose hunt with a chance at seeing some moose and maybe looking for 45-50 spread.Would love to see 50-55 spread but from what i been looking at the price really jumps up

In the past people have asked these same questions and the first answer is how much you want to spend? I would like to spend 6k-8k. 8k on high end still have to pay for airfare etc etc.

Any info on a decent region would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks Noduck.

Ootsa lake country-Muddy

Personally with all the upheaval between the resident hunters being screwed with up to 40% of tag allocation being given to guides for resale. I would not be recommending B.C. as a destination for a guided hunt. It is going to be a gong show in most guiding areas with a huge number of resident hunters lacking and flying into their territories(quite legally) to hunt. if you want to hunt Canada I would suggest Alberta or the Yukon until this mess is settled and the Government brings our Allocation in line with the rest of North America with 90 of tag allocation going to residents hunters like most other places. Thanks for your understanding, I'm sure you would be up in arms as well if you lost up to 40% of hunting opportunities at home, thanks for your support of fellow hunters. support

One thing for sure, moose are much bigger in the northern part of the province. Kootenay moose are Shiras.
I'd look within a few hundred miles of the Yukon border if a big one was on my list. Coming from the states I would also look into the Yukon and the western side of the North West Territories if I wanted a really big one. I suspect they will not come cheap though.

The Yukon is where you want to go.

NO, the Moose in the Kootenays are NOT "Shirasi" and the populations in southern BC are also just "Alces Alces".

There may be some "Shirasi" in ONLY The Flathead and perhaps The Wigwam valleys, but, the ones I saw on my last trip there were definitely A A in colour, antler size-configuration and were identical to the ones I have seen in the Cariboo, northern Alberta and several other locales.

I can supply sources should you wish.

Sorry, when I think of the kootenays I think east Kootenays and even more specifically the flathead area (where I did several trips), hence the Shiras reference. I stand corrected.
The biggest moose will still be from the northern end of the province.

The Flathead Valley is a small section of the EK and some prominent bios. tend to discount the presence of "Shirasi" even there. I tend to agree and have NEVER seen, since I first worked there for the BCFS 50 years ago, a Moose, that I thought was a "Shirasi".


I spent months there living alone, no breaks, doing forestry work, did patrol work there earlier and spent a six week stint there managing a private silvicultural project some months before moving to Vancouver.

I doubt that ANY "Shirasi" exist in The Flathead, The Wigwam or The Lodgepole and I also think that the reason some say they do is to enhance the commercial trophy collecting industry in the EK.

Nothing, "written in stone", but, the VERY nice bull Moose I saw in my last visit to "Butt's-ez" as locals call it, was definitely NOT a "Shiras" and he was near the summit of the pass.

Yes, Moose tend to be larger further from the 49th, but, many HUGE specimens are shot in central BC still and those from certain areas of the Kootenays are also VERY large. I have helped with some real monsters over the years, never cared to hunt/shoot one myself, find it boring, not at all like hunting Elk.

Any pictures of these monsters you have helped with, or any pictures of elk you have taking in the last 10 years.
Thanks

There is a couple outfitters in the kootenays that can produce some nice moose but I don't think they will fall in your price range. If you want to post up some of the outfitters you are looking into it may help in getting a yes or no response. I would for sure stay away from the one mentioned in the bad outfitter thread.
Good luck and don't let people try to bully or scare you away from hunting in B.C.

Babine outfitters are good folks to work with.

Look at http://www.ramcreek.ca/
The main picture on the moose hunt is mine. PM me with any questions. That's also a picture of me with an elk on the home page brochure. Yeah, they are Shiras there.

Here is another great place to hunt. A bit more money but bigger moose as well. http://monasheeoutfitting.com/
I have not hunted moose there but have bear hunted several times there and have seen many moose. PM me if you want more info.

We are not bullying any hunters, what we are asking for is the respect of other hunters, the same respect and support we would give you if suddenly almost 1/2 of all allotted tags were taken from you. Our fight is not with other hunters it is with the guides and government that made back room deals taking an unprecedented animals away from residents. Most of you live in States that allocate 5-10% 0f wildlife to non residents we are asked to accept 4-8 times that many taken from us. Our intentions to exercise our legal rights and hunt heavily in guide territories will put heavy pressure on the animals you are asked to pay good money to hunt and we are only saying there are better choices as to where to spend your hunting dollars. Resident Priority for everyone on their home turf.

I hope to spend some weeks in my old haunts in the East Kootenays and am making contact with old friends there to do a major protest, maybe blockade of GOs and foreign hunters soon.

All we need is to tell them to go home and the RCMP will be advised of our legal activities.

We should have started this before so many GO operations became *owned* by rich foreigners, but, no time like the present.

Keep your Canadian mining companies home, then. They are ruining habitat here that will take centuries to recover. Things work both ways.

How, in your opinion, can I, a Canadian, influence ANY legislation, environmental or otherwise, in a foreign country, the USA.

Obviously, I cannot and YOU might be able to,so, it seems that YOU should take action in YOUR country as WE ARE doing here in BC-Canada.

My next issue to spend some time on is the accursed Columbia River Treaty and the current demands of the US for MORE of the water, to pay much LESS in fees and just act, as they always have, as though Canada, is a *colony* of the USA.

Sorry, pal, the *good old days* of US hegemony in North America, are OVER, get it. WE WILL decide and then enforce whatever policies WE choose for OUR hunting-angling and any other issues in OUR country.

However, I wish I COULD help with the !@@$%?##@@!! mining companies, they do the same sh*t here as do the major timber companies, all too often.

FIGHT BACK!!!!

The owner of Monashee Outfitting, is THE PRESIDENT of the vile GOABC and a leader in the nefarious attempt to grab more BC game from WE who OWN IT for their foreign trophy collectors.

His area is rather difficult to access for res. hunters, however, one of my cousins is going there this year, has in the recent past and protests may well be made at his HQ in a nearby town, or, even at the lodgings of foreign hunters.

WE WILL WIN!!!

I'll tell Brian you said hello.

Many of the problems in areas of B.C. are because of the residents and many of the areas are all ready have to much resident pressure. You say your fight is not with hunters but guides and government but yet you say you are going to put heavy pressure on animals. That's a big problem with many residents to worried about who gets to kill what no concern about conservation as you have shown.
Now your side kick SNAP is going to go set up blockades. It has also been mentioned on other sites by others about burning down cabins etc. Ya you guys are a great bunch for wildlife. When you say OUR intentions does this mean the BCWF or are you guys your own little gang.

Be VERY, VERY careful with your comments here as action for defamation by libel can be a REAL bitch and I WILL NOT hesitate to have one of my barrister friends initiate this with you as subject of the complaint.

Even a suggestion that I or any person I associate with would, will or might commit an arson and you WILL face legal sanction, depend on it.

The rest of your invidious, ignorant and ill*mannered diatribe is not factually based and not worth a response.

Read slower, it says been mentioned on other sites by others.

To the OP, my sincere apologies for my part in the trainwreck that your thread has become; I actually dislike such situations, but, fighting for conservation-sovereignty is my paramount concern.

In my opinion and I do often go home to the Kootenays, and totally apart from any other considerations, I would NOT, at this time, pay to hunt the Kootenays, for Moose.

MY first choice, NOW, would be a hunt with a Yukon outfitter or in the MacKenzie Mts. of Canada*s NWT. These cost more, sadly, but the available hunts will be the hunt of a lifetime.

Do NOT take our comments on allocation posted here personally as they are NOT intended that way, but, this IS the definitive fight for OUR rights and we must win it, now.

So, best of luck with your quest, the trip can be a fabulous experience.

Don't forget the laser beams and stolen trucks the GOABC is babbling about. What a pile of crap, which Outfit do you own/work for. And while you are at it maybe explain why it is guides in most of north America get by nicely on a 10% Allocation but B.C. guides are "going broke" and "getting divorced" with 40% allocation AND the monopoly of mandatory guide use for all non residents? Can you say poor business practises. The B.C. guide model id BROKEN beyond repair and needs to be torn down to the ground and rebuilt so the good outfits will flourish and the bad businesses will go by they way of the dodo that's what you call free enterprise NOT propping up a few in a failing industry on the backs of the many Resident Hunters. Spin it how you want there are huge changes coming. The good outfits who provide animals and service for their clients will flourish the poor business will collapse.
As for your retort to our hunting in "guide's" areas B.C is legally open to resident hunters, take away our meat in one way we will get it in another sorry if the guides don't like it.

WELL SAID, tell it like it IS!!!!!

A chorus here of *We shall overcome*, eh

Don't forget the laser beams and stolen trucks the GOABC is babbling about. What a pile of crap, which Outfit do you own/work for. And while you are at it maybe explain why it is guides in most of north America get by nicely on a 10% Allocation but B.C. guides are "going broke" and "getting divorced" with 40% allocation AND the monopoly of mandatory guide use for all non residents? Can you say poor business practises. The B.C. guide model id BROKEN beyond repair and needs to be torn down to the ground and rebuilt so the good outfits will flourish and the bad businesses will go by they way of the dodo that's what you call free enterprise NOT propping up a few in a failing industry on the backs of the many Resident Hunters. Spin it how you want there are huge changes coming. The good outfits who provide animals and service for their clients will flourish the poor business will collapse.
As for your retort to our hunting in "guide's" areas B.C is legally open to resident hunters, take away our meat in one way we will get it in another sorry if the guides don't like it. [/quote]


Not an outfitter did guide 30yrs ago just a concerned resident.
Again as you state your just concerned about killing and who does it.
If residents don't start to get concerned about conservation hunting in B.C. will go the way of the dodo bird you mention.

Well this got aggressive. LOL. I would like to say thanks to the pm's i received. Every bit helps when starting to do research in new areas. I appreciate it.

We don't want aggression, I/we are only trying to point out that the B.C. you hunted a few years ago is not the same one as today. The Climate of changed has been forced on us like how your ancestors may have felt in 1776. We are 1.. asking for the support and understanding of fellow hunters, we are 2.. doing you the respect of letting you know things may be vastly different in many "wilderness" guiding areas for the next few years. There is absolutely no need to hunt B.C, there are as good or better opportunities in the Yukon, NWT and Alberta. You are the first to get on soapboxes and become angered when you feel your rights(second amendment for example) are being infringed on but ask for understanding and support when ours are being crushed and certain of you start with the F you we will hunt where we want today and to hell with tomorrow. Well if we are pushed hard enough we may be pushing for a no Non resident allocation p[olicy. And you wonder why there may be some minor anti American sentiments, look no further than a small portion of your countrymen for the answer.

That says exactly what every res. hunter I have spoken with so far feels.

Some of these mocking, foolish guys should realize that MOST BC people are STRONGLY opposed to ANY Americans hunting or even angling here and it is ONLY the good will of we resident hunters who are active in conservation and management that has and will keep these opportunities available.

Then, there are some who are just too azzholian to comprehend anything other than their own short term desires.

Some of us Americans, or maybe just me, find it odd that not only do you ask Americans to help, but you demand it, for a BC problem caused by BC residents. There are no special rules that allow Americans to tell BC how many of us should be allowed to hunt. These rules are made by BC politicians elected by BC residents. Not one single American voted for any of them. You did. They are your rules. Don't blame me for playing by the rules you created.

If you want to change those rules, I'm fully OK with that. It's your country. I'm not telling any BCer how they should or shouldn't feel about this. If you don't like how things are, change it. I'll still play by your rules, not mine. Are BC residents not capable of fixing BC problems?

Wow, not sure where you get your data for have never seen any type of survey on this. So when you say MOST what percentage of B.C. people is this. It seems weird for even some of the organizations fighting the allocation say they are not against the hunters/hunting but against the government and outfitters. So what are these people you mention doing in the way of conservation and management, and are you one of the residents opposed to non-residents or one trying to keep the opportunities
available.

Kodiak there has been some suspected back room deals that have caused a lot of this up roar. In saying that just enjoy your trips to B.C. and as you say just follow the rules/laws etc.
You may want to have a camera with you just in case there was any problems to document things. This is not only with residents but also with your outfitter in case of problems as was mentioned in the bad outfitter thread.

I have never had an issue with americans, I have had alot of fun fishing with them and interacting with them.

I'm shocked at what I am reading and I dont support that sort of bullying, I also dont support the guiding community when backroom deals are made to screw resident hunters out of their fair share.

Any americans that come to hunt in bc should know they are welcome by many and I cant believe some of these comments directed toward our friends to the south,, also they need to know there is a law in bc that states...its unlawful to interfere with a legal hunt...
so the law is on your side

I'm done with this, I have stated the situation as well as I can, I have asked for the help of FELLOW HUNTERS not just Americans. I have been involved in this fight with out gov't since day one, writing letters, going to meetings and protest rallies. Those that don't get it or feel that 40% non resident allocation is fair when you enjoy 5-10%in your home state then do what you will. We will continue to do what we must. I just sincerely hope you never as hunters find yourself in our situation.

I am sure that your understanding of BC statutes concerning divers resource harvesting situations is far greater than mine as your *writing* so clearly shows your level of **education**....

However, you seem to be unable to comprehend that a peaceful demonstration that will be video recorded by we who participate in it and the Global CTV and CBC TV networks, is NOT considered **interfering with a hunt** under our current Wildlife Act.

The actual, filmed arrest of a senior citizen, member of a family who pioneered in BC almost 150 years ago and who spent years working for the BC resource management agencies would be PRICELESS advertising for our cause.

So, you are simply wrong and your comments, as with those of *Stew* do NOT reflect what I am hearing from many people, hunters and average BC citizens concerning this travesty.

I am also done here, the fight WILL go on and WE WILL TRIUMPH!!!

You have MY respect and WE WILL WIN!!!

I'm not sure where your numbers come from, but there are lots of areas inthe states that are at 50% allocation for nonresidents or have no limits at all. If you care to look at the second page of this permit application, you can see much of Kodiak Island is at 33-50% allocated to nonresidents: http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/license/huntlicense/pdfs/2015-2016_draw_supplement.pdf
Has been this way for a long time. There are many states that place no limit on the number of non resident license sold. Just think of that, no limit. No limit on moose or elk nonresident hunters. Yeah, that happens here in the states in quite a few places. While we may try to change the allocation from within, we don't get venomous with visiting hunters. No burning of guide shacks. No whining to foreign countries.

Again, more power to you. It's your country, do as you will. Just don't think it's somehow unique or new just becasue it's happening to you. Hopefully BC comes to a happy medium, but like some on here, nothing will ever make certain people happy.

Your just to predictable and your posts always end up the same.

Now you say a peaceful demonstration, earlier it was a major protest and maybe a blockade of GOs and foreign hunters. Why would any senior citizen have to be arrested if there not doing anything wrong, and IMO would not help anything at all.
before it was most of B.C. residents now its just many people.
You keep changing your mind.
the sad thing with you and foxdog is that you cant see that others do not agree with the allocation and how it was done either, they just don't think the non-residents should be blamed for it, they have nothing to do with it.
You say you are retired and a senior citizen you should just relax and enjoy life go fishing, bird watching, hiking, hunting before its to late and its all gone because of the lack of conservation in B.C.

Everyone is an idiot if they dont agree with your infantile idea's...
I see its ok for you to have a "peaceful protest" but when the natives have a peaceful protest you want the government to call in the special forces to take them out, ironically your protest is similiar to any native protest I have seen.

Clearly this is a topic of great contention right now in BC - and I don't think that there is an amicable solution to it.

On the one side you have the GOABC and it's members earning a living, (chasing a dream that many of the resident hunters have had all their lives) and paying their dues.

On the other hand you have the resident hunters, who have seen the huge game numbers of 10 or 15 years ago dwindle, as wolves have decimated the herds and now threaten certain areas with complete extinction. These residents are Now venting their frustrations.

When the Provincial (state) Government decided do increase the Guides share of the game allocation in December, this was the tipping point, and as you see from the posts above it's turned bitter and cynical.

No matter how much the residents scream and shout, foreign hunters will still come to BC this fall, pay their money, and hunt the animals that they intend to hunt - that's just the nature of the business, they really don't and won't want to get involved with the local politics - just look around the world, (the big picture if you must) - and specifically at Zimbabwe as a prime example - there the government has behaved like the gestapo, yet every year - the influx of foreign hunters has never ceased!

I find it concerning to see the amount of bullying taking place under the guise of resident / guide allocation, and non more so than on BC's biggest hunting forum.

I'm also concerned that this issue will drive the hunters (guides and residents) so far apart, that they will loose all sight of what's actually best for the animals in their haste to shoot and full their own allocations, at the expense of the other group.

One thing for certain is that we (bc hunters) are in for a really interesting hunting season this year.

Looks like snap took his marbles and went home....

The problem is there simply isn't enough game for everyone to have a successful hunt in BC at this time.

Its a real blow to resident hunters to have their already poor chance of success diminished even further, can you blame them?

Its true wolves have had an impact, not as much as some would have you believe though, some would have you believe natives are the root of all evil.

There are upwards of 20,000 new resident hunters in BC over the last 5 years competing for the same LEH, making odds of getting a draw even less, who decided that was a good idea? How is that strategy working out for you?

The land simply isn't capable of supporting the amount of game that it historically has in the past due to government policy or lack of it regarding habitat for ungulates.

To ridicule others into not coming to BC to hunt is idiotic and stupid and I will distance myself from these so-called "resident hunters" They single out americans when theres many people from other provinces who come here and use G/O services as well to hunt sheep/grizzly/moose etc.

Any way you slice it......These next few years could be a lousy time to come to BC to hunt.

Habitat destruction by the mining industry seems to have had a big impact on game populations. It also opened up areas with new roads. The game gets pushed farther back into less habitat.

It's easy to blame American hunters and guides. Take a good look into the specter called "prosperity". You might see too many spoiled nests.

I loved BC and first hunted there 54 years ago. Don't let it become one big open pit.

Don't think I wood go up to b.c after reading all the replys, what about woofs
In Wisconsin or Illinois, here they are eating up all the dogs and cats there, go get them u don't need a guide or license! Shoot straight and often