Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada What Do Hunting Guides Carry......

Ok,,,,,, I Posted this Question in my Alaska Forum,,,,, now I'm wondering about Canada,,,,, do Guides there carry Long-Guns like here in Alaska,,,,, what say you..... ? Lj

For the most part, when guiding for black bears and moose, I do not carry a rifle... before the Grizzly hunt ended in BC, I carried a Ruger M77 Mark II Stainless .350 Rem Mag loaded with 250 grain Partitions. When I do carry a rifle in Ontario and Saskatchewan, it is either a Ruger M77 Mark II .358 Carbine or a Ruger M77 Mark II Express .30/06.

Ok,,,,,, thanks for the reply...... Lj

I'm pretty sure most jurisdictions in Canada discourage guides from carrying a rifle unless they are also licensed to hunt the species being pursued by the client. The obvious exception that I know about is Yukon grizzly bear guides, who are required to carry a rifle when accompanying a client. But that rule is often ignored because grizzly are often hunted as a species of opportunity in the Yukon. The BC grizzly hunt was shut down, and I'm not sure what the rules are in the NWT. Very few if any guides are allowed to carry hand guns in Canada. It would scare our government too much. Wilderness handgun carry permits are theoretically possible, but are difficult to get approved.

Ok,,,,, appreciate your comments, and yea,,,,,, wouldn't want to scare those CITY folks..... Lj

There is nothing stopping us in British Columbia from carrying a firearm....as a guide.

When I did some we guiding I carried a marlin .45-70 using hand loads using. 400 grain Speer

Hopefully BarryT will chime in on this thread.

You were a Grizzly Guide in BC? Laughing!

Every guide I have known in BC carried a rifle. I always did. GD

Back in 1986, I hunted moose and caribou in Saskatchewan with a Cree guide. He carried an antique Remington auto-loader chambered for 35 Remington.

Sherwood

Yes

You are a hoot. I drove a boat once. Can I be called Captain?

Is this in the area that your buddy sold to the anti hunting group?

Do you think guiding for Grizzly is not a thing? If it is a thing, and you do not know me, you would be suggesting what? That I am lying? I have nothing to prove to some faceless drone trolling on the internet, believe what you wish. I have spent most of my life in the bush, guiding, and outfitting all while working a regular job and raising a family... now that I am retired, I am back to guiding full time again. Some folks "do" and some folks "heckle."

I'm recognizing the attitude and the verbiage, so if you are who I think you are, I will have to figure out how to put you on the CF ignore list... life is sweeter when your mute button is engaged.

You can get the hat and everything......... It will be fun.

Heavy on the "Lil..."

You got that right. Grizzly guide indeed. I’ll see more Grizzlies picking flowers for Mother’s Day this spring than you will in four lifetimes.

I highly doubt that... in five days on one river on one hunt we had 60 grizzlies "in range." That was just one outing. But I'm curious why you feel the need to enter a pissing contest? I did not suggest at any point that I am Phil Shoemaker's mentor, only that I have guided for grizzlies in BC and when I did I carried a Ruger .350 Rem Mag... what's your beef little fella?

AK375DGR;
Good morning, I hope the last Sunday in March finds you and yours well.

The local sheep guides sometimes will pack a rifle and sometimes not, depending mostly on the guide I'd say and where they're going. What I mean by that is if they are likely to pack meat in the Okanagan sun, the pack going in is pretty empty.

When they're guiding for black bears however, most of them seem to be armed, though not always as there was an incident 20 odd years back where a grizzly was stalking a black bear hunter and guide and the guide had the hunter shoot the grizzly finally. It was close apparently as it was subject to the CO's investigating it. I'm not sure if that guide now packs or not, but like as not I would.

A buddy of mine used to guide for black bears and the occasional grizzly up where hoytcanon did and in his case he used a Sako .375 H&H with a low powered Leupold variable. This was in the days when the early non-grooved Barnes X was on scene and he shot enough of them that it coppered the barrel up to the point where he said he couldn't get it to group anymore and resisted all his efforts to remedy the situation.

His boss packed a .338 Win Mag, not sure what rifle though sorry, but he said he never saw much difference in terminal performance on bears that needed a helping hand shuffling off this mortal coil.

I will say I do recall his Sako being nicer to shoot off the bench than a Ruger .338 Win Mag I had at the time, but that could be stock shape too. I'll note we both felt that way and he's a larger specimen than I am - but that doesn't take much as I'm no giant.

Having had all the black bears be good bears and run away from me until one didn't, I personally do not go into the hills on purpose without armament unless not legally allowed to such as in a National Park - but that's me.

Thanks for the interesting thread and all the best to you as we head into warmer and longer days.

Dwayne

I packed a 338 win mag a few season in bc and the Yukon. Never really packed it but had it in camp. I would take it when going to pick up moose meat with the string. That 338 got loaned out a few time to clients and they used it.

My first in in the nwt I packed a savage 99 in 300 it was pretty handy but again I didn’t use it and could have used a bigger gun when a moose my client wounded took off never to be found. My second season I took a 300wby as I had sold the 338.

Most guides I know pack either a bolt in 300 or pack 45-70 guide guns around. I prefer a bolt gun to a guide gun in case there is some clean up work that needs done.

In Newfoundland, our guide carried an axe and a bunch of tins of Vienna sausages.

Hoping to get back there.

My guide last fall carried a pack of smokes and a 2 way radio. Smoke breaks were used to call moose.



Yup .... I love it there. Esp the Codroy Valley. Been 4x. (3x work related)

Curious, what do you carry firearm wise for those big grizz in Alaska? Just seeing one would scare the crap out of me 😆

The Newfoundland caribou guide I bow hunted with was unarmed and under-dressed for the wet windy weather...froze his butt off in his blue jeans.

The BC grizzly guide I bow hunted with carried a Ruger 77 .338 Winchester Magnum

The NWT muskox guide I bow hunted with carried a Winchester M94 30-30

The NWT Dall sheep guide I bow hunted with carried a Savage 110 (I think, plastic stock bolt action) 30-06

The NWT Mt Caribou guide I bow hunted with carried a Tikka 30-06

The Nunavut polar bear guide I bow hunted with carried an ancient rusty .303 British Enfield...and rooted the ice out of the muzzle with his seal gaff hook when the rifle got coated with salt water that immediately froze all over the rifle shooting at a seal at 3' (missed as they usually look away at the shot straight down to keep from getting sprayed with salt water or hit with ice). His usual rifle was a Remington 700 .222 that he planned to shoot his polar bear with later in the winter.

The Nunavut Central Barren Ground Caribou guide I bow hunted with carried a Ruger .204. He'd killed a grizzly with it 4 days before my arrival. The fresh hide was drying over his balcony railing. Said it took three shots, one to slow him up and two to calm the bear down. He liked the .204 for wolves.

What do hunting guides carry?

Mostly Lyme disease....

That can be the case in some areas, for sure. Fortunately, where I guide there are no ticks, and no deer... but I do some personal hunting in some tick infested areas. Spring bear hunting in MB is one of those times.

No truth to this^ at all. At least in western Canada. I've been guiding professionally for 34-years in BC & Yukon. Every experienced guide I have ever known packs a rifle. Any that dont, are irresponsible. One of a guides responsibilities is to keep his clients safe. Even black bears can be dangerous. Moose also. Ethically, a guide should also be capable of killing a wounded animal if required. Yukon guides are not REQUIRED to carry a rifle, but you are nuts if you dont. Yes guides are allowed to carry handguns. Few want to do the paperwork, even though it really isnt a big deal. Yes I have done it, and carried a handgun legally for many years. Not sure where you got your info, but its very inaccurate.

i do agree you have to be dumb but some are taking the gamble as the outfitters every year.

i used a 300 savage take down while i guided for black bear and barren ground in north east of the country.

i d like to have an atc but only a few got it but some are taking handguns without asking the permissions but we cannot talk about it.

Nothing wrong with a 300 savage, especially in a 99 take-down. I carried a model 88 308 for a few years. Nice saddle gun.