Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada Shiras Moose range in BC?

Anyone know how far north into BC can one encounter Shiras moose?

Are there maps you can point me to that show the typical ranges for Shiras and Canada moose in BC?

txs

I think they are primarily in the southeast part of the province. I've heard that shiras moose taken in BC are not recognized by the various record books, but Im not sure how true that is.

Yea. I've come across general area maps of Shiras moose ranges, but nothing more specific even from BC's ministries.

Someone who spends time in Nimpo Lake every year insists the moose there are Shiras, but I kinda doubt that.

Oh, well, I'll keep searching....

I think that Shiras Moose in BC are soley a product of SCI and southern BC outfitters because it is too hard to draw a Shiras tag in the lower 48 that would be needed for various SCI slams.

Hmmm... you may well be right.

Here's my SWAG plan. I'm gonna plot the BC outfitters that offer moose hunts on a map then mark which ones don't talk about Shiras moose.

Puddle;
Good morning to you sir, I hope you're keeping warm and all are well in your section of the globe.

When I read your query I did a wee bit of reading on some BC outfitter's sites as well as digging around on some BC hunting forums.

This more or less sums up the locals' views on the subject.

".... has it right. Biologically they are essentially the same. Kootenay moose will successfully breed with Alaskan moose and create moose offspring. Their size is a result of adaptation to their environment. Here in the EK we have small Canadian moose according to B&C and P&Y (respectable organizations, imo) or very large Shiras moose according to SCI (which I have little respect for). A few years back our regional biologist did some work to have them deemed Shiras. SCI bought it, price of hunts went way up and boom.....LEH."

I've hunted over in the Kootenays as well as done a fair bit of camping there and have seen about a good handful of the moose there. If there's any significant difference between a Kootenay moose and an Okanagan moose, I - admittedly not a biologist or alces expert of any stripe - failed to see it.

Our moose in the south usually are smaller than the ones from the Cariboo and further north - usually. For instance we saw a bull last year that we felt had the biggest antlers we'd seen in nearly 40 years of combing the back country here and in all probability it was about 55" give or take. It was noticeably bigger in body than most of the bulls too, so he was a good sized one for here in all ways.

Then as one nears the Yukon of course they get some big ones because they're likely the Alaska/Yukon variety, though I'm reluctant to call them a subspecies as they all seem to be able to breed successfully with each other?

While I've not updated it in quite a good while and likely should, there's still some valid information for visiting hunters up in the sticky marked thread about "Planning a Hunt in Canada" that might be useful.

The beer flu stuff changes by the minute at present it would seem, so one has to be super diligent with that anymore I'd suggest.

Hopefully that was useful to you or someone out there. Good luck with the hunt planning and Merry Christmas.

Dwayne

Thanks BC30cal. You've provided some area names that I can plot on the 'ol map.

Oh, and when I asked the Nimpo lake guy "were the moose there big, or really big?" he responded with "oh, they're really big!"

Yeah, probably not Shiras.....

Puddle;
Well....

As a general broad statement and we're both acutely aware of how slippery that slope might be, the folks who suggest there might be Shiras in BC are suggesting that they're in the extreme southeast corner, say Creston to the Alberta border.

Even that's contentious among residents, but usually it's the moose found about 6 hours east of us and as far south as we are - so just so into BC from Montana and perhaps - perhaps a few north of Idaho in the Creston area.

Again that's up for pretty serious mud flinging here.

The chap up at Nimpo - and I don't know him or them or anyone up there from a fig - has Canada moose. They're likely going to be bigger bodied and antlered than the Okanagan ones we see since they're 10 hours north of here, but I cannot see anyone claiming they'd be Shiras even here would be taken seriously.

Again to be clear I'm no expert on moose or anything at all really, just a serious student of a few things at best.

The beer flu mess has been really and truly brutal on the outfitting industry - well tourism altogether here in BC really and that might mean screaming deals and it might also mean some folks might say nearly anything to keep their doors open.

On some levels I don't blame them as the tourism operators have been royally shafted without question, but that doesn't mean that facts which we knew to be true before the pandemic have been altered - not with regards to wildlife as far as I'm aware anyways.

All the best this Christmas once again.

Dwayne

And the same best wishes to you as well!

That's the most succinct information I've been provided yet. Thanks.

I've been poking around about Nimpo as there's a cabin there I could potentially use if all the planets align right....

Best,
Pud

A horse is horse, of course, of course,
And so is a moose a moose.
Don't shoot a horse that looks like a moose,
Or you'll wind up in the kaliboose.

Puddle, are looking for a Shiras hunt?

I’ve hunted a few times outta anahime lake just past nimpo, they’re Canadian moose there

If they classify Okanagan moose as Shiras (and I have seen them within a mile of the border) then I have a couple I want to enter! The better one is a 56" heavy antlered bull a friend shot near mid lake on the west side when he and I were looking for a buck. Good many years ago.

Is it true that when a moose steps south over the line he becomes a Shiras? Some of those Paysayten bulls are living a double life, split personality.

Alaska brown bears lose their status and become grizzly bears when they cross the line.

And you can draw your own line, generally.

Fresh outta B&C 14th edition book.

Judman,

On the other hand, SCI includes a portion of southwestern Alberta and southeastern BC in their "official" Shiras range.

Ya they do. Guess it depends on what records book a guy wants to enter? I know our Roosevelt’s elk, the “boundary” is I-5, they cross the interstate quite frequently.

Gotta shoot 'em on the "correct" side of I-5!

The northern B&C dividing line between grizzlies and brown bears in Alaska is partly a straight line across the state.....

😂😂 for sure!!!

I had believed , these Shira's moose were south of Hiway #3 ( Crowsnest highway)
I had taken Safari Club hunters into the upper Flathead of B.C.( for the Outfitter located there)
We had good success too.
This was in 1990 or so. I am going by my memory.