Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada Skunked !

I just returned a week ago from a moose, mule deer, wolf hunt near Williams Lake B.C. Out of the five hunters in camp after 6 days we had one hunter take a 1.5 year old bull moose and a 3x4 spindly mule deer. None of the rest of us even saw a legal moose or deer (must be bulls or bucks only). The weather was very fair and cloudless, reaching into the low 60's during the day with some early morning fog and full moon or nearly full moon every night. We hunted via road hunting from daylight until full dark with guides who knew the area very well and were experienced.

The camp was nice and the food was super. The guides did what they could. After being encouraged to buy wolf licenses we found out that there were no wolves due to poisoning. Out of some 8 cow moose only two had calves. That may tell you something.

This camp is a well known and advertised firm but I will not give their name out due to personal liability issues. The contract we had with them said that only mature animals could be taken and that no meat animals would be allowed, yet, the one hunter shot both a meat bull and buck.

What would you do? Three of us have contacted the outfitter who lives in Florida and expressed our displeasure. Nothing has been heard in response.

We have serious moose population problems here. There are lots of wolves, but I did not know that they are poisoning them. In fact, that comes as quite a surprise.

With respect to populations, consider:


See full report from 2012 here:
Moose Population Report from 2012

I live about 2 hours North of Williams Lake - can you be more specific about the area you hunted? Like perhaps a management unit?

Hunting along logging roads....well, keep in mind that everyone can hunt along logging roads. Most of the places where one would expect good results would be horse, boat or aircraft access.

Having said all of that, I think Region 5 is better, overall, for Mule Deer as opposed to Moose. I certainly wouldn't be looking there for a cranker of a bull in any area with road access.

Lastly, it has been quite slow this year. Last year we saw 24 moose and 6 whitetails on a 5 day hunt, this year we saw 1 moose in 7 days - well we saw a second one at night time on the way in, but that doesn't really count).

I don't know the area. We were 15 driving miles N-NE of Lac La Hoch. We were told the wolf poison was being done locally and is some kind of artificial sugar that is being placed in raw meat and left for the wolves.

You are probably talking about Zylitol. The area you were in, by Lac La Hache, is 5-2. I have hunted in that region before. I know people who own a resort in the NW part of the region. There are moose in the area, but after putting two weeks in there in 2010 with two hunting partners we saw one cow and a bunch of whitetails. Mind you our draw ended on September 20 and that was simply too early and it is +1.5 hours NW of Lac La Hache.

Having said that, I will never put in for a draw there again.

I'd suggest heading further North on your next trip.

Just an observation, but I only hunt with outfitters that are from the area I'm hunting. I've hunted with several different places in BC and all the outfitters and guides have been long term residents of the areas I was hunting. I think someone from there has more vested in the quality and quantity of game in the area. It may have nothing to do with the circumstances of your hunt, but I wouldn't be crazy about booking a BC hunt from a guy in Florida.

Rolly, sorry to hear about your trip not working out particularly well. I'm not sure if you have any recourse with the outfitter, good luck on getting some consideration thee.
I've hunted that area in November(s) past. Never thought it was great for moose, seen a few but nothing of note.
We did pull out some nice mule deer. Some of it was logged pretty heavy several years ago (pine beetle). We found that weather (snow) and being able to hunt the rut (just about now) were the keys to real success there. I think the area is on a bit of a migration route. Currently the season is closed for the middle 10 days of November, which was prime time!
I'd heard wolves have worked over the area pretty good recently, which is a shame.
If I was looking to book a moose hunt I'd look further north in the province.

Does anyone know the success rate of all these types of hunts?

Sorry to hear you got skunked.

I live here in Williams Lake and do hunt the area you have described for deer. Kind of surprising results for deer as this is generally a good area for decent Mule deer - but that's hunting.

Now the moose...this areas moose hunting has been by LEH for many years and it is a challenge to get any bull let alone a wall hanger. The biggest moose I've seen taken around here was around Horsefly 5 or 6 years ago and he was nothing special. Heck, I go north for moose and I live here.

Wolves, well wolves are vermin and if you were in WMU 5-2 then there is no closed season and no bag limit. Having said that short of baiting them they are a cautious and intelligent animal and your interaction would be by chance.

I don't know what you were told but this is not a hot moose area. As a resident I know where they are and even then it is no sure thing.

I don't know exact numbers, but obviously they will be better in certain areas than others. Out of curiosity I looked at a couple of Outfitter web sites in the areas that I consider to be "good" for moose. One claims an 85% success rate over the last three years. Another one is +90% on moose/caribou combo, with 100% on one of the two. Another one is 95%.

So there are good spots, but it can cost 2 or 3 times as much.

To clarify my post. The outfitters license is owned by a local. He hires other locals to do the guiding. The lodge is owned and the booking done by a man in Florida.

Sorry to hear your hunt was largely unsuccesful. I live a couple hours north of where you hunted, and while the group I hunt with managed to fill two mature bull tags this year, I can tell you that the last few years haven't really been as easy as things were in the past. Our dirty little secret is that we hunt quite close to the city in places passed up by the majority of hunters. We also get well away from most roads and off quad trails, have trail cams out for most of the year, and have a few tree stands in carefully selected locations. Lots of time on the ground, and plenty on Google Earth as well. That being said, last year I saw just two mature bulls all season. Opening morning one ran by without giving me an opportunity to shoot, and the other appeared near the city limits standing on the dotted line in the middle of the pavement. The days of having high percentage success by cruising logging roads and walking cut blocks are pretty much disappearing here, at least until we come up more effective game management practices.

Got to ask if you had a chance to check references before booking your hunt. I guess there are "truth stretchers" in guiding and outfitting, and no one is likely to advertise low game populations and limited success rates with the expectation of booking lots of clients.