I am looking into purchasing some land in Saskatchewan for a hunting retreat, but have no experience with the area. For big bucks and bulls, should I be looking for the southern, farming region or northern forest region? East or west? What kind of problems should I look for? Any help is appreciated!

To familiarize yourself with Saskatchewan, clean off your kitchen table. There you have it!HaHaHaHa.
I am of course, kidding. There is more to Saskatchewan than meets the eye (I hope)!Regards, Bill.

Bill, that was one of the funniest things I've read for some time! I spent a week there one day and I know what you mean.

Kind of reminded me of Ohio about 25 miles south of Toledo. (seeings how I was born there I can make fun of the place). Yup, happiness was seeing it in my rear-view mirror.

Keep Laughin' Bill......ever heard of the Hanson Buck????

LOL

[ 10-24-2002, 19:32: Message edited by: Ranger Dave ]

M1, what are you looking to hunt? Southern Saskatchewan is basically all farmland, open and fairly flat. As you move north, the forested areas become larger, until they cover almost all the terrain that isn't water. Saskatchewan is a pretty big place, roughly the same size as Texas in square miles. The north country is very pretty, all trees and rocks and lakes. There's moose, VERY big whitetails (350-400 lb. class), wonderful fishing. If you get far enough north, there's caribou (although I don't know what the Sask. game regulations have to say about hunting them). In the southwest (Cypress Hills area) there's elk as well as along the Manitoba border (not far from Duck Mountain Park). Yes there are lot's of Saskatchewan jokes, it only has a population of about 900,000 people, and a lot of people leave for work (Will the last person to leave Sasakatchewan please turn the lights out) reasons, but it's still a pretty nice place. My favourite parts of the province are north of the city of Prince Albert, up around Lac La Ronge, and near Uranium City and Lake Athabasca, near the North West Territories border. If your looking for the biggest whitetails, look west of North Battlford, near the Alberta border. This will be what's called parkland farm country, that is rolling farmland that still has a lot of treed areas. Good luck. - Dan

Dan,
Thanks for the info. This slightly crazy idea happened apon me a couple days ago. I was looking for land in Montana or Wyoming and found a link to land in Sas. The prices are very reasonable, but all of the land was in the central or southern part(around sliding hills, livingston). I'm looking for big bucks and bulls. Most of the adds say there are deer and elk on the property, but if I'm going to buy land to hunt, I may as well get the best parcel I can. It sounds like I should be looking farther north than what they are offering. Again, thanks for the info. Anything else you know is welcomed.

I would think that the great preponderance of privately held lands would be in the South, mostly in farmland. These areas hold some huge but scarce whitetails, and the last I was aware, hunting in the South was only open to residents (or at least to Canadians), with alien hunting (no, not Roswell-type aliens, but U.S.-type aliens) only allowed in the North. You might find yourself in the unenviable position of owning land you can't hunt on, so check with local authorities.

Virtually all of the North would be Crown (public) lands. There would be little point in "owning" land in the North for hunting, since it would be largely accessable to you anyway. A small plot for a permanent cabin might be nice.

Good luck, and talk extensively to the the locals and to the Provincial authorities before plopping down any money (even if it does trade at 1 1/2 to 1).

http://www.sasktourism.com/default.asp

This should cover the basics.
And it talks extensively about hunting. .
I have no idea what foreign ownership could entail although they just relaxed the rules for foreign ownership this year. . .
I do know some Americans who have bought houses in small town Sask for Bird hunting season.
Sask produces just about half of B&C havested whitetail in Canada a year and about 1/3 of B&C bears.
ITs pop is OVER a million and 2/3 rds of Sask residents that move to Alberta move back within 10 years

Theres not enough room up there for both Big Foot & me!

Thanks everyone. After a little research, it looks like You have to hunt with a guide if you're not a resident. But that's OK, I figure with the money I save by not buying the land, I could probably hunt there with a guide about 28 times!!!! Now if I can only convince my wife that 28 times is a logical number!

M1, I'm not sure what they call them, but there are also "landowner" tags available. You might look into that. Oh, and no offense meant to the Saskatchewanites (or "ratlanders" as they're known here in Alberta), that's where pretty much half my family on both sides comes from, and quite a few DO still live there. Of course, that's only after they've gone somewhere else to work and make enough money to move back to "semi-retirement". Over a million residents? C'mon, are you counting gophers? Must be. - Dan

Try to find a farm next to Milo Hanson in Biggar Saskatchewan. His fantastic twelve point buck still holds the B+C world record in the typical catagory 213 5/8.

Saw some show on the Outdoor Channel about Deer Creek Farm.

Perhaps somebody can shed some light on this for me but it was mentioned that you must hunt on a "preserve" in southern Saskatchewan. What is the deal on this?

In order to get landowner tags you still must be a resident of the province.In actuality saskatchewan only allows non canadians to hunt in the northern part of the province not in the prime farming area where the big bucks are most common.(unless you want to hunt on one of the indian reservations)Alberta on the other hand lets non residents hunt in the prime areas and may be a better choice for a guided hunt for you.I have lived and hunted in both provinces for many years and would much rather hunt in the fields than in the northern forests.

[ 12-14-2002, 19:26: Message edited by: stubblejumper ]

I have never heard of landowner tags. Perhaps there is confusion with depredation tags which are occassionally issued to control crop or haystack damage. Those posters that mentioned non residents being restricted to hunting in the northern , actually central areas, are correct. also elk, antelope and mule deer are only available to Sask. residents. Non residents may hunt whitetail and moose with the services of an outfitter/guide. Owning land is not enough as you must have made Sask your permanent residence for 6 months previous to hunting. As for caribou they are only available to residents of the particular zones where they are found. This means the far north.

Thanks for the update Murf. Landowner tags are depredation tags, they just go by a differant name. - Dan

As someone mentioned above, they may have relaxed the rules this year, but up to now, it was illegal for a foreigner to own land in Saskatchewan. I know, I looked into it.

I'll take another Pils on that note........

Actually the regulations specify the amount of land Non resident 'aliens' can own.You may be able to own 160 acres or more.
Depending on how you like to hunt you may be better off in the central or northern parts, as here in the south central area it's real tough to stalk a buck laying in the middle of a 640 acre field. I worked as a guide in central Sask.and most clients went home with respectable bucks.
There is no shortage of good hunting/recreation land for sale but as others have said the regulations only allow non residents to hunt the forest and forest-fringe areas.FWIW I got a mule deer on my ranch this fall that scored over 200 and we passed several that were similar.Mark