My hunt in unit 522 was a constant disaster due to local road hunters. It seems to the local sport. What a disappointment.

Sprig

Not to be presumtuous, but If your outfitter is at all aware of local hunting pressure he would have put your stand in locations that cannot be disturbed from a road, or hunted more secretive spots that road hunters ignore. 522 is a huge zone, with lots of thick timbered draws that you cannot access from a trail or a truck. sounds like you ran into a lazy outfitter, which of course is pretty common.

After hunting like that for a couple days, Express and I were out the truck and back into the bush with a guide who was prepared to work.

Surprise, surprise - 200m back off the logging roads it was Moose central - sign all over the place.

Found Moose almost immediately - also discovered that they can browse away from you faster than you can move in snow.

Get back in the bush - thats where other hunters ain't - and the animals know it!

Rgds Ian

See http://www.fransdiepstraten.com/id25.html
for some remarks on the topic of road hunting.

Sounds to me you ran into an outfitter that wasn't prepared to do his job.

Frans

Thats too bad bullsprig that your hunt was not successful or enjoyable. As mentioned sounded like a lazy outfitter. Yes there are lots of road jockeys as I call them-LAZY like your outfitter. I dont want to open up a can of worms b/c I know some resident hunters are restricted with mobility and went thru this 2 seasons ago, but for the most part its laziness in my books. And yes I will admit I'll drive around after a morning setup to see where to go for the afternoon, and then make decision on the best area where I may have seen game , and then set up for the afternoon hunt. My opinion is that the road jockeys may see more game, but do not get the quality chance at a good buck or bull.

I know of outfitters that have some good stands/setups on land with exclusive accesss (their own plus others) and with stands on land that other resident hunters have permission on. I personanly get in off the local roads and in the bush. Some of the fields I hunt have hidden areas from the roads which helps but you still get people that see tracks in fields , and drive thru or see my truck parked, and still eithe rdrive into the land or walk in behind me where I'm at-not knowing where I'm setup( I had a close call 2 years ago with that situation and thats all I'll say )-No RESPECT. This is what pisses me off the most. Get out of your truck and walk or if somebody beat me to an area or land I have permission on or on crown land, I better have a PLAN B and go somewhere else. Also, Why drive the along field edges-Stay on the roads! Tracks into fields dont mean free access and drive in.

Anyhow, hopefully next time if you come to Alberta your hunt will be more successful and a better experience than your past one.

I agree with you guys on the lazy outfitter. He tried to blame it all on the huge snow. I know IT didn't help but he had no box blinds for the bitter cold that existed last week. He did have two tripod stands that I sat on but it was tough to stay over 4 hours in the cold. All of this for only 10K.

Sprig

I think you guys are looking at this the wrong way. I try and use the road hunters and edge walkers (as we like to call them) as a free deer push. I get there way early, then get set up in areas that I know deer will be cruising down when the lights come on and just sit and wait. Its amazing how well this works. The other time of day I use is noon. I get set up in a different locations and again when the 'hunters' start heading out for their lunches the deer move again. I managed to get my best deer ever this way about 5 years ago. And the guy who was doing the free push even helped me drag out the deer to boot I never did tell him that the deer was running away from him.

Lonny

10k to hunt whitetail in alberta and you did not get one? Are you serious?

Muledeer/whitetail combo. I shot a 171 mulie

Sprig

If that is what it costs then that is discouraging.but,if i ever have a good year money wise iam going to hunt the whole country in a single year,and take my father along.I will hunt caribou in all three quebec zones,whitetails in saskatchewan,alberta,moose in the NWT,along with goat and sheep.until then,i'll go back to dreaming.

I don't find road hunters a big problem. In fact, they can be a blessing in disquise as they tend not to foul the good spots.

Road hunters are generally a problem only to other road hunters.

I just returned from a cold as hell 10 day hunt in in the Peace River Area. We had a few road hunters, but for the most part my outfitter moved me to areas that werre void of local hunters. Our camp had an awesome week.

187BC
183BC
173BC
8 bucks in the 160's
the otehrs were 140's that should not have been shot.

We saw tons of mulies, whitetails, and moose. I hunted in unit 527.

Perhaps all thaes "road hunters" are locals with some sort of axe to grind with the outfitter, and or the nature of his business.
Many locals have gripes with outfitters, guiding, and non resients, etc. It does'nt make it right, but a bit of understanding of the local mentality, and or attitude, will be enlightening.

Here in BC the road hunters are often seen with Beer cans trailing them. A friend of mine takes his kid out beer can picking on the back roads. The kid does alright.

Here is a secret.
Forget the ice and snow.
Forget the road hunters.
Go to Africa for the same price and have fun. The beer is part of the package as are the meals, daily laundry, warm weather and getting to hunt 6 to 10 different types of animals.

Dogcat,

Been there and done that, will do it again. I agree with you.

From Edmond Oklahoma

Sprig

quote:

Originally posted by dogcat:
Here is a secret.
Forget the ice and snow.
Forget the road hunters.
Go to Africa for the same price and have fun. The beer is part of the package as are the meals, daily laundry, warm weather and getting to hunt 6 to 10 different types of animals.

There are places (LOTS OF THEM in fact) in Canada where there are no roadhunters to contend with.

And if you don't mind hunting in temps under 80 deg F, there are lots of cool things to hunt too.

As much as I like these (and I do like them ALOT) ...



I like these even more...



And you won't step on any of these while hunting in Canada!....



Cheers,
Canuck

quote:

Here in BC the road hunters are often seen with Beer cans trailing them. A friend of mine takes his kid out beer can picking on the back roads. The kid does alright.

Now we have never seen anything like this falling out of your jeep now have we

schmaus, I agree to a point with you however I have a hard time calling these type of people "hunters", I guess because they have tarnished our image to the point that when I talk to a non-hunter that is the image the convey to me of hunting