A piece of cake. I cleared through Toronto. It took about fifteen minutes. The outfitter had sent me the form so I had it filled out when I got off the plane. Seems like I paid about $35 or something like that.

It was a little more time consuming coming back through Toronto with the gun, horns and cape, and about a kilo of sheep meat. I think the rookies were working that day, but it all worked out.

When I opened the gun case before putting it back on the conveyor I had a Russian working the counter. I thought I was going to miss my plane, he asked so many questions about the gun, hunting, ammo, etc.

Don't fret. Every time I've heard horror stories about getting into and out of a country I've found that if you keep your cool things work out. If you want to play Mr. Smartass things can grind to a halt pretty quickly.

What is involved to transport a rifle to Canada for a hunt? Is it a major hassle or pretty easy?

Jeff

Big YES on that. I've had a bow hunter come in, and he couldn't keep his mouth shut, and got worked over. He was still pissed three days into the hunt. A lot of Yes Sirs, or No Mams is what is required, smile, be polite, and you'll sail on through. The form and the payment is really all that is required, so there shouldn't be an issue if you take care of that. Remember, THEY have all the power, and can make this as easy and difficult as they want. This goes for every border crossing, not just the US/CDN border.

A little story to demonstrate, dating from when I got back from a trip (this happened on the Dutch border). Many people in the line got waved through, not really having their paperwork examined (this was prior to 9/11). An American gets picked out of the line, and gets asked to hand over his passport for inspection. That would have taken three second, had he kept his mouth shut. But he couldn't resist making a remark about the unfairness of his being inspected. The customs guy was apparently having a bad day, and told the American to have a seat off to the side. The officer continued working the line, and said to me (in Dutch); "That's how we deal with big mouths, I'll take care of him after I finish this line of people."

They have the power, don't antagonize them.

When we entered the US a month ago for a visit to friends in MT, my wife still had here (expired) visa in her passport, dating from March when she flew to and from Europe through Minneapolis to go to her mothers funeral. Not turning in your temporary visa before expiry date will put you on the black list. This visa, which was given only for the sake of changing planes in Minnesota (rediculous waste of effort, but probably a little cash cow) should have been removed by some customs officer somewhere. But it's no good discussing that with the guy dealing with your case. Just explaining the situation and playing dumb and innocent helped us through in no time.

Frans