Can someone give me some info on how your deer/big game licences work. I find the gov"t site a bit hard to understand(I"m a bit dim), coming from a UK perspective where the rules seem to be simpler.
I can shoot as many deer as I can find within the designated seasons, but you have tags/licenses for one deer/one zone. Can you buy a tag for another zone after you fill the first one, or just go to another province?
I know a lot depends on the zone you"re in, and drawing tags. Can you buy a deer license over the counter every year?(whitetail/mule)
Are moose/Elk/Antelope all draw?
Any input appreciated,
good shooting

go online and take a look. There are general seasons and draws. The general seasons are open to anyone over the counter. If you fill a tag you can't buy another identical tag although for deer there different tags available. Last year I carried a mule deer tag, and whitetail these can be used for either sex in general zones. If I wanted to hunt in a draw only zone I would have had to draw to hunt there-obviously. I also had a supplemental tag which actually was 2 tags for antlerless whitetail. These could be used in a limited number of zones and hardly ever 2 tags in the same zone. So you'd have to travel to different directions of the province to actually use them. I also had 2 wmu 212 tags which were for antlerless deer. And there was an additional extra late season for 2 more antlerless tags. In the midst of all this I bounced over to Saskachewan and bought a non-res tag there ($150)and shot a little buck. You can buy a bear tag non-draw for some zones and you can get an additional bear tag for some zones. Most moose are draw only unless you have a bow or can go further north.

Clear as mud???????

I have problems understnding them too.

the chef

Thanks Chef,
So you can shoot several deer a year, if your prepared to enter the draws, and travel to other zones. I have looked at the rules and regs site, but it"s a bit daunting !
Thanks,
good shooting

Brass - Look at it this way. You can buy a general Whitetail tag that is good for any zone in the province. There may be zones that are draw only that I am not aware of. In the north I can shoot a Whitetail buck anywhere. There is a timeframe of a week or so that I can shoot a doe on that tag if I choose not to shoot a buck. I believe there are some doe draw zones but I don't apply for them. Mule deer are on a draw system in most of the province. There are some zones where you can buy a general mule buck tag over the counter. Mule doe as far as I know are on a draw basis. Again there may be exceptions. Where I live in the north if I am drawn for does I get four tags. On the draw system you have to state what zone you want to hunt in and you have to shoot in that zone but you can shoot your buck in one zone and your does in another if you apply that way. If you get your deer draws you can shoot six deer legally a season. One Whitetail buck on a general tag, one Mule buck on a draw tag and four mule does on a draw tag. We are going to have a lot of dead deer this spring so I would not be surprised if the four does is cut back. Hope this helps.

So can non-resident aliens hunt Alberta without a outfitter??

No they can not.

Brass thief, the above is of importance unless you are planning to move here, which from your questions you might well be considering. If not, you are stuck with booking a hunt with an outfitter, or finding someone who will take you out on a Hunter Host license.

Let me tell you, there is NO shortage of hunting opportunities throughout the year. Unless you don't have to work for a living it quickly becomes a matter of selecting your priorities for the year. The regs are a bit wild for those of us who were used to country-wide rules, and a small lease to worry about, but not so difficult that you couldn't understand if you put your mid to it. And if you decide not to, well, there's always a Fish and Wildlife officer willing to write a ticket!

Frans

I"m surprised at the doe tags, I hunted New Brunswick 2 seasons and doe tags were almost non-existant(although there were probably a lot fewer deer there)
Yes Frans, if all goes well, I should be living in Alberta by this time next year.I"m looking at the South in particular(Lethbridge county)
There are many advantages and disadvantages in comparing your hunting oportunites to ours (as Frans will appreciate!), but you do have much better gun laws than here.
I can shoot deer for 9 months of the year here in Northern Ireland, 12 months if I go over to Scotland. The downside is I can"t fire a gun anywhere near where I live, and even my hunting areas are getting built up. I fancy being able to shoot on my own property.
Anyway, thanks for the input.
good shooting

"...surprised at the doe tags..." It's got to do with the buck vs doe ratio. One buck has more than one girlfriend. Too many bucks in relation to the number of does or too many does in relation to the number of bucks screws up the population as a whole. Doe tags are usually on a draw basis by the WMU(Wildlife Management Unit) and the season open(firearms or archery. In some WMU's, a doe tag for bow season is easy, but not so easy for the firearm season. Hunter numbers.
The MNR bone heads, here in Ontario, have finally got it through their thick heads that there are too many deer here. (Corn and soy bean fields run for miles and miles in every direction in some areas.) We can buy more than one deer tag per year in some WMU's. I suspect the insurance companies told them they were not happy having to shell out millions of dollars in claims for car/deer collisions. Mind you, we still have huge areas where hunting is not allowed due to there being a great big city there or close by. And some areas where no calibre greater than .275 is allowed. (Yes, it's daft.) Some WMU's are shotguns only, some shotguns and primitive weapons(archery or muzzle loaders) only.
brass thief. Non-residents, in all Provinces, pay considerably more for a hunting licence than residents do. For example, A Ontario resident moose tag costs $43. A non-resident pays $360.

brass thief

First of all we don't like anyone stealing our brass out here in Alberta so a brass thief may not be welcomed.

A lot of the answers posted so far are well intentioned but not really much clearer than the "Guide to The Hunting Regulations". Some of the posts are down right misleading.

If you just look at tags you can buy "over the counter"(as a resident once you move to Alberta) you can get : Moose, Elk, Bighorn Sheep, Black bear (2 tags in some areas), Mule deer, and white-tail deer. Then there are a few more deer tags some of which are only good in certian Wildlife Management Units (WMUs). Some are good for white-tails only and some for white-tail or mule deer and all but one extra tag good for does only. One of them can be a white-tail buck or doe. In all there are 8 additional over the counter deer tags. So the first 7 tags listed above and the 8 additional deer tags and you can hunt with 15 tags without entering any draws (and cougar as well).

When it comes to DRAW tags it gets more complicated. Some of the draws are for Moose, Elk, Mule deer and you cannot have an over the counter tag for one of them if you are drawn for one of them.

Have a good one.

Robin in Rocky

Thanks Robin,
So there"s no shortage of hunting oportunities. A guy would be busy to fill all those tags in the time allowed, esp if he had to travel to different zones.
As for stealing brass, it may not be so tempting when it falls in the snow!
good shooting.

brass bandit
You are right there is no shortage of hunting opportunity in Alberta. On this thread we have been talking about big game hunting. Then there are a couple types of grouse and pheasant and Hungarian Partridge. Ducks and Geese. Loads and loads of Geese. Lots of guys spend the winter hunting Coyotes, wolves and fox. Using a varmint call and calling coyotes into gun range is a really fun hunt. And the fur can be sold to pay for the hunts. Then in the spring there is SPRING BEAR season, which many hunters look forward to all winter. Bear rugs or head mounts for trophies and black bear meat is great. A guy can hardly find time to go fishing, the hunting is so good.

Robin