Empire Valley/ Churn Creek

[oddsix]

Has anyone ever spotted a moose in 5-03?

And have you hunted there larley or have any pics?

[srupp]

Yes I have indeed spotted moose ther on 3 occasions..no bulls yet
Steven

[Sitkaspruce]

Way back in the late eighties/early nineties we used to see a couple every trip there. Also one or two dead ones:confused: on the side of the road. Quite going back to that area when everyone and their dog would show up. Funny that we only saw one bull. We used to hunt Gaspard and Little Gaspard creek area.

[Schutzen]

Way back in the late eighties/early nineties we used to see a couple every trip there. Also one or two dead ones:confused: on the side of the road. Quite going back to that area when everyone and their dog would show up. Funny that we only saw one bull. We used to hunt Gaspard and Little Gaspard creek area.

Ah hah...So your the guy! Just kidding..was back there for a look around couple seasons ago..man what a lot of change! We took a couple moose and a few deer there in sucessive seasons around 1996 I think.

[thatskindafunny]

Way back in the late eighties/early nineties we used to see a couple every trip there. Also one or two dead ones:confused: on the side of the road. Quite going back to that area when everyone and their dog would show up. Funny that we only saw one bull. We used to hunt Gaspard and Little Gaspard creek area.
Hmmm used to hunt there at that time also. I wonder if we ever met. One fellow did see a moose and we did find a few drops. Sure miss that spot, but not the hunters.

[oddsix]

yeah i really enjoy that spot....have you guys ever been to that cabin. we call it the prince george cabin cause there is a bunch of guys from pg that built it and come there every long weeekend

[scuba]

i have hunted 5-03 for deer every thanksgiving long weekend for 20 years and it seems every year i see one moose and only one moose but it is usually a bull. my uncle shot a nice bull there 15 years a go when it was any bull gos. but i wouldn't say they are abundant in the area.

[Sitkaspruce]

Hmmm used to hunt there at that time also. I wonder if we ever met. One fellow did see a moose and we did find a few drops. Sure miss that spot, but not the hunters.

We used to camp right at the junction of the Gaspard Road and the road that went into the back side of the Churn, right before the Little Gaspard Creek gully and the old line cabin that was in the gully. We used to go up when it changed from any buck to 4 pt season, usually around Nov 25-27 to the end of the season. Blue chev w/camper and red Toyota and wall tent.

[Fisher-Dude]

yeah i really enjoy that spot....have you guys ever been to that cabin. we call it the prince george cabin cause there is a bunch of guys from pg that built it and come there every long weeekend

I've been to the cabin. Really nice bunch of guys that we swapped BS with for an hour or so. Deer everywhere, saw 80 in 2 days, about 25 of which were bucks. No mooses though.

[David Heitsman]

I've spent a week at Empire/Churn either horsebacking all over or on the river with a jet for the last 7 years and have yet to see a moose or droppings.

A few black bears, coyotes, sheep and 6 wolves on Airport Mtn and lion tracks two years in a row in the snow on Clyde but no moose yet. I keep waiting to see a whitetail in there. Shouldn't be long if they aren't in there
allready.

C. Choate writes about elk and buffalo introduced back in the 70's (later extirpated) but I kind of keep an eye out for them as well.

Choate also writes about a huge boa type snake found along the river...
maybe too many long winter months in the cabin eh?

[meat keeper]

:-)I have hunted the area on and off for the last 20 years .I've only seen about a half dozen moose (one small bull).Great place for new hunters with antlerless leh tags.

[CHilko21]

I've read Ted (Chilco) Choate's book, Unfriendly Neighbours, and from the sounds of things, the moose used to be absolutely thick in the area, I've seen a few, one bull this past season.

[KevinB]

I think a lot of the bulls winter at pretty high elevations in that area. A friend that was doing some heli drop work in 5-3 and 3-32 right next door found a high elevation swamp/meadow that was full of sheds. Also I have hunted some of the alpine in 5-3, 5-4, and 3-32 and I've seen lots of moose sheds way up above treeline. Saw a pretty big bull in the alpine in 5-4 a few years ago. I think where most folks hunt 5-3 they are going after deer, and are a bit too low elevation to see many moose unless it's a really heavy snow year that pushes them to lower elevations before the end of hunting season. Just my 2 bit guess.

[horshur]

Winter moose sign in big basin last time I was there.

[hatchetjack]

That cabin is called the 4 point Hilton, if it's the one I'm thinking of on the Iron Gate rd. Bunch of guys from PG. They have their own logo that features a profile of a 4 point buck along with the words "red is dead", which is a phrase used to help one of the guys remember when his safety was "safe" and when it was on "fire"

I've hunted Churn/Empire for many years, but was turned off this year by the incredible number of hunters we ran across.

The only moose I've ever seen in there was in the back of some guy's truck. I think it came from Gaspard area...

[Islandeer]

They are in their preferred spots. Took a bull from their 7 yrs back from alsager creek.:cool::lol:

[RBH]

Choate also writes about a huge boa type snake found along the river...
maybe too many long winter months in the cabin eh?

Maybe it was a bull snake (gopher snake). This web site says they inhabit the area Lillooet to Lytton so not impossible that they would make their way a bit north of that.

http://wlapwww.gov.bc.ca/sir/fwh/wld/atlas/species/gopher.html

[Soup]

I'll add my 2 cents as well... I hunted that area a bit in the early 90's, by 95-97 it was crawling with hunters. I haven't been back... the only moose sign I saw was up high...above treeline, oddly enough there was a fair amount of sheds there too.

Oh, I never seen any snakes there, but I saw a picture of a snake that lives in that country in Chris Harris's new book "Spirit in the Grass". The snake was called a Rubber Boa... If any of you guys or gals love that beautiful country I would highly recomend his book.

http://www.chrisharris.com/


Soup

[xcaribooer]

I've spent a week at Empire/Churn either horsebacking all over or on the river with a jet for the last 7 years and have yet to see a moose or droppings.

A few black bears, coyotes, sheep and 6 wolves on Airport Mtn and lion tracks two years in a row in the snow on Clyde but no moose yet. I keep waiting to see a whitetail in there. Shouldn't be long if they aren't in there
allready.

C. Choate writes about elk and buffalo introduced back in the 70's (later extirpated) but I kind of keep an eye out for them as well.

Choate also writes about a huge boa type snake found along the river...
maybe too many long winter months in the cabin eh?



Choate also writes about seeing sasquatches up there too!;) to much time alone in the bush I think..

[David Heitsman]

Sasquatches:

I wasn't going to mention that part!

There is also that Indian Grizzly guide (Clayton Mack) from Bella Coola that wrote a fair bit about Sasquatches. Makes you wonder...

[mark]

While talking about species in that area, I thought id mention, my buddy saw a turkey on the breaks of the fraser while sheep hunting this year! For real, he had another guy with him and they both saw it twice!

[Islandeer]

That's where my Kokanies went last year!

[oddsix]

wow a turkey, i would never think to see one there

[mark]

I've heard this before. Supposedly they are slowly migrating from east to west.GREAT NEWS. Hopefully the Elk will follow!

the elk arnt far behind! theyve been spotted around ashcroft recently, and theres certainly a few hanging around 100 mile area!