lots of miles very little game

[curt]

Hey just thought I would throw out some observations, we just came back from a big road trip revelstoke, banff, drumheller, heads smashed buffalo jump, sparwood, fernie, ft steele, invermere,kimberly then back through the shuswap. When we were in Banff camp ground the rangers were very adamant nothing gets left out they are having issue's with wolves had to shoot one last apparently. We only seen 1 wt buck in the banff park nothing else ...I do understand its summer but still Ive seen way more game in the past driving through BC than I did this time seemed odd to me. No game on the Albera side either we were in some of the best mulie country Alberta has to offer nothing.... when we stopped and camped in Ft steele we were only 10 km from where I hunted elk a few yrs back, I talked with the owner of the campground he was telling me its been about 7 years since he has seen any "real herds of elk".......had 2 grizzly bears frequenting his campsite though funny thing is I think that time period is around the time they opened up a cow season........ makes me wonder some too!? We seen 2 elk standing in a lush green field in windermere that was it!!!! 2700km and lots of that through some of the best habitat in north America and we seen 2 elk ya its summer ya its starting to get warm but that just seemed really odd to me, I could drive through princeton at anytime of the day and there will be a few mulies around eastkoot the Serengeti of BC and we saw squat!?!?!?

[Fisher-Dude]

Was there a cow elk season in Banff National Park where you also didn't see any elk?

Didn't think so.

Now that we've settled that, let's talk about the predator load.

[Pinewood]

Well that's shitty.

[XPEIer]

I agree totally, we done a similar trip a few weeks ago, I see more deer in my alley here in Central BC than we seen on a 2500km trip. Now, if you compare this to last September when we went to Waterton, then we seen Whitetail, mulies, elk, moose in about a 1 hour drive. I think time of year plays a big factor.

PL

[curt]

i hope the time of year is a huge factor but what the local owner of 80 acres and a camp ground in ft steele was saying was not very promising

[j270wsm]

Beginning of July we went to Prince rupert. We went from elkford to Calgary then up through Banff, jasper, and prince goerge. On the way home we went PG to Kamloops then across to golden and then south to elkford. On the way up we seen one coyote and one black bear, on the way home we seen 2 mulie bucks. Pretty sad for 4000km

high predator numbers and lots of cow/calf tags has pushed the elk numbers way back

[Mulehahn]

I had to travel to Edmonton the second week of July. Went through PG to stay with family. Saw 3 moose and 2 black bear within 20 minutes of town. Going East through Banff saw over 50 Elk. Coming back West I saw 1 doe the whole trip.

I agree numbers are down but you can't really go by what you see.

[Walking Buffalo]

Is this proof that some BC hunters need some schoolin' on spotting game? lol...

While Alberta is experiencing areas of heavy predator depredation, this is occurring mostly in the north and northwest.
Outside Banff through Drumheller and back to Head Smashed In has some Great deer and elk populations, and few wolves....

[tangozulu]

Worst time of year to see snything. The bush is thick eith leaves. Animals have to move very little to feed and no rut sctivity to make them stupid.

[mpotzold]

Hey just thought I would throw out some observations, we just came back from a big road trip revelstoke, banff, drumheller, heads smashed buffalo jump, sparwood, fernie, ft steele, invermere,kimberly then back through the shuswap. When we were in Banff camp ground the rangers were very adamant nothing gets left out they are having issue's with wolves had to shoot one last apparently. We only seen 1 wt buck in the banff park nothing else ...I do understand its summer but still Ive seen way more game in the past driving through BC than I did this time seemed odd to me. No game on the Albera side either we were in some of the best mulie country Alberta has to offer nothing.... when we stopped and camped in Ft steele we were only 10 km from where I hunted elk a few yrs back, I talked with the owner of the campground he was telling me its been about 7 years since he has seen any "real herds of elk".......had 2 grizzly bears frequenting his campsite though funny thing is I think that time period is around the time they opened up a cow season........ makes me wonder some too!? We seen 2 elk standing in a lush green field in windermere that was it!!!! 2700km and lots of that through some of the best habitat in north America and we seen 2 elk ya its summer ya its starting to get warm but that just seemed really odd to me, I could drive through princeton at anytime of the day and there will be a few mulies around eastkoot the Serengeti of BC and we saw squat!?!?!?

Went to Alberta in June/July. Saw flashing lights on the highway around the Rogers pass area "CAUTION BEAR AHEAD" on 2 occasions. Saw some large deer in the farmer's fields on the way to Drumheller. Was hoping to see some sage grouse near DPP-no luck. At one of the rest spots there was a large sign BEWARE OF WOLVES.

[Zedbra]

Just drove up to Prince George from Squamish and dreaded Williams Lake north as it was getting dark and that highway is usually stained with deer blood; I didn't see a thing - not even any eye glares. After the first hour of seeing nothing, I just opened it up, cruised at a buck twenty looking between the bug guts on my windscreen.

[Jagermeister]

all the critters have migrated to high altitude to escape the bugs.

[sawmill]

Too hot ,wrong time of year, wrong time of day.. I never worry ,game is there, just got to wait a while. It`s always like that here. A month or so and you will see lots of game. And get off the Hiway.

[toad]

if you saw 2 windermere, you missed the other 100 they were with lol. Saw 4 bulls with them the other night

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Just finished a hunting trip up north. 36 hours traveling and we saw one yote, one fox in downtown PG, couple deer and a rat bear or two. While in the mountains we saw the most game I've ever seen.....but even those were bedded down by 7am in the heat.

SSS

[ncurrie]

Hey just thought I would throw out some observations, we just came back from a big road trip revelstoke, banff, drumheller, heads smashed buffalo jump, sparwood, fernie, ft steele, invermere,kimberly then back through the shuswap. When we were in Banff camp ground the rangers were very adamant nothing gets left out they are having issue's with wolves had to shoot one last apparently. We only seen 1 wt buck in the banff park nothing else ...I do understand its summer but still Ive seen way more game in the past driving through BC than I did this time seemed odd to me. No game on the Albera side either we were in some of the best mulie country Alberta has to offer nothing.... when we stopped and camped in Ft steele we were only 10 km from where I hunted elk a few yrs back, I talked with the owner of the campground he was telling me its been about 7 years since he has seen any "real herds of elk".......had 2 grizzly bears frequenting his campsite though funny thing is I think that time period is around the time they opened up a cow season........ makes me wonder some too!? We seen 2 elk standing in a lush green field in windermere that was it!!!! 2700km and lots of that through some of the best habitat in north America and we seen 2 elk ya its summer ya its starting to get warm but that just seemed really odd to me, I could drive through princeton at anytime of the day and there will be a few mulies around eastkoot the Serengeti of BC and we saw squat!?!?!?


Its hot out maybe everyhing is up high and nocturnal. Spent long weekend touring alkali and only saw sheep, deer were all up high.

[4 point]

Heading out scouting in the morning with my 7 year old grandson in Region 3. Second year out for him with me. We'll go to 5,000 feet and we will only see game up there early. To hot for much if any daytime sitings as they will not be out.