Spatsizi Hunt Please Help

[bicboihunter]

Looking for some awesome advice (I don't need your secret spots) in the Spatsizi area. I'm planning a trip end of August beginning of September and hope to have LEH caribou, moose, and goat between our little group. Is there a way to drive close to Cold fish lake, I've seen many threads saying no and a few saying the road is fine now. Anything current?! Otherwise we are planning to float plane in from tatogga. I realize animals won't quite be rutting yet so any tips? Caribou might be scattered up on the plateau? Moose down by the rivers and streams? Goats in 6-20C around if you're lucky?

Wolverine is open Sept 15. Can you shoot them up there or is that area around Cold Fish meant for onlyLEH? Have lots of questions if anyone is willing to answer, you can PM me or post it on here for other awesome hunters to learn about. From what I hear it's a trip that takes commitment and a lot of effort, me and the buddies are doing it this year before we all get married and start having kids, because then we won't have a chance to do something this long and far away until we're too old to physically do these hikes :) Help make this the trip of our lifetime and we'll post every amazing picture we take :)

Jer

[Blainer]

It's far from a cake walk, study and prepare.
gear is of the upmost import! $ must be spent!
prepare for wet
and get way back

[bicboihunter]

It's far from a cake walk, study and prepare.
gear is of the upmost import! $ must be spent!
prepare for wet
and get way back


That's what we're doing :) If we wanted an easy hunt we wouldn't be considering spatsizi.
It gets quite wet there at end of august? Would the majority of days be rain?
And by get way out do you mean find a way back to tatogga or hike way out far away from cold fish lake?

[ryanb]

Anything but a sheep hunt is not very feasible from the rail grade. You will have to fly. Caribou will be scattered, like you say. Don't expect to see any great concentrations at that time. Most moose that I've seen were up high in the alpine. I understand they may drop down lower later near the rut. It will be very difficult to pack one out to the lake without horses.

I think Blainer is meaning you will have a more successful hunt if you're willing to hike a good distance from your fly in Lake of choice. I don't recommend doing so for moose though.

[bicboihunter]

Anything but a sheep hunt is not very feasible from the rail grade. You will have to fly. Caribou will be scattered, like you say. Don't expect to see any great concentrations at that time. Most moose that I've seen were up high in the alpine. I understand they may drop down lower later near the rut. It will be very difficult to pack one out to the lake without horses.

I think Blainer is meaning you will have a more successful hunt if you're willing to hike a good distance from your fly in Lake of choice. I don't recommend doing so for moose though.


Awesome thanks Ryan. Packing a moose between even three guys would still be a task so I agree that the closer to camp the more convenient. But then again, as hunters we're not really looking for convenient. Because hunting itself is not convenient (Going to a grocery store is). We're going out there expecting to hike Moose meat back to camp for a whole day. Anything closer is a bonus :smile: I've also heard of people floating moose meat on a raft down a river to get it closer.

As for goats, is it a possibility on most mountains around there that they might be there? We'd be willing to do a 3 day satellite camp trip and then hopefully return back to basecamp at cold fish with goat meat in the cheesecloth sacks and a head on my pack :smile:

[ryanb]

No goats real close to coldfish except in the closed area south of the lake (Gladys Eco reserve).

[SaintSix]

As mentioned above, Gladys eco reserve covers almost one whole side of the lake. There is no hunting no camping no fires ect in the area. Bc parks has a write up and a decent map for out of bounds also a update on the roads/trails up there. most being poor condition.

[markathome]

Klappan Rail Grade is a gamble. We had LEH tags for the area (caribou/moose and goat) with plans to use the Klappan as access and spike camp in the park and hunt from there. The road was blockaded during the time we had planned to hunt. No one in my group was willing to risk a 24 hour drive and not be able to access the rail grade. We went elk hunting in the koots instead.

If you want assurances - my advice is fly to a lake and hunt from there. It seems most success is flying into Cold Lake and using that area as a base camp and spike out from there. There's cabins to make it more civilized.

I put in 40 or 50 hours researching our LEH submission, spoke to outfitters, guys who've hunted the area, local business owners and spoke with recreationalists who've been in the area - I'm pretty confident the goat tag and the moose tags could have been filled using the Klappan as a base camp. The caribou tag would have been a wild card.

The river is not an option for a hunting party unless you're experienced with this type of hunting. Personally I wouldn't even consider the river as an option of any sort - there are second or third class rapids on the final stretch that have no walk around and you have to run them. Given the snow this year all over BC - I'd say all rivers will be running high and fast all season. It's one thing to float a flat river with a boat full of moose, whole different bag of shit show with a boat filled with moose. Motors are not permitted as far as I know.

My two cents.

[bicboihunter]

Totally agree! We're planning on flying, a way to drive in would be a bonus, but at no point were we considering boating the rivers in; heard way too many scary stories of that shit. We more meant taking a fairly durable inflatable raft for transporting moose meat if we happen to shoot one close to a small river/stream that flows close by Cold Fish Lake base camp. Thanks for the post :)

[bicboihunter]

As mentioned above, Gladys eco reserve covers almost one whole side of the lake. There is no hunting no camping no fires ect in the area. Bc parks has a write up and a decent map for out of bounds also a update on the roads/trails up there. most being poor condition.

Yep, were planning on sticking to the plateau, and to the north and east of cold fish. Nowhere near the eco reserve. Although as all hunters surely know, the animals gather and have their meetings in those types of areas during hunting season ;)

[bicboihunter]

No goats real close to coldfish except in the closed area south of the lake (Gladys Eco reserve).
Okay. We're going to try Mink Peak. Read a full blog from some recreational hikers that went this exact week 2 or 3 years back and they saw goats and sheep just hiking around. Will grab those locations and give them a shot in addition to Mink. :)

[Blainer]

I seen no goats
bou, sheep, grizz
some excellent advice has been offered
couple more thoughts:
no tree's = no fire, and I experienced wet.
trails from Coldfish will lead you up, around or across
gear,gear,gear
and fly in is only option in my mind
great experience

[bicboihunter]

I seen no goats
bou, sheep, grizz
some excellent advice has been offered
couple more thoughts:
no tree's = no fire, and I experienced wet.
trails from Coldfish will lead you up, around or across
gear,gear,gear
and fly in is only option in my mind
great experience

Ya sounds like an amazing experience. We've already started planning packs, gear and food. What do the Cold fish lake cabins all have inside? Do they have pots and pans and such? Or more a dry, bare place to set up?

Couple other questions:
1. How are the bugs and flies in late August? Pretty bad?
2. Animals like black bear or ptarmigan that are open season at that time...are they fair game or only LEH can be taken around Cold Fish?
3. Any pieces of gear that you've experienced to be priceless? A water purifier, hiking poles a must, etc?
4. Cold Fish lake have pretty drinkable water?

[4 point]

Great fishing at the south
end of Coldfish. Watch out for grizzlies!

[Blainer]

$20 a night I believe
central cookhouse, reasonably equipped
no black bear, lots of ptarmigan
jet boil or such, I favor hungryman
spotting scope, optics in general
oh ya, they have hot showers!

[bicboihunter]

$20 a night I believe
central cookhouse, reasonably equipped
no black bear, lots of ptarmigan
jet boil or such, I favor hungryman
spotting scope, optics in general
oh ya, they have hot showers!

Yep I heard $20 too. So take a shotgun or slingshot along for ptarmigan wouldn't be a bad idea?
You mentioned no trees = no fire. You're referring to not being allowed to cut down trees or that there's not really many trees around?

[Stew]

Up on plateau=no trees. Down at cabins=cut fire wood.

[SaintSix]

water purifiers not really needed if your around the lake or one of the many streams. very clear clean water. the cook house has pots pans ect the cabins only have a woodstove and beds inside. they are $20/person or $35 a family per night. id suggest trekking poles on any hike/hunt. Can be extremely windy on the plateau.

[bicboihunter]

Great stuff guys. Definitely aiming to be overprepared. Would definitely want to do a 3-4 day hike out and spike camp to get way out where there may be a better chance of spotting sheep or goat.

[DeanS]

Sat phone.

[Astepanuk]

Group of us are also planning a trip a fir bit south of Cold Fish Lake in 6-17 have you been chatting with the guys Alpine lakes about flying in they seem very good to deal with always will to answer questions. We are planning our trip for Sept 12..

[redtusk]

alpine lake guys are great