Chetwynd Area Logging/Pipeline Traffic

[markelson]

Hey everyone, relatively new hunter here, heading up to the Chetwynd area from PG in a couple of weekends. A friend of mine from out of province is joining and I have a permit to accompany him in 7-22 (south of Chetwynd) 7-31 (West), and 7-36 (Northwest). We have tags for elk, moose, bear and deer. Pretty excited for the trip! I am wondering how busy the FSRs in the area are lately. It will be Thanksgiving weekend so I imagine that's going to add a whole mess of hunters on the roads but we are planning to get out and be on foot for much of the time. Any advice on road/traffic conditions out there would be much appreciated!

Thank you kindly.

[northof49]

Best have a 2-way radio with the RR channels programmed.

[Grizz.325]

Very, very busy.

[Husky7mm]

A surprisingly strong amount of animals in between all the access roads as people mostly just pound the roads. Good luck, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take, by that I mean goooo for it.

[XPEIer]

Not to hijack your thread, but the last time I applied for a Permit to Accompany it was limited to one WMU,, has that changed or can you get multiples based on species?

[Downwindtracker2]

If they are moving a oil rig, stay off the roads, those are Albertans , and they think it's hilarious to run BCers off FSR roads.

[markelson]

We were able to apply for 3 different MUs, and 2 different species. Got approved surprisingly quick as well, within a week. I also thought they would only give us one MU, but when I received the permit, all 3 were on it with both black bear and white tail listed on the permit.

[markelson]

Thank you to everyone who replied. We will be sure to get a 2 way radio with the RR channels, I believe you can rent em here in PG for a pretty fair price.

[RyoTHC]

For those that say it’ll be busy, that’s simply not true from my experience.

we just spent almost 3 weeks all around Chetwynd scouting and hunting around both locations and we ran into maybe 4-5 other hunterrs/pairs of hunters in the time we were there and every one of them was road cruising. Trail camera on the road closest to my camp shows maybe half dozen vehicles cruising the road per day if that, and a lot of the vehicles looked to be gas workers and not hunters

I have never laid eyes on so many moose in my life.
I personally saw 4 spikes and 2 big bulls that were legal, at least a dozen cows and most of them had calf’s.


Im going to suggest if you’re not local, to be picky about what you shoot and if you want a moose hold out until you get it. The moose just started talking within the last week, and we heard our first elk bugles Saturday night!

unfortunately (in a good way) we filled 3 other tags pretty quickly and had to come home 10 days early as the butcher who cut our meat was absolutely swamped and needed the freezer space.

night before we were forced to leave I had a legal bull in my crosshairs at last light but couldn’t get an ethical shot with another moose around, and my hunting partner was on a cut block a couple KM away and he had a big bull scrape and thrash away and then…. Zoom! Moose is running and 3 wolves are hot on its trail.

you will get a moose.
elk on the other hand, every single hunting party we talked to was coming up empty handed so far, even the experienced hunters.

we talked to a couple locals that had their cow elk, but they hunt their own property in the AG.


oh and the most important part, if you aren’t willing to get off the quad or out of the truck and hike don’t waste your time. Every single animal we saw was in the bush always from the road and the ones shot were done so standing freehand as we were pushing bush and bumping the animals.

[Husky7mm]

For those that say it’ll be busy, that’s simply not true from my experience.

we just spent almost 3 weeks all around Chetwynd scouting and hunting around both locations and we ran into maybe 4-5 other hunterrs/pairs of hunters in the time we were there and every one of them was road cruising. Trail camera on the road closest to my camp shows maybe half dozen vehicles cruising the road per day if that, and a lot of the vehicles looked to be gas workers and not hunters

I have never laid eyes on so many moose in my life.
I personally saw 4 spikes and 2 big bulls that were legal, at least a dozen cows and most of them had calf’s.


Im going to suggest if you’re not local, to be picky about what you shoot and if you want a moose hold out until you get it. The moose just started talking within the last week, and we heard our first elk bugles Saturday night!

unfortunately (in a good way) we filled 3 other tags pretty quickly and had to come home 10 days early as the butcher who cut our meat was absolutely swamped and needed the freezer space.

night before we were forced to leave I had a legal bull in my crosshairs at last light but couldn’t get an ethical shot with another moose around, and my hunting partner was on a cut block a couple KM away and he had a big bull scrape and thrash away and then…. Zoom! Moose is running and 3 wolves are hot on its trail.

you will get a moose.
elk on the other hand, every single hunting party we talked to was coming up empty handed so far, even the experienced hunters.

we talked to a couple locals that had their cow elk, but they hunt their own property in the AG.


oh and the most important part, if you aren’t willing to get off the quad or out of the truck and hike don’t waste your time. Every single animal we saw was in the bush always from the road and the ones shot were done so standing freehand as we were pushing bush and bumping the animals.

Sounds like a great time. Thanks for sharing.

[S.W.A.T.]

If they are moving a oil rig, stay off the roads, those are Albertans , and they think it's hilarious to run BCers off FSR roads.

Fairly ignorant comment. Actual fact if in bc they are probably from bc. They are bigger and heavier and not going to move regardless of how entitled you are

[RyoTHC]

Fairly ignorant comment. Actual fact if in bc they are probably from bc. They are bigger and heavier and not going to move regardless of how entitled you are

I’ll disagree. Every single gas truck, rig or otherwise I Saw around there had alberta plates.

doesn’t make the original comment true though. Everyone we came across shared the road

[Downwindtracker2]

In 50 years of driving logging roads in BC, never a problem until we were south of Tumbler Ridge. Three times driven off a BC FSR, this was NOT an oil patch road. I know who are ignorant, certainly not loggers.

[RyoTHC]

In 50 years of driving logging roads in BC, never a problem until we were south of Tumbler Ridge. Three times driven off a BC FSR, this was NOT an oil patch road. I know who are ignorant, certainly not loggers.

Guess I’d just let them drive into me, I’m sure they have good insurance and a dash cam is invaluable.

[Downwindtracker2]

I've found logging truck drivers to be both careful and courteous . One of the members here pointed out in the Act that FSR rules are basically highway rules. Of course on private industrial roads, company rules apply. I would avoid them when they are rig moving, but if you must travel that road, your partner hanging out the window with his rifle might help. Then St.Peter can decide who was in the wrong. BTW, that was the only time I found a radio to be necessary.

[Norwestalta]

If they are moving a oil rig, stay off the roads, those are Albertans , and they think it's hilarious to run BCers off FSR roads.

That's hilarious. Might be surprised that the rig moving trucks could of come out of ft st john, but ya they all like to take their share of the road, not to be greedy but it's alot easier to pull your pickup out of the rhubarb then that tractor trailer with a load on. Funny thing I've never been run off the road during a rig move or a log haul and I'm curious about you experience?

[cager]

Get real......