If you could build a hunting & fishing cabin anywhere in BC...

[Eastern Turkey]

Where you you build it? Why?

Would it be relatively close to home and easy to access, serving as a launch point for weekend trips, or completely remote and in the thick of the best hunting, for those once/twice per year hunts?

Would it be on the coast, for access to deep sea and tidal fishing, or would it be inland, in a bowl surrounded by peaks?

Would you choose location based on game abundance, or game variety?

Would you keep it all to yourself, or share it with family and friends, even rent it to strangers?

Reading Dick Proenneke's has got me thinking...

[Bustercluck]

I’ve thought about this many times. I went with no cabin and stay mobile so I can see more. With good camping gear you can have the best of both worlds.

[Would Rather Be Fishing]

I am with you, but there is family to consider: Two young kids and a wife who is not a backpacker - cabin would give you the opportunity to hunt/fish more and sell it as a family getaway

[Would Rather Be Fishing]

For that reason: 3-4h max from home, close to water and huntable area, water/toilets so family is comfortable and you can AirB&B it if so desired to offset the cost.

[Would Rather Be Fishing]

So... that makes it pretty much unaffordable so I am back at stay'n mobile with Bustercluck :-)

[twoSevenO]

I would love a getaway cabin, but i just don't have enough time off work to truly enjoy one. If i could take off a total of about 2-3 months per year i'd be looking at selling my rental property and investing in a modest cabin somewhere in the cariboo. Spending time there to learn how to hunt and fish the area and really get to know things, instead of trying to cram in long weekend trips and spending half my time behind the wheel.

However, with work being from home now, and with Elon Musk making sat internet available almost anywhere, my wife and I will have to really revisit this idea in a few years :)

It would be a great option to work out of the cabin while fishing in the afternoons and hunting on the weekends for a couple of weeks in a row :)

[walks with deer]

Where you you build it? Why?

Would it be relatively close to home and easy to access, serving as a launch point for weekend trips, or completely remote and in the thick of the best hunting, for those once/twice per year hunts?

Would it be on the coast, for access to deep sea and tidal fishing, or would it be inland, in a bowl surrounded by peaks?

Would you choose location based on game abundance, or game variety?

Would you keep it all to yourself, or share it with family and friends, even rent it to strangers?

Reading Dick Proenneke's has got me thinking...

I bought such a thing then quit my job and moved in.now i own hundreds of acres and still own it and the equity ride to go with it.

[wildcatter]

I would love a getaway cabin, but i just don't have enough time off work to truly enjoy one. If i could take off a total of about 2-3 months per year i'd be looking at selling my rental property and investing in a modest cabin somewhere in the cariboo. Spending time there to learn how to hunt and fish the area and really get to know things, instead of trying to cram in long weekend trips and spending half my time behind the wheel.

However, with work being from home now, and with Elon Musk making sat internet available almost anywhere, my wife and I will have to really revisit this idea in a few years :)

It would be a great option to work out of the cabin while fishing in the afternoons and hunting on the weekends for a couple of weeks in a row :)

I built one (24X36) in the Cariboo and got the hell out of the city.
It's peaceful here, hunting and fishing close by, sometime a bit too quite.
However I couldn't have done it 10 years ago, the perks of getting retired, but have to deal with getting older, so not a win-win.

[tigrr]

I own 2 lake fronts, a 2.8 acre(Horsefly) and a 36 acre(Francois). They are 8 hours apart. I will build a 24X40 shop/suit on the 36 acre lot over the next few years. Buying a bandsaw mill so I can afford to build. 3 or 4 more years at Horsefly and then I will move to Francois.

[Arctic Lake]

Hmmm.. If you had a remote cabin as a destination to go to I would worry about vandals when your not there . What do people do about that ?
Arctic Lake

[Bustercluck]

I am with you, but there is family to consider: Two young kids and a wife who is not a backpacker - cabin would give you the opportunity to hunt/fish more and sell it as a family getaway
The young kids thing only lasts a few years. I brought my 4,9 and 10 year old into Nels bight in Cape Scott a few years ago. I’ve seen women packing two young kids with them in the backcountry a few times. Just make a plan and go.

Kids can do far more than you think, just don’t baby them.

[wildcatter]

The young kids thing only lasts a few years. I brought my 4,9 and 10 year old into Nels bight in Cape Scott a few years ago. I’ve seen women packing two young kids with them in the backcountry a few times. Just make a plan and go.

Kids can do far more than you think, just don’t baby them.

Very true, just look how Rose's kids (Hunting family?) turned out.

[Arctic Lake]

Someone care to comment on this ?
Arctic Lake
Hmmm.. If you had a remote cabin as a destination to go to I would worry about vandals when your not there . What do people do about that ?
Arctic Lake

[tigrr]

The remote cabin is to be emptied every time you leave. Because if they can see something inside worth breaking in for it will be gone.
Lots of stories how well equipped cabins are emptied by thieves. Steel gates with lock boxes help but only so much. Some have come to their cabin to find hunters staying there. They wouldn't leave. He poured gas on the porch and down the steps and told them they had 15 minutes to clear out before he burnt it down. They left. It was air access only.
I would never go really remote. Your just asking for trouble due to today's climate.

[RackStar]

Just started working on my land in north central BC, elk / deer/ moose to hunt and goats if you go back enough. Too many lakes to choose from with amazing fishing also. One of the biggest lakes in BC is 700m from my driveway. Building a small cabin this year , then I will focus on starting the off grid house build. Eventually quit my job and let some other sucker pay my mortgage while I live like a hippy in the woods.

[MRP]

Every remote lake I’ve been to I’ve picked a place to put my cabin. But due to life situations I decided to stay mobile. With a portable cabin. http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/showthread.php?160329-Portable-hunting-cabin-build
As for getting cabin vandalized, of the true remote cabins I’ve found that hasn’t been to much of a problem. I’ve been to some that still had guns hanging on the wall, with a guest book on the table. It’s the easy access ones that get hit. I would worry more about a camp than most places I’d put a cabin.

[high horse Hal]

If for purely recreating and for selfish fulfillment , I'd keep it mobile and fluid
It's a big world out there with too many things to see and do to be locked to one location
beach cabin, fishing shack, mountain tent camp, rv tour ......

But that rec cabin would be far easier to share, so would pick a spot with 12 month 4-season activities
Houston comes to mind, not coastal but close,

20 years ago the choice would have been Parksville/Beachcomber area but that has changed too much

[Bustercluck]

Someone care to comment on this ?
Arctic Lake
Pretty much every rural property in Alberta is broken into at some point. People seem to be renting year round lots to put their travel trailers on and the locals tend to just go door to door every winter stealing whatever they can. Most of the folks I talk to just empty their trailer at the end of fall and lave the doors unlocked. Sometimes they come back in the spring and someone has had a party, but nothing too wrecked. They said if they locked the doors than they’d just be fixing a door on top of everything else. Even if they have trail cam pics and names of the crooks it still doesn’t go anywhere, the police aren’t willing to go on any reserve and arrest people so they keep doing it.

A friend of mine had a remote cabin on the west coast of the island. The cabin was boat access or a good walk in from a deactivated logging road. He heard there was some shake blockers staying in it who walked in. They were living in the cabin and working out of it. I don’t know if you’re aware, but shakers tend to be pretty rough around the edges and not the kind of people you want to share a residence with. My friend took his boat out there and pulled in late in the afternoon. He went ashore and started talking to guys and pretended it wasn’t his cabin and had a few drinks with the shakers. He waited until well after dark when the boys asked him to leave so they could go to bed and that’s when he told them it was his cabin and he was staying there, not them.

So yes. It doesn’t matter if it’s remote or close to town. If nobody’s there or nearby than someone is likely going to help themselves to whatever you leave.

[Redthies]

I solved the where to put the cabin thing by buying a house on acreage in the area I would recreate a few times a year. I was going to buy a house in a small town, and a rec property, when the “right” piece of land showed up. It’s in an area popular for summer recreation, but quiet from Labor Day to May 2-4pack weekend. It has a house on it already that we will renovate and live in. There is tons of fishing and hunting in the area, and it’s close to big enough towns for amenities. So between the new home, and a camper, my cabin dreams are satisfied!