Living in the city - how do you do it?

[Eastern Turkey]

Hey all,

Those living in or around the Vancouver area, what's your hunting program? Do you do frequent, short trips (weekends) to areas not far away and just deal with the odds (high pressure, low numbers, thick bush, etc.)? Or do you take bigger chunks of time off to go further for longer? How do you maximize your hunting experience?

I moved to BC about a year ago and don't get nearly as much time to explore the wild country as I'd like, let alone hunt it. Was out a few times so far and have been having a rough go - my options are very limited without being able to drive most FSRs (car too low, new truck ~6 months away) and the bush is nearly too thick or steep to walk, navigate or see through in the places I've tried to go on foot. Needless to say, I'm a little frustrated spending my weekends driving around and not really getting anywhere, but seemingly having endless wilderness in this wonderful province. I get pretty cranky when I go too long without a proper hunt...

I'm also dreaming of trying my hand at some proper "western big game hunting"; hiking into a glassing spot and spending hours dissecting sparse hillsides. Being from the east, I'm used to having my hunting options very limited: find a woodlot 10-100acres within a couple of hours of home that holds whitetails or turkey and isn't overrun by other hunters, get to know it well, maybe cut some shooting lanes, and basically wait for the stars to align.

I know it takes time to learn the land, find my spots and my own hunting style, and I am excited for that. But I also want to learn from the guys that have figured out what works for them.

[dino]

Hey all,

Those living in or around the Vancouver area, what's your hunting program? Do you do frequent, short trips (weekends) to areas not far away and just deal with the odds (high pressure, low numbers, thick bush, etc.)? Or do you take bigger chunks of time off to go further for longer? How do you maximize your hunting experience?

I moved to BC about a year ago and don't get nearly as much time to explore the wild country as I'd like, let alone hunt it. Was out a few times so far and have been having a rough go - my options are very limited without being able to drive most FSRs (car too low, new truck ~6 months away) and the bush is nearly too thick or steep to walk, navigate or see through in the places I've tried to go on foot. Needless to say, I'm a little frustrated spending my weekends driving around and not really getting anywhere, but seemingly having endless wilderness in this wonderful province. I get pretty cranky when I go too long without a proper hunt...

I'm also dreaming of trying my hand at some proper "western big game hunting"; hiking into a glassing spot and spending hours dissecting sparse hillsides. Being from the east, I'm used to having my hunting options very limited: find a woodlot 10-100acres within a couple of hours of home that holds whitetails or turkey and isn't overrun by other hunters, get to know it well, maybe cut some shooting lanes, and basically wait for the stars to align.

I know it takes time to learn the land, find my spots and my own hunting style, and I am excited for that. But I also want to learn from the guys that have figured out what works for them.

You need to understand that you have to work harder to achieve success. Learn to hunt the thicker County. If you like to just glass and spot, you're missing out on where most animals hang out. Timber hunting is hard but very successful.
Start off road hunting , spot animals feeding then hunt the timber around the feeding areas.

[MichelD]

When I first moved to Vancouver from a small island off northern Vancouver Island in 1986 I only had cars, first a Toyota Corona sedan, then a station wagon and then a Datsun 210 station wagon. I carried chains and stuck to main forest service roads and couldn't go up a lot of side roads. Carried chains though and I remember driving back on a logging road in darn near a foot of snow in the Datsun one time.

At 33, I had never camped out hunting in my life at that time, having been able to do day trips only until then for deer on the little island and deer and black bear on Vancouver Island.

I started driving around exploring in the car, doing day trips and then camping, sleeping in the back of the Datsun or in a pup tent. I had really really minimal equipment to start, but I got a bow saw and a good axe for firewood early on and a little one-burner propane stove. I was just thinking this week that on November 11, 31 or 32 years ago I finally got my first mainland deer, on a day trip from Vancouver and drove home with it wrapped in a tarp on the roof rack of the Datsun.

It can be done.

[Bugle M In]

I know a ton of us hunters living in Vancouver, and hunting is hard because of it,
My dad used to get away every Friday night.
But there was no traffic!
And hunting Regs we’re very liberal.
And gas was dirt cheap!
It was easy to get away.

All I hear now is how we all want to get away but can’t, be it time or money.
There is no quick answer for you.
If you can spread some of your holiday time out during hunting season?
Maybe take fridays off if you can?

Being in the LM, I feel you need to be able to get atleast as far as Merrit, Kammy.
Basically 4 hours driving.
I hat doing the Boston bar or Princeton run.
Just too many LM hunters trying to get out and somewhere close.

If you can get 5 to 6 hours of driving in, then you are in some decent areas.
Just my opinion but many in LM are in The same boat.

[silveragent]

This is why I shoot ducks. 30-40 minute drive to very accessible swamp or foreshore. Shoot a handful of quackers and then home for a nap.

[caddisguy]

Weekend warrior for the most part, short trips. There is good BT and bear hunting in the Fraser Valley. Low car will be fairly limiting but you can access timber that holds deer for sure. We were actually scouting around last weekend for new BT spots and found what looks to be a good one. Tons of sign. Being able to pick up on BT habitat and sign is a big one, so you know right away if its timber you should be hunting or if you should be moving on elsewhere.

Region 2 is probably one of the more under hunted regions when one considers the amount of area versus area actually hunted. Not all that many hunt the timber.

[brian]

I used to hunt weekly in the Chilliwack valley back when I lived in Vancouver Eastside. I would Head out early and come back after dark. Those were long days and hard hunting. But the timber holds bucks. Dino is right, learn to hunt thicker country if you want to hunt closer to home or drive farther and hunt less often. The steep thick stuff hunt are tough hunts though. You seem to need to possess a masochistic personality type and the ability to not give up easily to sustain those hunts.

[Harvest the Land]

As someone who grew up in Onterrible, I can assure you hunting in BC is an entirely different ball game compared to out east. Once you understand and accept that reality, it will be much easier to not get down on yourself for not being very successful (especially when you're just learning new areas).

I live in the lower wasteland and cannot take weeks at a time off because I own 3 businesses and operate 1.5 of them; so my hunting time is only on weekends. It sucks and it makes it a hell of a lot harder to be successful when you basically have less than 2 days to make it happen. Quite often it takes me most of the Saturday to find the animals (as they often change locations from the previous weekend) and then only have half a Sunday (sometimes longer if I'm on hot sign and force myself to stay out longer) to make it happen before its time to drive home.

Sometimes I'm able to finish work fairly early on Fridays and in those instances when I have more time to drive, I will almost always drive as far as I can away from the lower wasteland (usually to region 5), as the farther you go from here (north or east) the more animals there are. But much of the time, I can't get off work early and will simply drive to one of my spots in Region 3. Every 2nd Saturday I have to work for a few hours first thing in the morning, so that means I can't drive very far at all and in those instances I will usually only drive to my region 2 hunting spots and focus on blacktails and bears.

That's basically how I do it. I do have success every year, but rarely am I able to put in the time (or have the luck) to harvest record book animals, but for now I'm ok with that as I am planning to escape this place in the next few years and move somewhere where I can hunt from my own property and spend way more time searching for mashers.

Try to dial in a spot or two that are really far away (for when you have the time to drive far away), and then some spots that are a medium drive, and then some spots in Reg 2 that are close by for when you don't have much time to drive. Also just an FYI, due to the steep, rocky, rugged jungle (devils club, vine maple, salal oregon grape etc.) in many parts of Reg 2 (fraser valley and beyond), it might be the hardest or one of the hardest areas to hunt in all of BC. The terrain can be intimidating. But also keep in mind that there are way less Blacktail deer in BC than there are Mule Deer and Whitetail deer. Furthermore, I would say blacktails are as elusive and on edge as whitetails, but the terrain they live in make them even harder to hunt. So you're dealing with a much smaller population of animals, and arguably to hardest species of deer to hunt, in some of the most difficult terrain; and on top of that they do migrate in and out of areas - so they might be in one drainage one weekend, but then nowhere to be found the following weekend. On the flip side, if you're able to figure out how to be consistently successful at hunting blacktails in Reg 2, I think it will make learning how to hunt the other deer species in other MU's that much easier.

Good luck and stay positive. There's tons of other folks like you and me who are stuck in the rat race and can only hunt weekends. Just make the best of it until you can make your escape.

[Eastern Turkey]

Thanks for all the insights so far, all! Particularly the points on learning to hunt timber and the thick stuff - sounds like that's a challenge I'll have to accept for the time being, until I can get our further or deeper for longer. And it's no wonder I've been having a rough go - all I've tried so far is the Fraser Valley hah!

Follow up question: How does one actually hunt the thick stuff? I'm half decent at identifying good habitat and even better at finding, identifying and following sign (tracks, droppings, beds, etc.), but I can't bring myself to feel confident that I'll connect when I can only see 20 yards in front of me, and I want to try a different approach from what I am used to in the east (hanging a stand and cutting shooting lanes). Calling? Rattling? Waiting? I'll do my reading, but curious to get some opinions.

[jamfarm]

For me there's always an elk trip up to northern bc, I don't care how much the gas is I'll always go; although I have thought about hunting region 3 or 8 for elk but have never tried.

For blacktail deer I head up the sea to sky since I'm in East Van, sometimes the alarm goes off at 2:30am since I want to get into an area in the dark. Returning home in the dark, it makes for a long day. If you're hunting blacktail find the old growth, google search BCTS maps and OGMA maps, the visibility is a lot better than in regrown forests. I've never rattled a buck in but I keep trying, maybe I need to use the bleat can.

As for how to hunt it, it's been mentioned on here before. 3 quiet steps, stop, look, repeat. It's painfully slow but one of two things will happen, you'll see a deer walking or you'll look up from your 3 steps and a deer will be looking at you, it was probably bedded and stood up.

[TheObserver]

For me there's always an elk trip up to northern bc, I don't care how much the gas is I'll always go; although I have thought about hunting region 3 or 8 for elk but have never tried.

For blacktail deer I head up the sea to sky since I'm in East Van, sometimes the alarm goes off at 2:30am since I want to get into an area in the dark. Returning home in the dark, it makes for a long day. If you're hunting blacktail find the old growth, google search BCTS maps and OGMA maps, the visibility is a lot better than in regrown forests. I've never rattled a buck in but I keep trying, maybe I need to use the bleat can.

As for how to hunt it, it's been mentioned on here before. 3 quiet steps, stop, look, repeat. It's painfully slow but one of two things will happen, you'll see a deer walking or you'll look up from your 3 steps and a deer will be looking at you, it was probably bedded and stood up.

Elk are not open in region 3.....

[caddisguy]

Thanks for all the insights so far, all! Particularly the points on learning to hunt timber and the thick stuff - sounds like that's a challenge I'll have to accept for the time being, until I can get our further or deeper for longer. And it's no wonder I've been having a rough go - all I've tried so far is the Fraser Valley hah!

Follow up question: How does one actually hunt the thick stuff? I'm half decent at identifying good habitat and even better at finding, identifying and following sign (tracks, droppings, beds, etc.), but I can't bring myself to feel confident that I'll connect when I can only see 20 yards in front of me, and I want to try a different approach from what I am used to in the east (hanging a stand and cutting shooting lanes). Calling? Rattling? Waiting? I'll do my reading, but curious to get some opinions.

You should be able to find something a little more open. If we're talking BT's, while they can also be found in super thick stuff (ie: can't see for more than 20 yards) I generally stick to hilly, less thick, mossy covered old growth rain forest with ferns, salal.

I'll poke into these areas and look for obvious signs... logical pathways through the timber, up hills, along ridges for well used trails where they cut right down from the moss to the dirt, rotten dead fall that has been stepped on so many times it's down to a pulp. Then I look for smaller sign like actual deer tracks.

In this terrain, and how I hunt it, while I might not be able to see wide open view in all directions due to obstacles (trees, rocks, hills) I have "windows" (you might think of them as lanes) of views. Some I can see, 30, 40, 50, maybe even 70 yards. Now the thing is, the windows change every step or two that you take. So if I take a few steps, now the picture changes. Some things I could see before, I can no longer see. But I can see things I did not see before. That is good motivation (and one of many reasons) to move slowly. Take a few steps, maybe lean up against a tree, study the view for a minute or two (or 10 if you want) and repeat. Look for white throat patches, tail / ear flicks, etc. It's easy to be staring right at a deer 30 yards and not even realise it. They blend in very well and can often be obstructed. When they're bedded in the rain forest, super easy to miss too. You might just see the top of a head poking up on the other side of a log.

Sometimes (last week of October to last week of November) I'll mix in some rattling or can call.

[TheObserver]

Op get into hunting Black tailed Deer, they are my favourite out of the 3 present a good challenge but are rewarding when you get them!

[Bugle M In]

Yup, if you want to get out living down here, then it’s BT you have to target.
And there have been a few members (don’t see them on here anymore) who took some dandies!
Snd honestly, if you can consistently take BT down here, you become a part of an elite group, imo.
Its not easy hunting, but some folks figure it out.

[MichelD]

Like jamfarm, I once used to do long day trips but they were exhausting. I nodded off on the Stanley Park causeway one time coming off the bridge and woke up with my right front wheel up on the curb. Whipped the truck back into the lane beore I hit a lamppost. Yikes! Decided to do overnighters in the back of the truck. It's much better to wake up right on the spot an hour before sunrise anyway.

As far as thick stuff and lots of other road hunters, the last four deer I got (3 in region 2) were all about 200 yards off the road within earshot of the quads and trucks going by. All those drivers of course were hoping to see a deer on the road. But that's not where they were.

A friend has been kind enough to let me use his tree stand in a good loaction and I have learned a lot about blacktail behaviour observing from it.

Those deer are wary! They don't often walk merrily through the bush without paying attention. They take a step, stop, look, listen, then maybe take another step, and so on. Usually it is the lead doe, the oldest one in the group and the others follow. Younger does will follow the boss doe, but not blindly. The only ones who are perhaps not so observant are the young of the year, following mom.

Pretty hard to sneak up on critters ike that. You have to be stealthier than them.

[Arctic Lake]

If not mistaken the definition of “ Still Hunting “ is what you are describing .
Arctic Lake

[caddisguy]

Like jamfarm, I once used to do long day trips but they were exhausting. I nodded off on the Stanley Park causeway one time coming off the bridge and woke up with my right front wheel up on the curb. Whipped the truck back into the lane beore I hit a lamppost. Yikes! Decided to do overnighters in the back of the truck. It's much better to wake up right on the spot an hour before sunrise anyway.

That's how we roll. Drive in on the Friday night, wake up Saturday morning, start hunting right out of camp. The timber I start hunting in is about 50 yards from where we sleep in the jeep. My wife and I have actually both shot deer while making coffee right where we camp. I prefer to go after them in the timber but if those rutting zombie bucks want to come to us that's fine too :)

We generally hunt for an hour or two on Sunday morning, then pack up and head home. Repeat every weekend possible... nice to get out for the long weekends, or take an extra day off to make those 2-nighter trips into 3 or 4 nighter. The more time you spend out there, the better the odds. And it's not going out of may way. Even if I wasn't into hunting, I'd be camping out in the bush anyway. It's what we like to do.

[jamfarm]

Elk are not open in region 3.....

Ah yes, I guess I was thinking Princeton is in region 3... I never hunt out that way.

[gab]

I focus on hunting the thick stuff for blacktails on Vancouver Island. I set-up trail cameras weeks before the beginning of archery season (August 25th), bait with apples and monitor the trail camera photos. Two or three weeks before August 25th, I know which areas have the most deer activity and set-up my tree stand. I have had far greater success sitting in a tree than scanning clear-cuts.

[bandit]

The further you drive the better the game:hunter ratio is. You just need to find where the trade off works for you. For me personally I’ve have way more success on the few 10 hour trips I did compared with dozens of 3-4 hour trips.