Private property or not

[mulerider]

Will be hunting north of bonaparte in Oct. Got myself a Natural resources canada topo map. Is every square/rectangle with an L#### private land? If so there sure seem to be a lot of them where I want to look for moose. Or is this just Crown land. Do you guys just hunt anywhere as long as your not to close to a house?? I dont want to get myself in shit shooting on private.

[hazardiz]

cadastre online is a good resource...go to the map and zoom in to your area...you will eventually figure out how to use it and you can get land parcel info and if it is private or crown land...I'm a surveyor and we use it for work lots...great for not treading on private property also...
http://webmaps.gov.bc.ca/imf5/imf.jsp?site=olc

[Darksith]

that is a great tool, if I am using it correctly. It is telling me that one of my favorite deer hunting spots that is a free range area area for a farmer, is actually crown land. this farmer has a ton of signs that say no tresspassing no shooting...if it is crown owned, he does not have the right to prevent me from being there correct?

[tinhorse]

I believe if it is a range lease then you can't hunt while there is cattle on the property. I thought most leases are over as of oct. 15th and cattle must be off the grounds. Agriculture lease land is crown property. Please correct me if i am wrong.

[Rodd]

Not sure about the "No Tresspassing" but if he has a grazing lease on Crown land you would require his permission to hunt there during times when grazing animals are present. I work in the mapping industry, and know of several leases that people hunt without permission on crown land, that seems to go un-noticed by our local CO... But technically you would require permission... another grey zone I suppose.. Have you asked this farmer if it would be ok?

[Darksith]

no I haven't asked, and I haven't hunted the area since the signs went up, but boy do I wish I could. I may look to ask the farmer, but its hard to track down who is controlling the lease as it seems to change management regualarily or ownership. Someone did once post a # for me to call for the area, but I never followed through as I had already filled my mulie tag that season.

[MuleyMadness]

that is a great tool, if I am using it correctly. It is telling me that one of my favorite deer hunting spots that is a free range area area for a farmer, is actually crown land. this farmer has a ton of signs that say no tresspassing no shooting...if it is crown owned, he does not have the right to prevent me from being there correct?

If he's leasing the land, he has the right to post to keep you out when the cattle is there. I too have heard the Oct 15 date too, but I don't believe that to be correct...especially around here, you often see cattle on the range til early/mid November. Best thing to do is as far as when the lease is over is to inquire with department that leases the land out...don't take internet law as gospel :)

[Darksith]

yeah, theres a reason why I haven't bothered to track down the farmer. Simply put there is a lot of good country in our province, and I haven't needed to hunt that area to fill my tags. That being said I have seen some huge deer in said property, but then again theres big deer everywhere, you just gotta put in the time, and I do, my number just hasn't come up yet. Not to hijack the post, but that website above does look very usefull, maybe more so for the north than the interior, but every tool in your belt is always an asset.

[Pete]

See page 12 of the Hunting Regs Wildlife Act section 39

[jack]

Regarding your original question the L#### stands for District Lot. It's just a part of the legal hierarchy used to classify land. District Lot, Plan Number, Lot or Parcel is usually the deal.

The way to go is with the new online mapping tools. Most of the Regional Districts and Muni's in the province now offer access to these tools through their websites. If you can't determine the land status at that point take down the legal description or PID (looks like ###-###-###) and go to the nearest government agent to get the title. That will give you the whole scoop. Good luck.

[anethema]

Yeah, there is a TON of private land around there!

http://webmaps.gov.bc.ca/imf5/imf.jsp?session=9002577996519938661

All the red is private.

Heck of a lot of parcels!