sailpunk
09-27-2011, 10:59 PM
First I would like to thank those of you who provided advice on hunting Gambier Island in Howe Sound.
I have heard many people say that Gambier is virtually closed to hunting due to the coastal development around the island. There is an increased presence on the island but with a boat it is still accessable.
We took my 27' sailboat up on Friday night from Vancouver to the Northeast corner of the island (Douglas Bay) facing Anvil Island. The anchourage was exposed to the outflows but we anchoured in 80' of water and had good ground tackle so we were comfortable spending the night on the hook.
Saturday morning we took the dinghy to the beach just to the north of Gambier Creek. There is a Kayaker camp there with a box toilet and flat ground if someone was interested in tenting it. Douglas Bay has a large strata development with a private dock to the right of this beach. The roads are private but there is very little development and we saw noone there.
We opted to hunt along the edge of the private land in an old forestry cut. Right of the beach the trail is steep for the first half a km and then flatens out. It is not long before you start coming across a lot of deer sign. We followed the trail west and encountered a lot of does. Many were large for black-tails and they did not spook as easily as I suspected. I could usually get within 30' before they took any notice.
We spent the rest of the weekend hunting this area and while we were unsuccessful I am convinced this would be a good spot if we had more time. You would need a second person to help you get a kill out of the area since it requires you to hike in but on the way back it would at least be down hill.
On a side note we did see a lot of geese on the beach.
Anyway thats my report on Gambier; it is definetly harder to access but if you can get out there, there are deer.
I have heard many people say that Gambier is virtually closed to hunting due to the coastal development around the island. There is an increased presence on the island but with a boat it is still accessable.
We took my 27' sailboat up on Friday night from Vancouver to the Northeast corner of the island (Douglas Bay) facing Anvil Island. The anchourage was exposed to the outflows but we anchoured in 80' of water and had good ground tackle so we were comfortable spending the night on the hook.
Saturday morning we took the dinghy to the beach just to the north of Gambier Creek. There is a Kayaker camp there with a box toilet and flat ground if someone was interested in tenting it. Douglas Bay has a large strata development with a private dock to the right of this beach. The roads are private but there is very little development and we saw noone there.
We opted to hunt along the edge of the private land in an old forestry cut. Right of the beach the trail is steep for the first half a km and then flatens out. It is not long before you start coming across a lot of deer sign. We followed the trail west and encountered a lot of does. Many were large for black-tails and they did not spook as easily as I suspected. I could usually get within 30' before they took any notice.
We spent the rest of the weekend hunting this area and while we were unsuccessful I am convinced this would be a good spot if we had more time. You would need a second person to help you get a kill out of the area since it requires you to hike in but on the way back it would at least be down hill.
On a side note we did see a lot of geese on the beach.
Anyway thats my report on Gambier; it is definetly harder to access but if you can get out there, there are deer.