Hi there!

I'm planning to move to my relatives and hopefully be able to get a job in Vancouver during 2011,got relatives in TX/CO aswell but BC and Vancouver will be my first try and no1 priority.

Now,i'm just over 30 and have hunted all my life,owning a private shooting range aswell,here in sweden we've got around 10000 acres in private and another 15000 to hunt on,so i'm used to be able to hunt completely free.

Our weaponlaws are pure crap and doesn't allow a private person to own more than 6 hunting rifles and absolutely nothing like an AR or something that even looks like a "military" style weapon,maximum is the Mini-14/30.Handguns are very restricted aswell and are not allowed to be used in any type of defensive situation,not even when your life is threatened or in a violent home invasion,now i'm somewhat familiar with the laws in BC and as i understand it's not allowed to hunt freely with a black rifle(?),only own them when your active in a shooting club,that's ok,i'm looking forward to competing in semi-auto classes that's non existing in sweden.

The questions i have however is basically everything that has to do with hunting in/around vancouver area...It would of course be impossible to live there if i'm not gonna able to hunt pretty freely,since the shooting/hunting is prob atleast 75% of my life it's very important,and none of my relatives have any interest in those things.

I will be living in central Vancouver,how far out do one have to drive for good hunting?

Small game/varmints and birds are prob the type i like the most,big game would be satisfying to be able to do once or twice a year though.As a person with absolutely no contacts whatsoever,what kind of money are we talkning about to be able to hunt "freely" all year around?

Is there any type of "general" rules or regulations/unwritten laws when it comes to price/acre or private/state land charges ?Are there mostly private or state own land around?

What's the restrictions on small game/big game?what months for elk?deer?bear?varmints?

Are semi-autos completely prohibited to hunt with?and if,wich ones,all?


I will spend 3-4 weeks coming christmas in vancouver (Living in Delta) in search for jobs and get a look around,planning to visit both gun clubs and try to get in touch with hunters and get a little connected and maybe get a clue about what i can expect,but i would appreciate if you guys could give me some answers and maybe if any of you are hunting in BC and can tell me what,when and where your'e hunting?....Thx in advance/Daniel.

Most of the larger game is past the city along the Trans-Canada called Hope about two hours away - I was going to say "beyond Hope" but that would have probably been confusing.

There are clubs around the Chilliwack area with lands they can hunt on, and hunting on Crown land used to be, and still may be generally permitted, which would mean it's still free.

The closest gun club to where you'll be living if you're in Vancouver proper is Richmond Rod and Gun Club, which claims to have a new facility now, but back in the day they were fudds epic proportions; show up there with anything black and they'll give you a pretty hard time.

The people I hunted with were more into hunting further inland around Princeton. There are mule deer there, they get big, and they're tasty. The shots are longer there too - the coastal rainforest tends to be pretty dense where the deer are, in my experience. Upland bird hunting (they don't call it Grouse Mountain for nothing, but IIRC you can't hunt there anymore), as well as duck hunting is pretty accessible.

The even bigger game like bear used to be via lottery, divided by region. You pay some to enter, if you win the tags for the animals you pay some more. You can also enter the lotteries for extra deer tags and stuff. Poke around the www.gov.bc.ca web site for "BC Fish and Wildlife" that should explain how licensing and stuff like that works.

The seasons are the same over much of the northern hemisphere. You need your PAL for your firearms, or a PAL Restricted for black, scary guns, membership somewhere, and a hunting license. You can't hunt with restricted guns, and quite frankly, they're not the right tool for the job up there.

And lastly, don't ever talk about hunting outside the circle of hunters. Vancouver is infested with nose-ring-wearing, smelly hippies who will screech high-pitched insults at you for a) eating animals, and b) killing them yourself. Many of these hippies will also disguise themselves as normal people.

Without a doubt BC has the best hunting and fishing anywhere in North America - the number of different game species you can hunt is unrivalled. If you're living in Vancouver the nearest club you can shoot center rifle is the Port Coquitlam Fish and Game - their facilities are very good (it's about 40 minutes from downtown).  There are a host of other clubs around the lower mainland that are a little further out.  The Richmond club is trap shooting only.  Most of the land in BC is Crown Land (public) which means you can hunt on it - BC is the size of California, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho combined and with a population of only 4 million (who are mainly squeezed in and around Vancouver) it's an outdoorsman's paradise.  Close to Vancouver there is very good hunting to be had on the way out to Whistler, near Squamish, which is about 45 minutes from downtown Vancouver.

Here are this year's hunting regs for BC. You'll need to do a CORE course (hunting course) before you can get your hunting license and have to be a BC resident for at least 12 months before you can start hunting. All I can say is your a lucky son of a gun, as BC's vehicle license plates say it's "the best place on earth"!

http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/fw/wildlife/hunting/regulations/1012/docs/Hunting-TrappingSynopsis_1012.pdf