2017 CFB Camp Wainwright Hunt and Information
A hunting partner of mine won the opportunity to hunt Camp Wainwright Deer on the December 7-9, 2017 rifle hunt. I tagged along to offer my support and I figured it would be an interesting experience. Neither of us had done it before and we went in with next to no information or plan. I figured I would make this post summarizing what we learnt to make it easier for the next person.
There are several special licenses (draws) that a hunter can apply for to hunt Camp Wainwright. Each special license takes a certain amount of priority points outlined below: 2017 Draw Summaries as per Alberta RELM Camp Wainwright Either Sex Deer x2 Tags (WMU 728 & 730) 1. Primitive Weapon - muzzle loader and bow and arrow: Nov 30 2017-Dec 02 2017 (Quota 150) Priority 5 65.48% Priority 6+ 100% 811 total applicants 2. Rifle or other legal weapon: Dec 04 2017-Dec 06 2017 (Quota 150) Priority 7 95.83% Priority 8+ 100% 1841 total applicants 3. Rifle or other legal weapon: Dec 07 2017-Dec 09 2017 (Quota 150) Priority 3 26.19% Priority 4+ 100% 942 total applicants 4. Rifle or other legal weapon: Dec 11 2017-Dec 13 2017 (Quota 150) Priority 2 88.52% Priority 3+ 100% 666 total applicants 5. Rifle or other legal weapon: Dec 14 2017-Dec 16 2017 (Quota 150) Priority 1 26.52% Priority 2+ 100% 632 total applicants Camp Wainwright Either Sex Elk (WMU 728 & 730) 1. Muzzle loader, bow and arrow: Nov 30 2017-Dec 02 2017 & Rifle or other legal weapon: Dec 04 2017-Dec 16 2017 (Quota 45) Priority 1 10.81% Priority 2+ 100% 185 total applicants Camp Wainwright Antlerless Moose (WMU 728 & 730) 1. Muzzle loader, bow and arrow: Nov 30 2017-Dec 02 2017 (Quota 40) Priority 1 21.88% Priority 2+ 100% 90 total applicants 2. Rifle or other legal weapon: Dec 04 2017-Dec 09 2017 (Quota 45) Priority 2 51.43% Priority 3+ 100% 216 total applicants 3. Rifle or other legal weapon: Dec 11 2017-Dec 16 2017 (Quota 45) Priority 1 32.76% Priority 2+ 100% 166 total applicants Camp Wainwright Antlered Moose (WMU 728 & 730) 1. Muzzle loader, bow and arrow: Nov 30 2017-Dec 02 2017 (Quota 20) Priority 5 0% Priority 6+ 100% 71 total applicants 2. Rifle or other legal weapon: Dec 04 2017-Dec 09 2017 (Quota 20) Priority 10 46.67% Priority 11+ 100% 144 total applicants 3. Rifle or other legal weapon: Dec 11 2017-Dec 16 2017 (Quota 20) Priority 7 91.67% Priority 8+ 100% 80 total applicants The deer hunts are unique as you get two tags and are able to harvest either sex whitetail or mule deer. This is on top of any other whitetail or mule deer you already hunted in the general hunting season. Unlike the elk or moose tags, the either-sex Camp Wainwright deer tags are a separate set of priority points. This is great “bonus” hunting opportunity that does not come and the expense of spending your valuable priority points that you may rather use elsewhere. https://i.imgur.com/JhsVccT.jpg Unfortunately for us, we were not able to attend the first day (Thursday) of our hunt. We drove to Wainwright very early on the second day and met at the Hunter’s Check in Station which is easily found on Google Maps as Wainwright Field Airport. They also had several orange signs with deer on them directing the hunters in the right direction. They opened the doors at 6am and the briefing was at 7am. We very quickly checked in signed the applicable liability waivers and received our map. We were required to stay for the mandatory daily briefing as well as an orientation briefing. The daily briefing only took about 5 minutes as they only covered the weather forecast and any daily closures on the base. The orientation briefing took around 30 minutes. It was a PowerPoint presentation that covered all the rules and restrictions. Some things of note were:
https://i.imgur.com/LRYJY4h.jpg Alberta Government Hunting Information Report - Camp Wainwright Ungulate Hunt At the Hunter Check Station, they had several maps posted. Some showed where specific animals were harvested this year and previous years. This was useful as we could see where the most successful areas were. This would be especially useful to the Elk hunters as the elk are quite scarce. https://i.imgur.com/5Z2ypAB.jpg https://i.imgur.com/vehJBVB.jpg https://i.imgur.com/NT1OrDd.jpg https://i.imgur.com/iIRgviJ.jpg https://i.imgur.com/8u16jxa.jpg After the morning briefing, it was a mad rush as all the hunters raced to their vehicles hoping to be first to their desired spot. As we had no real plan, we decided to drive to the norther walk-in only area next to the airfield. On the way, we saw two cow moose, a muley doe, a nice muley buck and a small bull moose rubbing on a tree. We then did a short hike circling around behind where we saw the buck go into the woods. No success. We spent most of that day driving around exploring the area. We had lunch atop of a large hill overlooking the river. We spent some time glassing the area, but found that there were too many trucks and orange hunters in the area. We then drove into WMU 730 to spend the rest of our afternoon. We hiked in and on our way to our evening spot we saw two very large bull moose. Without a tag we only watched as they crossed our field 150 yards away. I took some photos through my binoculars and then we sat down in the tree line and waited for the rest evening. We saw nothing. https://i.imgur.com/sTrHwgL.jpg https://i.imgur.com/7U9wbza.jpg https://i.imgur.com/ezPhizr.jpg https://i.imgur.com/oKivsoR.jpg https://i.imgur.com/SBX2SOf.jpg We returned back to the Check Station to check-out for the night. There were got to see some of the animals harvested that day. The following morning we attended the briefing, then drove into WMU 730. We saw several deer in the dark on our drive in. We went on a long hike in the loud crunchy snow. We saw an abundance of deer sign but saw no animals other than a few grouse. We came across an old blood trail from a successful hunter. For our hike, we could have defiantly used snow shoes. Walking through the icy snow was loud, slow and slightly more difficult than it could have been. I attribute our lack of animal sightings to this. We returned to the river valley and had lunch again atop another tall hill. It was quite windy so we did not spend any time glassing other than spotting all the other orange hunters in the valley. We spent our evening hunt near where we saw the buck the previous day. That evening, a small 2x2 muley buck came out and quickly crossed a fence onto a restricted area. This CFB Camp Wainwright hunt was a very different from what I am used to. There were many road hunters (up to 150) but the base is quite large so all the hunters quickly spread out. We found that the West side of the base by the river was very busy. The Annex was significantly less busy and most people in that area were on foot. We were lucky and had very mild weather with the snow being not too deep. I expect some years with more snow and cold, it would encourage a lot more truck hunting compared to what we saw this year. This was posted in the Check Station. It is a summary of animals harvested by day. It shows how desirable the primitive weapons hunt and the first rifle hunt are. This year (2017) 26 mule deer bucks were harvested on day one of the primitive weapon hunt and 17 mule deer bucks were taken on day one of the first rifle hunt. After that, the success rate drops significantly. https://i.imgur.com/IggGbrA.jpg https://i.imgur.com/wa4nQbL.jpg I plan put in for my own draw in 2018. With my 3 priority, I hope to be successful in the third or fourth deer hunt. Perhaps now we will be better prepared and will spend less time exploring aimlessly and more time hunting. Also posted in the Check Station were these photos of this year’s biggest trophies. https://i.imgur.com/tQm2gqg.jpg I hope the information on this post helps and good luck hunting! |
Awesome info! I'll be applying for this next year so this is great!
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Great post!!
I've been to the base twice for the first rifle hunt and am close to drawing again. Might buy a muzzleloader and try the PW hunt. |
Great post! Thanks for your effort. Some very nice animals harvested!
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Great Post. Thanks for taking the time to share your experience.
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Wainwright
Cant wait our group will be drawn for the primitive weapons season next year.
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The Camp Wainwright hunt is by far the most challenging deer hunt we have ever done. We have been there twice, this year was the second rifle season. we managed three young mulie bucks with only seeing 6 deer day one, 8 deer day two and six deer day three. My wife got a 2X2 the first 30 minutes day one. By the end of day two I was ready to sit down and have a good cry, the frustration and disappointment was terrible. The third day I got very lucky and anchored two. 20 deer in three days of hard hunting made us appreciate where we usually hunt. The final day I had to change our little contest from biggest to total points, hah my two had 5 points combined.
Doug |
I enjoy camp wainwright. I bring my wife and we make it a weekend without the kids. The whole experience is pretty cool although I’ve never anchored anything in the 3x I’ve been there. I’m picky. And it really is hard hunting but enjoyable.
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Good info post OP.
My son and I are here. 2 days, seeing does of both species. Nice bull moose with a cow this am. No bucks seen yet. Typical for last rifle. Super icy trails are keeping us off some trails that are hilly and level challenged. Some real nice animal harvest pics in the book. Having fun. See what tomorrow brings. |
Last Friday just 20 min before last shot I got my calf moose and Sat morning my buddy got the cow. They were shot down behind vertical village, along the fire guard. We saw a total of 3 cows for the entire week, although we did see a number of bulls. Follow the rules and it can be quite rewarding to get out and hunt the base.
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Wow , Excellent job on putting this info out there..well done.
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Bumping up this fantastic post in light of the upcoming season!
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Thanks for the bump. First time headed out this year. Have the deer tags and this was a great read.
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I'm heading to CFB Wainwright for the Dc 13-15 hunt. hoping for the best.
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Great read, a few questions
First off thanks for the great article,
Last year I was blessed to have been part of three Suffield hunts, all very successful with some fantastic trophies... not without the work or frustration of these organized hunts, I'll add.... but we did our homework. A few questions fro the folks who've been on this one before... It's my wife's draw, the Dec 3-5 hunt. Leaving the kids at home with Ma and planning to enjoy a few nights away just us! This has been a slow year hunting for us with no meat thus far in the freezer. Questions: 1. How much Blaze orange is required? Vest and hat suffice? 2. Can we bring back-up rifles? this proved useful on Suffield when one of the 300 WSM we brought was damaged. 3. Do we require extra safety gear to enter any areas of the base? ie Suffield requiring GPS, means to remove wildlife from walk-in areas, emergency blankets, etc. 4. How early should we arrive at the meeting? is there any paperwork that should be printed off and filled out prior to going? Do we need to pre-register anywhere? 5. What surprises or regrets do you have? Things you wished you would have known? Thanks Everyone |
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So many have hunted this over many years and yet only 1 guy is generous enough to offer information? Cmon guys give us some intel :) |
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