Rocky Mountain house. 1st time hunting the area, any tips for wmu 328/330? Looking for grouse, and maybe a whitetail doe?
 

Hey guys and gals. A buddy of mine and I are trying our luck out next weekend for deer and grouse. It's kind of a meet in the middle trip as he lives in Calgary, and I'm in Leduc. I have never hunted that area, but more than likely we will be focussing on wmu's 328/330. I've hunted the north side of these wmu's coming down from drayton valley, but curious about the south side. Do they hold any decent populations. I'm personally looking for white tail does, and we are both looking to harvest some grouse! Thanks for your help.

Tip; get a 2 way radio with proper channels for the area, watch out for tankers or any oilfield traffic for that matter. Busy area

Was in the south west part of 328 on Friday. Off the the trunk road.Seen very little oilfield traffic, about 15 does a couple young bucks and about a dozen grouse. Lots of wolf sign. But there are lots of w/t in my opinion.

That is great news, how do I get to this trunk road, and is all the land crown land? Thanks again for your info. My buddy is a fairly new hunter, I'm really hoping to put him on his first deer. And possibly fill my freezer in the process as well!

Any where off hiway 11 past Prentice creek you should be able to swing a dead cat and hit a white tail of some sort.

West of Rocky Mountain house. Once you hit Nordegg go north. That's the trunk road. All crown land. Needless to say you do not need to go that far for crown land. 10-15 km west of Rocky you'll be good to go for crown land. Lots of roads, cut lines, and lots of whiteys.

Trunk road also runs south from turnoff just past Nordegg.

Can also get to the trunk road from rocky down 752 and swing by 324/326. If you continue on 752 until you hit a t intersection you are at the trunk road. Left to corkscrew, right takes you past ram falls and eventually out to hwy 11 just west of Nordegg. Lots of good hunting in between.

absolutely great opportunities.

Hmm
 

Grrrr was in 330 today and yesterday not a lot of hunters which was weird but in 2 days saw only 2 does! WHAT DUH!!

There's no hunters coz there is not many deer. Since each hunter can take one buck and two does well you do the math(doesn't count the fawns that are left behind which most likely will die ). Then there is the wolves. Tons around here. I'm not saying there isn't any deer but there sure as hell isn't lots. I live here I know.

I only managed 2 grouse in 2 days this weekend.
Don't even see a deer.
I was hunting the NW corner of 328.

Talked to another hunted and he only saw 5 deer and 1 moose since Friday.

I would assume this would be a better place to get a deer than off the trunk road.

I live on the border of 330 and 328 on the south end. There is private land in the area mixed in around crown so be cautious or get a Clearwater county map and watch for fences as some of the private land is fenced. There is also some road corridors in the above mentioned posts you should look into. whitetails are around but please be certain on what wmu you are in as in the above posts there is about 7-8 different wmus that are talked about.

tons of wolves for sure...I was out cutting wood with my kids and we were having a fire and a hotdog after working, and a wolf let out a looong drawn out howl...we thought it was a piece of machinery at first...then it turned into a more traditional howl. Lots of tracks too.

We hunted 326 for 6 days and saw a fraction of the game that was there 4 years ago . I think the winters, hi wolf count and heavy logging have done them no favours .

Was in 330 with a friend on Thursday last week. Did not see nearly as many deer as I have seen in the past but did see more grouse then ever before. We limited out and could of got a lot more.

Deer
 

Nordegg river road should spit out a doe or ten for you.

Nothing to do with the ongoing doe and fawn massicure?????? You could see it for the last 3 years unless you were blind.

This used to be a beautiful area to go hunting.

It figuratively and literally has gone to the dogs.

Ask any other of the geezers on this forum.

The pressure from humans and wolves is amazing.

Like I said I was there for the first time all weekend, there were deer tracks everywhere, must be feeding mostly at night but lots of wolf and bear tracks as well, couldn't figure out where the deer all were though passed up a doe and fawn but I'm sure they won't last long

2 ruffie and 2 spruce as well

328...... only one thing to say
 

328 is a huge wmu that produces well every year

spent the weekend just past in there for 2 full days.
going back in for thanksgiving long weekend, cant wait !!

the one thing to say about 328 is.................wolves, wolves, wolves
say it as many times as you like, very very heavy wolf population,
just get out of the truck, pick a cut line, be quiet go for a walk early morning,
you will see more wolf tracks than deer tracks and if your lucky you'll hear them howling.
stay out in a tent overnight and you will hear wolves several times thruout the night and from different areas around you.

on the long weekend in October 2012, I ran into a huge black bear, literally face to face, didn't have a tag, was hunting deer, I love to walk the bush in October.
this bear has a scare across his/her nose going up between the eyes about 5-6 inches long.
looked for this bear last year.........nothing
looking this year, and may try to bait for the long weekend, but with living in Calgary its not easy as I would like to bait for 4-5 days

anyway 328 is huge with a lot of deer
between my brother and I we saw 11, I turned down one spiker
did see 2 wolves though, but gone in a second

lots of grouse

It's sad to see our whitetails vanish from west of rocky. Seriously something has to be done about the amount of deer you can shoot, three per person is too many, the numbers aren't there. Needs to be a bounty on wolves for sure. If you're lucky enough to find a elk track there is three wolves on it's tail. I seen a herd of 60 elk with only two calves, should be more than that.

Thanks for all the tips guys. I've hunted 339 a bit and rarely see any deer there. Ive heard the wolves have multiplied quite a bit out there. It's an unfortunate thing that people and natural predators have the populations so low. I don't think that our last few winters have helped the population much either. I have a family of five and I always buy my supplemental tags. That being said, the last time I shot a deer was 2011. I've been so busy working that I don't get out enough to get a good chance at much. I'm hoping that if we drive a bit further into wmu 328, that we might have a chance at seeing some deer. Would love to fill my freezer, and also to help my buddy fill his freezer as well. And if we happen across grouse on the way, that'd be great too!

No need to be a jerk .As I said in my post , I was comparing numbers to 4 years ago and this was my first trip back to the area since then ,I am not alone in my thinking .

When one sees whats happening year after year I guess it's hard not to be a jerk. Now that you have been there has the doe/fawn shooting had an impact?

Of course it has , but so has logging , the wolves and bad winters . I was shocked by the lack of game present .Not trying to offend and I'm not blind , I spent 3 months a year there for 6 years and it isn't even comparable .

I've hunted 330 for about ten years and I honestly don't think hunting pressure has affected the deer a 1/4 of what wolves and the past few winters have IMO. But I do agree we have to many tags given out after the hard winters we can't support it in most zones. Still a few zones with a very large number of deer.

posted in wrong thread
 

I inadvertently referenced this post and the wolf bounty comment on the thread about the table quality of wet does. Briefly I said that there has been a $300-$350 bounty on wolves in this area for several years. The F&G and Sheep Foundation funded it. The new SCI in Red Deer is now funding as well. It's well known bounties do not reduce wolf numbers and they haven't in this case. The Foundation has wasted over $50,000 and done nothing but subsidize a few hobby wolf snarers.

Never heard of the wolf bounty neither has anyone I know. Could be why it isn't working to thin them out