Hunting Moose on the Hay River near Indian Cabins, Alberta

[jtedwards]

I am planning a hunting trip to Northern Alberta for fall 2009. I am wondering if anyone has hunted there and has any tips on hunting by boat on either the Hay River or Chinchaga River. If anyone has any information on the characteristics of either river, ie:// depth, falls, rapids, anything that I should be aware of in advance. The area I am looking at hunting in is near Indian Cabins in WMU 534. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

[big-river]

I highly recommend you find another river.
#1, There is not a lot of Moose in this area. In fact, moose numbers are quite low.

#2 If you go downstream from Indian Cabins, you will find the river parallels the highway, and you will not really be accessing new country. And the river has some serious shallow stretches not to mention a few BIG waterfalls around the NWT border.

#3 If you go upstream, you will be going thru the Meander River Indian Reserve. They won't like this. The First Nations from Assumption and Meander River hunt this river steady. They hunt in the summer during what they call Bull-Dog Season, which is when the Bulldog flies are out heavy in July, the moose will stay in the river and basically submerge with just their snouts sticking out. Natives run the river and shoot the moose when they get up to run, spooked by the boats.
There's better rivers to run.

#4 The Chinchaga and the Hay are known for rocks. Especially the Chinchaga. If you have a dry fall, it will be un-navigable. I promise you won't like it.

There's much better moose country and better river conditions elsewhere. Just my opinion, but I've spent some time in this country.

[jtedwards]

Thank you for the general information that you supplied.

Can you suggest a better river in an area that usually has undersubscribed tags left over?

I prefer the northern areas of the province where there is a lot of crown land.

Thanks again for replying.

[Walleyes]

You could look at some of the northern regions on the Peace River, or the Wabasca, and even the Athabasca north from Fort Mac all these rivers are in some prime country and and I believe would be better rivers to run.

[big-river]

The Athabasca north of Ft. Mac. is much better, it has a lot more moose and the water is more conducive to boating.

I don't know why that High Level country is so lacking in moose, but it just doesn't have the numbers. A biologist told me that there was very few mineral licks in that country and I cannot remember ever finding one and I was there for over 15 years.
An old timer I met told me that he had been out west of High Level back in the sixties and there wasn't any moose back then either.

Good moose hunting for big bulls is tough in this province. I favour that country north of Ft. Mac for numbers.

Just my opinion.

[Traps]

I have flown north of McMurray and in the areas I was in there was not a lot of moose sign, Firebag, Eymundson, Steepbank, Poplar, Ells, etc not much for sign. Didn't spend much time right around the Athabasca it would likely be better. I was there with work so not a lot of time scouting so there could be some really good pockets if you stumbled upon them.

[jtedwards]

ft mac the last couple time hunting moose in wmu 531for ten day at time no moose last year hunted 534 east jon d'or prairie to garden river for five days of hard moose hunting on quads no moose not even a cow pack up camp went north high level to bridge hay river to days two moose bulls were small meat good stay three more days and saw 27 moose 9 were bulls 2 were 50+I can't wate for sept 28 this year hunt quad and jets boats THANK YOU FOR YOUR INPUT

[jtedwards]

my friends dads hunted the wabasca around trout mountian tower in 25 years by boat they got moose every year the last two time two year ago and last year no moose hunt river every day THANK YOU FOR YOUR INPUT

[pdfish]

Either you've been into the wobbly-pops tonight (heavily) or your grammar has taken a very large slide since your original posts. Good luck moose hunting.

[big-river]

Must of seen every moose in that whole drainage. I haven't seen that many moose in my 15 years there combined.
The natives at Assumption live right there and hunt every moose they see. But I guess there is a whole whack of moose that hunting 365 days a year doesn't get.
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

[Cal]

Have heard bad thing about the Wabasca myself, got jet boated pretty hard a for a few years and the word is that the moose hunting is not what it used to be. I havnt spent much time on it myself but I have seen some decent moose sign in a couple places so I dont think its completely hunted out. I think the problem is that the days of easy moose hunting are over in most of the province. I never saw them so I'm happy just getting a legal bull at conciderable effort where alot of guys arent hunting hard enough. THANK YOU FOR YOUR IMPUT!

[Running Bear]

Hunted on Hay River near Indian Cabins Oct 2007 and killed a bull on the 3rd day. Winter of 07 nearly wiped them out with tick infestation. Went back Sept 2008 and could not find a moose. It will take a few years for them to come back. Slow recovering due to high wolf population in this zone.

[ManitobaMooser]

Has anyone tried in and around zama city. Went for a drive around the area the other day and it seems pretty moosey. thinking of going up in the columbia hills. Seen a couple of moose and a buffalo...can you shoot the buffalo like is there a season for them.. there huge i should say there heads are huge.

[dale7637]

You will be pretty busy trying to shoot a moose around Zama. I spend lots of time out there, and there really doesnt seem to be that many moose in the area. The bison out there are under a season, first year to hunt them was this year. The draw was pretty tough, but they needed to trim this herd down. If i was looking for moose i would head out toward the chinchaga river west of high level (wmu 536). It is a good zone for moose, but under a draw. My father in law and myself hunted 540 last year, just bought undersubscribed tags, and were very succsefull, but it is tough ground to hunt. All muskeg and swamp. You can access some of the cutblocks on the south side of the zone and get into good moose country.

[jtedwards]

Originally Posted by jtedwards

I am planning a hunting trip to Northern Alberta for fall 2009. I am wondering if anyone has hunted there and has any tips on hunting by boat on either the Hay River or Chinchaga River. If anyone has any information on the characteristics of either river, ie:// depth, falls, rapids, anything that I should be aware of in advance. The area I am looking at hunting in is near Indian Cabins in WMU 534. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

17 days to go before moose hunting on the Hay river, hopefully for a bigger one than last year. Called out 4 bulls last year, shot a 44'' bull. Some guy in a float plane screwed up my shot on a bigger bull. We called the game warden, and they left right after game warden spoke to them......HOPE TO SEE YOU ON THE RIVER

[PoppaW]

Good luck on your hunt