rabbit hunting. the laws and areas near bottrel?

crunchiespg · #1 01-26-2008, 09:34 PM

ive read the alberta hunting regs. but being a newbie to canada there are few grey areas for me..

now, i see i can hunt rabbits any day of the year without a licence. is this correct?

do i need a WIN card? and if so do i need to do the hunter training course too?
if not is there anything else i need to hunt them on say crown land?

now i have seen the odd rabbit around here (north of cochrane) but not as many as in the UK where they are literally everywhere, much like gophers are here. so where am i likely to find them? ie woodland, open fields etc? any good spots around bottrel that people know of? is now a good time of year to go? anyone around here that would be willing to take me along and show me the ropes? ill be using a .22 if that makes any difference..

thanks
Scott

crunchiespg · #2 01-27-2008, 08:41 AM

forgot to add, that with regard to the hunter training course/WIN card etc. i have no intention to ever hunt anything other than rabbits. or shoot gophers. so i wont be going after deer or anything at anytime in the future...so if i dont have to get a licence for rabbits, then i wont need one at all..

duffy4 · #3 01-27-2008, 09:49 AM

You didn't mention if you have jumped through the hoops and gotten your PAL and all (federal firearms BS registration). If you did that, getting the WIN card will not be much trouble. If you are going to do any fishing you will need a WIN for that.

The rabbits in your area (in the forested area) are actually Hare. Find an area of bush with lots of tracks and you will know there are bunnies there. They are challenging to "stillhunt" moving slowly through the bush looking closley at the base of trees and under fallen trees and brush. When I was young my buddies and I learned a lot about hunting by putting on little drives through rabbit cover. One guy would loop ahead 40 or 50 yards and the other one or two hunters would move through the thick cover pushing rabbits out to the shooter. (the drivers always talked or wistled so the shootr knew right where they were)

There are dog men on the board who may tell you how they "hound" the bunnies. They may even offer to take you out for a hunt with them.

Good luck to you and don't rule out taking up deer hunting some day. Lots of fun and lots of venison.

Robin in Rocky

P.S. There are probably big Jackrabbits in your area. They are more in the open country and I have not hunted them much but surely some others will give some advice on hunting them.

Scott N · #4 01-27-2008, 10:23 AM

I'd just add a little more info... really the purpose of the WIN card is to buy hunting / fishing licenses, so it's not really a "license" that you'll need to carry for species like rabbits that don't require a hunting license.

crunchiespg · #5 01-27-2008, 01:12 PM

yeh ive got my PAL. so im good to go then.. ill have a walk through the forest areas of crown land near me and see if i can spot any sign of them..

i used to hunt rabbits a lot in the UK with air rifles. but that was mainly after dark using a lamp to show them. they would be in open fields in the UK. so it seems a bit different here, especially with no night time shooting allowed.. we also used to use dogs, but we used lurchers (greyhound/whippet's crossed with terriers or similar) to chase them out of the bushes. or used ferrets to get them out of their burrows and then shoot them in the open.

i really wont go deer hunting. it really doesnt interest me at all, and im not keen on venison anyway... ill only be after gophers and rabbits/hares..

i will get a WIN for fishing, but obviously i dont need the hunters course for that do i?

crunchiespg · #6 01-29-2008, 08:55 PM

also, can someone clarify do the 30 minutes after sundown rules apply for rabbits too? and check everything else ive said seems good to go..
just need to wait till tis a bit warmer. hunting at -45 is no fun....

devillover · #7 02-26-2014, 01:17 AM

Would you guys think you could go rabbit hunting in waiparous?

goldscud · #8 02-26-2014, 07:05 AM

I believe you are not to discharge a firearm 30 minutes after/before sunset.

leeaspell · #9 02-26-2014, 07:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by goldscud

I believe you are not to discharge a firearm 30 minutes after/before sunset.

I would think he found that out some time in the 3 years since he asked lol

calgarychef · #10 02-26-2014, 08:19 AM

You won't find nearly as many rabbits as you did in the UK but if you change your techniques to still hunting you'll start to get some, don't forget yr binoculars they really help.