Hunting around Rocky Mountain House.

[smokingd]

New to hunting and was thinking of heading out around Rocky Mountain House. M aybe down around forestry truck

[albertabighorn]

Giver make sure you study the regulations!

[brother1]

What are you hunting for? The forestry trunk road is a long ways from Vegreville. If you're looking for whitetail, mulie, or moose, you don't have to go very far from home to find them. Now bighorn sheep....are a little hard to come by out by Vegreville...:
)

[Dunezilla]

I was thinking of the same thing. I can get to Crown Land in 1.5 hours from my house instead of the 2.5 hour trip I make each Saturday during hunting season. In the next couple of weekends I am going to scout out this one area & see what I can learn.

[smokingd]

Rifle season opens much earlier in that part of the world. And am thinking whitetail and blackbear.

[338Bluff]

Originally Posted by smokingd

Rifle season opens much earlier in that part of the world. And am thinking whitetail and blackbear.

Think about going North then, not West. You will save yourself a lot on gas. Rifle season opens Sept 1 in several of the 500 WMU's. More bears and for the most part more deer.

[Dunezilla]

Originally Posted by 338Bluff

Think about going North then, not West. You will save yourself a lot on gas.

In my opinion there are a lot of hunters that head west. I have seen some fall days where there are an insane amount of hunters on the lease roads. So heading north from Vegreville AB is good advise.

[jacenbeers]

Originally Posted by Dunezilla

In my opinion there are a lot of hunters that head west. I have seen some fall days where there are an insane amount of hunters on the lease roads. So heading north from Vegreville AB is good advise.

This is correct. The Rocky Mountain House area is a road hunting gong show. I will admit to being one of the people who has gone up every year to hunt because of the early season. It is very very busy.

[diamonddave]

I live here in Rocky, and if I could move somewhere else for the months of sept, oct, nov, I probably would. Just to get away from the crazy poop show around here.....

[Boerkie]

Which WMU are you thinking? I'm also interested in going that way (WMU 420). Hoping that is far enough west to get out of the crowded areas?

[bluetick]

420 is crowded ,326, 324 all very popolar as well as 330 , its all a gong show.
Get in early and hike 2 k off the main road and you may be ok untill every dude that has a rav or toyota 4x4 comes in with a rifle on thier lap.

[Boerkie]

Originally Posted by bluetick

420 is crowded ,326, 324 all very popolar as well as 330 , its all a gong show.
Get in early and hike 2 k off the main road and you may be ok untill every dude that has a rav or toyota 4x4 comes in with a rifle on thier lap.

Thanks, I was hoping to get in there and set up camp for a week. I'm second guessing that now.

[Dunezilla]

Originally Posted by bluetick

420 is crowded ,326, 324 all very popolar as well as 330 , its all a gong show.
Get in early and hike 2 k off the main road and you may be ok untill every dude that has a rav or toyota 4x4 comes in with a rifle on thier lap.

Put 328, & 339 & 340 in that list too.

[Dunezilla]

Originally Posted by Boerkie

Thanks, I was hoping to get in there and set up camp for a week. I'm second guessing that now.

If you can find that one spot that is on a lease road with only 1 well site & there are small cutlines that go through the bush, or a wide cutline that has some hills & large stumps , & several bushes spread across the cutline so that no one can see down or drive down then you might be ok.

In the areas I go I only see one other set of human foot prints most times. Just find an area like that & you might be ok. Then if a time ever comes when there are more walkers than road warriors , then become a road warrior.

Hunters from Calgary hunt all those wmu's mentioned as well. I meet some over the past few years. I meet two guys last year looking for Elk from Calgary. "Any large Elk herds" they asked, & I said "not that I have seen, however there are the odd stragglers".

[Boerkie]

Originally Posted by Dunezilla

If you can find that one spot that is on a lease road with only 1 well site & there are small cutlines that go through the bush, or a wide cutline that has some hills & large stumps , & several bushes spread across the cutline so that no one can see down or drive down then you might be ok.

In the areas I go I only see one other set of human foot prints most times. Just find an area like that & you might be ok. Then if a time ever comes when there are more walkers than road warriors , then become a road warrior.

Thank you for the help and info guys, hopefully Smokingd found it helpful as well, didn't mean to take over. I think I will give it a go. This will be my first year doing something like this so im sure that it will take me a while to find my perfect spot, but worth the adventure!

[openfire]

I went there last year. Actually was worried about getting shot.
Someone niked my buddies binos off his truck when he took a little walk, no one around when he left, no one around when he came back.

There are a lot of deer there though. Just make sure no one thinks your one.
There are some crazy people in there.

[Dunezilla]

Originally Posted by Boerkie

Thank you for the help and info guys, hopefully Smokingd found it helpful as well, didn't mean to take over. I think I will give it a go. This will be my first year doing something like this so im sure that it will take me a while to find my perfect spot, but worth the adventure!

I forgot to mention they will drive down that lease road you find with 1 well site, but sometimes when they see a pickup truck or two they turn around. If it is a well hidden lease road then they may just drive by without noticing. If you walk you can have a great time.

[Boerkie]

Originally Posted by Dunezilla

I forgot to mention they will drive down that lease road you find with 1 well site, but sometimes when they see a pickup truck or two they turn around. If it is a well hidden lease road then they may just drive by without noticing. If you walk you can have a great time.

Just have another question. So when i arrive to the spot where I want to go in, do I just leave my truck there for the week? is that allowed?

[Dunezilla]

Originally Posted by Boerkie

Just have another question. So when i arrive to the spot where I want to go in, do I just leave my truck there for the week? is that allowed?

Lets say you could leave it for a week would you want too? Do you want to leave it in plain sight? This is where guys who set up a base camp would help.

I camp with my truck in a area outside of my hunting spot & then drive back to it each morning. Only a few kms down the road.

[Boerkie]

Originally Posted by Dunezilla

Lets say you could leave it for a week would you want too? Do you want to leave it in plain sight? This is where guys who set up a base camp would help.

I camp with my truck in a area outside of my hunting spot & then drive back to it each morning. Only a few kms down the road.

Thanks that's a great idea!

[bluetick]

Leaving your truck in any area around rocky is never a good idea! There are spots you may be able to get in and camp but i will assure you there will be many of so called hunters drive right past your camp into the cutline and bush .
Not only Calgary area hunters as its close to Red Deer And Edmonton .
its the halfway mark for those areas,and it is relatively close to the mountains.

[Red Bullets]

I thought it used to be busy 30 years ago. BQ. (before quads)

The last elk hunt I tried in the Rocky area... I pre-scouted 6 times a month in advance. Found a promising area.... set up for opening day.....The day was warm but I walked a mile to a wonderful spot.( I wouldn't pack game by myself further) As dawn came I could here the bugling in several directions. But before long I realized it was a few different inexperienced hunters that were calling eachother in. Never went back to the area again. Had better luck in other places with less competition.

And if you plan to leave your truck alone for a week leave your side windows at home. Take everything out of your truck except the seat. If you take out your truck battery, hide it so no one can steal your truck.

In any of these WMU's mentioned it might be a good idea to wear ten mile blaze orange cloth too..

[Preux86]

Originally Posted by Dunezilla

In my opinion there are a lot of hunters that head west. I have seen some fall days where there are an insane amount of hunters on the lease roads. So heading north from Vegreville AB is good advise.

Never hunted west. But north can be a gong show in the november crunch time too. Thats what I love about bow season. Maby hear 1 farmer driving the whole day?

[Dunezilla]

Originally Posted by Preux86

Never hunted west. But north can be a gong show in the november crunch time too. Thats what I love about bow season. Maby hear 1 farmer driving the whole day?

I agree during bow hunting season is the one time of the season you may not run into a load of road warriors just some game bird hunters (unless it is the August 25th opening bow season).

[muleyhunter7]

I live in between 324 326 i mostly hunt 429 3 quarters of land lots of elk and deer i have had the same 9 ppl ask permission to hunt surprised many more dont not complaining btw i hardly ever see a hunter in 429 324 is full of deer and road hunters! Never seen an area so bad.

[H380]

Originally Posted by muleyhunter7

I live in between 324 326 i mostly hunt 429 3 quarters of land lots of elk and deer i have had the same 9 ppl ask permission to hunt surprised many more dont not complaining btw i hardly ever see a hunter in 429 324 is full of deer and road hunters! Never seen an area so bad.

try 108 if you think you.ve got company there.All the Calgary guys that aren't in 324 come down here .. Rifle season here is a big reason I went to a bow .

[Dunezilla]

Originally Posted by muleyhunter7

I live in between 324 326 i mostly hunt 429 3 quarters of land lots of elk and deer i have had the same 9 ppl ask permission to hunt surprised many more dont not complaining btw i hardly ever see a hunter in 429 324 is full of deer and road hunters! Never seen an area so bad.

I often thought about 429 but a number of years have gone by & I still didn't get there. I finally made it to a part of a wmu I thought about for years & so I scouted it a couple weekends ago and as Shania Twain says in a song "it don't impress me much". So some day (like next year) I may head to 429 for a scouting trip.

[muleyhunter7]

I found an elk area finally 6 bulls there this weekend ( havent seen a legal bull on my land yet) its quiet area i find i like hunting in the hills field hunting is boring when you can pattern the animals lol last year average of 140 hit on my land i dont allow female animals to get shot a fellows young son took a decent 160 last year for his first owned the land 3 years and i havent shot anything on it maybe this year lol

[xring_assassin]

Originally Posted by diamonddave

I live here in Rocky, and if I could move somewhere else for the months of sept, oct, nov, I probably would. Just to get away from the crazy poop show around here.....

What Dave said rings true ^^

Especially hwy 11 west to park boundary and all along the trunk road. "Gong gong gong SUPRIIIISSSEEE" pretty much sums it up.

[Snm]

I hunted all around them areas and was sickened with how people treated the areas they camped. Garbage everywhere oils cans jerry cans wrappers and i could go on.... The worst part of it was sitting for 5 hours and finally seeing 3 tiny does and have a group of 7 people hunting off quads scare everything away within 3 wmu's. Was a very frustrating couple days but it all panned out.