Wainwright 2023

[Buckwheat]

Originally Posted by AB-Hunter1

Hey y'all, its going to be my first time at Wainwright this year. Im going as a helper with my dad, however I wont be able to make the first day due to work but can make it out the 2nd day. I been to Suffield a few times and I know its not mandatory to attend the first day hunt in order to hunt the rest of the days since they do briefings every morning. Is that a similiar case in Wainwright aswell? Also I know a hunter can only bring 1 helper, so similiar to the first question, if the first day my dads takes a friend as his helper, am i able to go as a helper the 2nd day? Or its just one registered helper?

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Not sure about changing helpers but anyone entering the base must attend a full briefing. After the first day the briefing is shorter for everyone that attended a full briefing the first day. There will be a full briefing after the shorter briefing for those that missed it the first day

[LongRangebugler]

How’s the primitive going ? Anyone hear how it’s going with the good weather ? Must be able to get around a lot easier this year than years past .
I know in years past there has been a hunter harvest numbers total for each day …. Just curious . As I’m going Monday for either sex elk . If anyone is heading out there and see some elk a PM would be appreciated, and I will do the same for moose , deer and elk .

[Rhino81]

Will be there Monday for deer. Talked to a couple friends that are stationed in wainwright and they shared some good information about the deer. They said the whitetail are hard to find and they almost never see them. Mule deer have almost completely taken over. Shouldn’t be a problem finding 180+ and the 190+ are pretty good possibility in a few honey holes. Happy hunting everyone

[slough shark]

Originally Posted by Rhino81

Will be there Monday for deer. Talked to a couple friends that are stationed in wainwright and they shared some good information about the deer. They said the whitetail are hard to find and they almost never see them. Mule deer have almost completely taken over. Shouldn’t be a problem finding 180+ and the 190+ are pretty good possibility in a few honey holes. Happy hunting everyone

The trophy quality must have improved in recent years if it’s easy enough to find a 180 mule deer. I think the hunts that I’ve been on out there I’ve only seen maybe 2 or 3 of that caliber that were taken and I’ve probably seen 1 mule deer that big out there and unfortunately for me he was across the fence on private land when I saw him.

[fatboyz]

Originally Posted by slough shark

The trophy quality must have improved in recent years if it’s easy enough to find a 180 mule deer. I think the hunts that I’ve been on out there I’ve only seen maybe 2 or 3 of that caliber that were taken and I’ve probably seen 1 mule deer that big out there and unfortunately for me he was across the fence on private land when I saw him.

I think he must be talking metric measurements! 180-190cm! No way there’s 180” MD all over the place. Shed crazy, the bio from Wainwright might chime in and confirm that too.

[Bushrat]

Originally Posted by fatboyz

I think he must be talking metric measurements! 180-190cm! No way there’s 180” MD all over the place. Shed crazy, the bio from Wainwright might chime in and confirm that too.

I think we all know those guys who see 180's all the time, yet the biggest one in their antler pile is a 140.

[crawfish]

Anyone out in primitive? Heard guys on fb saying it’s been a rough go for deer, really low numbers out there. Not confirmed but heard 5 deer on day one, a bit better day 2. Moose numbers looked really good with decent bulls.

[wind drift]

Originally Posted by Rhino81

Will be there Monday for deer. Talked to a couple friends that are stationed in wainwright and they shared some good information about the deer. They said the whitetail are hard to find and they almost never see them. Mule deer have almost completely taken over. Shouldn’t be a problem finding 180+ and the 190+ are pretty good possibility in a few honey holes. Happy hunting everyone

With CWD infection rates as high as they are on the base now, i think the best mule deer hunting days are behind us. Not going to be many bucks getting old enough to make large racks.

[Rhino81]

Originally Posted by Bushrat

I think we all know those guys who see 180's all the time, yet the biggest one in their antler pile is a 140.

Probably don’t see many from your living room in the city! Haha. Come out and I will show you a few corky. Keep trying, you will get lucky one day

[Dewey Cox]

It's been 4 or 5 years since I've been there, but I definitely saw some 180-190 mulies there.
In the permanent danger prohibited zone... (And they knew they were safe there. Just smiled at us...)

I did get a nice one out of there last time, I'll have to look up what it scored.
Hope to find another (or 3) on the 11-13 rifle hunt this year.

[-JR-]

I worked at wainwright over 10 years ,there are some nice big deer in there .
Most of them are in the area where only foot excess allowed .
Its your choose if you want to drive around in your truck and take a few short walks where 90 % of all the hunters go or walk all day in the park and walk area . Good luck to all and have fun .

[slough shark]

Originally Posted by LongRangebugler

How’s the primitive going ? Anyone hear how it’s going with the good weather ? Must be able to get around a lot easier this year than years past .
I know in years past there has been a hunter harvest numbers total for each day …. Just curious . As I’m going Monday for either sex elk . If anyone is heading out there and see some elk a PM would be appreciated, and I will do the same for moose , deer and elk .

Get in contact with multiple deer and moose hunters and they can help you find the herd. Typically as far as I know the elk are oftentimes on the south side of the main base ( not annex) and they like to head into the safe zone there

[Rhino81]

Originally Posted by slough shark

Get in contact with multiple deer and moose hunters and they can help you find the herd. Typically as far as I know the elk are oftentimes on the south side of the main base ( not annex) and they like to head into the safe zone there

elk on the southwest past the river. I guess they think they are safe there as it’s wide open with little cover so if they see danger they pin it into the farmland

[LongRangebugler]

Are you allowed to have a backup rifle on the hunt ? 2 guns . For one hunter ? Just curious .

[Rhino81]

Originally Posted by LongRangebugler

Are you allowed to have a backup rifle on the hunt ? 2 guns . For one hunter ? Just curious .

yes, you can bring 2 guns

[Dewey Cox]

Just don't bring 3 guns.
It's a faux pas to be better equipped than the canadian military when you're hunting at camp Wainwright.

[Rhino81]

Originally Posted by Dewey Cox

Just don't bring 3 guns.
It's a faux pas to be better equipped than the canadian military when you're hunting at camp Wainwright.

Haha! These are true words

[yoteblaster]

Will be there on the 11-13th rifle hunt as well. First time for my son (18) who has an elk tag. I have deer tags. Been told multiple times already that it will be nearly impossible to fill the elk tag. Hope they’re wrong. Going to have a great time hunting with my youngest son regardless. Good luck everyone 👍

[Rhino81]

Originally Posted by yoteblaster

Will be there on the 11-13th rifle hunt as well. First time for my son (18) who has an elk tag. I have deer tags. Been told multiple times already that it will be nearly impossible to fill the elk tag. Hope they’re wrong. Going to have a great time hunting with my youngest son regardless. Good luck everyone 👍

I will update you on the elk status and location as I’m going Monday first rifle

[yoteblaster]

Thank you very much

[APA]

Originally Posted by yoteblaster

Will be there on the 11-13th rifle hunt as well. First time for my son (18) who has an elk tag. I have deer tags. Been told multiple times already that it will be nearly impossible to fill the elk tag. Hope they’re wrong. Going to have a great time hunting with my youngest son regardless. Good luck everyone 👍

Will be there deer hunting 7-9th and can let you know what we see for elk as well

[yoteblaster]

Thanks APA👍

[whitetail Junkie]

Just heard that the muzzleloader season was a bust with a big winter kill in the area this past winter the deer numbers are in the toilet.

[wind drift]

Originally Posted by whitetail Junkie

Just heard that the muzzleloader season was a bust with a big winter kill in the area this past winter the deer numbers are in the toilet.

Yet deer numbers in 234 are good, so that doesn’t make sense. The big issue in 234 and the base is CWD. An infected deer has about 2 years to live. Male mule deer have the highest infection rate. The disease is so prevalent in mule deer at CFB Wainwright that moose are becoming infected at a rate higher than anywhere else. The best days of hunting for mature mule deer on the base are behind us. It’s not what it was 15 years ago. I have 7 points for the draw and if I go again, it will be for nostalgia, not with the intent of finding a large buck.

[sacan]

Originally Posted by whitetail Junkie

Just heard that the muzzleloader season was a bust with a big winter kill in the area this past winter the deer numbers are in the toilet.

We were there and can confirm this is the case based on what the biologists on the base told us. We’ve been on the base before, and didn’t see close to the numbers we did before. The lack of snow didn’t help either. The trophy quality is also not great, especially for mule deer. The biggest mule we saw at check in was maybe 160. The positivity rate on mule bucks last year was 50% so that with the bad winter, and lack of rain this year is really hurting the mule population on base

[lmtada]

Back from First hunt. Disappointing for Elk and Deer. Saw a few young moose. Roads are all accessible. Sandy in Southern area. All ponds/river frozen, and no snow. Pushed bush half time. Never saw many deer. Walking approx 10km daily. Winter kill took its toll. Noticed many animals spooked, and nocturnal. Moose seem come out 10 minutes before shutdown. Saw one good size whitetail, however Primitive weapon won’t reach. It was fun, went west side across battle river into coulees (moose/deer). Couple incidents some hunters were hunting in a restricted zone were booted, along with hunting with regular gun during primitive hunting were also booted (fish wildlife actually retrieved the bullet from the skull of the animal). Hunters had to go bye bye. Overall fun hunt. Wainwright sure has brown last 10 years (Coop Grocery, Walmart Grocery, Food for less grocery). Many good restaurants downtown (Italian, Mexican, etc).

[edmsmith]

Originally Posted by slough shark

Get in contact with multiple deer and moose hunters and they can help you find the herd. Typically as far as I know the elk are oftentimes on the south side of the main base ( not annex) and they like to head into the safe zone there

Have you hunted there before or just sharing what you've heard? We've shot a few elk over the years in the annex. Seen big herds there everytime.

Might be hard to find in the annex without snow.

[slough shark]

Originally Posted by edmsmith

Have you hunted there before or just sharing what you've heard? We've shot a few elk over the years in the annex. Seen big herds there everytime.

Might be hard to find in the annex without snow.

I’ve hunted deer there a number of times, never saw elk tracks before down there and for the most part hunted the annex, most of the elk tracks that I saw were west side of the highway a few miles on the south side, seen the tracks there twice that being said it’s been 6 or 7 years since I’ve been there

[slough shark]

Originally Posted by wind drift

Yet deer numbers in 234 are good, so that doesn’t make sense. The big issue in 234 and the base is CWD. An infected deer has about 2 years to live. Male mule deer have the highest infection rate. The disease is so prevalent in mule deer at CFB Wainwright that moose are becoming infected at a rate higher than anywhere else. The best days of hunting for mature mule deer on the base are behind us. It’s not what it was 15 years ago. I have 7 points for the draw and if I go again, it will be for nostalgia, not with the intent of finding a large buck.

That’s surprising that you found good numbers of deer in 234, from what I heard the base numbers were way down, I hunt 202 and the numbers there were the lowest I’ve ever seen by a fair bit. A fair bit as in I’m contemplating the future of deer hunting out there for a few years due to such low numbers and size and age of bucks. Not sure it’s going to improve any time soon because of cwd and the game management practice of trying to kill everything off.

[Buckwheat]

Here’s the primitive no’s. Zero elk for primitive but did see one bull tonight at checkout



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