[Lone Ranger]

Any tips about getting firearms license?

Go to huntingbc.ca and do a quick search on there, or post a question asking, they'll be able to tell you who does PAL and CORE courses in your area. As for costs I can't remember off the top of my head but I believe it was about $150 for my restricted and non-restricted then $80 to the gov't for the licence (free renewal every 5 years), and the CORE's usually about $100 - 150 depending on the person doing it and then you send in your paperwork to the BCWF building in Burnaby then go to any ServicesBC gov't building and they issue you your hunters number. You do do either one before the other, CORE is much quicker and the PAL is typically around 2 - 3 months wait depending on the time of year (you can track it online apparently).

I hunted for years under my dad's licence and finally just got far too old to get away with it anymore, used to just borrow the 12 ga or .22 as I needed it. The risk for getting caught isn't worth it, so I got my licences. I've had mine about 4 years now, just never had any use for it before really besides the occasional hunting trip. Even now I don't usually have any firearms with me unless we're going up plinking, hunting, or I'm doing a long distance trip on my own. LR

 

[itsy bitsy xj]

Our province can often pose more threats than just challenging terrain and weather. I'm planning to be out in grizzly and cougar territory this summer, and not excited about running into anything bigger than me that can run much faster than me, especially if it wants to eat me.

Do you guys carry anything to protect yourselves from the local wildlife? I've been looking around trying to research firearms. I'm finding it difficult to match portability (for hiking) with effectiveness (especially for something like a grizzly bear).

Also, any info on gun licensing would be helpful.

It's important to note that I'm not out actively hunting these beautiful beasts, and if I were to encounter one I'd hope to scare it away before actually harming it, but when it comes down to it and no warnings are heeded, it's him or me...

Hey Matt

This is what I use to protect myself from local wildlife...some cougars are just plain nasty

 

[fonetikal]

aww we made it a whole 21 posts before someone finally made a cougar joke..

 

[Lone Ranger]

Its about time! It was getting too serious anyways. LR

 

[hardcoreoffrd]

Great read and thread! Thanks

 

[dirtymicXJ]

shooting a grizzly in the head is a very bad idea skull is way too thick to penetrate shoot for the chest while he raises up at you much more area to shoot at and you need a heavy grain round

 

[VanBCguy]

Thanks for all the input guys, I appreciate it. Matt, you've pretty much reinforced my assumptions about what I was looking for.

Any tips about getting firearms license?

I went to SilverCore for my PAL training. Great guys. They live, eat, breath and sleep firearms. Excellent instruction. I learned things I thought I already knew well, but they taught me different (and better).

http://www.silvercore.ca/

I also came across this company on Annacis Isl. that makes shotguns (and all other types of firearms too) and have heard great things about them

https://www.dlaskarms.com/index.php

Great thread guys. Thanks for all the informative posts.

 

[ANDYrew]

The skull will not deflect bullets this is a myth.

I would watch the dog whisperer and practice being calm and assertive, no eye contact. LOL

National and regional parks are out, but firearms are permitted in certain provincial parks, you have to check first.

 

[thedjjack]

spend my summers working in remote locations. Never had a bear in counter I wish I had a gun for.

Chances are with a cougar you want a knife since the first time you see it, the cougar will be jumping out of a tree on to your back (good luck getting a shot off with a long gun).

Worked with a few people that packed big hand guns, they worried me more then the wildlife (I did not wear my brown fur coat on those days LOL).

Around camp especially if you are not clean is probably the only place a gun is handy.

 

[barracuda]

It is a bit of a myth that you cant hunt or have firearms in parks.

You can actually hunt in a great many parks and conservancy areas.

http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/fw/wildlife/hunting/regulations/0910/docs/PARKS_HUNT.pdf



as for personal protection i gotta wonder what a grizz might do to you after you light it up with one of these things LOL! http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6646394548900655381#

 

[Lone Ranger]

It is a bit of a myth that you cant hunt or have firearms in parks.

You can actually hunt in a great many parks and conservancy areas.[/url]

Nope, no firearms in any provincial or federal parks [there are a few exceptions, but I can't remember them all off the top of my head though. You need to check the regs for specific areas].

as for personal protection i gotta wonder what a grizz might do to you after you light it up with one of these things LOL! http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6646394548900655381#

More up north and in the Interior, but I do know that there are a few areas of east Manning Park that you can legally hunt in as well. I'm not really up to speed on most parks, but I'm pretty certain most in SW BC don't allow you to legally carry firearms in the park (usually its in the main and recreational areas of the park). I just carry a copy of the regs in my pickup so I know where I'm allowed and not allowed to carry them. LR

 

[Land Roving]

spend my summers working in remote locations. Never had a bear in counter I wish I had a gun for.

If you had, you probably wouldn't be here to tell us about it!

Think of a gun as a recovery strap. You might never need it, but you are sure glad its there when you do.

As for recommendations; I am not a shotgunner so I prefer big, heavy bullets served up out of a lever action (left-hand bolt guns are rare as hens teeth and there are not that many hard-hitting semis in my price range). Also, works great for deterring those idiots you come across who think the backcountry is a good place to grow their pot.

But, more important than equipment is good training. Learning to shoot is one thing, but learning about bears is another. Silvercore does a bear defence course that is supposed to be pretty good...

 

[thedjjack]

If you had, you probably wouldn't be here to tell us about it!

Nope I have had close encounters....

wikipedia: List of fatal bear attacks in North America: Between 1900 and 2003 there were about 52 recorded deaths due to black bears, 50 due to brown bears and 5 due to polar bears.

You would be better off spending the money on a roll cage and better seat belt.

 

[Land Roving]

Nope I have had close encounters....

wikipedia: List of fatal bear attacks in North America: Between 1900 and 2003 there were about 52 recorded deaths due to black bears, 50 due to brown bears and 5 due to polar bears.

You would be better off spending the money on a roll cage and better seat belt.

I meant if you had had a close encounter in which you wished you had a gun, you probably would not be here... similiar to the argument for concealed carry, the strongest proponents are dead. Also, what are you going to do with a seal belt and a roll cage? Belt the bear into your roll cage and bring him to the SPCA? And that figure is terribly skewed. There were no solid records kept in previous decades, and it does not factor in the number of bear maulings that do not result in a fatality. Not to mention, bears are one of and probably the least dangerous predator you can come across in the back country. Cougars scare me a hell of a lot more, but the worst predators by far are of the bipedal variety.

The best analogy I can come up with is this: you probably won't get in a car accident tomorrow, but you'll still buckle up, right? Think of all those great car trips your beloved seat belt has gone unneeded... should you stop wearing it because it's usually not neccessary?

Always always always hope for the best and pray for the worst. Failing that, Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.

 

[Lone Ranger]

107 deaths in 103 years, so slightly better than one a year - good enough odds for me to justify carrying a firearm in the backwoods in the off event that I might need it. I bet if they compiled the amount of bear maulings in that 103 years the figure would be staggering, considering a lot of times they attack and flee, leaving you to die. Then to top it off, how about the events that have never been reported, so you can probably come close to doubling those numbers, and maulings possibly into the thousands. Its 100% legal to have a bear tag and carry a firearm in the bush, so why wouldn't you? We're not talking about carrying an illegally concealed pistol in downtown Vancouver to deal with someone mugging you. I'm not telling you (or anyone else) what to do, but the post is more about the discussion of it. Its a legal activity, end of discussion. LR

 

[thedjjack]

Chances are you will be killed driving to the bush long before an animal gets you.

If a couger is hunting you you will not know, you need a knife or hand gun and only if you are lucky. Moose are way more of a problem then a bear.

I have worked in remote parts (helicopter drops) of the Interior for 10 years, meet lots of bears up close and never felt I needed a gun. They really have little interest in humans.

Sure the data is skewed, but I am at a meeting of 200 colleges that work in remote areas and no one is talking about wildlife and the need to have a gun. What do we know we are only out there everyday.

I fear people who have no experience, worried about a very rare event, carrying a gun. Since to that person I look like a wildlife.

 

[Lone Ranger]

Nope, you're right. You're far more likely to be killed in a car accident or killed crossing a street than you ever are in the bush. I'm not saying to walk around in fatigues loaded to the tits with exotic firearms waiting for something to move so you can shoot it, I just usually have something behind the seat in the event I start seeing the signs of possible aggressive wildlife, and I'll carry it with me if I see those signs (usually during the spring and fall seasons). Like whats been said, by and far most wildlife have little to no interest in you, but I still carry in case I prove to be the odd example. LR

 

[thedjjack]

No worries. I have no problem with experienced people with guns. I have worked with a few people who carried very large hand guns. For me, I have gear to carry and weight of a gun does not warrented carrying it.

Most important thing is we are out there enjoying it!

Cheers

 

[Land Roving]

Indeed... inexperience shooters are not prepared to carry a firearm for personal defence against anything. And I'm no condoning going into the bush "loaded for bear." And yes that pun was very much intended. Chances like that only come along one in a blue moon!

djjack, what do you do for work, if I might ask?

 

[HMFI]

Holy crap.

If you don't like guns, don't enter a thread called "firearms".

Some people like carrying guns, some don't. Nobody asked why your so chicken shit of guns so keep it to your self.

Shoot it, kill it, skin it.