Advice for WMU353
 

Hey ladies and gents,

Thank you all for sharing your stories and knowledge.
I’m am headed to 353 for a hunt this coming week. Any idea of game/predator #’s and where I’ll find the least amount of mud? Lol

Do not like to be a smart a--, but if you stay on pavement will not find any mud. The roads with limited gravel will be terrible. Oil field trucks such used today pound gravel to bottom of roads and break packed surface. WMU 353 usually has decent game numbers but will depend on wolf, cougar and bear numbers. Fellow trapper Nube hit wolves hard last year in little Smokey area.

Thank u sir.
Nube- very talented and a decent videographer. Always entertained!

The early nineties was the time to hunt 353. We had tags for calling season every year and would pass up moose all the time.

Over the last several years the gov has handed out so many moose tags in hopes of reducing wolf numbers that their isn’t much left.

Thanks again for the response. What about wt/mulies/elk?

353
 

We have had limited success the last few years in 353. There are deer there but some days they are hard to find. We will be out in November for moose. Hopefully the mud will be frozen unlike last year and the snow not as deep as 2years ago. If we get skunked I think it will be time to find a new zone.
I would be interested in hearing what you see.
kidd

Thanks kidd! I’ll update next week. Hope to hear some buggleing out there. But I am a meat hunter first so even some wt would be nice. As Always thanks for sharing.

353
 

We were up there last weekend. It was a bit soggy but not terrible. I assume it will dry thru week. There wasn’t an elk to be seen. We put a lot of miles on the boots and not even a tease! . A ton of bear activity. Grab a black bear tag if that’s your thing, we saw several. If anyone wishes to send any elk advice I’d sure appreciate it!

Ok, thanks Greg. So far it’s sounds pretty quite and no elk sign. Lotsa bear scat tho. Also muddy AF.

353
 

Lots of predators and too many tags given out by the province. Good luck stay on your toes shoot some wolves if you see them

If you guys see any wolves of sign let me know where please if it is closer to Fox creek side of things. I have been hitting the packs hard and got the majority of it under control now in my little part of 353 but there are still some that need hit some more. The more data I get on their areas they frequent and travel routes the better....

I came across a pretty big set of wolf tracks on a cut line just south and west of the transfer station to west of little Smokey.

Well, just got back. Buddy took a small 3x5 wt buck. Another friend missed two shots at two deer on one night. He was done until could verify he was sighted ! Lol

I got one bugle my last evening , 20 minutes later a black bear as high as my quad and two feet longer rolled past. That was the end of the elk. Heard a cow calling at night near our camp.

Seen large griz tracks, numerous moose and elk track, not much for wolf track or deer tho.

I have tagged out every year for the last 8 years in 352 (South of 353) for Elk. Put your time in along the Berland River valley and you will be successful. Lots of Grizzlies in that area so be aware.

Was the southern portion of the zone closed off for Caribou again this year?

Were u around smoke lake area? Shouldn't be seeing any wolves for a while around there lol Glad to hear it is finally making a difference up there and guys can see some game now

Was hunting up in 353 yesterday and it was nice to see some animals running around! Wasn't able to connect with a bull moose we caught up with but managed to see 3 moose, 6 whitetail , 1 black bear , 1 cinnamon blonde bear, and about 14 chickens. Didn't see any wolve/coyote tracks anywhere in the area we were in.

Hey, yes, we were south of smoke lake.

Ha, and yes there were a lot of chickens.

Good luck ladies and gents. The next trip for me will be Oct 19/20 weekend.

Hey nube, I was out there 1st week of October and ran into 2 wolves fighting a bear for a chunk of moose hide s.w of the big gas plant. Anyways couldn't get a shot off. Was to busy watching the fight. And yes the mud was terrible throughout the entire zone we came into the south end of the zone and left out the north end of the zone. Lots of bear and wolf sign everywhere.

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Which Gs Plant? lots of them around in the area. Where from Smoke lake basically?

Behind (south) Keyera chemical plant. On the simonette. Look it up on Google maps.

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The Simonette run was a moose hunting paradise. Too many tags for a easy hunt. Spent 10 years working behind keyera gas plant. The caribou were behind
This cull of sorts. It was used extensively by the Cree and very popular amongst
Alberta residents. Cycles are coming around again.

I also heard they cleared out a lot of beetle killed tree blocks. Going up the big hill and that road drains right down the middle of the road.

That’s always a fun area to hunt. Lots of different game, just park the truck and take a hike down a cut line you will be surprised in what see...