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  #1  
Old 04-30-2018, 09:20 PM
Sportsman Sportsman is offline
 
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Default Swan Hills

Anyone know if the Goose Tower road area has melted out yet? Are slopes and cuts clear of snow?
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  #2  
Old 04-30-2018, 09:54 PM
wildwoods wildwoods is offline
 
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No idea.
Anyone know if any good spots near swan hills?






Just teasing OP
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  #3  
Old 04-30-2018, 10:02 PM
Smokinyotes Smokinyotes is offline
 
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My kid was sledding there two weeks ago
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Old 04-30-2018, 10:58 PM
Sportsman Sportsman is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wildwoods View Post
No idea.
Anyone know if any good spots near swan hills?






Just teasing OP
Yo, I know the area well and don’t need your spots. Just wondering if it’s melted up there yet.
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  #5  
Old 04-30-2018, 11:01 PM
wildwoods wildwoods is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sportsman View Post
Yo, I know the area well and don’t need your spots. Just wondering if it’s melted up there yet.
Sorry you missed my joke. That's not what I meant at all.
Just teasing you for announcing one of your areas. No harm intended.
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  #6  
Old 04-30-2018, 11:28 PM
Sportsman Sportsman is offline
 
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Sorry you missed my joke. That's not what I meant at all.
Just teasing you for announcing one of your areas. No harm intended.
All good, I’m a little slow! Just can’t wait to get out and chase some bruins!
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  #7  
Old 05-01-2018, 04:56 AM
dfrobert dfrobert is offline
 
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Sportsman, how are the Grizz numbers in that general area these days? Used to see the odd one back in the Virginia Hills while fishing the freeman.
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Old 05-01-2018, 05:51 AM
wildwoods wildwoods is offline
 
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All good, I’m a little slow! Just can’t wait to get out and chase some bruins!
Haha me too! Can't wait
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  #9  
Old 05-01-2018, 08:18 AM
Sportsman Sportsman is offline
 
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Sportsman, how are the Grizz numbers in that general area these days? Used to see the odd one back in the Virginia Hills while fishing the freeman.
Grizz are healthy in 351, we see them every trip into the area.
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  #10  
Old 05-01-2018, 10:48 AM
Big Grey Wolf Big Grey Wolf is offline
 
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Default grizz

Grizz recovery plan trying to move more bears from BMA2 (Grand Cache) to Swan Hills BMA7 by widening the corridor between Fox Creek and Whitecourt. May work if West Fraser leaves some trees instead of trying to take it all. Assume they believe Swan Hills do not have enough grizz!! and too many in Grande Cache.
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  #11  
Old 05-02-2018, 07:12 AM
st99 st99 is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sportsman View Post
Anyone know if the Goose Tower road area has melted out yet? Are slopes and cuts clear of snow?
I don't know about swan hills, but GP is greening up. We saw 3 bears last weekend, and 1 of them is in the freezer.
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  #12  
Old 05-02-2018, 12:25 PM
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Thrillbilly Thrillbilly is offline
 
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Swan hills area is greening up down a lot of the cut lines. I folded my bear tag up there Monday evening.

Last edited by Thrillbilly; 05-02-2018 at 12:26 PM. Reason: Spelling
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  #13  
Old 05-03-2018, 11:39 AM
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blgoodbrand1 blgoodbrand1 is offline
 
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I don't know about swan hills, but GP is greening up. We saw 3 bears last weekend, and 1 of them is in the freezer.


Pics or it didn’t happen


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Old 05-03-2018, 01:51 PM
MooseRiverTrapper MooseRiverTrapper is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Thrillbilly View Post
Swan hills area is greening up down a lot of the cut lines. I folded my bear tag up there Monday evening.
Lol
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Old 05-03-2018, 02:18 PM
st99 st99 is offline
 
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Originally Posted by blgoodbrand1 View Post
Pics or it didn’t happen


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I didn't take a field pic, my dad shot it in the head. Hope this count.
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  #16  
Old 05-03-2018, 03:52 PM
West O'5 West O'5 is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sportsman View Post
Anyone know if the Goose Tower road area has melted out yet? Are slopes and cuts clear of snow?
Goose Tower is beyond melted,it's dusty.
No snow in Swan aside from maybe the odd patch on a north slope in heavy conifer cover.....bears are out and about.I'm holding out for a nice color phase or a GIANT black.
Haven't seen a grizz yet just the odd track here n there.
Frustrating that there's "not enough" grizzlies around to have a limited hunt because they are "endangered"......and at the same time the bait ban for blacks expands ever more eastward cuz there's "too many" grizzlies....go figger.
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Old 05-04-2018, 10:59 AM
Big Grey Wolf Big Grey Wolf is offline
 
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West common sense like you just stated never is considered in grizzly bear management.
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Old 05-08-2018, 02:29 AM
West O'5 West O'5 is offline
 
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Originally Posted by Big Grey Wolf View Post
West common sense like you just stated never is considered in grizzly bear management.
"Common sense" would dictate that the more areas they close to baiting for the sake of the odd rare grizzly(ie;the portion of 507 west of the Athabasca river was closed a cpl years ago) the bigger problem nuisance blacks will become as there is far less hunting pressure on them from Outfitters/bow hunters etc.
Baiting is the most effective way to control black numbers and promote selective harvest,and pretty much the only reasonably effective way to bowhunt for them.
We're gonna end up in an Ontario-like mess after they cancelled the spring hunt for 2 decades there(recently reopened).
I live in the west side of 507 and we can't bait them anymore because somebody seen a grizzly for chrissakes,and my rancher neighbor has shot over 20 black bears in the last 2 years.
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Old 05-08-2018, 08:14 AM
Big Grey Wolf Big Grey Wolf is offline
 
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Interesting news story in BC, lots of bears wandering around towns and by window in old folks home. It will get real interesting when the 17,000 protected grizz start wandering into towns.
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  #20  
Old 05-08-2018, 09:37 AM
jawa jawa is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by West O'5 View Post
"Common sense" would dictate that the more areas they close to baiting for the sake of the odd rare grizzly(ie;the portion of 507 west of the Athabasca river was closed a cpl years ago) the bigger problem nuisance blacks will become as there is far less hunting pressure on them from Outfitters/bow hunters etc.
Baiting is the most effective way to control black numbers and promote selective harvest,and pretty much the only reasonably effective way to bowhunt for them.
We're gonna end up in an Ontario-like mess after they cancelled the spring hunt for 2 decades there(recently reopened).
I live in the west side of 507 and we can't bait them anymore because somebody seen a grizzly for chrissakes,and my rancher neighbor has shot over 20 black bears in the last 2 years.
Little more to it than that Someone had a bait in fish lakes area had an encounter with a griz on his bait griz was wounded fish cops were called in and they shut baiting down on north side of the Athabasca in 507
As i understand was shut down for public safety as its a high use area
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  #21  
Old 05-08-2018, 11:11 AM
West O'5 West O'5 is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jawa View Post
Little more to it than that Someone had a bait in fish lakes area had an encounter with a griz on his bait griz was wounded fish cops were called in and they shut baiting down on north side of the Athabasca in 507
As i understand was shut down for public safety as its a high use area
Yes I realize there's a lil more to it and aware of the wounded grizz et al,I was being a bit tongue n cheek in my last post,but even so....one incident in how many years and how many hundreds of bear baits over the years in 507 and they shut'er down over a single incident.There's a VERY healthy population of BB in 507 that's only gonna get outta control and cause wayyyyy more problems then a grizzly or 3 that visit baits in the unit on occasion because they aren't being targeted very effectively at all,just targets of opportunity for ranchers and deer hunters mostly,and with a Nov1 rifle opener they are denning up by the time the rifle hunters take to the field soooooo....mostly just a bunch of nice bears being left to rot by ranchers in a unit that has excellent bow hunting potential.
Yes,I'm more then a bit PO'd that I have healthy number of my bears literally in my backyard with a good percentage of color phase and instead I gotta drive 50km to cross the river and seek permission to hang a stand rather then just walk out my backdoor and hunt minutes from home,all because of a few grizzlies that nobody wants anywhere near here in the first place.
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