Northern AB vs Sask for whitetail?

[Huntingonthebrain]

I have never hunted northern Alberta. I did hunt in sask last year and had a great time. Now I'm at a cross roads, which one do I hunt this year? I have a week holiday from work booked for the last week of november. I'm looking for trophy whitetail and moose. I was thinking calling lake area?? Any help would be great.

[lynx]

I am in Northern AB and there is lots of great WT hunting. Moose are down a bit but see some bulls every Nov as they are yarding up

Last week seems to produce big bucks.

[Huntingonthebrain]

pm sent

[duffy4]

Where are you from? You realize that to hunt moose in Alberta you will need a special licence and may need a few years priority in a draw.

There also is often undersubscribed moose licences that can be had over the phone in early Sept. (watch for more draw discussions on here soon)

Now that there is Sunday hunting in most of Alberta a week hunting trip is great but you can do some pretty productive and enjoyable week-end hunts as well.

[Cal]

Depending on the zone you want to hunt it can be pretty easy to draw a moose tag with no priority in northern alberta, at least in the zones I hunt. The deer huntin is world class in alot of areas, the moose hunting can range from ok, to not so much, to where I think even F&W have written the zone off. Is it better than sask? I doubt it. There are good numbers of truely huge bucks but if the zone lacks farm land it can be a tough job to find them. I personaly dont mind going the extra mile to find a mediocre bull and have come to enjoy still hunting the thick stuff though.

[Huntingonthebrain]

My brother has a priority of 4 I think for bull moose. I just got my moose last year in 402. I'm from Lethbridge so anywhere north is a long way so any info is good.
Sask hunting was hard as well. Lots of deer though. I just like Alberta deer better since I'm from here.

Thanks.

[Cal]

Depending where your going I would not want to waste a priority 4 on a zone you could probably draw an extra in. I hunt the slave/red earth/ wabasca area. In zones 544, 542, 541, and 518 (do not hunt there it is a black hole) you will almost certainly get drawn with no priority either early or late. Zone 350 you stand a sort of good chance of getting drawn on the early season and an even better chance of getting the late season with no priority. Many of the surrounding zones will probably be the same but I have no first hand info on them. I have hunted in 511, 350, and 542 myself with most of my hunting efforts in 542. They all have good white tails and some moose with 350 and 511 having more moose than 542 IMO. To get a moose out of any of these zones requires some dedication, not many are taken from anywhere near a road and the roads can get buisy in 511 and 350. 542 has less easy access with most of it being near wabasca (avoid like the plague) and utikama (slightly better but still not great for moose). Thats all I can think of right now, if you decide to come up let me know and I might have more usefull info.