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Canadian Outfitter Area Allocation

Many Canadian outfitters advertised "Exclusive" hunting areas of various sizes. I'm curious as to how such areas are allocated and just what does "Exclusive" mean? Also are such allocations really meanignful in that they are in some way enforced?

What I do know is many Canadian Provinces do things differently. I would suggest asking about a specific Province and going from there! Good Luck! C

I believe for most it means they are the only outfitter. Just like here in Alaska, you might have an outfitter who is the only one operating there, but the locals may mob you.

I know in Ontario, trapping areas are owned. Someday over a drink I might tell how I learned that in 1964.

Charlie...At the moment Manitoba is of specific interest.

Manitoba the resident hunters can hunt bear anywhere they want , some areas outfitters are allocated they have the exclusive rights to non resident hunters but only on crown lands. Private lands anybody can hunt with permission. Hope that was helpful.

Alexis D. So...does the "Exclusive" right really mean anything or are the majority of hunters residents? I'm interested mostly in spring, baited, bear hunting. Also, are these allocations relative to non resident hunters resonably well enforced?

Only exclusive from outfitter to outfitter, in our area here there is few residents that hunt bear in the spring, I would say it would be more non resident hunters hunt spring bear but I don't have the numbers maybe there is areas where there is higher resident spring hunters. Most of us outfitters respect each other's areas, there is very few problems amongs the outfitters as far as I know. Just do your homework lots of good outfitters in Manitoba.

Stubbleduck I have hunted spring bear in Manitoba 20 springs and have never once seen a resident hunter out hunting and the only hunters I have seen are with the outfitter im with, plus baiting is so hard to get around I just dont see how anyone would have the time to bait anywhere thats not there area

Alexis....appreciate your comments. Do the allocations change much from year to year? Do the outfitters have to pay the provincial government an annual fee for their allocation?

Allocations and hunting exclusive areas have different meanings indifferent provinces.allocation for us is licenses that are solely mine to use exclusive area isnt offered by our province but exclusive here could be private owned property or a lease area.crown land is open to all but outfitters are to respect other outfitters established areas.kind of a complex question with complex answers.

Being that the area of Manitoba that has black bears is about the size of ND, SD and Minnesota put together, and we sell in the neighbourhood of 1700 bear licenses across the board i wouldn't be too worried about hunter density. Also remember the vast majority of hunters hunt within an hour and a half of the city of Winnipeg.

When you hunt with an outfitter you're most likely in an area far from the general population. As a resident hunter I try and stay away from outfitters as it is tough to compete with guys that are there 24/7, even in the areas 2-3 hours from the city. Most hunters think the same way. There are also the situations where outfitters bully the resident hunter out of the area happens a lot, but not with the reputable outfitters like the ones on this site. That would be of no concern to me booking in MB, or even SK or NW ONT for that matter.

Thanks for the info. I may have been misinterpreted regarding the basis for my interest in the subject. I'm not concerned in the least with regard to crowding / interference with the spring bear hunt I have signed up for in Manitoba. I'm just generally curious as to the allocation system and it's managment especially as many of the outfitters make it a significant point in their advertisments. I am somewhat surprised that there are only 1700 bear licenses issued annually in Manitoba. Is the number part of a managment program or is that number just a reflection of the level of interest in bear hunting?

Hi Stubble, sorry I got that wrong, I was going off numbers from the Regulations, and they are resident numbers. MB sold 1671, 1560, and 1693 resident bear licenses from 2012-2014.

That would be just a level of interest in bear hunting in our province. You have to remember that 3/4 of our hunting population actually don't need licenses to hunt. They were born with different rights, but that doesn't upset me at all. Anwyays, most of them don't hunt bears anyways. There are so many bears here nobody cares about them. I kind of fall into that crowd as well, for whatever reason they just don't turn my crank the same way as a whitetail, elk, or moose.

Based upon my discussions with Manitoba residents last fall while I was in the province most of their responses when told I was bear hunting were more or less "What in the hell do you want to shoot one of those for?" or "You came all the way up here to shoot one of those?" I think that might be somewhat indicative of the level of interest in bear hunting for many Manitoba residents similar to what APauls said. I did get asked often if I was seeing any elk or deer though! The folks I met and talked to up there were first rate, just remember to fill everyone's coffee cup when filling your own and you'll all get along fine! Ha!

Again, thanks for the information. These comments are in line with what I heard when bear hunting in Alberta about 13 years ago (Last time I bear hunted). In general it seemed that the local residents thought they had a bear problem and were both surprised and pleased that the gringos would actually pay to help control the population.

In BC the allocation is the number of animals the outfitter can kill. This only applies to animals on quota. Any animal not on quota has no limit to what the outfitter can sell for hunts. Bears in BC are unlimited province wide but have a two bear limit per hunter. Exclusive area is what I would call a concession. This is a certificate owned by the outfitter that allow him to be the only commercial operator inside the defined borders. These concessions range from 300 sq miles to 11 000 sq miles here in BC. Resident can hunt anywhere except private land (unless they have permission.) Picking an outfitter that is a couple hours out of any town will slow down any resident pressure. With an estimated 150 000 black bears in BC there is no shortage. Very few residents hunt bears here as well.

In Manitoba, bear allocations are figured to 33 square miles of bear habitat to 1 non-resident bear tag. This figure virtually guarantees a stable up to an improved population in the bear herd numbers. My guests are amazed when they come to our place and see almost an uninhabitated place, with very little access into the very furthest reaches of the back country and over 1,400 sq. miles that is pretty much untouched for them to hunt.

Allocations are patrolled by the outfitters, with penalties for exceeding your range, very stiff. The thought of loosing a tag is too much for most outfitters to encroach onto anothers' area, and in fact most stay clear of their own boundries, leaving a buffer zone to not have bears crossing back and forth to baits set up too close to the boundries.

Residents on the other hand, are allowed to hunt any where they please were legal to and we all follow the same laws out there.

Bear Track.. Thanks for the information. I gather then that the real control is the number of non resident tags an outfitter has. How are those allocated and do the allocations change much from year to year?

Tags are based on allocated area. (Their legal way around allocating tags etc.) You buy into the allocation or buy out an aging outfitter is how you get bigger. I don't think it's any different anywhere in the country.

Bear Track... I really appreciate the information. Sounds like a somewhat complicated system. One can only hope the powers that be don't wake up and decide to put the tag allocation on an annual bid system.

are tags allocated in Ontario..?? Chris(Spike Buck) you can probably answer that.

Stubble the annual fee per license is 100.00 dollars allocation fee plus the tag fee.

I've been a Black Bear and Whitetail Outfitter in Saskatchewan since 1992. I can explain the history and definition behind exclusive as far a big hunting in this province. Prior to 1995 there was a lot of overlap with Allocated Oufitter areas. At one point likely in the 80's .the government would basically issue an outfitting license to anyone who asked for one in what ever area that qualified regardless of how many other outfitters also operated there. Total chaos would be a mind description . I know of as many as 7 outfitters overlapping and trying function in the same area. This had to change. In 1995 the outfitters and the government got together to remedy this. At that time individual areas where created for each outfitter. Which ment no one else but that one outfitter could guide clients within their disignated.area within the Provincial Forest. From that point on Saskatchewan Oufitters had Exclusive areas within the Provincial Forest. Yes they are in forced . I am the only one who can Outfit within my area, The majority of outfitting in Sask takes place within the Provincial Forest and the above rules apply. Their is a narrow strip of farmland along the southern edge of the Provincial Forest where Big game outfitting is also allowed. This is comprised of mostly private land.,there is still outfitter overlap in these areas. However that usually doesn't create any issues because it is private land and the landowners control access to that ie only one Ouftitter would be granted permission . Sorry for the lengthy reply, that's the history and it now works very well.

Hi Jeff, I haven't spoke to you in a long time. The approx. dates (years) our resources heads were struggling with this are the same as yours. There were lots of words and worse spilled back in those days, and they did a pretty good job of dividing the operating areas here and in my home province of Saskatchewan. I had my first outfitting business in the early 80's and remember a call from the department head asking what area I hunted and how many tags I wanted. Now they assume so many tags for the square mileage, so depending on the area, there may have been more tags allotted for a particular area and possibly some taken away so as to not over harvest bears from the herd.

In the end and with not too many feathers ruffled, I think they did a good job in protecting the herd and keeping peace with the resource users and providing incredible experiences and opportunities for our hunters and visitors to the provinces I know most about.

Ontario does not have tag allocation. Outfitters pay $2 per square km on assigned areas to the MNR

Skull, Does that mean they can sell as many as they wish?? As many tags as they cam sell??

Yes Grape you are correct there is no quota on bears tags ( only one tag per person )

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