Quebec "DIY"

[Adkjake]

I won't be able to make it out west this year so I've been doing some research into a moose hunt close to home (St. Lawrence region of NY.) I really don't want to pay a guide and would like to drive wherever I'm going. This brings me to Quebec. From what I've read online it seems you either need to hire a outfitter or hunt in a controlled zone which they call a ZEC. It's really hard to research the regs regarding ZEC's because everything is in French. So I'm left scratching my head.

I'm just wondering if anyone here has hunted in one of these areas and what your experience was like. Also how did you go about the permitting?

-Jake

 

[PA Hunter]

I hunt the Zec for blackbear my friend hunted it for moose at least 10 years with no luck. Save your time to to Newfoundland. I did have a small cow moose eating my bear bait, not worth my time moose hunting there I go to Newfoundland and drive always.

 

[PA Hunter]

I bought my license at a grocery store and the Zec has a check in where you buy a Zec permit. Not easy communicating we had one guy spoke English.

They are not the friendliest of people either and they love to cite Americans for anything stupid.

 

[Adkjake]

Thanks!
How was the bear hunting? Mind if I ask what Zec your buddy moose hunted?

 

[PA Hunter]

We go with 10 guys per week for 3 weeks. I was the only hunter not to get one I missed the only bear I saw. I thought he was smaller than he was approx 300 lbs. I am use to seeing grizzlies in Wyoming and some big bruisers in PA so a 300 pounder looks very small to me. My friend got a 400 pounder the rest were around 200.

Anyway the town next to it is L’Ascension and it was built up from the timber industry a very poor town but they now harvest their own maple syrup and it is awesome.

 

[PA Hunter]

Lake Lynch is where I rent a cabin it’s only like $300 for the week and sleeps 10 right on the lake. You cook your own food and clean up after yourself but beautiful place. Dirt road going in for like 5 miles.

 

[Mountain Ash]

I live in Quebec. I am a very green moose hunter and never hunted any ZEC but I geek out pretty hard about the regs and I speak French so I can probably help you out.

In my opinion the ZEC system is a mess. They all have the same legal status and they all must comply to the same overarching laws, but each one is managed independently. They get a lot of hunting pressure, especially for moose, and things can get competitive. You hear horror "this is my spot"-type stories involving burned camps, slashed tires and the like. I wouldn't let it scare me away but you get the idea. Some ZEC deal with the problem by assigning each hunter fixed blinds, some are a free-for-all and most are somewhere in between.

Also, I guess you already know that you need two tags per moose. In some ZEC you need three.

Feel free to PM me and let me know which one you were thinking about. I'll gladly translate the regs.

 

[Mountain Ash]

They are not the friendliest of people either and they love to cite Americans for anything stupid.

I'm sorry this was your experience. Things are always a little tense between French-speaking and English-speaking folks in Quebec, but it's even worse when it comes to hunting. You must understand that up until the 60's and 70's most ordinary French-Canadians basically couldn't hunt. If they did they were either guides or poachers. The land was all divvied up in super elitist clubs owned by rich anglo-Canadians and Americans and their wealthy clients.

It's no excuse for being an asshole though. Some folks are just bigots.