Frequently asked questions
In Northwestern Alberta. We will email you details to our camp as we move to different areas each year to maximize and manage our bears.
No, you don’t have to put in for a draw. All of our licenses are guaranteed. We will take you to get your license (approx. $200 CAD) upon arrival as long as you have applied for your Alberta Wildlife Identification Number (WIN Number) at www.AlbertaRelm.com, and you have filled out your contract and sent it back to us.
It generally is not difficult to enter canada. Yes, you will need a passport. One of the only real problems we’ve seen is if you’ve ever had any criminal charges, even a D.U.I., you might have difficulty entering Canada and may need to clear it up months beforehand. Visit this website for more info www.bordercrossing.ca. Bring a copy of your hunt contract when you enter Canada, occasionally Canada Customs will ask to see it. It is your responsibility to make sure you will not be refused entry into Canada though. Refusal of entry by Canada Customs and Immigration is not sufficient reason for a refund.
We provide all your meals, accommodations, transportation to and from the stand and field care of trophies. We do provide some soft drinks/pop and snacks but liquor is not provided. Please stop at a store for you to purchase additional amounts of pop, snacks and any liquor on your way to the lodge.
No it is not difficult to bring a gun to Canada. You will need a firearms declaration form to clear your rifle through customs. We will send you one as part of your deposit confirmation. There is a $30 payment at the border to process this form. You can also complete the online form or download it here: Non-Resident Firearm Declaration
The easiest way to get to our area is to book your flights into Edmonton, Alberta …Use a website such as www.expedia.com or directly with Air Canada, or Westjet if possible. Then rent a vehicle and drive to the location we send for camp. It is about a 5-6 hour drive from the airport. We do not pick up clients from the airport. You can also drive directly to camp.
Yes you can drive right to camp in just a car from your home. It is a 6 hour drive from Edmonton and a 12 hour drive from the Montana border all on good paved roads. The last 10 miles is a good gravel road.
Yes we usually don’t buy the licenses until the day before the hunt starts so it is easy to just change who is hunting.
The accommodations are in a comfortable wall tent camp. Please bring your own towels and all gear for life in the wall tent camp. We have a WIFI connection for your mobile device. We don’t have any laundry service, you’ll have to bring enough clothes to last the duration of your hunt.
The easiest, least expensive and least risky way to bring any of it home is as extra baggage on your flight home. On antlers and capes we put your clothes around the antler tips, clean, dry and then tape up the skull plate and we freeze the cape. We also freeze bear hides. All the items then go in a thick cardboard box or plastic bin. Cost of the extra bags will vary with each airline but they generally charge $100 per extra 50 lb. bag. Animals can also be left here with a Canadian taxidermist but it is very expensive to get mounted then sent to your home, often twice as much as what you would pay at home. If you plan on keeping the meat, then all meat processing costs are your responsibility, approx. $150 for a deer. Frozen meat can also be taken as extra baggage. We have plastic bins or coolers available for $10 a bin or $40 a cooler. Your hunting license acts as your Alberta export permit and U.S. customs will have you fill out a wildlife import form. It is very easy to do. Meat CANNOT be shipped to you later. We have tried and have not been able to locate a reliable way to do it. You also cannot UPS or FEDEX animal parts home like you can within the United States. Dry ice is also very difficult to find in Canada so if you are driving up it would be good to bring well insulated coolers or even a freezer that you can plug in at hotels on the way home. If you choose not to take the meat for yourself it will be donated to our local landowners or needy families at no cost to you.
Yes we do, but Canadian taxidermists are not cheap and neither is the shipping. Usually we recommend taking your antlers, cape, hides and meat home with you as extra baggage.
It is a mix of 20% open flat farm fields and 80% thick woods, small creeks and big river valleys. Most of our hunts can be done by someone who is not very physically fit. We travel daily on quads and side by sides. If you drive you are welcome to bring your own favorite machines.
Both but when we say private land in Canada it doesn’t mean that we have exclusive access to the land and by public it doesn’t mean that it is crowded with hunters. It is actually illegal in Alberta to pay a landowner for hunting access. We simply ask a landowner for access and he says yes or no, 90% say yes and we end up with hundreds of thousands of acres of land to hunt. We may be the only ones hunting a piece of land it or it may have several people hunting it. On much of the public land we see less people than the private areas.
The 2 on 1 guided hunts usually work just fine with enough opportunities for both hunters to get their animals. We typically split up the 2 hunters. For example, one person will be sitting on a bait and another his own bait 4 miles apart. The main reason we do most of our hunts 2 hunters to 1 guide is because we have found that one excellent guide can do a better job than just getting a somewhat unqualified one to take one hunter. Wages, vehicles, fuel and food are all much higher than practically anywhere in the United States too, it isn’t cheap to get a guide. Since all the guides work as a team as soon as one animal is down the 2 hunters will get split up and the hunts quickly become one on one guided anyway. If it is a big concern for you, you can get a separate guide for $2000 a hunt.
Deposits go to our Paypal account. We will send you a Paypal invoice information. Payments can be sent via Paypal or mail a cheque to the following address:
Ryan Kohler Hunting Adventures.
11263-180st Edmonton, Alberta
T5S0B4
No there is no blaze orange requirement and it really isn’t necessary but if you feel more comfortable with it on you are welcome to bring it.
Yes we do. For the baited bear hunts the policy is that drawing blood counts as a kill. Since you have 2 bear licenses you can kill or wound a maximum of 2 bears total. On all the other hunts you are allowed a maximum of 2 wounds per species. That means that if you draw blood on 2 animals and we can’t find either one of them then your hunt for that species is over. Of course we always make every effort to recover any wounded animals and we don’t encourage unethical shots.
For most species in Alberta, no. Bears are the exception though. You're able to harvest up to 2 bears on your hunt.
Yes, if you would like to take pictures, feel free to bring a camera with you. We will also have a camera on site to take trophy photos and videos that we can send to you as a keepsake.
At least 10% tips are much appreciated!
Yes and No, depending on whether you are driving or flying, whether you are bowhunting or rifle hunting and whether you kill or not. Here is a complete list of every possible extra fee:
Flights or driving expenses to get to our area.
Aprox. $200 CAD for your bear license
Before or after the hunt hotel fee approx $150 a day.
Firearm import fee $30.
Liquor and extra snacks or soft drinks.
Tips or Gratuities. (10% of basic hunt cost)
Cost of getting antlers, cape, hides and meat home. Amount varies greatly depending on species and how much you are taking home.
Recommended Edmonton Airport Hotels:
Executive Royal Inn Hotel: 1-888-388-3932
Holiday Inn Express: 1-877-410-6681
Nisku Inn: 1-800-661-6966
No you can’t really do this. The problem is that customs will treat it as if we are buying your gear from you and give us a tax and duty bill for the full value of all the goods.