Sport Hunting in Québec
Main Rules April 1, 2012 to March 31, 2014
Main Rules April 1, 2012 to March 31, 2014
Non-residents cannot acquire a hunting licence for residents.
Non-residents (see Definition, page 1) are not required to hold a hunter’s certificate to obtain a hunting licence. They may hunt species considered as game with either a firearm, crossbow or bow, provided however that they use the hunting gear authorized for each species according to the hunting seasons in effect.
Non-residents are limited to the purchase of certain hunting licences and restricted to frequenting certain hunting zones or to visiting certain areas, depending on the game hunted. These restrictions are the following:
Non-residents may hunt species considered as small game. However, they may not obtain a licence to hunt frogs or to snare hares and eastern cottontail. Nor can he obtain a wild turkey hunting licence.
When hunting with a crossbow or a bow, non-residents aged 12 to 15 years inclusively must be accompanied by a person 18 years of age or older, holding a non-resident’s hunting licence, whether valid or expired, that was issued for the period between April 1 and March 31 or a hunter’s certificate corresponding to the hunting gear (see also Notion of family, age required to hunt and initiation licence, page 6).
When hunting with a firearm, non-residents aged 12 to 17 years inclusively must be accompanied by a person 18 years of age or older, holding a non-resident’s hunting licence, whether valid or expired, that was issued for the period between April 1 and March 31 or a hunter’s certificate corresponding to the hunting gear (see also Notion of family, age required to hunt and initiation licence, page 6).
Non-residents wishing to hunt north of the 52nd parallel, or east of the Saint-Augustin River in zone 19 south, must necessarily resort to the services of an outfitter.
In addition to respecting the provisions (see Transport, registration and exportation), a non-resident must register his big game, if the case arises, in a registration station, prior to leaving Québec (see page 14).
A transportation coupon that has been punched entitles a non-resident to transport a caribou, white-tailed deer, moose or black bear or a part thereof, including the pelt or a part thereof outside Québec.
Non-residents may without holding a dealer's or tanner's licence or an export form export outside Québec any non-dressed pelts resulting from their hunt. However, if the pelt is to be sold or tanned, the appropriate permit is required even if the pelts come from the non-resident's own hunting activities.
Finally, as the black bear and wolf are cited in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). That is why, when they are exported out of Canada, these animals, their parts as well as the derivatives or products obtained from such species, must be accompanied by a CITES export permit for the entry to be permitted in the importing country.
The CITES permit may be obtained at the following addresses:
Management Authority
Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)
Canadian Wildlife Service
Environment Canada
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H3
Telephone: (819) 997-1840 or 1 800 686-6767
Fax: (819) 953-6283
Web site: www.cites.ec.gc.ca
However, the CITES permit is not required for residents of Canada or of the United States who themselves export from Canada or import to Canada, in their personal luggage, a black bear that is the result of their own hunting activities, provided that this bear or its part is in a fresh, frozen or salted state. If the bear or its part has been naturalized, tanned or otherwise preserved or transported by a person other than the hunter who killed it, a CITES permit is required.
Finally, non-residents must declare their hunting gear when going through canadian customs (see Federal firearm legislation and hunters, page 11).
