The Special Weapons Hunt was a hunt for muzzleloaders and archery, combined for bull moose in the Stewart Lake region, just to the East of Chetwynd. Turn North (left) on the road just
before Groundbirch. The hunt was for a couple weeks, ending about the 4th of Dec. On our last hunt, iirc, the temp was in the -45F range. Somewhat chilly for bare hands.
This special season was cancelled due to: Environment officers(game wardens) finding 3 guys in a truck with one inline on the window rack for everyone's use and everyone also packing 30/06's or .303's "for wolves".
As well, they overflew the area with choppers after the "hunt" and found a lot of dead moose that were not recovered. At that time, TC Maxiballs were popular in .45, .50 and .54. Upon cutting these dead moose open, found these maxiballs & some expanded pistol bullets. They were of the opinion that a ML could not kill a moose. We invited 2 game wardens into our tent for a coffee and chat. Right off the bat, one asked if the scoped bolt action inline was actually a muzzleloader.
We showed them our guns, Taylor's Pensylvania 20 bore, Brad's Pedersoli SxS .58 and my .69, all shooting round balls.
One of the game wardens said if everyone had been using guns like ours, the "hunt" would not be cancelled & that "this" was the last year for the hunt. I think that might have been late 1990's, Justin.