yellowlabman

My question pertains to new regulations regarding crossing into Canada. This past September, through my own stupidity, I was picked up for drunk driving. I have been informed that this will pose a problem entering Canada for an upcomming hunting trip. I have checked all the Canadian governmental websites and have found a lot of conflicting information. Does anyone have any CONCRETE information pertaining to this matter? Anyone had any first hand dealings with this subject? Any info would be appreciated!

rbduck

Try these and see if they can help you ....

www.cfc.gc.ca.
1-800-731-4000

best I can do, good luck

Ron

nub

I guess you could say I have some first hand dealings with this subject. I had to return back to the states and drop off a guy that was refused entry. Bummer for him because I dropped him off at the casino and turned and went back across. Theres 2 ways you can go about this. You can obtain the proper forms needed to allow you in and pay the couple hundred bucks. Or you can take your chances on not being questioned. Just crossing the border and declareing does not mean you' ll be found out. Custom officals will just ask what your bringing across. Now if he says " go inside and see Imigration" , then your f***ed. If you decide to take your chances, I wouldn' t reccomend bringing in any extra booze or cigs over your limit. Don' t give them any reason to get you inside. Are you hunting with a gun? Thats a gauranteed walk inside. Where in WI. you from? Theres 2 border crossings you will most likely use if your entering Ontario. Pigeon River and International Falls. I seriously thinking of not useing Pigeon River anymore. They always seem to find a reason to mess with me. You taking a quad? Better wash it before you cross.[:' (]

yellowlabman

Thanks for the info...

liquidorange

i have had a lovely experience with the canadian border guards last year at the 1000 island bridge crossing. it seems the agent took the length of barrel limit on my gun and interpited it wrong. the regulation said something about nothing less than 18 in and he thought it had to be exactly 18 inches. we all had 26 inch barrels. he told me to go back over the crossing and get a hotel for the night and talk to a supervisor the next day. i kept my cool and demanded a copy of the regulation. i then pointed some things out to him and he then made a call to another boarder crossing. why he just didnt do that in the first place is beyond me. i really think he was just stupid and not busting my hump. if you have any guns you will have to go inside and pay that stupid fee! i will avoid hunting there for a while! you also have to be careful of other traffic violations like careless or wreckless from what i was told. i think only the acting stupidvisor at the shift can o.k. a crossing. if i were you i would get things straightened out now! in your case it would probably help that you dont use your vehicle for the trip and tell them you have no plans on driving in there country at all. just give them alot of yes sirs and no sirs they love that stuff!

DJBAD

i would have to agree with nub but the both times i crossed into the border i had no problems it seemed like they wanted nothing to do with me... it seeme3d like to much of a hassel but on the other hand i know a few people that had lots of problems with that... i went with my quads and was never questioned not even to see the guns.... my buddy i wient bear hunting with this year had gotten arrested a week and a half before we left to quebec and they did not ask him anything when we were checking in our firearms, not even for our birth certifacates... so it is a 50/50 chance

mathewsarcher

Just remember Gentlemen, It is their country and you do NOT have the RIGHT to enter if they don' t want you to. And you should not argue with them about their rules to enter. You see I am a bit sensitive to this subject. Why? Because I am a US Customs Agent, and I see this kind of stuff EVERY day. So make sure that you answer all questions honestly. Cause if they do find you out, you could lose your guns, your rig, and you could possibly end up in jail.

yellowlabman

Matthewsarcher-

I understand that it is their country and they make the rules. As a customs agent, do you have any information that may be helpful on crossing legally given the siruation? Can it be done? Are there any forms that need to be filled out? Does it just boil down to $$ as I suspect?

Thank You

CalHunter

I don' t know about the drunk driving question. Sounds like Mathewsarcher would be able to find out a correct answer on that one. I went hunting in BC a couple years ago. Our outfitter had already sent us the gun license forms and entry forms. Since you have to hunt with an outfitter up there by law, it definitely seems to make it easier. One thing I would do differently is to get a U.S. Passport. It' s not required by law between the U.S. and Canada but the outside border crossing gal made a huge deal about it. The people inside were extremely nice and helpful though.

One other useful tip. If you use your credit card, your issuing company automatically converts your payment into Candaian $$$ (much cheaper). If you pay for anything in stores with U.S. $$, they do not give you change according to the exchange rate. We exchanged U.S. $$ in a Canadian bank for Canadian $$ and it was a lot cheaper after that. Good hunting.

DL2

YLM, you won' t get into Canada with this on your record - it' s a felony up here.

The only thing our custom agents were advised regarding hunters: is check the firearm paperwork or decloration (with bows - you should have a decloration), and get them through through as quickly as possible.

With the paperwork, you' ll get flagged and not permitted to gain entry.