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getting into Canada with a gun

4731 Views 87 Replies 43 Participants Last post by  blinkin357
next summer we are doing a trip to Alaska and am wondering what's required to cross the Canadian border with a shotgun ? thanks for any help
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gun

cycledude get a hand gun the shotgun will be hard to conceal . lol
What the Heck do you need a shotgun in Canada for?? We sure don't want you here with that thing!!!
gopdebeek said:
What the Heck do you need a shotgun in Canada for?? We sure don't want you here with that thing!!!
Calm down! He probably wants to go hunting. That is still legal isn't it?
cycledude said:
next summer we are doing a trip to Alaska and am wondering what's required to cross the Canadian border with a shotgun ? thanks for any help
The answer to your question depends highly on how you'll be travelling, and for what reason you need the shotgun. If you just need it in Alaska and not Canada you might be able to send it to yourself via an FFL holder in Alaska (via UPS?).

Others may be able to offer other solutions, but the best advice I can give you is to make SURE everything is totally legal because penalties for getting caught sneaking a gun into Canada are very severe.
gopdebeek said:
What the Heck do you need a shotgun in Canada for?? We sure don't want you here with that thing!!!
Talk about phobia :roll:
WB0SPL said:
gopdebeek said:
What the Heck do you need a shotgun in Canada for?? We sure don't want you here with that thing!!!
Talk about phobia :roll:
Thousands of Canadians make their living as outfitters, hunting guides, and bush pilots for American hunters. And hunters pay big bucks (LOL) for the license. Apparently some Canadians would want to put a stop to all that. I guess PETA has infested Canada too!
All Boots No Saddle said:
cycledude said:
next summer we are doing a trip to Alaska and am wondering what's required to cross the Canadian border with a shotgun ? thanks for any help
The answer to your question depends highly on how you'll be travelling, and for what reason you need the shotgun. If you just need it in Alaska and not Canada you might be able to send it to yourself via an FFL holder in Alaska (via UPS?).

Others may be able to offer other solutions, but the best advice I can give you is to make SURE everything is totally legal because penalties for getting caught sneaking a gun into Canada are very severe.
we will b traveling on 5 motorcycles

i don't need a gun but one of the other guys is also a hunter and is worried about bears and wants to bring a shotgun along

i feel plenty safe with just a good bear resistant tent
cycledude said:
we will b traveling on 5 motorcycles

i don't need a gun but one of the other guys is also a hunter and is worried about bears and wants to bring a shotgun along

i feel plenty safe with just a good bear resistant tent
I doubt you'll get Canadian permission to do that... but you can always give it a try and see what they say.

Let us know how it turns out... I'm curious.

As far as the 'bear resistant tent' is concerned... is there such a thing?

Anyway, I hope you have a safe and enjoyable trip!
The only bear resistant tent I know of is to put peanut butter on someone else's tent. :lol:
I don't have a clue but here's a story of the olden days: I moved from Alaska to Michigan in 1994. When crossed the border from Alaska to Canada the guards at both checkpoints asked me if I was carrying any fresh vegetables. I wasn't. When I got to the U.S. border again someplace around Duluth, the Canadian guards asked me if i had any firearms in my car. I said yes I have a bunch of handguns and a rifle in the back and this shotgun here between the seats. The guy asked if it was loaded and I said of course its loaded. He then waved me through.

Here's another one. In 1976 nine of us came down to California and bought new ElectraGlides. After riding around various routes in the states, we met at the Space Needle and headed north. At the border, the guy asked if we were armed and one dope said yes. The guard made us take all our bullets out and put them in little sandwich bags. He then gave us wires with a cardboard tag to run through the barrels and told us to check them back in when we got to Alaska. We all went up the road about 1/4 mile and reloaded and put them back on our belts. The tags went in the trash barrel.

I think the only way to be sure of what's legal is to ask the Canadian Border people.
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Sid,

I would suggest when you travel into the US from Canada, as you did in 1994, you were dealing with US officials, not Canadian.
You can try calling Canada Customs: (204) 983-3500 or (506) 636-5064 but it's probalby one of those those "computerized, 24-hour telephone service" machines designed to annoy you so much you never want to leave home.

Or you can dig through this web site:
http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/E/pub/cm/d19 ... 3-2-e.html

I know lots of US visitors bring their hunting guns to Canada so it must be fairly easy. Unless you are travelling with your president I doubt that hand guns would be allowed.
a gun in the great white north?

I make it up through Canada a bit and would suggest to forget the idea of taking a weapon up there. First off a shotgun is way to impractical to wield in a close tent encounter. Second if you are silly enough to shoot a Kodiak with a shotgun you deserve being his next main course and dessert. :lol:

This summer Linda and I went up there and I had accidently overlooked a canvas gun case for my P-89 under the back seat. Well they found it in a casual search and it turned into a two hour take the truck apart thingie. They emptied out my golf clubs and all our luggage and went through the vehicle including under the hood. It was a long drawn out ordeal with them repeatedly asking me where the gun was and me telling them it was locked in the gun case at home in Wyoming. They finally gave up and let us go on but, it was sure a hassle. Canadian authorities are not going to allow a foreign citizen to shoot one of their bears without proper hunting licenses and permits and I am positive they won't tell ya it's ok ta just blast one with a shotgun cuz he's comin' through the door to the tent?

Assess where you will camp and call 1 800 hello bc and get up dates on where to go and where it is relatively safe to stay in a tent. You can probably get pepper spray at a sporting goods store up there, and it is going to turn away ALL animals. An adult moose will stomp ya into the ground as quick as a bear will tear ya a new one so the best way is to discourage them before they get to ya. A large wounded animal will have only one goal in mind after the wounding takes place.

If it has a hump, be a lump. If it's black, fight back.

If a grizzley comes he will maul ya and odds are leave ya. A black bear is far less likely to attack but, if he does you are part of his food chain. Same with a big kitty cat. He too isn't likely but, if he does fight for your life cuz he is.

Canada is a beautiful place and I have ridden to Alaska twice on motorcycles and didn't have a gun nor did I ever need one. Take a good camera and get good information and the trip will be a breeze.

I met a 30 year old woman from Germany a few years back at Crater Lake Oregon. She had shipped her BMW F650 to Vancouver British Columbia from Hamburg, Germany. She then rode it up into the Artic Circle and covered 2,000 miles around Alaska before coming all the way to Redmond, Oregon for the International BMW rally. She was going to go down the coast to San Diego and then ride it back to Vancouver and ship it home to Germany. She did this trip alone and to this day I stand in total awe of that young woman. She did this with a nice telephoto on her camera and two one gallon gas cans ( one on each side ) plus all her gear tied on that little 650 single. Maybe when I get on up in my sixties I'll grow enough grapes to try and duplicate her trip as a solo without a weapon?

Ride safe,
Denny
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Abbout 3 years ago we went to Nova Scotia in our motorhome. We normally carry a 12 gauge. I called Canadian Customs and asked them if I could carry it with me as we were going across Canada and wind up in Alaska for a little hunting and fishing, they said, "no problem".
When we were clearing in and they asked if I had any firearms I replied that we did and that they didn't care who in Canada said that I could I could not. They gave me the option of sending it back home, leaving it with them and picking it back up on my way home, or just us turning around and not entering Canada. We chose to leave it at the border and had friends pick it up for us on their way back into the US.
Several years ago we did not have any problems going in or out with our shotguns, I think handguns were not allowed though.

Bill
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ScooterK said:
The only bear resistant tent I know of is to put peanut butter on someone else's tent. :lol:
:lol: :lol: :lol: :yes: Now that's funny!
When I took a cruise to alaska I asked a park ranger if they allowed firearms in the parks. He replied they didn't. What he recommended was pepper spray, but not a used can as the bears could smell it and come investigating. About this time i'm wondering what I'm going to do after I've had to use one and I'm miles from nowhere. I guess litter the park is the only option. Better to get forgiveness than permission.

LAW
gopdebeek said:
What the Heck do you need a shotgun in Canada for?? We sure don't want you here with that thing!!!
Sigh… Are you afraid of ladders, lawnmowers and Chainsaws too? More people are hurt by everyday household and Lawn equipment than by hand-guns.

Don’t even get me started about cell phones use by dolts in cars.

So, read where he’s going add some common sense and a big critter (Bear) and maybe, just maybe, you will receive an epiphany.

Good luck, sounds like you'll need it with all those scarry guns up there.

Van
cycledude said:
i feel plenty safe with just a good bear resistant tent
:shock: Is there such a thing...ever seen the claws on a "Griz"?
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