Has anyone on this site (U.S. citizen) been handgun hunting in Alberta Canada? While doing some quick preliminary research on Moose hunting guides/outfitters I came accross a link for a handgun permit application, but couldn't find it again.

I was under the impression that handguns were not allowed up there. I could be wrong though.

Yeah, I was under the impression that they have extremely tough gun control.

To the best of my knowledge & from what I've heard from others that have desired to do the same thing, it's not do-able for a "foreigner", & I'm not even sure it's possible for a resident.
Looks like you'll have to spend your money in Alaska!

I looked into it some time ago. Everything I read stated that handguns were illegal for hunting in Canada. Big pity because there's some real nice country and plenty of game. An email to any of the outfitters or hunting associations should be able to confirm the current situation. (Last time I was there they were having a federal election which the pro-gun party won.)

You can forget that idea and move your sights a little to the west, Alaska. Same game, much better hospitality for the handgunner.

For any Fred Bear fans out there, Robert Munger wrote about Fred bringing a handgun into Canada in his book Trailing A Bear. The basic story was that in 1962, Fred was going on a bow hunt for grizzly in British Columbia. At customs, when asked if he had any firearms, he told the official that he had a .44 revolver. He was told it was illegal to carry a revolver in any province of Canada. Fred then produced a permit that had been issued to him by the Canadian government years before, allowing him to carry a handgun while bowhunting for protection. The supervisors were called out, but none of the officials had ever seen a handgun permit before. Not even resident hunting guides could get permits to carry handguns then. Eventually they let Fred through with his gun.

I'm actually going to hunt Black Bear out of Petersburg Alaska next May. My hunting partner has family in Alberta and has his heart set on this hunt. When I get back from my Antelope hunt I'll dedicate some internet time to research it. I even thought of putting a buttstock on my T.C. and pack the Pachmayrs with the underwear and make the switch out in the field.

I believe all non-resident aliens have to hire a guide to hunt in Canada. IMO its not worth violating their laws to hunt with a handgun. I would do this hunt with the Encore rifle set-up.

It's illegal to hunt with a handgun in Canada. I used to be a cop up in one of the border towns and we couldn't even carry a gun if we had to go into Canada for some reason. It will get you thrown in prison if you are caught carrying a handgun there. The laws are so stricked that if you own one you can only take it to the range and back if you stop along the way you can get arrested for it. I guess they are afraid someone might steal it while your in a store. We used to store guns at the police dept. for people that wanted to go into Canada but it got to be so aften we stopped doing it. Some people would sell thier handguns because they wanted to go to Canada so bad. Of course everytime that happened to me I didn't have the cash on me to do it. bummer, missed out on some good deals.