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For hunting enthusiasts, moose hunting is much more than a hobby. That’s why many of them consider their hunting camp as their home away from home. As a place for good times and good friends, hunting camps are where all the secrets of Abitibi-Témiscamingue’s best hunters are kept.
What is required to hunt moose?
Moose-hunting season is baked into the DNA of Abitibi-Témiscamingue residents. Not only does the season herald the beginning of fall, it’s also vacation time for many residents who head off to the woods to spend a week or two in their hunting camps. The vast forests of Abitibi are where moose love to roam and breed. Some 24,000 hunting licences are sold every year in the region, and hunters’ annual moose hunting success rate is currently steady at around 7%.
In zone 13, the area that covers the largest part of Abitibi-Témiscamingue, the 2019 season for all types of hunting runs from October 12 to 27, with the season for bow or crossbow hunting starting earlier, on September 21. The Moose - hunting seasons 2019 section of the Quebec Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (MERN) website details the periods when moose-hunting is permitted for all of the province’s regions.
What exactly is a hunting camp?
A quasi-mythical place for some people (especially for those of us who’ve never set foot in one!), a hunting camp is a makeshift shelter without permanent foundation or running water. Its bare-bones character makes it different from a summer cottage, which can offer all the amenities of a permanent dwelling. Hunting camp owners need to obtain a temporary-shelter lease for this kind of property, which remains the responsibility of the owner who signed the lease, even if they subsequently sell their camp. The seller then has to agree with the buyer to share the costs of the shelter lease until the buyer obtains a new one when the previous lease expires.
Protecting your hunting camp
As the leaseholder, you need to protect your hunting camp, especially since it’s left unsupervised for much of the year. With insurance, hunters can avoid considerable financial loss due to damage of various kinds. An insurance policy can protect you against damage caused by fire, lightning, explosion, smoke, civil disturbance, falling objects or other problems. However, since damage caused by pollutants, water, hail or wind storms can entail some exclusions, it’s highly advisable to address all your questions to your insurance broker.
Left unsupervised for much of the year, your hunting camp could benefit from some insurance coverage that will save you many worries.
Insuring a hunting camp also means avoiding the financial aggravation of a civil lawsuit. Your insurance broker can include civil liability in your hunting camp insurance to protect you against any bodily injury or material damage involuntarily caused to third parties, similar to the protection provided by your home insurance. Any loss of enjoyment resulting from this kind of injury or damage is also covered by civil responsibility insurance.
So, to avoid any trouble and enjoy a worry-free hunting season, why not contact one of our brokers who can give you the peace of mind you need for a successful season? As the adage says, “an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure” – or in this case, let’s just say, don’t count your moose until you’ve bagged one!