Limited Entry Hunting (LEH) are hunting opportunities created via a "lottery", and the details are found in the LEH Synopsis. Participation in the LEH draw is available to any resident of B.C. who legally possesses a B.C. Resident Hunter Number.

The purpose of Limited Entry Hunting is to achieve wildlife management objectives without resorting to such measures as shortening seasons or completely closing areas. It is only introduced where it has become necessary to limit the number of hunters, limit the number of animals that may be taken, or limit the harvest to a certain "class" of animal.

View Limited Entry Hunting Kootenay Elk maps

View Limited Entry Hunting Maps for Region 8 – Okanagan

To find out more, please download:
How the Limited Entry Hunting System Works [PDF 95KB]

If you have any questions about Limited Entry Hunting, contact the LEH office at: 250 356-5142
LimitedEntry.Hunting@gov.bc.ca

Success in the Limited Entry draw is simply a matter of random luck. The odds that are published beside each hunt give an indication of the likelihood of a successful application, but they do not guarantee anything. For example, odds of 3 to 1 suggest that one out of three applicants will be drawn, but for any one person, this is not a sure thing. With such odds, an individual could be lucky and be drawn twice in three tries or be unlucky and apply for eight straight years without success.

Contrary to the beliefs of many, repeat success in the Limited Entry draw is actually quite low. Successful applicants have their chances reduced in subsequent draws in order to improve the chances of those who have been unsuccessful. In most cases of repeated success, an applicant has been applying for very lightly subscribed hunts.

If you have lost a Limited Entry Hunting authorization, a duplicate can be issued to you at most Service BC Offices free of charge.

The Fish, Wildlife and Habitat Management Branch is pleased to announce that the Special Mountain Sheep Resident Draw (previously known at the Mountain Sheep Special Limited Entry Hunt) has been re-instated. This authorization provides a special opportunity to hunt your choice of Thinhorn Sheep (Dall’s and Stone’s) or Bighorn Sheep (California and Rocky Mountain) and to support conservation efforts that will benefit mountain sheep in British Columbia.

The draw allows the successful applicant to take one mountain sheep in excess of the regular bag limit during a special extended hunting period and will be valid during the limited entry hunting and general open hunting season for sheep.  If the species of choice is Bighorn Sheep, the opportunity to hunt will be extended until December 20, approximately one month past the end of the latest sheep hunting season date.  If the species of choice is a Thinhorn Sheep, the opportunity to hunt will be open earlier by 21 days prior to the opening of the regular sheep hunting season and will close on March 31.

The Special Mountain Sheep Resident Draw is valid for any male sheep. The successful resident is required to hold a valid resident hunting licence, a mountain sheep species licence and the Special Mountain Sheep authorization while hunting under the Special Mountain Sheep authorization.  While the Special Mountain Sheep authorization allows the successful application to harvest 2 sheep in the licence year, the hunter may only hold one uncancelled sheep species licence at one time.

The Special Mountain Sheep Resident Draw applications will be available through Service BC Offices and vendors by mid March, 2011.

Application deadlines for the 2011 and 2012 Special Resident draw will be as follows:

2011 Hunt application deadline: July 15, 2011 (draw completed)
2012 Hunt application deadline: October 21, 2011 (draw completed)

PLEASE NOTE:

• Applications received prior to July 15, 2011 will be entered for the 2011 hunting opportunity.
• Applications received between July 16 and October 21, 2011 will be entered for the 2012 hunting opportunity.

The draw will occur shortly after the deadline for applications and the results will be posted on this webpage.

The draw dates for 2013 and beyond for mountain sheep should be back to the regular schedule (prior to 2010) and will be drawn in July of the previous year. For example, to hunt in 2013, the application draw date will be in July of 2012.

There will only be one other person licensed to hunt sheep during these extended opportunities in 2011 and 2012. The 2011 opportunity was auctioned at the Wild Sheep Foundation’s convention in Reno held February 9 and 12, 2011.

For more information about the Special Mountain Sheep Resident Draw, please see the 2011/2012 Limited Entry Hunting Synopsis that will be available mid April.

The 2012 Spring Grizzly Bear and 2012 Skeena Mountain Sheep draw has not yet been run. Results will be posted once available.

If you have any questions, you may contact the LEH Office at: 250-356-5142 or lehunt@Victoria1.gov.bc.ca

We regret that First Nation hunters may not be able to check their Limited Entry draw results on this website. For protection of privacy reasons, access to draw results is by British Columbia resident hunter number only. The use of the hunter number rather than the hunter's name is intended to prevent access to draw results by anyone other than the person who applied for the draw. First Nation hunters who do not have a resident hunter number may check their draw results by contacting the Fish and Wildlife Branch at 250-356-5142.

2011 Draw Statistics

• We issued 30,080 authorisations to 25,760 individuals. There were a total of 26,316 authorisations available.
• 28,968 authorisations were issued as “first choices”; 1112 as “second choice”
• Shared hunts for moose allowed roughly 5000 additional hunters to be drawn than would be without shared hunts.
• 2 people won 6 species; 2 people won 5 species. 21,866 people won once.
• 75,609 hunters submitted roughly 158,000 applications, 156,714 of which made it into the draw.
• 12 people applied for all 8 species.
• 52,544 people applied for just one or 2 species.
• 352 authorisations – 204 (of 3400 available) goat; and 148 (of 4401 available) mule deer – were not awarded due to being undersubscribed (not enough applicants to take all the draws either as first or second choice).

For number of authorizations to be drawn for the 2012 Spring Grizzly and Skeena Mountain Sheep draws click here [updated Jan 20, 2012]

Attention Grizzly Bear Hunters

Grizzly bear populations are sensitive to female harvest and hunting opportunities may be decreased or cancelled when the female harvest becomes a concern. Please avoid harvesting female Grizzly bears, for more information on Grizzly bear sex identification please visit Choosing Which Bear to Take courtesy of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

For more information explaining the impact that female Grizzly bear harvest may have on hunting opportunities click here [237KB]