Meat and trophy export from Canada

Wolf, bear and CITES

CITES is the international convention governing trade in certain wild species, and it lists both wolf and black bear under Appendix II. That means taking a wolf or a black bear hide or skull out of Canada requires a Canadian CITES export permit, issued through Environment and Climate Change Canada. This is a required step, not an optional one, and it takes time to arrange. On many hunts, including our Alberta hunts, wolf is a free add-on with unlimited harvest, so hunters take one almost as an afterthought and only later discover the export paperwork. If wolf or bear is even a possibility on your hunt, start the CITES process early so the permit is not the thing holding your trophy in Canada.

US hunters have a second form to file: USFWS Form 3-177 is the declaration for game and trophies at import, under 50 CFR Part 14. For other big game species, home-country import paperwork varies, so confirm the requirements for your specific species and destination before you travel. The CITES permit for wolf and bear, and the US Form 3-177, are the steps we can point to with confidence. Verified July 2026.

Who handles what

Export is a chain of handoffs, and knowing where the outfitter's job ends keeps you from assuming someone else has it covered. On a full outfit like ours, the guide and camp handle field care and prepare the animal into airline-ready packaging as part of the hunt price. From there it is on you: arranging taxidermy if you want mounts, securing any CITES permit for wolf, paying for shipment, and clearing your home country's import rules. None of those last four are in the hunt price.

Getting meat home

Meat is the part most hunters actually care about, and hunters commonly bring it home. We package the animal, and that airline-ready packaging is included on our hunts. What we cannot assert for you are your home country's import rules for wild game, which differ by destination and are the kind of thing that changes. Confirm the meat and wildlife-product import rules with your home authority before you travel, decide how much you are carrying versus shipping, and ask us what our hunters typically manage to bring back on a plane.

It is worth thinking about the volume too, because a moose is not a deer. A big-bodied animal yields far more meat than you can realistically fly home as checked baggage, so a hunt like a guided moose hunt usually means deciding in advance what comes with you and what, if anything, is shipped or shared. Some hunters take the best cuts home and leave the rest to be used locally rather than wasted. There is no single right answer, but it is a decision to make before the animal is on the ground, not after, and the outfitter can tell you what is practical from their camp given how far it sits from the nearest airport.

What to arrange, and what to verify

Fold these into your booking timeline the same way you handle firearms and licences. The hunters who get burned are the ones who treat export as an afterthought; the ones who plan it before the hunt just enjoy the trip.

• CITES export permit for wolf, arranged ahead of the hunt.
• Taxidermy: field prep vs finished mount, and who ships it.
• Meat handling: what the outfitter packages vs what you carry.
• Shipment method and cost for anything you are not carrying.
• Country-of-entry import rules for wildlife products (NEEDS VERIFICATION; confirm with your home authority).

Field prep to finished mount: the chain

It helps to see the whole path an animal takes from the mountain to your wall, because each link has a different owner and a different clock. In the field, the guide handles the first and most important step: proper care of the cape, hide and meat so nothing spoils, then preparation into airline-ready packaging on a full outfit like ours. That is where the outfitter's job ends and yours begins.

From there you decide what you actually want home. If you are after a mount, a taxidermist takes the cape, and you choose between shipping a field-prepped cape to a taxidermist at home or having work started in Canada, which changes cost and timeline. Anything CITES-listed, wolf being the one we can point to, needs its export permit in hand before it leaves the country. Then comes shipment, priced by weight and destination, and finally your home country's import clearance, which is on you to confirm with your own authority and is the piece we mark for verification. Line those links up before the hunt and the trophy flows home smoothly; skip a link and your animal sits in Canada waiting on paperwork you could have started months earlier. Our Alberta hunts page spells out exactly where our included prep stops.