Previous years we've always declared the cheese as gifts - usually 10 2-pound blocks. They've always said, "Oh, we're not worried about that."
But last year we stayed a month and had a sizeable list of folks to take tokens of appreciation to for last year. So, we bought 23 2-pound blocks before heading North, this year.
When you pull-up at the window at Customs, they have a list of standard questions they ask:
What's the purpose of your trip? "Hunting"
What town will you be visiting? "Anytown"
How long will you be in Canada? "A month" - (the eyebrows raise)
Do you have any firearms? "Yes"
........the list continues.......
Are you bringing gifts? "Yes"
What is it? "Cheese"
How much? "46 pounds" - (the eyebrows raise, again)
Long story short - we park, go inside, pay for gun permits, and let them calculate duty on shotshells over the allowable 200-round limit ($1.81 total - for an extra 100 rounds).........and the 'tarriff' on cheese in excess of ?kg per person.
The tarriff came to $696.00..................
WHAT!!! .......you gotta be joking! They recalculated it........$696.00 on $300-worth of cheese.Man, what a shock. Now we don't have gifts for 23 people........plus what are we supposed to do with it.
They said we had to go back through US Customs - tell them what's going-on and find a dumpster to put it in.....in North Dakota.
So we stop at US Customs- explain the problem - the guy suggested we go to the convenience store about a block away and see if someone in there could use it.
So we get to the CS and there's a young SK couple in a minivan fixin to go into Canada. Anne approached them about us giving cheese away......naturlly, they were skeptical and were cautious about whatever scam we had to be running. She had a young child she was bottle-feeding while Anne explained they were allowed to take one block of cheese per person through CA Customs. She asked how many children were in the van - then they started appearing - Anne described it like a cardboard box full of puppies.....heads came-up everywhere. There were 5 other children in the van - PERFECT! So, they took 8 blocks of cheese and were happily (but still somewhat in disbelief) on their way.
We gave the rest to the store clerk who said there was a food bank next door to the nursing home his Dad was in. He'd take it over there after his shift was over.
That suited us - it got put to use. Hell, you don't throw 23 2-lb blocks of Mississippi State cheese in a dumpster!
It's a 230% tarriff on chees products to keep folks from importing non-Canadian produced cheese, thus competing with the home-grown products.
Now we know.
The CA agent was doing his job, but I'm sure there was some stereotyping going-on when I said we were going to be hunting for a month, especially when he asked......"it takes you a month to kill your limit?" I politely told him we prefer to take our time, not get in a rush, and enjoy our vacation. I think they just assume you're going to try to kill all you can in a month's time. I can't blame them for thinking that - I'm sure theycome across idiots that think they can get away with that.
So, let's hit this fella with the old cheese tarriff WHAMMY!
Whatever - so, cheese is definately out for next year.
Never saw the dog in the back seat or asked if we had one......so, by then - I wasn't volunteering any info and just answered the questions they asked.
Too bad they don't allow you 12.7 cans of beer 