Putting a new bumper on the family wagon this weekend....what luck.
B.C. wants to see more hunter gatherers
Easier rules, roadkill ownership are under consideration
Larry Pynn
Vancouver sun
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
CREDIT: Handout photo
Butch Kuflak, a California hunter, with a Stone sheep shot in B.C.'s northern Rockies. The B.C. government wants to create 20,000 new hunters by 2014. Hunters contributed $48 million to B.C.'s economy in 2003.
Ramping up the number of hunters and allowing ownership rights to roadkill are among sweeping changes proposed by the Ministry of Environment in the first major overhaul of the provincial Wildlife Act in 25 years.
The recommendations, contained in a Wildlife Act review discussion paper, include a liberalization of hunting regulations to meet a provincial goal of generating 20,000 new hunters by 2014.
In doing so, the government hopes to reverse a trend against hunting. A BC Stats study released in 2005 showed the proportion of resident hunters has dropped to two per cent of the population from six per cent in 1981. There were 83,701 registered hunters in B.C. in 2006.
"No question, there is going to potentially be more animals shot," confirmed Chris Hamilton, a conflict resolution expert in the ministry who is heading the review.
Hamilton said the province supports hunting because wild game is organic and the sport encourages people to care about the outdoors, helps to reduce wildlife conflicts with farmers, and contributes to rural economies.
A BC Stats report shows resident and non-resident hunters contributed $48 million to the provincial gross domestic product in 2003, less than half of freshwater angling.
Wilderness tourism, including diverse activities such as wildlife viewing, commercial rafting, and heliskiing, generated $900 million in revenues in 2001, according to the B.C. Wilderness Tourism Association.
Hamilton believes the decline in the sport is due not just to societal trends in favour of wildlife viewing, but factors such as the cost of hunting and complexity of regulations.
The government is looking at initiatives that would make it cheaper and easier for young and new hunters to get into the sport, allowing two people to share in certain hunts, and encouraging more hunting of nuisance wildlife such as deer on agricultural land.
Other considerations: allow bow hunters to hunt within a current no-go zone of 400 metres of a highway, and hunting courses taught by women to encourage more female participation in the sport.
"Like any business, if you have half the customers of 20 years ago, you look at what you're doing wrong," Hamilton said in an interview from Victoria.
Joe Foy, of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, said Tuesday he supports the right of rural communities, including first nations, to hunt as part of their culture, but says there is simply not enough game in the province to support the growing number of urbanites.
For them, he said, wildlife viewing is the better option. "You can't have every guy in Surrey packing a gun and shooting wildlife," he said.
The province is also talking about changes to the handling of roadkill in B.C.
Currently, wildlife killed by a motor vehicle is Crown property. The province is considering allowing individuals to take those carcasses home for the freezer or have the animal stuffed and mounted on the wall.
Hamilton does not foresee a roadkill category anytime soon in the Boone and Crockett Club, which keeps records of game animals killed for trophies. "You don't see a lot of [large] four-point bucks killed on highway corridors," he said.
He also doubts the change would encourage people to deliberately run over wildlife: "I'm driving a $50,000 F-250 [Ford] truck into a deer as an alternative to actually shooting it?"
He agreed not everyone wants to eat roadkill even though it might taste fine. "There is just something about it."
The province is also looking at a special tag or season that would allow hunters to access private land (still with the permission of landowners) in hopes of resolving agricultural-wildlife conflicts.
The province also wants to introduce legislation to give conservation officers a wider range of options; currently, officers give offenders a small fine on the spot or take them to court. A new category, administrative penalties, might include higher fines and potential sanctions such as an automatic hunting suspension.
Hamilton said administrative penalties are considered a "short sharp shock to induce people to follow the rules."
Among the proposed changes to reverse the decline in hunting:
- Extend the age range for junior licences -- currently 10 to 14 years -- to 18 years old. A junior hunting licence costs $7, including a conservation surcharge, compared with $32 for a B.C. resident adult licence.
- For one time only, allow new hunters to try the sport under the direct supervision of a licensed adult hunter, without the requirement to take the Conservation Outdoor Recreation Education exam.
- Provide open seasons for mule deer does and white-tailed deer does for hunters under 19 years of age and new hunters.
- Enable successful limited-entry hunting applicants to share their hunt with a hunting partner. Currently, a hunting tag for a species cannot be transferred to another hunter.
On its website, the province is allowing individuals and organizations to post their comments about the proposed changes. A common complaint is that what the province needs is better enforcement, namely more conservation officers in the field looking for wildlife infractions.
The B.C. Wildlife Federation says there is a need for the Wildlife Act to "protect wildlife and its critical habitat from other uses" while recognizing the impacts of forestry, mining, agriculture, human habitation and development on wildlife and fish resources.
The federation also supports a ban on farming wildlife species that are indigenous to B.C. because of the potential for disease and genetic threats to wild populations.
British Columbians should have priority access to fish and game over non-resident clientele of guide-outfitters, it argues, and commercial guide territories should remain with Canadians and not "fall into foreign hands."
Farmers who are applying for wildlife damage compensation should have to allow resident hunters, without fees, to hunt on their land, the federation argues.
For more information, visit
www.env.gov.bc.ca/fw/wildlifeactreview/discussion/toc.html.
The public has until July 15 to submit comments.
lpynn@png.canwest.com© The Vancouver Sun 2007
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