Give it a few years though after these fires and I'll bet the deer numbers in these areas will flourish..
Give it a few years though after these fires and I'll bet the deer numbers in these areas will flourish..
Thats the thing about the current regs...for the most part
They allow for the take of a particular portion of the herd that is deemed to be surplus , that will not be missed in the big picture. Antler restrictions assure there is still breeding stock available to get the job done.
Agreed, Mule Deer does numbers will be hurt so the take of them should be stopped, but that was being said well ahead of the current situation.
White tails, well they will proliferate regardless, and will continue to expand.
Sheep......again the regs control what is available to hunt by the regulated hunter, and though success may well diminish after the fires, the ewes are protected by regs, and the rams will do what they always do.
The fires may affect a population , but it occurs across the board and doesn't target a particular sect of the critters. Male/ female ratios are the key, and will take years to verify.
Never say whoa in the middle of a mud hole
The sheep relocations that occurred years ago also took a portion of the herd but across the board again, ewes and rams.
At the time, it was deemed there were an excess of sheep on the available habitat, and removing a few was a benefit to those remaining, a win/win
The continued decline in the Fraser pop just re-affirms that their are larger issues on the landscape
Never say whoa in the middle of a mud hole
Many hunters don't seem to realize, or even care, that we as recreational hunters are also part
of the long term sustainability of the creatures we kill. No one is suggesting that those animals
can't replenish their numbers after a fire, but it will take a very long time if we 'kick them when
they're down'. Sacrificing one or two years of reduced hunting of them will give them time to do so,
giving hunters good opportunities years before they would have otherwise. Many guides know how
many animals are in their area, and even can identify a lot of them in. They know the country isn't the
'proverbial purse' where there's an unlimited supply hiding somewhere just waiting to take the place
of those animals that get shot. Like farming, a crop or herd has to be managed intelligently and with
care to remain healthy and sustainable. Unfortunately, there are those that are too selfish and shortsighted
so become part of the problem rather then part of the solution.
Last edited by LBM; 08-07-2017 at 07:10 AM.
Hunters at times need to use personal ethics over hunting regs at times and choose if it is right to hunt certain population and this should go beyond what is going on this year do to fires.
As for the outfitters I have no disrespect towards them and wish them the best do to the issues the fires have caused but don't support govt compensation. I was self employed for much of my life and got hit with hard times even do to weather but did not expect or receive compensation. Unfortanatly there is risks involved in being self employed.
I think many business have suffered from these fires. Timber lots, grazing, access to mine claims effected, traplines burnt, and GO territories burnt are all bush related things effected. I feel for them but do we compensate them all ?
Well said about hunter ethics - thats a very important point that people overlook. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. With this being said it would be nice if it were easier for us to obtain information regarding the populations in the various regions and units so we could make better informed decisions.
Unfortunately lack of funding for bios to do more in depth studies on populations makes this info basicly non exsistant. Many areas go long periods of time between counts even so often bios are stuck resorting to estimations that are not always accurate. BCs terrain does not make it an easy place to collect data expecially with piss poor funding
^^^^very true....here is the last estimate ....
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/fw/wildlife...2030_Final.pdf