road deactivations for sensitive habitat

[murph83]

Hunters need to come to grips with the fact they themselves are an issue. Hunting pressure on roads is the thing that needs to be dealt with. I believe the atv bans are indeed the answer to the problem. Road closures like what was in the McLure fire were a nightmare to police with hunters tearing down closed signs as fast as they were put up. The new bans are much easier to police. Especially with manatory licencing on the atv and trail cams. The effect really works during the most crtical time of year. Right now. Roads are icy. Most guys don't want to drive their fancy trucks on ice and possibly wreck them when they start slidding backwards. That is why many hunters bought Atvs. Now the pressure is minimized because many of those hunters are now going elsewhere. Heck, many are even hunting closer to home as is evidenced by the Region 2 thread. This is much better for the wildlife. More bucks make it to maturity and therefore better breeding opportunitys.

I agree 100%, well said

[Jelvis]

dana knows the score and Rocko digs that, keep the valley right --

Jel -- I related when dana says guys quit in November because they slide and dint their fancy four by -- My hunting partners drive 4 by's and don't want to scratch them

-- Pretty well quit driving back roads in November around here for married guys Hahahahahahaha -- Wife says to my buddy -- enuff is enuff already --

[Brez]

Its not the roads that are the issue. Here's some fun facts about Sweden. Sweden is half the size of BC. Sweden logs the piss out of their country, with apparently much worse forest practice codes than BC. In the 90's their government passed a law leaving the practices and reforestation up to the logging companies. Their reforestation practices are good from I gather. Sweden has around 350,000 moose with an average of 150,000 harvested annually by hunters. BC has around 170,000 moose total and an average annual harvest of 10,000.
So how can a country half the size of BC have twice the amount of moose and harvest almost as many as we have in the entire province annually? All the while with horrid Forest harvesting practices?

Sweden has a wolf population of 340.
BC has 8500 wolves.

Pull back as many roads as you like. It should be as efficient at stopping wolves from eating ungulates as pissing on a forest fire.

8500 hungry wolves and everywhere is a road when the snow freezes up.

These numbers may not be bang on, but it paints a decent picture.

no where did I say that the wolves don't need culling or are not a problem. What I said is that they use roads same as us for easier access to game.

[Brez]

Last Saturday I spent about 7 hours pounding timber trying to bump up a muley. A small skiff of snow. I crisscrossed a good portion of timber with all the usual blowdown pine and you know what I saw? There was one large wolf track that was doing exactly what I was doing. I crossed that track constantly. He was pounding the timber trying to bump up a deer just like me. Imagine that. Not all hunters are lazy and the same goes for the 4 legged ones. I have been doing forestry bush work for over 25 years. Many days I am in absolute $hitholes and you know what I encounter in those $hitholes? Wolf tracks. If I can walk it, a wolf most certainly can.

Your point?

[Brez]

Ya I get what you guys are saying about roads being deactivated helps limit wolf travel and ease of them hunting. However I think dana is more right and road deactivation as a wolf management tool is basically useless....and I think that's because this province is infested with wolves ! There needs to be obliteration of wolves not roads from a large part of this province, before we think obliterating roads is going to have any effect. That's just my opinion of course.


.

I completely agree!!

[Brez]

Hunters need to come to grips with the fact they themselves are an issue. Hunting pressure on roads is the thing that needs to be dealt with. I believe the atv bans are indeed the answer to the problem. Road closures like what was in the McLure fire were a nightmare to police with hunters tearing down closed signs as fast as they were put up. The new bans are much easier to police. Especially with manatory licencing on the atv and trail cams. The effect really works during the most crtical time of year. Right now. Roads are icy. Most guys don't want to drive their fancy trucks on ice and possibly wreck them when they start slidding backwards. That is why many hunters bought Atvs. Now the pressure is minimized because many of those hunters are now going elsewhere. Heck, many are even hunting closer to home as is evidenced by the Region 2 thread. This is much better for the wildlife. More bucks make it to maturity and therefore better breeding opportunitys.

I agree with you.

[Keta1969]

Hunters need to come to grips with the fact they themselves are an issue. Hunting pressure on roads is the thing that needs to be dealt with. I believe the atv bans are indeed the answer to the problem. Road closures like what was in the McLure fire were a nightmare to police with hunters tearing down closed signs as fast as they were put up. The new bans are much easier to police. Especially with manatory licencing on the atv and trail cams. The effect really works during the most crtical time of year. Right now. Roads are icy. Most guys don't want to drive their fancy trucks on ice and possibly wreck them when they start slidding backwards. That is why many hunters bought Atvs. Now the pressure is minimized because many of those hunters are now going elsewhere. Heck, many are even hunting closer to home as is evidenced by the Region 2 thread. This is much better for the wildlife. More bucks make it to maturity and therefore better breeding opportunitys.

Agree with this 100%.

[Dannybuoy]

same access as before silviculture - WALK it. It never ceases to amaze me the sense of entitlement that some people have. If you can't afford boots,....

Ahh you mean like the sense of entitlement of the elitist few that can access the backcountry .... and to be clear they are tearing up roads in the Kootenay that were there long before logging .... I know of one trapper that can't access his trapline due to road deactivation . He used an old trapline trail previously but it was destroyed along with the newer roads To me it's less about hunting but about accessing the backcountry as there is very little game left anyway .

[limit time]

same access as before silviculture - WALK it. It never ceases to amaze me the sense of entitlement that some people have. If you can't afford boots,....

Hahahahaha !!!!! Your funny !!!!
You are “selfish” eh ? The bush doesn’t revolve around you or hunters.

[Keta1969]

[QUOTE=Dannybuoy;2052001]Ahh you mean like the sense of entitlement of the elitist few that can access the backcountry .... and to be clear they are tearing up roads in the Kootenay that were there long before logging .... I know of one trapper that can't access his trapline due to road deactivation . He used an old trapline trail previously but it was destroyed along with the newer roads To me it's less about hunting but about accessing the backcountry as there is very little game left anyway .[/QUOT

Well lets kill it all then and then when you're driving the back country you'll be able to text and surf the web without worrying about missing anything or hitting a deer.