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Thread: Wildlife Management, BC vs US

  1. #1
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    Wildlife Management, BC vs US

    I hear "the US manages fish and wildlife much better than BC" a LOT. I am not at all suggesting that's not true(!), in fact, from the little I know about the subject I tend to agree, but does anyone have any references that put hard data behind that? I know the libs are continuously defunding the relevant departments, I see what is going on with political decision making rather than science based (grizzly, salmon, now the anti-moose hunting campaign), etc etc

    I also recognize it probably doesn't make sense to compare BC the province to US the country.

    All that said, does anyone have references to ANY reasonable comparison/study that shows measures taken in the US (state?) solved a certain problem better than here in BC? Or maybe evenn between provinces here in Canada?

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  3. #2
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    Re: Wildlife Management, BC vs US

    Well for one many states actually use money from tags to fund their f&w departments. Plus a certain percentage of money from the purchase of guns and ammo goes to fund f&w country wide...

  4. #3
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    Re: Wildlife Management, BC vs US

    I do much prefer the leh point system vs the lottery.

  5. #4
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    Re: Wildlife Management, BC vs US

    Every State is different, some are much better than others. Simply saying the US manages better than BC doesn't make any sense. You need to compare to individual states.

    The grass is always greener on the other side is a wise saying. We have it amazingly well here in BC yet people think its sucks. Moving here to BC I feel like I hit the hunting jackpot yet a bunch of others are complaining. I'm sure it can be tweaked and fixed and we need to be careful where we are headed but to be a BC resident hunter and complain about tag opportunity is absolutely ridiculous. There are few other places with the opportunities that we have.

    I can choose to hunt deer, caribou, STONE SHEEP, goats, moose, elk, bear, cougar all GOS this year if I want, that is flat out amazing.

    One thing that we are lucky about in BC is that we do not allow other Canadians to come hunt here. Imagine any Canadian could come hunt our GOS areas? We would be over run with hunters. That is how many of the states manage their hunting, non-resident hunters dominate the landscape. It's the system they use and it brings a lot of money and opportunities but it sure drives up hunting pressure. So I'm glad BC doesn't do that.





    Also, point creep is a horrible thing in many states. Imagine starting out as a young hunter knowing you will not draw for 25 yrs? The benefit of the lottery system is that you ALWAYS have a chance. I hear a lot of hunters that have a point system say they wish they didn't. Now, I'm sure it has some benefits as well but its not the magic pill and we need to be careful what we wish for.

  6. #5
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    Re: Wildlife Management, BC vs US

    it's been posted here before, in various different ways. Do a search to find it.
    But in a nutshell, they simply have way more money. They have a much higher percentage of hunters in their population, which translates to more revenue from sales of licenses and tags. They also have more people overall, so they make a considerably larger amount of money that can be put to studies and protection of animals.

    They also have much much better wildlife wintering habitats and zones, and do a great job of protecting them. In BC, they just log the shit out of anything they want. While it is true that they log in Washington and Oregon, some of the better mule deer hunting places like Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Arizona .... they don't really log that much. Take a look at their Google Earth imagery. You will not see clear cuts like you see in the west. This certainly helps.

    Predators are also a factor. The lower 48 don't have anywhere near the predators we have in BC. Bears, wolves, cougars ..... they are nowhere near in numbers compared to up here. Again, having more money means they do more studies, means they manage it better than up here.

    Last but not least, their hunting is not as liberal as it is here. Their "open" zones are crap. Tons of people. Tons of private land to deal with. Their "good" zones are all on a draw system and can be very difficult to get draws considering the number of hunters they have competing for them.

    Having said that, the hunting in the lower 48 seems worse for anything but deer or turkeys, when compared to BC.
    They don't have nearly as many moose, goats, bears and of course sheep. I don't think they have an open season on any of those anywhere in the lower 48.
    Last edited by twoSevenO; 06-29-2020 at 11:54 AM.

  7. #6
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    Re: Wildlife Management, BC vs US

    They are better, and it boils down to the Pittman Robertson and Dingell Johnson Acts, which are taxes.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittman%E2%80%93Robertson_Federal_Aid_in_Wildlife_ Restoration_Act


    Montana is a great example. They have 1/5 the human population of BC, twice as many hunters, a fraction of the "public" land and as much or more hunting and angling opportunity, as well as greater diversity in that opportunity. They also have huge research and harvest survey/creel programs for most of their hunted and fished populations, which allows them to make much better informed management decisions. They have over 700 full time employees and an annual budget north of a hundred million.

  8. #7
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    Re: Wildlife Management, BC vs US

    Quote Originally Posted by Eastbranch View Post
    They are better, and it boils down to the Pittman Robertson and Dingell Johnson Acts, which are taxes.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittman%E2%80%93Robertson_Federal_Aid_in_Wildlife_ Restoration_Act


    Montana is a great example. They have 1/5 the human population of BC, twice as many hunters, a fraction of the "public" land and as much or more hunting and angling opportunity, as well as greater diversity in that opportunity. They also have huge research and harvest survey/creel programs for most of their hunted and fished populations, which allows them to make much better informed management decisions. They have over 700 full time employees and an annual budget north of a hundred million.
    Totally. I hunted Montana about 3-4 years ago and was absolutely blown away with the number of animals. Also, the population of Montana is really hunter-friendly and take wildlife management seriously
    I won't always be young, but I can be immature forever

  9. #8
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    Re: Wildlife Management, BC vs US

    Sorry to say that back in the good 70`s we had all money from tags and Licence. Go in too fish and wildlife They could afford to have management. Then the good OLD NDP came to power put all to general revenue and it all went to hell in a handbag .

  10. #9
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    Re: Wildlife Management, BC vs US

    I would add, the approach of most American states is to consult and work with "hunters". For the most part in our neighbouring states, the objective of wildlife management is to provide for hunting opportunity. All methods of hunting. This is a fundamental difference in why wildlife management is carried out. They likely have a baseline to begin with and an inventory of the wildlife and the habitat. They understand the pressure points, and the drivers of managing opportunity. They have an objective, a strategy, a species specific plan and the ability to monitor and measure the success of their efforts (actions on the ground), and make necessary adjustments.

  11. #10
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    Re: Wildlife Management, BC vs US

    Quote Originally Posted by J_T View Post
    I would add, the approach of most American states is to consult and work with "hunters". For the most part in our neighbouring states, the objective of wildlife management is to provide for hunting opportunity. All methods of hunting. This is a fundamental difference in why wildlife management is carried out. They likely have a baseline to begin with and an inventory of the wildlife and the habitat. They understand the pressure points, and the drivers of managing opportunity. They have an objective, a strategy, a species specific plan and the ability to monitor and measure the success of their efforts (actions on the ground), and make necessary adjustments.
    Very well said
    I won't always be young, but I can be immature forever

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