Disgusting action in Northern B.C.

[SHAKER]

I've hunted the Sikanni Chief area for the last 10+ years and have never dremp of such a gross display in all my life. As you may know It's in the "Muskwa-Kechica area" and their is some nice simple rules that are in place regarding vehicle access "designated routes". Which is great but what I witnessed this year was a slap in the face to every tax paying resident hunter in this province.

Their is a guide who has his perminent residence behind the locked gate and they are allowed threw. (No problem)
Now their buddies can also use the gate and drive threw?

Trapper is allowed to use the gate (No problem)
His buddies are also allowed to drive threw?

In one hour we had 5 vehicles drive by us including a lowbed hay truck (not bad for a quad trail eh). In years past the CO's even ticketed people with those Rino quads for beening over the weight limit. Now we move out of the way for fully loaded pick ups towing horse trailers (friend of guide).

Well acording to the CO's up their the "acting regional manager" allowed the Natives to have a traditional "Elders Camp" behind the locked gate?
It was a 24 hours a day slaughter of what ever walked near a road. No respect was payed to the 400 meter rule of the main trail.

This managment area was set up with consultation from every one of these groups as well as the res. hunter, gas\oil companies, Ministry of Environment and the list goes on, and who accually gets locked out at the end of the day, the tax paying resident hunter who follows the rules. I was not going to print this on here but enough is enough and everyone should know what accually happened up their.

[BCrams]

I suggest you bring it up with the Regional Manager in Fort St. John about this.

[Woodrow]

or become friends with the guide and get a key.

[BlacktailStalker]

No its good you posted it. The only way anything gets resolved is if its brought to the attention of people who will go to the lengths required to do something about it.
If it's your backyard/ annual area you visit, get on it. It starts with you.

[kutenay]

I wish that specific details, where, when, who, what were posted on this type of thread. As it is, there is no information to use to make a specific complaint concerning activities of this sort and that is frustrating.

Many of us have seen slaughter/waste of wildlife by certain groups, blockage of legititmate access for resident hunters by others and so forth, but, what can we do in support of our rights without specifics?

I have called the MOE and e-mailed them several times during the past year and would do so again, but, specific details of abuses must be available for complaints to have any validity.

[GoatGuy]

Gated roads with exclusive access for certain groups?

Weird!

Can't imagine that's ever happened before, especially in that neck of the woods. :eek:

[horshur]

shaker--- Oxy-acetylene --weld the bugger shut so no one has access or cut her down so all do.

[elkdom]

Your letter of whats been going on in that particular valley is fact , the only fact that I do not see included is that its been going on there for almost 20 years, if you really want your eyes opened go up there in May or June and watch truckloads of moose ,elk , bison , caribou you name it , its dead and its leaving by the truck load , many of us that live up north have been bitchen for years about this crapp going on with encouragment from our so called GOVERNMENT and after years of frustration most of us just say the HELL with it, you just get tired of trying to do the right thing and a bunch of poliically disabled LIARS insist on operating a system that has at least TWO sets of rules! and when game numbers take a dive they restrict the recreational hunting season!. Even with LTD entry or reduced hunting seasons the game populations will not recover if some dimwits encourage hunting when the game hasnt had a chance to wein its young, and one more thing I dont think someone driving a 55000 dollar deisel pick up towing a trailer with 4 quads is there to hunt because he really needs the meat.!!!

[outdooorsman]

hey shaker, must have been in there the exact same time as you. spent 2 days camped at the airstrip and decided to cut bait as it was an absolute gong show back there. What a joke, guys running the closure at night in pick ups. It's a slap in the face for resident hunters, especially after driving 16 hrs!

[Allen50]

how about taking video, and photos, of the goings on there,, and lic, numbers to see if there realy belong there,,????????? just a though.

[elkdom]

I"m telling you guys its all been tried before, formal complaints , photos to the CO office, visits with the MLAs, they all give you lip service but that where it ends!!! Untill the PROV GOV"T rewrites the rules and has one rule for everyone, nothing is going to change! MAYBE a BLOCKADE by sport hunters would make the National NEWS ,but anything short of gross embarassment for the PROV GOV will have little effect!

[5 spike]

good post shaker. i am glad you posted this.

[Kechika]

It aint going to change..We bitch till we are blue in the face.Maybe it aint the right attitude.Time to get farther off the beaten path.

[elkdom]

Thats what I did, quit Sikanni area, I love that area but its just too damm irratating to watch that crapp goin on!, if those fools wish to kill evrey thing in that valley all year long its sad but their gonna keep doing it , after all they have been given the right,25 yrs ago you could not drive that far with a road type vehicle, then the gas and oil ,then mining exploration, what goes on in that area in the winter would really SHOCK most people! PROTECTED AREA what a FARCE!!!

[Will]

PROTECTED AREA what a FARCE!!!
Oh come on now !!!!! :rolleyes:


It is "Protected" !
Protected from the Resident Hunters that have a right to be there.....Man I hate special interest crap :-?

[kutenay]

Nothing that goes on in the bush in BC or Alberta would really shock me, after decades of working and recreating in the back country, I have seen things that just nauseate me. I have lost all respect for certain groups, do not trust government and have little hope for the future, it's a damm shame, but, there it is, most BC citizens dont know, don't care.............

[whitetailsheds]

And to add to the "disgusting action" theme....a friend that was looking for a spring grizz in the northern portion of the "protected" Muskwa-Kechika reported that, on one of the "designated routes", a mining company has started operating and making quite a mess of creek/ river. Storing drums of something (fuel?, chemicals?) near the creek/ river, have pushed road building material into this watershed, and begun looking for whatever near a lambing area.
Know this has nothing to do with res. hunter access in the mentioned area (been in there), but wanted to comment on this rumor (I personally have not witnessed this scene at this mine) for the same, well-intentioned "protected area", the Muskwa-Kechika.
Will check into the Muskwa-Kechika website for contacts and ask some questions.

[Dad and son]

I was up there this winter staying at the lodge when my 11 year old shot his first bison. What I understood from talking to the guide is that non-residents are able to be driven by truck to his lodge. I stayed at his lodge but was not guided so I had to snowmobile in.

[David Heitsman]

I have stayed / hunted with Sikkanni River Outfitters 7 times I believe. Two buffalo hunts and 5 horseback hunting trips. The ranch is on deeded land much the same as other ranches well into the wilderness area. They have an excellent resident hunting program.

How would you propose that they access their ranch, by ATV or snowmobile only? How do you propose that they get their hay into feed livestock? Perhaps a Hercules airdrop?

I have had to leave my truck at the airstrip a couple times and both times the buffalo / moose have licked it clean of road salt. You can appreciate the risk of damage to my vehicle's finish.

Other BC resident clients of Sikanni have had their vehicles vandalized. I have always assumed that this was by local individuals but after reading this thread I wonder.

I have also been 25 k upriver from the ranch well into the no ATV zone by horseback and had resident hunters on ATV's buzz past clearly ignoring the well posted and very visible signage indicating
no ATV's. When reminded of this fact I am shocked at the brazen attitude I'm given. It's almost always something like this. "I've been coming in here for 20 years..."

Where would you propose that a gate be installed because no matter where you put it someone is going to complain.

I have brought this thread to their attention because it is of concern to them as well. Has been for many years.

[SHAKER]

Well looks like we have lots of responses. So lets address some of your thoughts.
Yes I've wrote a letter to Barry Penner regarding this.
We did talk to the CO's by phone and they didn't even bother to show up and check it out.
Takeing pictures of this is has been done, but who want to even see them?
I was also their in the spring and your right, It's a mess all year long.
As far a resident hunters going by you in a closed area, find out who they are and report them. I've seen quades air lifted out before in years past.
The Key is in the culvert by the gate so no secret their. But get caught, and kiss all your stuff good-by!
I have no problem with the Guide or the Trapper accessing the area but the rules have really gotten slack.
How about this right by the gate????? Nice welcome to a "special managment area" oh yeah sorry I didn't get a picture of the old ford truck hood used to haul out this poor buff, also left behind!
http://i20.tinypic.com/e5jj0j.jpg

[elkdom]

I'm glad your visits with the outfitter were enjoyable,as for myself and most other cocerned members are not so disgusted with the Licensed outfitter whom holds land title in that area, the main concern is unlimited hunting ALL year long, GAS and OIL development, MINING development,why would the Prov Govm't declare a huge area protected, restrict travel and access for(Recreational uses) then encourage Gas, Oil ,Logging, Minning then BOAST to entire world about the HUGE PRISTINE wilderness PROTECTED area that will be kept aside for future generations to enjoy! I stand by what I've said in my earlier posts! ,and to wrap it up if they want to declare some area protected then do just that! if there is deeded land in that zone pay the owner what its worth and send him on his way!thats exactly what the GOV'T would do to you if they wanted to use your front yard to make the steet wider!there has been an outfitter working the present site of Sikkanni River Out's for many generations, that land was originally homesteaded and up untill the last 15 yrs acces was by pack train except in dead of winter when an (ice road was used to take supplies in buy catterpillar!!

[kutenay]

I totally agree with this,, but, the Campbell gov't. is as hypocritical about environmental issues as everything else; the situation concerning our parks, wildlife,fisheries and general protection of the BC biosphere is just a disgrace.

[SHAKER]

I have stayed / hunted with Sikkanni River Outfitters 7 times I believe. Two buffalo hunts and 5 horseback hunting trips. The ranch is on deeded land much the same as other ranches well into the wilderness area. They have an excellent resident hunting program.

How would you propose that they access their ranch, by ATV or snowmobile only? How do you propose that they get their hay into feed livestock? Perhaps a Hercules airdrop?

I have had to leave my truck at the airstrip a couple times and both times the buffalo / moose have licked it clean of road salt. You can appreciate the risk of damage to my vehicle's finish.

Other BC resident clients of Sikanni have had their vehicles vandalized. I have always assumed that this was by local individuals but after reading this thread I wonder.

I have also been 25 k upriver from the ranch well into the no ATV zone by horseback and had resident hunters on ATV's buzz past clearly ignoring the well posted and very visible signage indicating
no ATV's. When reminded of this fact I am shocked at the brazen attitude I'm given. It's almost always something like this. "I've been coming in here for 20 years..."

Where would you propose that a gate be installed because no matter where you put it someone is going to complain.

I have brought this thread to their attention because it is of concern to them as well. Has been for many years.

Ok I'll bite on this!
True Mike and Dixie have a good resident hunter program.

Also like I said, I have no problem them driving into the ranch. It is their year round residence. The hay truck? well I guess it's better then letting domestic critters graze freely on the grassy slopes.

Haveing your vehicle vandalized? I'm not sure what you mean by that, but I know their has been 2 camps vandalized in consecutive years by Grizz bear. We were present both times.

ATV's in closed area's? Well call the CO's They do deal with that behavier quickly. It wouldn't be the first time I'v seen quades air lifted out.

I didn't propose the gate be moved, I think it's in a great spot. I do have a problem with the amount of people who now have access to drive threw.

Your last statement seams like you think I'm going to back off about this! Well not so, I put this on here so it could be brought to everyones attention! I am not a second class citizen in my own country!:twisted:

[tracker]

Shaker ....

So I guess you did not shoot anything while you were there hey!!!!:rolleyes::rolleyes:

[Mik]

Different rules for different people, and some seem to get away with wayyy too much! Where are the "regulators" ???

[boxhitch]

If the hunters/outdoorspersons of BC could get together as a group, and drop their personal agendas, and take up a common cause, someone might listen.
Til then, we'll wallow.

[Avalanche123]

Similar problems exist on the Golden Bear Access road as it is still a gated road but only Talthan can access it. We did manage to go in a few years ago to canoe the Shesley to Taku Rivers and had to pay a hefty access fee. That road is supposed to have a 400m buffer around it for hunting but all hunting was done off the road.
Now just east of Dease Lake is a new mine development up Kutcho Creek and they are upgrading the Boulder City road. Soon to that will be gated with access restrictions. Kind of makes me shudder to think just what will come of these areas in years to come.
By the way, I have no knowledge of what really goes on behind these closed gates nor was I privy to seeing anything wasteful. Just a bummer certain groups get access, others do not.