Landowner access

[ribber]

Hi guys a couple of my friends and I wanted to try bow hunting Elk in the Kootenays, and we heard of this program that puts hunters and landowners in contact , so that hunters can access private land and hunt Elk on that land with the landowner's prior consent, we contacted the name on the first page of the Area 4 synopsis and was told such a program did not exist. Now 10 days or so a hunter that lives in Crofton was interviewed on CTV and he was in the program and got his Elk . Does anybody else know about this ? and how do you get on the list for access?

[happygilmore]

Contact management office, If the farmer has applied for assistance (funds to repair damage caused by elk) from the gov't they cannot say no to hunters. There is a list.

[6616]

Hi guys a couple of my friends and I wanted to try bow hunting Elk in the Kootenays, and we heard of this program that puts hunters and landowners in contact , so that hunters can access private land and hunt Elk on that land with the landowner's prior consent, we contacted the name on the first page of the Area 4 synopsis and was told such a program did not exist. Now 10 days or so a hunter that lives in Crofton was interviewed on CTV and he was in the program and got his Elk . Does anybody else know about this ? and how do you get on the list for access?

The program you're talking about does exist and it's called the East Kootenay Landowner Enfranchizement Project. It's pilot project being ran in the Grasmere area south of Cranbrook. It's primarily for antlerless elk and white tailed deer in the x-zone and I believe the only season that is still open at this time of year is the LEH white tailed deer season. In order to paricipate you must either have a white tail or cow elk LEH or be particpating in the youth/senior GOS. I do not think the program operates during the early bow season Sept 1st to 9th.

The person/number to contact is Susan at 1 250 887 3407. Alternativelly she can be contacted by e-mail dasuhosz@telus.net
The information in the regulations is accurate, make sure you call within the hours suggested or you may get someone else.

[6616]

The program you're talking about does exist and it's called the East Kootenay Landowner Enfranchizement Project. It's pilot project being ran in the Grasmere area south of Cranbrook. It's primarily for antlerless elk and white tailed deer in the x-zone and I believe the only season that is still open at this time of year is the LEH white tailed deer season. In order to paricipate you must either have a white tail or cow elk LEH or be particpating in the youth/senior GOS. I do not think the program operates during the early bow season Sept 1st to 9th.

The person/number to contact is Susan at 1 250 887 3407. Alternativelly she can be contacted by e-mail dasuhosz@telus.net
The information in the regulations is accurate, make sure you call within the hours suggested or you may get someone else.

I should add that the purpose of this hunt is not necessarily just to provide hunting opportunity, but is primarily to impact the non-migratory elk and resident deer population that are depredating heavily on the private agriculture land enrolled in the program. It's an alternative to the 8 ft high wildlife exclusion fences you see all over the EK. As such the goal is to kill as many of the animals as possible that are depredating on the private land. I would guess that this is the reason why the lands are not open for the bow season, the bow season harvest would probably not be large enought to impact the population sufficiently, and the bow hunting pressure might chase the animals off and thus lessen the success of the later rifle seasons.

I do not think this pilot is discriminatory against bowhunting, it's just that the goal is to maximize the harvest of the depredating populations which are causeing significant damage and expense to landowners. Also note that some of this land was not open to hunting before being enrolled in the program.

[ribber]

Thanks for the info guys, I'll check out the address you gave me