As hunters approach the 2021 hunting season it brings to most the excitement of providing an organic meat source for themselves, and their families, the enjoyment of being in the outdoors away from the rigors of life, and quite simply the fact that due to being some of the best conservationists on planet, we struggle with the way our ungulate populations are being managed by both Governments in charge, and the bureaucrats that work within the ministries that handle the day to day business on how our ungulates populations should be thriving within the province of BC.
The past number of years, but the more current or past five years have been quite turbulent in our province. The wolf explosion within the East Kootenays over the past twenty years has been insane, the 2017 closing of the Grizzly Bear hunt based on emotion over science, the red tape that has been created to get habitat work done is beyond believe, and the simple fact that the budget to put all this together is almost non existent makes one wonder what has happened within that stone building in Victoria, BC !
To add, and as most won’t be aware of yet is the “9” proposals or recommendations that were just put out by our local Cranbrook office with direction from Victoria, and one in particular is quite maddening to myself, and that is they are recommending to move Bighorn Sheep Rams from a general open season to Limited Entry Hunting ( LEH ), and the justification as of August 15th still hasn’t even been presented to the stakeholder’s or the general public. The fact that they won’t even look at other options prior to LEH is even more maddening. One must remember that the current LEH system was put in place in the late 70’s for strict conservation reason’s ONLY, and the sadder part for a resident hunter based on how the LEH system works is you may never be drawn again to hunt, and provide meat for your family ever again !
So get out and get involved with your local Rod & Gun club, call your local MLA, call the Ministry office and demand better from them. Do something before all is lost and not just Bighorn Rams going on LEH !
Concerned Hunter & Taxpayer.
Kent Petovello
Elko, BC.