I recently received a Fish and Wildlife newsletter from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry. I found it quite interesting, but focused on the moose harvest results from 2021. I already had and reported much of it previously, but other aspects aroused several new concerns.
If the program is to avoid total collapse, the government is going to have to inject general revenue funds to bolster surveys — a drop in the bucket at probably a few million dollars a year. If I had the minister’s ear, I would recommend the “government” lend “hunters” the required money, to be paid back when the population and licence sales recover. That’s an incentive for both parties to succeed.
Finally, I see they are going to start “charging” hunters for failing to submit mandatory reports. It will be $25 for the first offence, then suspension from obtaining a licence. It’s certainly a good way to enforce compliance, but I’m not convinced that it is a good way to get information and reliable management information, not compliance, is of paramount importance.
The need for reliable information should be patently obvious to anyone intelligent enough to obtain a hunting or firearms licence. That said, I understand the lack of respect for MNRF and the “screw them if they can’t do a better job” attitude. With voluntary reporting, it was presumed that hunters who killed a moose believed they had “important” information and would reply. Those who did not kill, did not have “important” information, so didn’t bother. A lack of understanding of why all harvest information, both from successful and unsuccessful hunters is important, might explain low return rates.
I have always believed that some hunters try gaming. MR makes it worse and more dangerous for managers. In recent days, virtually everyone I’ve spoken to has said they know hunters who do that. Whether that is hearsay or firsthand information, I am not able to judge. I should point out that there are two types of information from harvest surveys. Absolute information is the number of folks who actually hunted, and the number of moose killed. They are “counts” as reported through MR . There is no “range”. They are single numbers, summed provincially or by zone and used to assess or plan the harvest and tag allocation.
Doesn’t matter, Trudeau is taking our guns, soon people will see how important animal harvesting truly is.