BC Battle Brewing, non-residents
Moose
Contributors to this thread:
I wasn't sure where to post this, so I thought a moose was very Canadian.
The resident/non-resident game allocation splits have been announced by the government and residents of British Columbia are steaming mad!
In 2007 an allocation process was agreed to by all parties and was to be fully implemented by 2012 to give outfitters time to adjust. 2012 came and no implementation. Rather. we discovered the Guide Outfitters Association of BC [GOABC] had been actively and secretly lobbying government officials for a much greater share than agreed to.
The GOABC has been awarded up to 40% of the harvest of some of the most sought after animals.
How many of your states give non-residents a 40% share at the expense of residents. Keep in mind you cannot apply for a draw in BC, you MUST be guided.
Many of us would rather see a 10% cut given to non- residents on a draw. Then let the successful hunter chose if he wants to be guided or not I would like to see persons from any state or province that lets me hun,t to hunt under the same criteria here. For many years the GOABC has had a lock on all non-resident alien hunts. And some areas are actually owned by well-to-do U.S. citizens.
There is a fight brewing and it may well affect some up coming hunts.
I agree with the residents..
40PERCENT!!!if these outfitters are given that many tags do u think they will be able to sell all these hunts ? Ambush I like your idea for non res at least I might one day be able to hunt BC again !
That law is prejudice. I have some really REALLY good friends in Canada in New Brunswick, Ontario, and yes BC so I hate to say it but Canadians shouldn't be allowed to hunt the US unguided either. Reciprocal seems fair. As long as you draw the tag you should be able to hunt as you please. regulate non res hunters by the draw.
It will be interesting to see how it all unfolds. And yes... I think the same should go for Alaska! Frickin monopoly.
I missed someone of the comment.. I agree that you should not be able to go unguided in United States if you can't go I'm guided and every province in Canada
I have some north of the border friends joining me for a Wyoming elk hunt net season. They would love for me to be able to get a license and hunt with them. They would have to book with an outfitter to hunt with me!
Good luck, hope you can find the will to make some changes!
You should be pissed off.
I agree its only fair it they can come hunt here unguided we should be able to hunt there unguided and limited by the draw. I think the border crossing should be equil the USA lets anyone in but I'm first to tell you canada wont!!
Aaron
I am 100% in favor of the residents as I almost always am. Sadly, when I fought for NM to bring our system more in line with other western states I was the bad guy in the minds of a lot of folks. The outfitters often have strong lobbies within the legislature.
I respect and admire outfitters. I can't blame them for their position even when I strongly disagree with it.
Protectionist economic politics at work, costing many people in two different ways:
1) Money
2) Opportunities
I'm 100% in favor of outfitters and guides, but I believe their economic interests should not factor into game allocations, allotments, tagging and hunting laws. Restricting the rights and opportunities of residents in order to give preference to an outfitter is not fair in any sense. Restricting the rights of nonresidents by forcing them to employ a costly outfitter is simply helping build the entity (in this case) which will cost residents even more opportunities. At some point the fire begins to burn a lot more people than those it warms.
As a Canadian living in Manitoba it is nearly as impossible for me to hunt most of the western provinces as an American citizen. That being said I always feel sorry for how Americans can't hunt here and if I wanted to I could drive down to the U.S. and hunt most places.
I'd love to do a hunt swap with people for bears here because our bear hunting is really unmatched IMO and yet there is no legal way for me to do so. Sad.
By not allowing aliens to hunt without a guide also affects their property values. I live in Idaho near the BC border. I'd definitely buy property there if I could big game hunt (and spend a lot more money on ancillary things).