Hats off to Minister Loewen

[MountainTi]

Looks to me that wildlife management in Alberta has taken a turn for the better.
Game numbers, aside from predators, have been on the decline for a long time now. Prairie and mountain zones have been hit the hardest but areas such as the one I live in aren't far behind. Years of an overabundance of tags as well as high predator numbers have really taken it's toll on game numbers. In his first year of office he has influenced the reduction of many draw tags as well as supplemental doe tags in areas that needed it. I've heard a lot of whining about a "conflict of interest" but this shows me he is concerned about what has happened to our wildlife. Being a farmer makes one the most qualified for an Ag minister, why not the minister in charge of wildlife as a hunter/part owner in an outfitting business.
In his first year at the helm he has made some much needed changes, hopefully more to come.
Even a much needed grizz hunt in the works ...who woulda thought

[MooseRiverTrapper]

I like the supplemental reduction to none in the 200s, whitetail populations could be considered collapsed in my area, what a shame. Down to one supplemental in the 3-500 WMUs will help.

The massive amount of cow elk tags and they are giving out two tags per licence holder is very concerning. Todd lives up there in elk country, it’s getting harder to find a bull and busier every year. I don’t know if continuing to decimate the elk herd is a good thing??? AB wildlife management sure hates elk.

[BigJon]

Happy to see the whitetail supplemental tag reduced to 1 from 2. Would be even happier to see those tags disappear altogether. 1 general WT tag per person. Use it for a doe in the month of November if you like gives plenty of opportunity for hunters of all ages.

The elk tag situation reminds me of the mule deer slaughter of 2010ish which is disappointing. In the Peace Country a hunter can now kill 3 elk/year if they want to.

The average Alberta hunter just loves to have high body count hunting seasons I guess.

[1dayillgetaram]

He’s the first minister weve had that is actually trying to fix what is wrong. If he can get rid of the bureaucracy involved in wildlife management he should get a medal

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by BigJon

Happy to see the whitetail supplemental tag reduced to 1 from 2. Would be even happier to see those tags disappear altogether. 1 general WT tag per person. Use it for a doe in the month of November if you like gives plenty of opportunity for hunters of all ages.

It was in fact that way back in the 70's and early 80's .
Can't remember when they combined the tag for either antlerless or antlered in our area , but I do know we didn't have near the population of White tails up here then.
Cat

[LKILR]

So less opportunity for residents.

Will he reduce non-resident tags ?

This needs to be fair to residents of Alberta.


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[BigJon]

Originally Posted by LKILR

So less opportunity for residents.

Will he reduce non-resident tags ?

This needs to be fair to residents of Alberta.


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This is a fair point.

I think (some) outfitters still have bonus covid tags as well. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a hard lobby for those to stick around after the covid tags term ends.

I don’t have an outfitter hate on nor do I believe that residents should just keep blasting b/c there’s been no reduction in NR allocations…. Proportional reductions in a WMU’s quota would seem fair though.

[MountainTi]

Originally Posted by LKILR

So less opportunity for residents.

Will he reduce non-resident tags ?

This needs to be fair to residents of Alberta.


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I think of it as more opportunity for does
Rome wasn't built in a day. Lot of issues to fix

[MountainTi]

Originally Posted by MooseRiverTrapper

I like the supplemental reduction to none in the 200s, whitetail populations could be considered collapsed in my area, what a shame. Down to one supplemental in the 3-500 WMUs will help.

The massive amount of cow elk tags and they are giving out two tags per licence holder is very concerning. Todd lives up there in elk country, it’s getting harder to find a bull and busier every year. I don’t know if continuing to decimate the elk herd is a good thing??? AB wildlife management sure hates elk.

It's been so many years since I hunted elk up north I have no clue on what the populations are like up there. Is this on deeded land areas you are referring to? I do know farmers/ranchers have a big dislike for elk due to their destructive nature.
Is there a shortage of cow elk? I know in some prairie zones they have been increasing cow tags for years just to try to get some killed as there are very few taken every year. One area I hunt it would be easier to kill a 300"+ bull than to kill a cow lol.
Again, I know nothing of the northern herds anymore so just curious is all

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by BigJon

Happy to see the whitetail supplemental tag reduced to 1 from 2. Would be even happier to see those tags disappear altogether. 1 general WT tag per person. Use it for a doe in the month of November if you like gives plenty of opportunity for hunters of all ages.

The elk tag situation reminds me of the mule deer slaughter of 2010ish which is disappointing. In the Peace Country a hunter can now kill 3 elk/year if they want to.

The average Alberta hunter just loves to have high body count hunting seasons I guess.

The land mass of Alberta could contain several eastern states, with only a fraction of the population. Sure, more predators and winter kill up here, but all things averaged out I cant understand how a couple deer a year isnt sustainable. Especially considering that we are coming off of a couple easy winters right now, and the higher the deer populations climb the harder they will be hit on the next hard winter.

If tags need to be cut then so be it, but I see alot of guys driving roads and bitching about the deer numbers, while I've let a dozen bucks walk in the last two weeks.