Fenced Bison Hunts

[elkhunter11]

Just out of curiousity.What is the legal status of game farms in Alberta? I have no idea, and am not trying to toss AvGas on the fire.

Raising animals on game farms is legal,but selling the opportunity to shoot the animals under the guise of a hunt is not legal in Alberta.

Originally Posted by elkhunter11

Raising animals on game farms is legal,but selling the opportunity to shoot the animals under the guise of a hunt is not legal in Alberta.

Actually it is for non-native species.....somehow it is legal for bison as well.

[elkhunter11]

Actually it is for non-native species.....

I stand corrected,I wasn't even thinking about non native species.

[saskbuffaloguy]

Thanks for the clarification guys.
Does anybody think a double fence with say a 20 to 30 foot "buffer strip" between the two would help any possible transmission between animals?

Originally Posted by saskbuffaloguy

Thanks for the clarification guys.
Does anybody think a double fence with say a 20 to 30 foot "buffer strip" between the two would help any possible transmission between animals?

I'm sure it would help but there is always the chance of animals escaping. It has happened. For me it just seems a senseless risk to take. I can see the other side of the coin where struggling farmers and ranchers are looking at new ways to make a living but I just don't think this is it. We all have a negative impact on wildlife and I don't want to see farmers and ranchers villified but the responsible thing to do seems to be not increasing the number of farmed deer and elk.

[sheepguide]

Would more strict guide lines and testing help or are they covering them bases already?

Everything helps...it all comes down to whether you want to take the risk at all. There is no economically viable means of testing live animals for CWD that I'm aware of so it's a bit of a moot point anyhow.

Game ranchers are extremely responsible people that do everything they can to prevent disease but unfortunately, it hasn't been enough and the government has spent million compensating ranchers for destroying diseased herds. While CWD is the classic chicken and egg scenario, should we really increase game farm numbers in the province without knowing? Without hunt farms there is no market for farmed elk and deer so why increase the market?

[saskbuffaloguy]

Yeah a surveilance program similar to the BSE testing now would help, but I think it's like a door with a lock on it..it only keeps an honest thief out. I don't see raising elk and deer becoming economically viable, with our dollar so high, as well as the asian market so volatile. It will be interesting to see what happens if the korean border ever opens to up canadian beef products..i wonder if the velvet market will rebound any

[fish-man]

Originally Posted by sheephunter

Ya, our hunt was totally free range in a communal concession but there are lots of both types of fenced ranches in Africa. I wasn't aware that many of the antelope species can't even jump a 4-foot fence so as you pointed out, it doesn't have to be high fenced to be fenced. We did hunt a couple cattle ranches with unique fencing. The posts that were driven in the ground were about 60 feet apart and there were small posts stapled to the wire in between. It allowed bigger species like gemsbok to simply slide their neck under it, lift their head and going under it was a breeze. It's my understanding that only kudu, eland, impalla and waterbuck will jump a 4' fence...the remainder of the antelope species are confined unless there is provisions for them to crawl under. Even zebra won't go over a fence.

My uncle is a veteranarian who does game capture for ranchers in Namabia.. he said most the same things you say in regards to animals crossing fences. A lot of the farmers import blesbuck and black wildebeest, apparently those are popular to hunt and can't get over or under fences very well.

[Bear]

Originally Posted by sheepguide

Would more strict guide lines and testing help or are they covering them bases already?

They already have the strictest guidelines of any agricultural practice out there. That and it is mandatory to submit every head from animals over 1yr of age that die for any reason. Meat is held and not released until it comes back negative for CWD.

They are also required to do a TB and Brucellosous(sp?) test every 5yrs.

http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex3594

Here is a listing of how many game farmed animals have been tested for CWD and it also has the wild numbers as well.

http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/cpv9448

I would say they have pretty good science backing them up. 1 Positive game farmed elk in March 2002 and 2 positive game farmed WT deer in November of 2002. Since then they have tested between 6000 and 8800 per year. Thats a lot of negative tests completed.