The B.C. Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development (FLNRORD) has outlined proposed hunting and trapping regulations, which affect the Cariboo.
In Region 5, the province has proposed reducing the bag limit (the number of animals that can be harvested by a hunter) for mule deer from three to one.
The provincial website says the decision is due to declining buck ratios in the region because of the number of hunters in the region increasing, as well as the density of roads increasing and reduced habitat quality.
Chris Reinhold, a local hunter and the vice president of the Quesnel Rod and Gun Club, doesn’t agree with the proposed regulations.
“My personal opinion is that limiting the quantities is not going to solve the main issues of the mule deer population.
“We need to deal more with the predation of these animals; for example, the wolf populations being handled, rather than limiting the amount a hunter can take. [The Ministry] need[s] to spend more money on the science portion of it, to find out why this is happening.
“I think the loss of habitat has a lot more to do with it than the hunting aspect,” he comments.
Also proposed for the Cariboo is a change to motor vehicle restrictions.
The current regulations see the use of ATVs and snowmobiles prohibited year-round from 4 a.m. to 10 a.m. in certain areas of Region 5.
The Ministry has proposed changing this from a year-round restriction to just between September 1 and December 10 to allow the use of these vehicles while hunting for cougars, wolves or bears outside of the ungulate hunting seasons.
The closing date for input on these proposed regulations is Jan. 19, 2018. Visit https://apps.nrs.gov.bc.ca/ahte/hunting to comment.