Hunters question use of new priority pool system

[Corey Coles]

CORNER BROOK — While hunters are not seeing a difference in the new big game licence priority pool system, there are questions as to why the regulations have changed.

Rod Wiseman has been hunting moose for 24 years. He had his moose licence this year and hunted successfully in Area 6.

“I don’t really see any difference in it as of getting a licence and not getting a licence,” Wiseman said. “I think it is kind of convenient for the government.”

Last year there were five pools in the big game priority pool system, this year there are nine. According to the 2010-2011 Hunting and Trapping Guide, the new priority pool number system reflects the pool status more clearly.

A hunter can now maintain his or her current priority pool status for up to three years without having to submit an application, and when a hunter reapplies for the draw within three years, his or her status will advance to the next priority pool without delay, based on the priority pool of his or her last application.

Wiseman said he understood the old system just fine and to make improvements did not really seem necessary. He said it was more confusing for him.

“They’re putting everybody in an individual classification,” he said. “Whether you’re partners, or you were an individual licence, if you had a licence the previous year ... there is probably certain areas that are not going to draw in certain pools.”

Wiseman believes Area 6, the Corner Brook-Stephenville hunting area, is not supposed to draw licences from Pool 4. He said he talked to many hunters and they said they get a licence in Pool 4 every year. He also said hunters in Area 5 usually receive their licences two years in a row.

Dave LeDrew, a retired high school teacher residing in Pasadena, has a licence this year and has been hunting in Goose Arm.

“(The new system) was to give fellows who were in Pool 1 for quite a while, a better chance of getting a licence,” LeDrew said.

He says that in order for hunters to really recognize a difference, it will have to be used for a year or two.

“The big difference is in Pool 1, that’s the big difference between the new and the old,” he said. “Hunters were stranded in Pool 1 for several years and in Pool 1 you should be able to pick and choose anything anywhere.”

He said he has never been higher than Pool 3 and he always fluctuated between Pools 3, 4 and 5. He also said he is undecided if the new pool system is more effective than the old priority pools.

Charlene Johnson, minister of Environment and Conservation, said the department changed the priority pools this year because hunters found the old system confusing.

She said the old system had letters, such as A, B, C and D, while this year the system uses numbers.

She also said with the new system hunters may keep their status for up to three years without having to reapply. She said if hunters do not apply within three years they will be bumped back to Pool 8.

“(We changed it) because when people were in Pool 1, we didn’t say on their application that they were in 1A, 1B, or 1C, it seemed like they were in Pool 1 for a very long time,” the minister said. “And then we would get a lot of calls, so am I in Pool 1A, or am I in Pool 1C ... they couldn’t remember how many years they were in Pool 1.”

Johnson said if hunters do not apply after three years the department will consider the hunters inactive and they will fall to Pools 8 or 9.

“In the beginning it was a little bit iffy, but it’s been nothing but positive ... it’s really the same. I know it sounds confusing,” she said.

There have been about 28,220 moose licences issued to hunters in the province this season. Of those 3,925 were for outfitters, and 24,295 were for residents

 

(The Western Star 11/22/10)

[Corey Coles]

Any thoughts or comments?

[Scott Hudson]

I know that in area 16 the numbers are approx, 200 total licences and 60 or more are outfitters, thats alot concidering there are 3000+ applicants. I think that the outfitter licences should have a maximum % per area, that way the residents are not the ones suffering. I got a bull only licence 3yrs ago in area 16 in pool 3, since then people in our hunting group have gone 2yrs in pool 1 ???? It seems to me that the outfitters got more licence since they lost their caribou, But to subsidize them with moose licences in an area with 200 total really cuts into the residents licences. A little PO'ed since I use to get a licence every 2-3 yrs, now its 5-6yrs.
Space out outfitters licences their customer are paying big dollars to hunt so let them spend their money and let me harvest my animal close to home not spend 1000+ dollars having to travel to the Northern Pen to get a licence when an AMERICAN is in my back yard harvesting, escentialy, my licence.

Just my opion.
Scott

[John Smallwood]

While your argument holds great merit when there is a disproportionate number of NR license in that area,We should also consider that drawing a big game tag on the island is much easier then getting big game tags most places in North America...some places you would wait a lifetime for a "dream tag" hunt in your own backyard even if you had a healthy population of say,Elk..you would enter the draw for years while watching pics of trophies taken in your backyard in magazines by out of state hunters .....

A moose license on the island, weather we like to think of it that way or not is no different then anywhere else in north america,it is a privilege not an entitlement.We are lucky and take it for granted how easy we draw tags and how little it costs us to hunt....so easy in fact everyone has come to expect to have meat in the freezer every fall as if it was some sort of living subsidy when the realities are it would usually be cheaper most times to buy a freezer full of pork then it is to get your moose,then,butcher/package it, even if you live in the moose management area where you hunted your moose.....

It's not in our best interest to begrudge outfitters employing people and putting money directly into local economies from outside the province, a HUGE contribution to our local economies ....Its not all about the cost of the meat if you could fill your freezer cheaper from a butcher,its about the hunting as well.....getting a guide licence if you want to hunt moose in your area every year would be one suggestion as a solution to that particular, abnormal, problem....a good many NR hunters donate their meat to the community anyway.And you get paid to do it :-)...remember every NR tag is still a resident Hunting with that NR and getting paid.

Hunting revenues and other tourist activities related to moose contribute more than $100 million annually to the Newfoundland economy........hope that puts not drawing a tag in your back yard ,in general, in perspective but i can see your point ..Thats is a Huge chunk compared to everywhere else, although ,government had to think about the impact on your economy of lost caribou hunts...If it were a simple matter in this case of spreading the % around, as a Guide i would of gladly have seen more NR tags issued for the northern Pen so you could stay there and a NR come here and pay me to go hunting but that wasn't fair to your area economically either, taking income from your area and sending it to another ...More complicated then it looks...

when it comes down to the brass tacks government will tend to lean towards dollar value...The caribou decline effects every Newfoundlander more then they think.......Count our lucky stars we aren't in labradors situation....
wouldn't want to have been in the shoes of the people making the decision in your area either....
Even worse we could be in european countries where the person that owns the land owns the animal management rights and only the privileged can hunt....we are very fortunate here on the rock.
Some different points to ponder:
Ever Wonder what it costs a guy in toronto to shoot a 80lb of meat deer?........Or.....more close to home...
Are Northern peninsula residents affected by all the successful non adjacent resident hunter applications?....essentially you hunting his license :-)
it's a snowball effect....
Happy Hunting, hope you draw either sex area 16 next year.

[Edward Smith]

I totally understand and agree to a point with your point of view. But, having lived and hunted in the states, the system you speak of is a little different. I didn't have a draw there for deer, I could of gotten a deer license just by going to the DNR and buying one (like buying a small game license here). To hunt a moose would be a dream hunt, in many states because very few states have them! Elk, on the other hand are drawn but, the system is different then ours by far. Basically, comparing apples and oranges. Having said that, I agree that Newfoundlanders, in general, are somehow confused that there is a moose out there that is theirs and that NR hunters shouldn't be allowed to hunt them. This is crazy! First of all this divide and conquer mentality is too prevalent! We as a hunting community should get together with outfitters and determine the needs of both parties. We forget, people have a livelihood to maintain. Whether we fight amongst ourselves saying that you townies have no right to our moose, or vise versa. OR, we are fighting with outfitters. Who is winning this?....NO ONE! By combining our efforts (Outfitters & Resident Hunters) we can force government to create new policies, better management strategies, etc.

This is my two cents, Ed

[John Smallwood]

read my final food for thought..it is not a dig at townies(although they tend to understand the whole moose situation in only bits and pieces...thats a dig :-).....)The point was,the snowball rolls down hill, the same hunters displaced in an area by NR hunters because of the availability of tags,displace other resident hunters in other areas(the Northern pen being his
" displaced to "area of choice)...the fact remains that Every hunter in North America wants to in his lifetime take a moose,a good many of which will displace resident hunters here....My Northern pen point being, him being displaced from his area by a NR costs a Northern pen applicant his license,the snowball rolls down hill ,while i sympathize with his situation,he should still be thankful he got a license...if we had to look at fairness of who got to shoot moose in whos backyard by percentages i think you will find that as many if not more residents of the pen are also being displaced when naming their first area of choice in their backyard(Maybe where people are naming an area from has been an influence on government decisions such as this one)...Anyway, the influx had many Northern residents chooseing to fly in to different MM areas for years Instead of join the parade in the morning or gamble on a pool 3 draw
(now what is it? pool 27? who knows lol).......

Your deer mention is a straw arguement ,toss your deer point out the window..it holds no bearing on the mystique or draw of moose hunting here,an isolated population and "Niche" hunt what so ever(requirement of the North american 29)....you did right, and they are right, to compare deer to a small game license.......my illustration of elk in the foothills of the rockies behind some farmers house he has being trying to draw a tag for for years better suits Newfoundlands situation even if the draw system is different(Maybe a bison or muskox hunt would be an even better analogy)...

I am well aware in some states NR have to enter a draw for elk in many cases...the difference here in our system being that we are competing for hunters that cant draw a moose tag in their own state or province....if they had to enter a draw here the vast majority wouldnt come,it would be just as well to hunt western moose and a bigger rack..there would be just Hunters completing their North American 29 wishing to hunt...not much of a help to an island economy.


ps had hunters cancel this fall because they drew tags elesewhere in the states they had waited years for

[John Smallwood]

you would laugh if you knew how many hours i have sat in camp having similar discussions...i was going to wheel in a few loads of wood but it got dark answering you...its a disease lol

[Edward Smith]

Hey John, A good healthy debate is what we need, to flesh stuff out. So, both sides can see each others point of view. My last statement is this, To often we look at who is displacing whom, and not at the real issues! I personally feel this blame game is perpetuated to keep people from not talking so that government can do what it likes, when it comes to wildlife. Areas are mismanaged and people are non the wiser because we are bogged down with who is hunting in my area. As well, there (as you have alluded to in your remarks) a mentality that moose hunting is a "god" given right and not a privilege! And, Finally what is this new form of hunting moose, Drive by shooting? No one stalks or scouts anymore? Crazy, if you ask me! where is the enjoyment in that! Ed

[John Smallwood]

the other bonus of flying in instead of driving a long way to an area :-)

[John Smallwood]

under $1000 will get 4 hunters and their essential gear flown one way By Beaver to remote MM areas where you are sure to draw tags for the hunt of a lifetime....Butcher your meat in there and the plane can take it one load...
under $3000 4 ways for tags and country all to yourselves on the hunt of a lifetime ....think outside the box

[Edward Smith]

I am lost here, could you explain this a little more.

[John Smallwood]

There are many areas of the island you are guaranteed to get tags that nobody names because of access...Scott mentioned he spends $1000 dollars to hunt moose on the pen,I simply pointed out there are options for that kind of coin a damn shot better then road hunting in a parade with everyone else and you could get a tag for them when ever you like....

[Edward Smith]

I understand, Thanks for clearing that up. I agree! Cheers, Ed