Editor:
It is the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations' job to protect wildlife and to enact game regulations that provide conservation.
The very name of this ministry lends itself to bureaucracy the way conservation has been enacted in area 6-4 reminds me of the federal Department of Fisheries (DFO). Every fishery that the D.F.O has been managed from Ottawa has collapsed.
The Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations' management of wildlife from Victoria is going down the same slippery slope. They need to get more input from local rod and gun clubs and local hunters.
The open season on moose in 6-4 for the past 20 years and the continued open season in this area will ensure that the moose will be scarce or non-existing for years to come.
In the last three years a friend and myself did circle tours after the hunting season. Snow was on the ground so it was easy to see any tracks left by wildlife. We averaged over 200 km on these tours and it was disheartening to see an occasional track where 10 years ago there were numerous tracks.
In the Lakes District News, they state that the moose population is down 20 per cent. It was down 20 per cent in 2000; 20 per cent on 2002; and down 20 per cent in 2004.
Twenty per cent from nothing is nothing. I'm not saying there are no moose, but ask any hunter who covers hundreds of km and ask them how many cows and calves they saw on their trips and I can almost count all that were seen on one hand.
Even the cow population is scarce, never mind the bulls. Area 6-4 and any other area where the moose population has been decimated by political decisions and not conservation decisions should go to the limited entry process. This will ensure that the moose population will recover over time. Should the population increase over, say in 10 years, one can always increase the number of limited entries. Stop the political interference in game management.
Sincerely,
Gary Hemmerling