I would invite anyone interested to go to this link or to www.huntingbc.com and to the "Mainland British Columbia" section then see the thread about, "BC Hunters betrayed by Govt" and see what is happening. Then, consider what the ultimate resolution of this unacceptable situation might be.

http://castanet.net/edition/news-sto...o-1-.htm# 51240

I think that the situation is very clearly explained here by Rich and it should be obvious what is likely to happen as BC citizens become aware of this travesty.

Dewey,
The first lin should be www.huntingbc.ca The second link appears to be broken.

Thanks,I cannot seem to get it to function from here, but, it worked perfectly from the HBC site, when I clicked onto it earlier today. Sorry, about the HBC link, I posted it just as they have it on the actual site.

This particular article is the best, simple explanation of what is making so many BC hunters angry and that is relevant to some of the recent discussions here on this section of AR.

I thought it only fair to post this and am not inclined to comment further as I have posted here everything I consider worthwhile about this and realize that relatively few BC hunters frequent this forum.

So, it is here for anyone interested to read and ponder over.

It's about time people there start getting PO about it,Dewey.If it was in this country,heads would roll.With your government,Im not sure what you can do,but I wish you luck.

Here it is:


B.C. hunters betrayed by governmentB.C. hunters betrayed by government
by Wayne Moore - Story: 51240
Dec 4, 2009 / 5:00 am



Hunters and fishermen with B.C. residency feel they are being betrayed by their own government.

The B.C. Wildlife Federation's Political Action Alliance is fighting what it feels is reverse discrimination in a battle with the Guide-Outfitters Association of B.C.

BCWF spokesman Rich Petersen says resident hunters are losing out to out-of-province hunters.

In some areas of the province, Petersen says hunting opportunities run 70-30 in favour of out-of-province hunters.

"B.C. resident hunters are losing a lot of hunting opportunities," says Petersen.

"The chances of a local resident obtaining a hunting tag are slim to none."

Petersen says the problem lies with both the provincial government and the Guide Outfitters Association of B.C.

He says there is a government policy, the Allocation Policy, which determines the percentage of hunting opportunities that go to residents and those that go to non-residents.

"Negotiations began in 2004 on a new policy. After two-and-a-half year of negotiations, it was adopted in 2007. It has not been implemented due to political pressure from GOABC."

Petersen says the new guidelines were supposed to be implemented in 2010.

"Government has been asked to forestall implementation until 2017. In the meantime, government has been reluctant to follow the allocation policy, mostly at the regional level."

According to Petersen, who was involved in negotiations, the B.C. Wildlife Federation was very fair in dealings with GOABC.

He says they agreed to a larger reserve for out-of-province hunters than any other jurisdiction in Western Canada or the Western United States.

For example, Petersen says in Region Six (Skeena/Smithers area), local residents are supposed to be harvesting a minimum of 60 per cent but are getting only 30 per cent.

"The government is supposed to remove the barriers that are affecting residents success. They have refused to do that, mainly through pressure from the guiding industry."

Peterson claims the guiding industry charge every non-resident hunter $150 which goes directly into a GOABC fund which they use to lobby the government to protect non-resident hunting issues.

"They have been fairly effective with that. We are a volunteer organization. We don't have that kind of money."

There are, according to Petersen, about 5,000 non-resident hunters coming into the province every year.

Petersen says the BCWF has started its own fund in hopes of using that money to lobby the government as well.

"We are just trying to get priority for resident hunters back on track in the province."

Dewey and I have had our differences in the past about this topic, and my views about his way of fixing this haven't changed.
However, I will say that resident hunters should always have priority in hunting availability of game in their province.

I should add to this, without making any comments as to what I think or what should be done about the situation, that this article was published in a newspaper that serves one of the wealthiest and most politically influential regions of BC.

The chances of an article such as this being published there in recent years were "slim and none" as the political trends of that region and Rich Petersen's home region are VERY "neo-con" and usually favourable to resource selloffs and giveaways.

This alone, to me, demonstrates how the admittedly amorphous and "grassroots" movement against the situation concerning foreign hunting here is growing and I expect to see much more of this sort of journalism, in the near future.

The major difficulty is that we do not have a "pro hunting" political opposition and so many of us have "sucked it up" and kept quiet so that we do not inadvertently assist the "antis". But, things are starting to happen and major change will occur.

Well now I understand why you fellas are Po`d as well you should be.Do what you have to do. OB