A series of summer meetings to discuss the possibility of hunt farms for elk and deer in Alberta is guaranteed to generate controversy.
Already the government has had “mixed reaction” to cervid harvesting preserves, said Ellen Frombach, head of the diversified livestock branch of Alberta Agriculture.
“We’ve had mixed feedback in support and non-support,” said Frombach, of Edmonton.
This summer, committee members from the Alberta Elk Association and the Alberta Whitetail and Mule Deer Association, will hold six to 10 information sessions across the province on the possibility of paid hunting on privately owned fenced farmland.
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Alberta does not allow hunting of cervids, moose, elk and deer, within private, fenced areas of land. It does allow such hunting for wild boar, bison and pheasants.
A 13-page Cervid Harvest Preserves information package from the CHP committee said the establishment of hunt farms would allow Alberta deer and elk farmers to capture millions of dollars in revenue currently lost to Saskatchewan, which allows hunt farms.
The hearings will give the committee an opportunity to tell the public about the industry, said Brett Oliver-Lyons, market planning and research officer with the Alberta Whitetail and Mule Deer Association.
Oliver-Lyons said he doesn’t know what the public’s reaction will be to the idea, but people he talks to have few objections when he explains how it will work.
“Very rarely do I get any negative reaction. If they have a good background they’re impressed with it,” said Oliver-Lyons of Sherwood Park, Alta.
Deer aren’t led out of a barn on harness and shot, he said. The animals are in large areas for a few months to learn the terrain and operators will follow a code of ethics.
“It’s a humane way of disposing with over-age animals,” he said.
Alberta’s older farm-raised deer and elk are exported to the United States and Saskatchewan for trophy hunters in those areas.
The committee estimates Saskatchewan CHP operators took in more than $5 million in direct revenue in 1999.
In Manitoba, the government is waiting for more information on the future of hunt farms in that province. During the last provincial election all three parties said they would eliminate hunt farms.
Last November, Montana citizens voted to immediately stop hunt farming on existing operations, and not allow new farms to start.
The Alberta association’s committee will organize and run the public forums, but staff from Alberta Agriculture and Alberta Sustainable Resource Development will gather the feedback and assess it.
The forums are designed to allow the government to gauge public reaction, said Frombach. Allowing the public forums is not a nod that preserves will be approved.
“It does not mean it’s moving forward. It just means the discussion is opened up,” she said.
Oliver-Lyons said he is reading the government’s co-operation in allowing the public forums as a positive step.
“How the government reacts to the results we have no control over.”
Over the next few weeks, Frombach will meet with the committee to discuss where the meetings will be held and to ensure they are advertised properly. The committee is expected to make a presentation to the government’s rural caucus May 31.
