SASKATOON – Saskatchewan is becoming a magnet for international wildlife poachers, says a government investigator.
“In the last three years there have been some awful big heads taken in Saskatchewan,” said Ron Maynard, of the provincial environment department. “That has created a great influx of non-resident hunters interested in a trophy head.”
Two years ago the world’s biggest white-tailed deer trophy antlers were recorded from a buck shot in Saskatchewan, and in the latest listing of the top 84 heads taken in Canada, 46 were from Saskat-chewan, Maynard said.
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“It brings in all sorts,” he said of the trade in illegally hunted trophy heads. “It brings in the guys who will come in right out of season and just commando-style try to kill those deer. It brings out the worst in our own poachers.”
Conservation officers in Prince Albert recently charged 19 people with more than 50 charges, including trafficking in wildlife, illegal possession of wildlife, illegal hunting, night hunting and illegal tagging. Seventeen of the people are from Christopher Lake, in northern Saskatchewan, while two are from Reading, Pennsylvania.
As well, six people from Spy Hill, in the east-central region, have been charged in another investigation.
Big antlers for big egos
The size and health of Sask-atchewan deer are tempting to the “ego hunters” who are not interested in hunting for itself, but want to have a set of antlers they can enter in the record books, Maynard said.
He said some “rogue outfitters” spend the year finding out locations of deer with large antlers. They then shoot the animals regardless of season and later bring in hunters from across Canada and the United States during the hunting season.
The recreational hunters get a licence to shoot a deer, secretly attach the tag to the previously-shot deer’s head and take it home, making it look as legal as the trophies of thousands of other hunters who play by the rules.
Maynard said rogue outfitting is causing more large deer to be taken.
“They know where the big bucks are and they get them by hook or by crook.”
These scams damage the entire provincial deer population because if the strongest, largest, healthiest bucks keep getting shot, the deer gene pool will suffer, he said.
Across the province
“Pretty soon you’ll get three-legged deer with two heads running around” if the poaching isn’t controlled, Maynard said, exaggerating to make his point. He said the problem of rogue outfitting and poaching can be found across Saskatchewan.
The number of outfitters in the province has increased from 119 in 1988 to 622 this year.
