Seems there is considerable opposition to protecting large populations of animals using fence. I hope these members opposed to such management techniques are prepared to forego their hunting opportunities once each and every species is under draw or closed. And since landowners are under no obligations to grant hunting permission, don't be surprised when you find yourself unable to locate a hunting spot without the use of a cessna aircraft and a week of your time.
And, with 195,000 people in Manitoba who self identified as aboriginals, (78,830 of that being Metis), growing at 4 times the rest of the Manitoba population (2011 Statcan), Manitoba now has 14% of their 1.282 million peolple who can hunt without license or limit at any time they wish. Perhaps these rights could be extended to all Manitobans? Nobody could claim then that things would not be equal. Do you see the problem now "cleftwynd"?
As for the gentleman "razorbeck" that claimed to have been drawn for elk 3 out of the last 5 years in Manitoba...this isn't the case for the majority of applicants. Just because you drew a tag, it doesn't mean there are a sufficient number of animals. Governments sell more tags than there are animals, which they then claim provides increased opportunities. Real wildlife managers grow herds before they take such measures. Only additional animals can provide added opportunities. Did you apply for elk draw as a landowner? There is a trend in Manitoba and it seems that draw opportunities are going toward resident landowner tags.
Gentlemen, don't let pride and morality cloud judgement and reason. Fencing large productive areas of habitat to prevent poaching and losses from vehicle collisions (which can top 10,000 annually according to MPI and cost many human lives) is not only intelligent, it's practical. No more farmers complaining they lost a few bushels of grain or a couple hundred domestic animals province wide.
It also makes it much easier to monitor and control diseases including chronic wasting disease as these animals are already contained any outbreams are already quarantined. This also addresses "razorbeck's" assertion that high fenced elk and bison in Alberta had a rampant epidemic because of high fence. This couldn't be farther from the truth. Wild populations of animals have a much higher prevalence of disease and this includes bovine tuberculosis and CWD. A few cases of CWD in a captive herd that was contained in a very short period of time is hardly an epidemic. However CWD in wild herds of bame across Alberta and Saskatchewan spread across a huge geograpic range and affecting multiplt herds sounds more alarming to me.
If we hunters and landowners aren't the ones to protect and conserve our wildlife, who will? A fence is just a reasonable response to a confluence of factors that have gotten out of control and put the future of wildlife and hunting in jeopardy and called into question current accepted game management practices within Manitoba.
Is that so wrong, come on?
