Saskatchewan putting crown land lots up for sale

We in Sasaktchewan live in the province with the biggest proportion of private vs public land of anywhere in Canada except perhaps PEI. We have something like 5% of the native prairie grasslands left, everything else has been cultivated or in some cases seeded to a monoculture of tame forages. Wildlife and plant biodiversity are under extreme pressure here, far more so than "old growth" forests on the west coast that everyone else seems to care about. The land being sold at auction includes a significant amount of native grassland. Our government is selling off our Canadian heritage to balance their badly mismanaged books, and nobody seems to care that almost all of the auctioned land will be converted to the most profitable short term economic use, cultivation and resource development soon after being sold.
 
There is no future in Saskatchewan for hunting on public land. Too many hunters and not enough "crown or wildlife lands" to go around. There is almost nowhere south of the forest fringe where a road is further than 2 miles away. Finding a place where no one has hunted is nearly impossible, which makes it difficult to find healthy populations of big or small game.

I have walked PFRA pastures of 10,000 acres many times and not seen a single ruffed grouse or sharp tailed grouse, rabbit or squirrel. Many times I have expected to see a variety of big game and have been disappointed to find empty habitat. Indeed wildlife in Saskatchewan is very low on the list when it comes to mindful and responsible resource use and management. Agriculture and ranching take the forefront when it comes to land use policies.

I have about a dozen RM maps which list public land within the southern half of the province and most Rural Municipalities have well over 300 square miles of land and absolutely no public land or wildlife lands within them. In fact in over 1000 square miles 3 RM's of land for example, there are less than 4000 acres (6 square miles) of public land to hunt. Pretty well everywhere in the southern half of Saskathcewan you need permission to hunt unless you own your own land.

So moral of the story is boys, you need to take the initiative when it comes to doing what you love. If you want to hunt join a wildlife branch, donate money yearly to your wildlife branch for habitat acquisition or take it a step further...purchase your own land and keep it natural for hunting. That's what I have done and if you value the resource, take matters into your own hands. Look at the ability to own private land as a blessing. Use it as an opportunity to make your mark on the world. Be a conservationist. Invest privately in land and protect it. Choose to protect wildlife and our hunting heritage.
 
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umchorn2 said:
There is no future in Saskatchewan for hunting on public land. Too many hunters and not enough "crown or wildlife lands" to go around. There is almost nowhere south of the forest fringe where a road is further than 2 miles away. Finding a place where no one has hunted is nearly impossible, which makes it difficult to find healthy populations of big or small game.

I have walked PFRA pastures of 10,000 acres many times and not seen a single ruffed grouse or sharp tailed grouse, rabbit or squirrel. Many times I have expected to see a variety of big game and have been disappointed to find empty habitata. Indeed wildlife in Saskatchewan is very low on the list when it comes to mindful resource use and management. Agriculture and ranching take the forefront when it comes to land use policies.
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i have two quarter sections and another piece which must be 3 quarter sections in size that i walk through all year.
no one else goes there because they cant drive a truck through.
plenty of game on all three pieces of land.
and i have just noticed today they have put up new wildlife signs

there is loads of other sections of wildlife lands that i have seen hunters using.

its well worth the time and energy seeking these little havens out
 
umchorn2 said:
There is no future in Saskatchewan for hunting on public land. Too many hunters and not enough "crown or wildlife lands" to go around. There is almost nowhere south of the forest fringe where a road is further than 2 miles away. Finding a place where no one has hunted is nearly impossible, which makes it difficult to find healthy populations of big or small game.

I have walked PFRA pastures of 10,000 acres many times and not seen a single ruffed grouse or sharp tailed grouse, rabbit or squirrel. Many times I have expected to see a variety of big game and have been disappointed to find empty habitat. Indeed wildlife in Saskatchewan is very low on the list when it comes to mindful and responsible resource use and management. Agriculture and ranching take the forefront when it comes to land use policies.

I have about a dozen RM maps which list public land within the southern half of the province and most Rural Municipalities have well over 300 square miles of land and absolutely no public land or wildlife lands within them. In fact in over 1000 square miles 3 RM's of land for example, there are less than 4000 acres (6 square miles) of public land to hunt. Pretty well everywhere in the southern half of Saskathcewan you need permission to hunt unless you own your own land.

So moral of the story is boys, you need to take the initiative when it comes to doing what you love. If you want to hunt join a wildlife branch, donate money yearly to your wildlife branch for habitat acquisition or take it a step further...purchase your own land and keep it natural for hunting. That's what I have done and if you value the resource, take matters into your own hands. Look at the ability to own private land as a blessing. Use it as an opportunity to make your mark on the world. Be a conservationist. Invest privately in land and protect it. Choose to protect wildlife and our hunting heritage.
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Yeah that would be the dream I looked at some land out by perdue however it wouldn't make for good hunting and the owner got greedy with his price. Hunting for me is becoming far to much of a hassle these days and I've all but stopped. People are constantly closing their land off and no longer giving permission. It's a shame because I may be a father in the next couple years and by time my kid is old enough to hunt there won't be any hunting.
 
umchorn2 said:
There is no future in Saskatchewan for hunting on public land. Too many hunters and not enough "crown or wildlife lands" to go around. There is almost nowhere south of the forest fringe where a road is further than 2 miles away. Finding a place where no one has hunted is nearly impossible, which makes it difficult to find healthy populations of big or small game.

I have walked PFRA pastures of 10,000 acres many times and not seen a single ruffed grouse or sharp tailed grouse, rabbit or squirrel. Many times I have expected to see a variety of big game and have been disappointed to find empty habitat. Indeed wildlife in Saskatchewan is very low on the list when it comes to mindful and responsible resource use and management. Agriculture and ranching take the forefront when it comes to land use policies.

I have about a dozen RM maps which list public land within the southern half of the province and most Rural Municipalities have well over 300 square miles of land and absolutely no public land or wildlife lands within them. In fact in over 1000 square miles 3 RM's of land for example, there are less than 4000 acres (6 square miles) of public land to hunt. Pretty well everywhere in the southern half of Saskathcewan you need permission to hunt unless you own your own land.

So moral of the story is boys, you need to take the initiative when it comes to doing what you love. If you want to hunt join a wildlife branch, donate money yearly to your wildlife branch for habitat acquisition or take it a step further...purchase your own land and keep it natural for hunting. That's what I have done and if you value the resource, take matters into your own hands. Look at the ability to own private land as a blessing. Use it as an opportunity to make your mark on the world. Be a conservationist. Invest privately in land and protect it. Choose to protect wildlife and our hunting heritage.
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You and I have vastly different experiences.

I have never seen so much varied and healthy numbers of wildlife in my life, as I've seen this year while hunting both private cultivated land, and across 4 different PFRA pastures covering 120,000 acres. I suppose the difference in experience is that I actually live out here among the wildlife rather than just visiting it for a few hours every month.
 
coyoteking said:
You and I have vastly different experiences.

I have never seen so much varied and healthy numbers of wildlife in my life, as I've seen this year while hunting both private cultivated land, and across 4 different PFRA pastures covering 120,000 acres. I suppose the difference in experience is that I actually live out here among the wildlife rather than just visiting it for a few hours every month.
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It is like that were I live too. The wildlife populations have been increasing it seems like the last little while. This year on the tractor I seen more deer elk bear and moose than I used to see. There is also increasing numbers of hunters out and most landowners around here are posting there land to keep the idiots out especially during the open September elk season.
 
skoal said:
Yeah that would be the dream I looked at some land out by perdue however it wouldn't make for good hunting and the owner got greedy with his price. Hunting for me is becoming far to much of a hassle these days and I've all but stopped. People are constantly closing their land off and no longer giving permission. It's a shame because I may be a father in the next couple years and by time my kid is old enough to hunt there won't be any hunting.
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How far are you willing to drive for a place to hunt? You might be able to find something around porcupine plain Hudson bay or that general area for cheaper.
 
Selling off native grasslands and other parcels of native habitat is shameful.. It will all get posted, then a lot of habitat will get destroyed working up the land by some rich corporation. This govt is screwing over the people of Sask...I wish I never voted for them.
 
My brother still farms south east of Regina. He has shut down all hunting on his land as the last few years the theft and destruction is unreal. It still doesn't stop the morons as they just drive through fences or anything else in their way.
As oilman28 said the amount of deer, elk and bear is unbelievable. Rarely saw these back 40 years ago when I still lived there.
 
Reeferman said:
My brother still farms south east of Regina. He has shut down all hunting on his land as the last few years the theft and destruction is unreal. It still doesn't stop the morons as they just drive through fences or anything else in their way.
As oilman28 said the amount of deer, elk and bear is unbelievable. Rarely saw these back 40 years ago when I still lived there.
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Closing land off to responsible, ethical hunters is such an oxymoron. Keeps out the good guys, the guys who will drive through fences will still drive through them.
Not that I blame landowners for controlling who can go on property.
 
heronfish said:
Closing land off to responsible, ethical hunters is such an oxymoron. Keeps out the good guys, the guys who will drive through fences will still drive through them.
Not that I blame landowners for controlling who can go on property.
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This is very similar to the gun control debate that most gun owning farmers hate but it falls along the same line of thought. The wrong doings of a few people and lets punish/ban the entire community. Little do the farmers know that if they allowed good law abiding hunters on their land they would have some serious eyes and ears on their property throughout the hunting season. Anyhow...people are free to do as they wish with their land and get angry at whoever they please.
 
scott_r said:
Selling off native grasslands and other parcels of native habitat is shameful.. It will all get posted, then a lot of habitat will get destroyed working up the land by some rich corporation. This govt is screwing over the people of Sask...I wish I never voted for them.
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I doubt any of it will be bought by any rich corporations. I was on Iron planet today looking at everything they have listed, none of it looks suitable for cultivation. I would wager it'll all get bought up by local cattle producers.

This land was all likely leased up till now by cattle producers, which means they had control over access anyway, so nothing will change going forward whether this stays in the crowns hands or gets sold to private ranchers v
 
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They have been selling off land for a long time now. I realized that given the small amount of crown land left it will be difficult to keep hunting in the future. With that in mind I bought a quarter in a tender sale two years ago. It's sad to think that this is what its coming too.
 
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