Major caribou hunting changes kick in

Two major changes in regulations guiding the harvest of Porcupine caribou off the Dempster Highway are now in effect.

Two major changes in regulations guiding the harvest of Porcupine caribou off the Dempster Highway are now in effect.

Hunters – both aboriginal and non-aboriginal – are now required to shoot bulls only, as a means of protecting the herd’s reproductive potential.

Non-aboriginal hunters are restricted to one animal, down from two in certain zones, and all hunters must report their harvests.

There has been reluctance in the past by some aboriginal hunters and communities to report their harvest levels.

Aboriginal subsistence hunters are still allowed to take more than one caribou, but only bulls.

Environment Minister Elaine Taylor announced the measures last June as a means of trying to curtail or eliminate what many suspect is an ongoing decline in the herd’s population.

The new regulations came into effect Monday, Dan Lindsay, director of the fish and wildlife branch, told a news conference Monday afternoon.

“The regulations are there to keep this herd, the largest herd in the Yukon, viable, viable in the sense that it does not continue in a slow decline,” he said.

Lindsay pointed out other barren land caribou herds in the North have declined significantly, and climate change is likely a factor but officials are powerless to do anything about that, though they can influence harvest patterns.

There’s been no accurate census of the herd since 2001 because weather, forest fires and unexpected seasonal changes in the migration patterns have stymied efforts.

This past summer, for instance, officials on both sides of the Yukon-Alaska border were standing by their aircraft for several days but were unable to get a count because the caribou never congregated in large numbers.

In 2001, the herd was estimated at 123,000 animals, though it’s felt that number has dropped to 100,000 or so today, and is in danger of slipping below 50,000 in the next 10 years if management steps aren’t taken.

Wildlife managers maintain a single cow, factoring in the eventual reproduction of her offspring, will be responsible for producing 23 caribou over a 10-year period.

Tracking information is indicating the bulk of the herd is actually migrating west back toward Alaska, and is not heading toward the highway, just as it had done in the last couple of years.

There were, however, some 300 to 400 caribou taken this past summer from a pocket of Porcupine caribou that remained behind in the Richardson Mountains instead of moving north toward the traditional calving grounds.

Members of the Porcupine Caribou Management Board, first nations and territorial governments in the Yukon and Northwest Territories accept something has to be done. However, they’ve not yet completed a board initiative to establish a harvest plan for the herd.

The Yukon government’s decision to move ahead with mandatory bull-only hunting and reporting requirements goes against the management board’s preferred use of voluntary compliance.

Board chair Joe Tetlichi was critical of the government’s decision when Taylor made the announcement last June. He suggested the decision would erode community support for a harvest plan, and create confusion for community hunters.

Lindsay, however, said wildlife managers in the Yukon believe the herd’s population is in such a fragile state that they can’t risk counting on voluntary compliance.

Some have called for even tighter measures than mandatory bulls-only and reporting, such as restrictions on harvest levels for all hunters.Conservation officers, Lindsay said, will be emphasizing education and monitoring, and won’t be pouncing on hunters at the first sign of any infraction.

It can be difficult, he added, to tell the difference between young bulls and mature cows, and sometimes means having to wait for the animal to urinate to look for a penis sheath.

“It could require more patience.”

But there are enforcement measures available to officers faced with blatant disregard of the new rules, he said.

Lindsay suggested there also has to be some tolerance in a case where rural hunters may not even be aware of the new rules.

Like the harvest reporting station located at the south end of the Dempster Highway every season, there are plans to establish a mobile reporting station at the north end of the Yukon section of highway, and one in Old Crow during the harvest.

The last reliable harvest information was taken in 1992, ’93 and ’94. It indicated an annual harvest of about 4,000 Porcupine caribou, of which 2,400 were cows and 1,600 were bulls.

Gwichin and Inuvialuit hunters from the N.W.T. combined for 65 per cent of the harvest back then. Yukon first nation hunters took 13 per cent, non-aboriginal Yukon hunters harvested six per cent and big game outfitters one per cent.

Records from last year show 255 Porcupine caribou were taken by non-aboriginal Yukon hunters, more than 170 of which came out in pairs shot by one hunter.

With the new limit of one caribou, Lindsay said, he suspects some hunters from southern Yukon will decide the long trip up to the Dempster is simply not worth harvesting just one caribou.

“By limiting the harvest to bulls only, we think we can arrest the decline of this herd,” Doug Larsen, a retired Yukon government biologist who stills represents the Yukon on the caribou management board, told Monday’s briefing.

“If we can put these measures in place now, we think we can prevent that. We hope we can prevent that.”