Originally Posted by SageValleyOutdoors
This is only my opinion - and I’m an outfitter, so take it with a grain of salt...
And I’m sorry - it’s kind of long winded...
These are wild animals. They’re not property owned by you or me or anyone else... an argument could be made that since legally they ARE crown property, they are owned by every tax paying Albertan, but beyond that, i don’t see how it matters who shoots the damn things.
For my clients, i rent a house in a small town - either through airBNB or word of mouth or whatever. This little town is a former mining town, and quite poor. I think it’s mainly occupied by long haul truck drivers and oilfield workers. It’s close enough to a major tourist area that in the summer, the homeowner does ok with tourists, but once September rolls around, their renters dry up. My clients and i bring valuable dollars to these people. In addition to the food, fuel and other places in town where my guys spend their money.
Every morning - and i mean EVERY morning, as we’re loading up the truck to go hunting, there’s a local fella that drives by (presumably on his way to work) and he recognizes us for what we are - hunters, probably a guide and clients.
Every morning when he drives by, he beeps his horn repeatedly, rolls his windows down, flips us off and screams at us. His language is colourful, but the major gist of it is “go home and hunt your own f-ing deer!”
I’ve always wanted to stop this guy and ask him - who’s deer are they? And who decides that? Is it the landowners deer? If so, he’s free to hunt them and let anyone else hunt them should he choose to do so. We have pretty much sole access on a 35,000 acre ranch, in addition to several other large ranches in the area who allow us to hunt. Are the deer owned by people who live locally? If so, what’s the radius you must live in to be considered “local”? 5km? 50km?
This guy, and all the other haters like that who’re either too afraid to stop and talk, or who only have the courage to argue their point behind a keyboard embarrass me. As an albertan, i would hope we could do better. We are BLESSED with amazing hunting opportunity - and yet get all angry and jealous when some shmuck from Pennsylvania or Oregon comes up to experience what we all take for granted. My main group of guys is an elderly father and his two sons. They’ve been up here about 10 times. Know the roads, know the landowners, and know where the deer are. If they legally could - they’d be able to run their own hunt without me. Yet they can’t, so they hire a lowly guide. A LOT of these guys are just like you and i - working class people who save $ and can only do this hunt once. They’ve always dreamed of an exotic hunt for a different species and in a different country - and this meathead driving down the road is the welcome they get. THAT’S what’s embarrassing to me.
Back to the landowners - i work my butt off to maintain good relationships with them. I DO NOT PAY THEM in ANY way. My operation is clean and legal down to the bare bones. I am respectful, courteous and am at the point where i consider many of them to be personal friends. The landowners of that 35,000 acre ranch even give me hockey tickets to take my kids to flames games. Without fail - every year. I’m there in the spring, summer, fall and winter with all the landowners out there - being friendly, helping out wherever i can.
My point behind this is simply that i invest the time, effort and money in hunting my area. It defines me - is not simply something i DO so much as part of who i am. I don’t show up the day before the season to get permission and then disappear for a year. I invest myself with the landowners who allow access.
So while i don’t own the deer any more than you or The guy in the truck or any other albertan, I’ve worked for my access and relationships more than most.
So the guy in the truck doesn’t bother me any more. I’d like to talk to him, and hope he’s reading this... my guys aren’t taking “your” deer. Because you’d never be allowed to hunt these deer. Because they aren’t “your” deer any more than they’re my deer.
If you’re the guy in the truck (or dislike the non resident aliens like him), and if you’d look beyond your anger and jealousy, and introduce yourself. Talk to the people hunting and the people who are guiding them, you’d see it’s not a bunch of rich *****holes taking advantage of our province and the bounty of wildlife we have. And I’m not a rich outfitter screwing the locals out of “their” animals. I try to be a hard working guy, who loves hunting and I’m trying to supplement my income in the way i love.
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