Had the opportunity to hunt with a couple of guys from North Dakota a few years back. They were both in their sixties and had been applying for a Moose draw in their home state for over 25 years and were never drawn. They had Become quite successful with their hardware store when the oil and gas frac picked up down their and decided to come to Alberta to fulfill their dream of harvesting a moose. I spent two days with them hunting and they both filled their moose tags. I don’t remember ever seeing American Hunters so happy and the biggest smiles ever. They were so excited that their dream had come true and it was great to be a part of it.
This experience was a real eye opener for me and the current state of our draw system. I have two young boys and began to fear that they may never get the opportunity to hunt moose or would be well into their 20s before ever drawing a tag. It was at that point I made the commitment to save my priority for my boys and partner them on my license. I am currently a priority 10 for bull moose and my father is a 9. I have 999 my draw for the last 6 years as to save it for them. My oldest will turn 12 late next Oct and I plan to hunt Nov till we are successful in filling it for him.
I really fear where this draw system is headed. At the current rate I could realistically see my boys only drawing a handful of Moose tags in their life time and their children maybe never. The partner tag is a great idea but I feel it is a temporary fix that will eventually also be back logged as it does not keep people from applying with the 999 to increase priority.
I really don’t see any sort of fix as population in Alberta increases. To compare us to Sask is useless as our population is 3 million more than theirs. The sad reality is we need less people or hunters to reduce the priorities. Anything else is just a bandaid.
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