Ottawa spends $5.7 million on deer eradication in Haida Gwaii featuring New Zealand sharpshooters

[CMichaud]

http://vancouversun.com/news/local-n...-sharpshooters

The federal government is spending $5.7 million over three years to eradicate introduced deer on six islands on Haida Gwaii — including the hiring of New Zealand sharpshooters to fire from helicopters, boats and on the ground with tracking dogs.

The program, which enters its second year of eradication this spring, is designed to allow vegetation on the islands to recover from foraging by Sitka black-tailed deer, which were introduced to Haida Gwaii, then the Queen Charlotte Islands, for hunting starting in 1898.

The islands involved in the eradication program — Ramsay (largest at 1,600 hectares, and the primary focus), Murchison, Bischof, Faraday, House, and Hotspring — are grouped within Juan Perez Sound within Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site.

In 2017, a total of 598 deer were shot from March to October and their meat distributed for food on Haida Gwaii. Five Kiwis who specialize in deer eradication were hired to fire mostly .223 Remington rifles from low-flying helicopters and from the ground with tracking dogs, a mixture of breeds including Hungarian Vizsla equipped with GPS collars so hunters could follow them to the deer. Shooting also took place from boats along the shoreline.
Prior to the hunt beginning, a sweep was conducted of the islands to ensure no one was camping there.

“Although we have a lot of great local hunters, we wanted people who are eradication specialists,” Robyn Irvine, project manager for Parks Canada, said in an interview.

“The deaths of these animals were as humane and quick as possible.” New Zealand has a long history of dealing with the impact of introduced species, including deer and feral goats.
The SPCA confirmed it was impressed by the clean kills that minimized suffering to the deer.

“I was blown away at how professional it was,” said Sara Dubois, the SPCA’s chief scientific officer. “They would only take head shots — no body shots — and only if they could guarantee an instant kill.”

The program started by attracting the deer with a combination of dry corn, cedar boughs, and fresh apples at bait stations, where some could be quickly picked off, then moved into a more aggressive and wide-ranging seek-and-destroy mission throughout the islands.

Four Americans who specialize in wildlife behaviour also participated in the program as well as 32 residents of Haida Gwaii, both Haida and non-Haida, including four sharpshooters (one of whom joined the Kiwis for helicopter-based shooting) as well as logistical and technical support.
Two non-profit organizations, Coastal Conservation and Island Conservation, also assisted in the program.

Already some of the vegetation is starting to return. Western red cedar, a tree strongly tied to Haida culture and artwork, is also expected to recover and grow to monumental size. Over time, the islands will even sound different, as species return to native habitat.

“The deer have had a crazy impact … on all levels of biodiversity,” Irvine said. “Invertebrates and insects of all kinds decrease with deer, the soil depth becomes thinner because of the trampling and browsing, and with the loss of shrub cover you wind up with a loss of songbirds and seabird habitat.”

This year the program will resume on a limited basis by boat and with dogs at Faraday Island, and it will wrap up in 2019. Although a few hungry wolves might have accomplished the job, the fact is wolves are not native to Haida Gwaii, either.

“That’s come up more than once,” Irvine said. “To bring in one non-native species to deal with another one can sometimes cause more problems.”

Parks Canada is also involved in an ongoing program to eradicate introduced rats on Haida Gwaai to help protect seabird nesting colonies.

[4extreme]

I wonder if the kiwis could teach us, low life hunters who couldnt hit the ground if we tried, to shoot straighter. That's f'ed up.

[dicknormal]

Originally Posted by 4extreme

I wonder if the kiwis could teach us, low life hunters who couldnt hit the ground if we tried, to shoot straighter. That's f'ed up.

Many on here have professed to not liking head shots so that eliminates a large selection of contenders.

[Newview01]

I wonder if Canadians were given the opportunity to bid on this.

[Trochu]

I don't know why, after observing it for years and years, I'm still somewhat stunned when our government goes out and does the stupidest thing possible.

[CNP]

Head shots only....................from helicopters..................guarantee an instant kill.

INSERT FACE PALM

[1bowhunter12]

^^ yah my jaw hit the ground when I read this .. like a good percentage of those deer .. ridiculous statement

[wildwoods]

Originally Posted by CNP

Head shots only....................from helicopters..................guarantee an instant kill.

INSERT FACE PALM

Yeah SMH too when I read that. I wonder if their guarantees were backed by finances. No instant kill = deduct $3,000 (average cost per kill) from the invoice...
How on earth could that not be sourced to Canadians. There are almost no words...

[6.5 shooter]

Remember to thank your Liberal voting buddies.....AGAIN.

[CMichaud]

I was actually wondering about the "using mostly .223" comment.

Is it legal to hunt these deer with a 223 in BC?

[4extreme]

Originally Posted by CMichaud

I was actually wondering about the "using mostly .223" comment.

Is it legal to hunt these deer with a 223 in BC?

Is it legal to hunt with a helicopter? I don`t think it matters for these guys.

[m3mhunter]

There is no minimum in caliber in BC, only the stipulation that it be center-fire, (common sense still needs to be applied however).

What I could find in the 2016-2018 BC hunting synopsis was the provisions below…

“IT’S UNLAWFUL
…
26. To hunt or transport hunters or wildlife by a helicopter.
27. To use a helicopter, including a drone, while on a hunting expedition.
28. To hunt wildlife from an aircraft.
29. To hunt wildlife within 6 hours of being airborne in an aircraft other than a regularly scheduled commercial aircraft.”
AND
“The use of dogs is permitted in the hunting of all game, but dogs must be on a leash when used to hunt deer, elk, moose, mountain sheep, mountain goat and caribou. Unleashed dogs may be used to hunt small game, lynx, bobcat, grizzly bear, black bear or cougar. Any person may train dogs by allowing them, under supervision, to pursue game birds from Aug 1-Apr 30.”

[Hawkeye]

….and the odds are that they are using an AR rifle……

Helps when you do not have to follow the rules that the rest of us are obliged to follow.

[Dean2]

Outside of saying that the STUPIDITY of this government, and most others defies description, I will say no more because I cannot be even close to measured or polite. Un-Flipping Believable.

[Big Sky]

I'm pretty sure that the gov't could have made money.
A lot of guys would pay for the opportunity to take part in something like this.

[southernman]

Well I am a kiwi, and would like to point out that New Zealand, is likely the only country, with ongoing year round, Helicopter culling crews, Control operations for deer,( Mostly Red deer) goats, Thar and chamious are active, every day that conditions allow choppers to fly.
WARO, = Wild animal recovery operations, is our term for it.
There is often NZ crews up here, in north America, doing live capture, of wolves etc, ie net guns from chopper.
We also able to hunt, with a finding, pointing dogs for deer, and this is a very effective method, to reduce game (deer numbers) to a low enough level, in localized area, to allow regeneration of forest cover.

Rifle wise, I say an AR most likely, from the chopper, but i know a number of shooters (cullers), still using bolt action (Sako vixen, Bruno fox) including from a chopper.
When I was culling I used a Sako vixen, seven rounds down and one up the spout, good amount, unless on mobs of goats.
Head shots from above, are a piece of ****, I don't like them, when ground shooting.

Its not that Canadian's couldn't get the job done, but neither dogs for deer or helicopters for game control, are allowed, and it would take much expense and time, for those skills levels, to be built up.

right now, I wait for the incoming

[husky7mm]

Originally Posted by southernman

Well I am a kiwi, and would like to point out that New Zealand, is likely the only country, with ongoing year round, Helicopter culling crews, Control operations for deer,( Mostly Red deer) goats, Thar and chamious are active, every day that conditions allow choppers to fly.
WARO, = Wild animal recovery operations, is our term for it.
There is often NZ crews up here, in north America, doing live capture, of wolves etc, ie net guns from chopper.
We also able to hunt, with a finding, pointing dogs for deer, and this is a very effective method, to reduce game (deer numbers) to a low enough level, in localized area, to allow regeneration of forest cover.

Rifle wise, I say an AR most likely, from the chopper, but i know a number of shooters (cullers), still using bolt action (Sako vixen, Bruno fox) including from a chopper.
When I was culling I used a Sako vixen, seven rounds down and one up the spout, good amount, unless on mobs of goats.
Head shots from above, are a piece of ****, I don't like them, when ground shooting.

Its not that Canadian's couldn't get the job done, but neither dogs for deer or helicopters for game control, are allowed, and it would take much expense and time, for those skills levels, to be built up.

right now, I wait for the incoming

There you go. Thanks for sharing.
I would also like to add in case people dont know, NZ has no natural preds and most(all?) the species they hunt have been introduced. Often seasons are yr round. Hiada Gwaai has super liberal, long seasons, and the deer populations are still exploding. At least they didn’t introduce wolves!!!!

[Drewski Canuck]

For a couple of decades now, there was talk of culling the diseased bison in Wood Buffalo National Park, but the cost was the factor.

A lot easier to cull Bison than deer, especially in the winter.

These are TB and Anthrax carrying Bison that are a direct threat to the Alberta Cattle industry. More and more Cattle farmers in the High Level / Fort Vermillion area. Chance of transmission continually grows.

Where is the money for that????

Until the Cull of the Bison is done, we are at risk of a TB infected cow shutting down the Alberta Beef Exports. How many Million will that cost us?

Until the Cull of the Bison is done, the pure bred Woods Bison cannot be re introduced.

Drewski

[fordtruckin]

Originally Posted by southernman

Well I am a kiwi, and would like to point out that New Zealand, is likely the only country, with ongoing year round, Helicopter culling crews, Control operations for deer,( Mostly Red deer) goats, Thar and chamious are active, every day that conditions allow choppers to fly.
WARO, = Wild animal recovery operations, is our term for it.
There is often NZ crews up here, in north America, doing live capture, of wolves etc, ie net guns from chopper.
We also able to hunt, with a finding, pointing dogs for deer, and this is a very effective method, to reduce game (deer numbers) to a low enough level, in localized area, to allow regeneration of forest cover.

Rifle wise, I say an AR most likely, from the chopper, but i know a number of shooters (cullers), still using bolt action (Sako vixen, Bruno fox) including from a chopper.
When I was culling I used a Sako vixen, seven rounds down and one up the spout, good amount, unless on mobs of goats.
Head shots from above, are a piece of ****, I don't like them, when ground shooting.

Its not that Canadian's couldn't get the job done, but neither dogs for deer or helicopters for game control, are allowed, and it would take much expense and time, for those skills levels, to be built up.

right now, I wait for the incoming

Pretty sure we use NZ crews tohelp capture sheep and some for wolves as well. Hard to argue with experience when they are very well adapted to flying feet off the ground to capture critters.

[kingrat]

Luckily protesters in Bc are occupied with the pipeline and haven't noticed this lol. Would be fun for a day.

[Rockman]

Yeah, I've nothing against calling in professionals. But like whoever said up there, many hunters would pay for the chance to go out there and shoot a deer. Should at least have done that first and gotten numbers way down, then paid the pros to come in and cull the last deer.

[Topwater]

Originally Posted by Rockman

Yeah, I've nothing against calling in professionals. But like whoever said up there, many hunters would pay for the chance to go out there and shoot a deer. Should at least have done that first and gotten numbers way down, then paid the pros to come in and cull the last deer.

You've been allowed 15 dear a year (5 in possession) for a while. Doesn't look like it's helped

[roughneckin]

Kiwis have been doing this for years. My father in law lived there in the 70s and picked up a job helping out with it too. When I lived there I went out with the reserves and we shot up a ton of possums but it’s never enough. They breed like rabbits.
The kiwis know what they are doing when it comes to shooting deer in choppers that’s for sure.

[4extreme]

If the govt paid me i would hunt deer and bison year round. Im sure others on here would do the same. I cant even get my 15(as posted above) because i have to earn money the hard way. Work.

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by Rockman

Yeah, I've nothing against calling in professionals. But like whoever said up there, many hunters would pay for the chance to go out there and shoot a deer. Should at least have done that first and gotten numbers way down, then paid the pros to come in and cull the last deer.

I believe the limit for deer over on those islands is 15 and they are still under hunted and the deer population is out of control- whatever that means and whoever it is affecting.
I know if I lived there I certainly would eating store bought meat but I doon't think the deer population is controlled there by people killing and eating them.
As far as heading over for a free hunt, it is not free when you take in the expense of getting there and back.
Cat

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by wildwoods

Yeah SMH too when I read that. I wonder if their guarantees were backed by finances. No instant kill = deduct $3,000 (average cost per kill) from the invoice...
How on earth could that not be sourced to Canadians. There are almost no words...

I don't care how good the shooters are, I don't believe for a second that every single shot fired from a helocopter was an instant head kill. The percentage of head shots might be very high, but to state that they only fired if they could "guarantee", a head shot is ridiculous.

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by elkhunter11

I don't care how good the shooters are, I don't believe for a second that every single shot fired from a helocopter was an instant head kill. The percentage of head shots might be very high, but to state that they only fired if they could "guarantee", a head shot is ridiculous.

That wasn't a quote by the hunters it was a quote. by an SPCA spokesman
Who gives a rat's patutty anyway, thus program is in its second year........
Cat

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by catnthehat

That wasn't a quote by the hunters it was a quote. by an SPCA spokesman
Who gives a rat's patutty anyway, thus program is in its second year........
Cat

Exactly, a quote by someone with no clue, but yet some people will believe that it is true.

But what I am really wondering about, is how much the Trudeau Foundation received from New Zealand sources as a result of this?

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by elkhunter11

Exactly, a quote by someone with no clue, but yet some people will believe that it is true.

But what I am really wondering about, is how much the Trudeau Foundation received from New Zealand sources as a result of this?

I personally found give a deal what some SPCA member says I am far more worried about more important stuff like the price of diesel after fuelling up this morning
Cat

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by catnthehat

I personally found give a deal what some SPCA member says I am far more worried about more important stuff like the price of diesel after fuelling up this morning
Cat

I just picked up a $2000+ order of shotgun reloading supplies om Thursday, and prices have gone up about 10% due to the increased shipping costs, thanks to our carbon tax.