2023 Hay Zama Bison Draw

[AlbertaWild]

Has anyone tried out for the draw ; If so did you get drawn...just curious on how many applied.

[Dewey Cox]

When do they post the results, anyway?

[fishnguy]

Originally Posted by Dewey Cox

When do they post the results, anyway?

Still says “entered” for me, so no results yet, I am assuming.

[TargetDan]

Originally Posted by AlbertaWild

Has anyone tried out for the draw ; If so did you get drawn...just curious on how many applied.

About 20,000 applicants historically. 40 Tags available this year.

[edmsmith]

Draws for aboriginal hunters mentioned sept 27th as the draw date which was yesterday. It was super specific and was to happen at 130pm.

Haven't seen much from anyone regarding the draws.

[hehalta]

Albert Relm lists the draw date as October 11 @9am .

[waterboy]

I called Peace River office to enquire about notification date and was told Oct.11th….friend called High Level office and was told ‘by last Friday….and only successful applicants notified’ lol🤷*♂️. Regardless of notification you’d think everyone would minimally be notified via the Relm site??? Not sure why they didn’t include draw/notification dates in their links….or why this draw has to be any more complicated or confusing than any other AB draw. Guess wait till the 11th and no news isn’t necessarily good news lol.

[TargetDan]

Originally Posted by waterboy

I called Peace River office to enquire about notification date and was told Oct.11th….friend called High Level office and was told ‘by last Friday….and only successful applicants notified’ lol🤷*♂ï¸�. Regardless of notification you’d think everyone would minimally be notified via the Relm site??? Not sure why they didn’t include draw/notification dates in their links….or why this draw has to be any more complicated or confusing than any other AB draw. Guess wait till the 11th and no news isn’t necessarily good news lol.

Aboriginal hunters must apply in person and will be notified if successful.
Everyone else applied through Albertarelm where their draw results will be posted Oct. 11 whether successful or unsuccessful.

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[Noring1]

Originally Posted by TargetDan

Aboriginal hunters must apply in person and will be notified if successful.
Everyone else applied through Albertarelm where their draw results will be posted Oct. 11 whether successful or unsuccessful.

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This is correct!

Aboriginal hunters have already been notified by email

[tbrown]

How many aboriginal tags were given out??


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[Pekan]

Originally Posted by tbrown

How many aboriginal tags were given out??


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I think I heard 800,000...

[1899b]

Originally Posted by Pekan

I think I heard 800,000...

lol

[Pekan]

Many moons ago, like 350 moons ago, I lived in High Level and my GF at the time worked on one of the local reserves. So we a some connections to the local FN community. Back then the locals had very little interest in hunting the bison. Moose was what everyone wanted.

It might still be the case up there. So there may not be as much uptake for FN allocated tags as you would expect.

That's the hope I'm hanging on to anyway. Really want to draw one.

[tbrown]

Honestly I’m surprised it’s open to residents at all. I kind of figured it would be an aboriginal only thing once it reopened.

On another note, what ever happened to the elk hunt in elk island park?


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[oldgutpile]

The very first year, there were 200 native permits, and 100 "other"
I believe that less than 100 of the native permits were taken and the harvest numbers of that group were low. MOOSE. They all wanted moose!

[TargetDan]

Originally Posted by Pekan

I think I heard 800,000...

80 aboriginal tags and 40 on albertarelm. The herd only has about 600 animals.

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[270person]

Originally Posted by Pekan

I think I heard 800,000...

Haha

[Noring1]

Originally Posted by tbrown

Honestly I’m surprised it’s open to residents at all. I kind of figured it would be an aboriginal only thing once it reopened.

On another note, what ever happened to the elk hunt in elk island park?


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It was an aboriginal thing the entire time it was closed to residents. They were asked not to harvest, but nobody is actually going to stop them. If they wanted to harvest one they could do as they pleased.

Like Grizzly, and short sheep…… F&W have no power to control what FN and Métis do

[edmsmith]

Originally Posted by Noring1

It was an aboriginal thing the entire time it was closed to residents. They were asked not to harvest, but nobody is actually going to stop them. If they wanted to harvest one they could do as they pleased.

Like Grizzly, and short sheep…… F&W have no power to control what FN and Métis do

That's a bit of a weird statement considering in this thread its mentioned there's only 80 aboriginal tags being given for aboriginals.

You know they made it purposely more difficult for aboriginals to apply for the lottery draw for the bison? It had to be done in one of 5 offices in northern alberta(1 in edmonton). Had to be in person. Could not apply for family or friends.

If you didn't live in a local area with an office you weren't going to be applying.

Everyone else just applied online.

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by edmsmith

That's a bit of a weird statement considering in this thread its mentioned there's only 80 aboriginal tags being given for aboriginals.

You know they made it purposely more difficult for aboriginals to apply for the lottery draw for the bison? It had to be done in one of 5 offices in northern alberta(1 in edmonton). Had to be in person. Could not apply for family or friends.

If you didn't live in a local area with an office you weren't going to be applying.

Everyone else just applied online.

It really doesn’t make sense why FN had to apply in person without an online option like everyone else’s. Really that should not be the case

Unfortunately because of a portion of FN that do abuse their rights and the lack of enforcement when they are caught it has caused many to jump to conclusions on anything FN hunting related.

It definitely isn’t right that there is always assumptions regarding FN hunting but our present system creates diverse. Then Add in the lack of enforcement when there is those abusing FN hunting rights it creates distrust

No different than the distain for outfitter’s is created by a portion of bad ones making them all look bad in some people’s eyes

It may not be right but it is always comes down to the portion of idiots in a group causing everyone to be judged in a negative light

[Pekan]

Originally Posted by edmsmith

That's a bit of a weird statement considering in this thread its mentioned there's only 80 aboriginal tags being given for aboriginals.

You know they made it purposely more difficult for aboriginals to apply for the lottery draw for the bison? It had to be done in one of 5 offices in northern alberta(1 in edmonton). Had to be in person. Could not apply for family or friends.

If you didn't live in a local area with an office you weren't going to be applying.

Everyone else just applied online.

Or a native person could have applied online just like everyone else. As a regular hunter with no special consideration.

[edmsmith]

Originally Posted by Pekan

Or a native person could have applied online just like everyone else. As a regular hunter with no special consideration.

You missed the part where the govt designed the lottery for aboriginals to be as difficult as possible to apply....

The special treatment your complaining about went to regular hunters.

Going to guess they wanted local aboriginals from northern alberta to win hence most of the locations to apply where very far north.

I'd imagine people wouldn't be too happy if they had to drive 3 to 5 hours away just to apply for a draw they may not get for the year.

[3blade]

Originally Posted by edmsmith

You missed the part where the govt designed the lottery for aboriginals to be as difficult as possible to apply....

The special treatment your complaining about went to regular hunters.

Going to guess they wanted local aboriginals from northern alberta to win hence most of the locations to apply where very far north.

I'd imagine people wouldn't be too happy if they had to drive 3 to 5 hours away just to apply for a draw they may not get for the year.

Horse feathers

They wanted to keep activists from pulling tags using other peoples treaty numbers online, and blocking the hunt this year, also inflating treaty applications and causing a future decrease in non-treaty opportunity next year.

That strategy (fraudulent applications) was authored by Kevin Van Tighem (of Parks Canada/Y2Y) for bighorn sheep, years ago, and is still a problem.

[Drewski Canuck]

The introduction of the herd from Wood Buffalo National Park to the Zama City area was with the consultation of the First Nations in the area, and with the understanding that these Bison are being kept isolated for the long proposed restocking of Wood Buffalo National Park whenever the Federal Government gets around to eradicating the hybrid diseased bison brought long ago from Wainwright to Wood Buffalo National Park.

That is why the Northern bands who are abiding with no hunting of these bison are given the priority to apply, and because so many up there are without cell phones and internet, they apply in person locally.

The bigger question is why did the majority of the Zama herd get over to the BC side, and not be brought back to the Alberta side?

The herd migrated, and the numbers did plummet, and the hunt was shut down. But there still are alot of our Bison on the BC side that should have been herded back to Alberta. Then there would have been plenty of opportunity for everyone.

Some day, maybe, the anthrax and tuberculosis infected herd at Wood Buffalo will cause enough of a problem that the Federal Government has no choice but to eradicate the diseased herd, and after a number of years the Zama herd will be transplanted.

In the mean time, enjoy the hunt!


Drewski

[Pekan]

Originally Posted by edmsmith

You missed the part where the govt designed the lottery for aboriginals to be as difficult as possible to apply....

The special treatment your complaining about went to regular hunters.

Going to guess they wanted local aboriginals from northern alberta to win hence most of the locations to apply where very far north.

I'd imagine people wouldn't be too happy if they had to drive 3 to 5 hours away just to apply for a draw they may not get for the year.

My point is there aren't any rules saying that if a person is a status FN they must not use the provincial hunting system that every other Alberta resident must use. People with treaty status are exercising their right to opt out of the provincial system. So a person who is a member of say, Treaty 7 in S. AB. has the same opportunity to get a tag as me or any other Albertan who isn't FN. They just get a win card and apply online, simple.

[Noring1]

Originally Posted by Drewski Canuck

The introduction of the herd from Wood Buffalo National Park to the Zama City area was with the consultation of the First Nations in the area, and with the understanding that these Bison are being kept isolated for the long proposed restocking of Wood Buffalo National Park whenever the Federal Government gets around to eradicating the hybrid diseased bison brought long ago from Wainwright to Wood Buffalo National Park.

That is why the Northern bands who are abiding with no hunting of these bison are given the priority to apply, and because so many up there are without cell phones and internet, they apply in person locally.

The bigger question is why did the majority of the Zama herd get over to the BC side, and not be brought back to the Alberta side?

The herd migrated, and the numbers did plummet, and the hunt was shut down. But there still are alot of our Bison on the BC side that should have been herded back to Alberta. Then there would have been plenty of opportunity for everyone.

Some day, maybe, the anthrax and tuberculosis infected herd at Wood Buffalo will cause enough of a problem that the Federal Government has no choice but to eradicate the diseased herd, and after a number of years the Zama herd will be transplanted.

In the mean time, enjoy the hunt!


Drewski

Did someone tell you the herd migrated out of Alberta and that’s why the numbers went down?

The Biologists I spoke with said they increased tags for residents and FN hunters over a 3 year period until the harvest got high enough to reduce the herd size dramatically, then it was closed for 5 years to monitor the rebound in population.
For 10 years the number of tags was 40-50 for residents and the same for FN, the last year of the hunt it was 125 for residents and 150 for FN.
The biologists did the exact same thing for cougar outside Drayton Valley. Increased harvest quota from 2 and 2 for almost 20 years to 8 tom’s per year, then monitored the rebound with a lowered quota over the next 3 years. Not a popularly shared practice, but common none the less with bio’s

[Noring1]

Originally Posted by edmsmith

That's a bit of a weird statement considering in this thread its mentioned there's only 80 aboriginal tags being given for aboriginals.

You know they made it purposely more difficult for aboriginals to apply for the lottery draw for the bison? It had to be done in one of 5 offices in northern alberta(1 in edmonton). Had to be in person. Could not apply for family or friends.

If you didn't live in a local area with an office you weren't going to be applying.

Everyone else just applied online.

So the aboriginals get double the number of tags, with 2-3% of the total number of applicants at best, and that’s more difficult because they have to drive to one of the 5 regional offices?
If they have can’t drive to an office to apply because it’s too difficult, how are they going to travel to Rainbow Lake then use snowmobiles to access the herds and actually go hunt the bison?

I think it’s great FN and Métis have their own draw and F&W are trying to regulate the hunt, I also think it’s great that the majority of FN will respect the draw process. But if you think Bison weren’t being harvested by FN the entire time the hunt was closed you’re lying to yourself.
The same thing happens with the highway herds in Northern BC that are protected, the local FN’s help themselves whenever they want one.

[edmsmith]

My point is you can't cry about equal rights when the govt purposely made it as difficult as possible for aboriginals to apply.

If that's what has to happen perhaps we should all be forced to apply for our draws in person.

That would only be fair. Right?

[Pekan]

Originally Posted by edmsmith

My point is you can't cry about equal rights when the govt purposely made it as difficult as possible for aboriginals to apply.

If that's what has to happen perhaps we should all be forced to apply for our draws in person.

That would only be fair. Right?

Sounds to me like they wanted local members of First Nations to have a reasonable shot at drawing a tag. I don't see any problem with this at all.

Like I mentioned earlier, any FN person is welcome to join the draw system the rest of us are using. Nothing stopping them.

[Noring1]

Originally Posted by edmsmith

My point is you can't cry about equal rights when the govt purposely made it as difficult as possible for aboriginals to apply.

If that's what has to happen perhaps we should all be forced to apply for our draws in person.

That would only be fair. Right?

I’m not crying about equal rights, that ship sailed and we have to live with it forever. I was pointing out a fact that FN were hunting bison the entire time, and can still hunt them whether they have a draw or not.

The same way they can hunt Grizzly and short sheep year round, it’s just the way it is

If I had to drive 2 hours to apply for a tag then I would do that. Like I said how are they going to travel to hunt if they can’t travel to apply?

I’d feel pretty entitled complaining about driving to a F&W office to apply for a Canmore sheep draw that’s 5 hours from my house lol
But to each their own….