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She said the permits are meant to bring immediate relief to farmers and producers who are experiencing damage.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a perfect world, those producers won\u2019t have elk on their property again, or as many. The big thing is, we\u2019re trying to disperse these big herds, to get them dispersed and \u2026 hopefully permanently moved off areas where they\u2019re causing damage and havoc.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rowden said the permits can be used on properties with issues from Jan. 15 to March 31 next year.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter the end of the hunting season, each eligible producer identified by SCIC (the Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation) will be given eight depredation tags at no cost, to be used to remove elk that are causing depredation problems,\u201d said Rowden.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the producer is not a hunter themselves, a family member or friend can be designated to remove the elk as long as they are a Saskatchewan resident and can legally hold a hunting licence.\u201d<\/p>\n
While producers can currently make damage claims through the SCIC, Rowden said paying out claims year-over-year isn\u2019t a sustainable, long-term solution.<\/p>\n
The province said the SCIC will administer the tags through its wildlife damage claims and prevention processes that are already in place, with eligible landowners showing a commitment to implementing fencing and other preventative measures.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe one thing about the depredation program that everybody should know is you don\u2019t have to be in crop insurance to make an application, so this will really affect all producers. It\u2019s a combination, not only of crop grain farmers, but also livestock producers as well,\u201d said Agriculture Minister David Merit.<\/p>\n
Merit said the elk depredation permits are targeted, explaining elk isn\u2019t a problem across the entire province.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are parts of the province where there are virtually no hunting for elk, so this really looks at areas where we\u2019ve had historic claims, wildlife claims, and elk (where) we know those numbers are high.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve heard from our colleagues, we\u2019ve heard from municipal leaders that there are herds of 300 and 400 out there. We know of cattle ranchers that are rolling out bales, and the elk are there, it\u2019s almost one to one, so obviously it\u2019s a challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rowden said she spoke with the Wildlife Federation, and said they are \u201cunderstanding.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo they like depredation tags? No, neither do I. I wish this problem wasn\u2019t happening, but they did seem understanding of why I was doing this, along with Ag (the Ministry of Agriculture), and they were happy to hear about the fencing options and stuff like that,\u201d said Rowden.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we\u2019re not just handing out depredation tags. We\u2019re also providing mitigation things to hopefully mitigate this problem permanently, so they\u2019re understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the implementation of the permits in 2027, the province said it will evaluate the results and consider them for future planning of wildlife management in Saskatchewan.<\/p>\n
Farmers looking for solutions<\/p>\n
For some farmers, fencing and silage just can\u2019t keep away elk from treating their fields like an all-you-can-eat buffet.<\/p>\n
Larry Bryck said elk never used to be an issue at his farm near Ituna, but herds have grown over the last several years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey got to do something because the population is increasing,\u201d he said. \u201cThe more they increase, the more they spread out, so it is going to be making more damage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bryck said the extra tags are something he would consider applying for.<\/p>\n
Larry Sommerfeld, the Reeve of the RM of Lost River, said the elk are occasionally a problem for people with cattle in his area.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s never had issues with elk, but said he had issues with deer in his fields.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they know what they\u2019re doing when they put out those depredation tags,\u201d Sommerfeld said. \u201cI think they\u2019re necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n
Concerns of privatization<\/p>\n
Todd Smith, the executive director with the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation, said he understands there needs to be a balance between wildlife and agriculture.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure going down the path of of continually hunting the elk is the best course of action,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to explore other issues to work cooperatively and reduce access to the food sources that are seem to be the focal point of these over-winter issues.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith said he would like to see proof land owners used all prevention methods \u2014 like silage and fencing \u2014 to keep the elk from their fields before requesting elk tags.<\/p>\n
Wildlife is a public trust resource in Saskatchewan, but Smith said the additional hunting tags don\u2019t provide an equal opportunity for all people who want to participate.<\/p>\n
He said he has issues with this approach because it leans towards the privatization of wildlife.<\/p>\n
Smith said there could also be issues with illegal outfitting, and there should be proper safeguards to prevent the sale of the elk tags.<\/p>\n
He said the SWF was not consulted by the province before the announcement.<\/p>\n
\u2014 with files from 980 CJME\u2019s Gillian Massie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"She said the permits are meant to bring immediate relief to farmers and producers who are experiencing damage.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533020,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":["post-533019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}