New rules for foreign waterfowl hunters seek ‘level playing field’

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This article was published 20/03/2023 (1241 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba sportsmen are smiling — and American counterparts fuming — after the provincial government introduced new rules for private and public land accessibility for resident and foreign waterfowl hunters.

“These changes will reduce illegal outfitting, establish a cap on licensed outfitting operations and legacy hunting camps, with the goal of creating a higher-quality experience for resident waterfowl hunters, outfitted clients and visiting foreign resident freelance hunters in Manitoba,” says a guide issued to hunters by the province.

Starting this fall, foreign hunters (who are predominantly from the United States) can apply for a foreign resident migratory game bird licence, allowing them to hunt for seven days, by entering a draw process or by booking with a licensed outfitter.

At the same time, the province has also created a foreign resident legacy migratory game bird licence, for foreign resident land owners and lessees of Crown land who held such property before Sept. 1, 2022 — and currently still hold it — and have hunted waterfowl within the previous five years.

“We are excited about these changes,” Chris Heald, executive director of the Manitoba Wildlife Federation, said Monday. “It has needed to be done for 15 years.

“Yeah, a few people are mad, but thank goodness the government is going ahead.”

Heald said the changes were pushed by numerous stakeholders — not just local hunters, but also hotels, restaurants and outfitters.

“In the United States, hunting has become completely commercialized,” he said. “The hunters came up here and they started buying farm houses. It was exactly what happened down there and they were doing it here.”

Heald said Americans would also buy up local land to hunt on or pay farmers and landowners to give them exclusive rights, making it harder and harder for Manitoba hunters to find accessible land.

Natural Resources and Northern Development Minister Greg Nesbitt said Manitoba is seeking to avoid the commercialization and privatization of waterfowl hunting seen across other parts of North America.

With seven-day hunting licences, it makes more sense for foriegn hunters to pay for hotel rooms, rental properties and restaurants, instead of owning private camps, he said.

“But it wasn’t so much about buying properties,” he said. “It was tying up land and many areas… it was becoming increasingly difficult to find places to hunt.

“We’re not trying to discriminate. We’re trying to get on a level playing field where there is an equal opportunity for everyone,” Nesbitt said. “We want to ensure this is fair to everybody.”

There are an estimated 10,000 Manitoba hunters and about 3,500 foreign hunters, mostly American, who visit the province annually.

Richard Carver is one of those Americans.

For 45 years, the Glencoe, Minn., resident and seven friends have hunted in the Delta Marsh area, after they bought a nearby camp from a group of hunters mostly from Thunder Bay, Ont.

Through the decades, the American group spent money improving the camp, including putting on a metal roof and renovating the 10 bedrooms and three bathrooms, and shopping for supplies in nearby St. Ambroise, Carver said.

Carver, the last of the eight living, now wonders what will happen to the property.

“Yes, we are grandfathered (under the new rules) but I can’t transfer the grandfathering if I sell it. There will be no buyers for it. All of a sudden, we’re undercut,” he said.

The new regulations mean his camp will be able to get three, seven-day licences, but can only write in four guests per licence.

“What if you have five grandchildren? You have to leave one off?” he said. “To me, this is a power play by the outfitters to get more control.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca