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Outdoor Corner: Trophy hunting and environmental consequences
Gene Plihal
for Smoky River Express
Having just recently attended the Girouxville Inn Trophy Night event and having seen the annual APOS (Alberta Professional Outfitters’ Society) convention come and go, one question cropped up prominently in my mind regarding trophy hunting: “What consequences does going after the biggest animal on the genetic pool of wildlife?” It’s a hard question which is not easily answered but must pique the conscience of every trophy hunter every now and then.
We all know that if we want to raise a herd of cattle, we don’t do it by keeping back the smallest heifers and sickest bull calf for reproduction! Indeed, domestic livestock raisers look at retaining the biggest, strongest and healthiest to make up the nucleus of the future herd. Makes sense. Keep the fittest, send the rest to the market.
Well, why is it then that in the area of wildlife management, harvesting the biggest and best seems to be the focus of not only resident but non-resident hunters as well? Isn’t this ultimately going to lead to the destruction of the wildlife population?
This one column will certainly not answer the question, but certain observations immediately come to mind. Why is it that it seems the moment hunting season is over the largest bulls, bucks, and boars (bears) suddenly seem to appear everywhere? One hunter recently stopped and talked the other day and he made this observation: “You know what? It seems like the animals are getting smarter.” I utilize cameras on my property on a regular basis and I think he may be right. Based on what the cameras tell me and what this one hunter noted, the big bucks and large animals wait until well after dark to make their move to feeding grounds.
Moose, deer, bear and elk were on this continent long before man arrived, but no doubt they have been evolving as well. Evading wolves, mountain lions and other carnivores has long been part of ungulate survival instinct. Now, in the last 25,000 years, and more specifically in the last 500 years, a new element of challenge has faced wildlife, that two-legged creature with, initially, bow and arrow and spear, and later, with a fire stick! Is it possible that these animals are learning to survive human intrusion by becoming smarter and that the new generation of bucks and bulls that survive are in fact the fittest?
I suppose one of the ways to prove or disprove this theory is to look at Boone and Crockett measures today and fifty or a hundred years ago to see if there has been a dimiution or increase in antler size over that time period. But if the antlers are getting bigger, it could be because of improved nutrition as a result of plant species introduced by man which wildlife has adapted to and now consume. Take a look at moose and their consumption of canola and alfalfa for example. I can remember being told 30 years ago by biologists that moose are incapable of digesting alfalfa because of the micro-organisms in their stomachs.
There is open acknowledgement these days that moose are existent in greater numbers in areas adjacent to farming communities.
A moose cow and calves that I observed yesterday were in full flight across a field until they hit an alfalfa field at which time they applied the manual brakes and commenced grazing on alfalfa, oblivious to my presence. The same morning I observed four moose on another alfalfa field, totally consumed with consuming the alfalfa before them until they saw my vehicle at which time they leaped into adjacent bush.
At any rate, these are just a couple of observations about trophy hunting and animal survival. I suspect animal and human survival, adaption and evolution are all dependent on the most critical elements of all, the health of our planet. More on that another day.
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