Manitoba moose outfitter 'absolutely devastated' by temporary 50% cut to foreign hunting licences

A Manitoba moose outfitter says many businesses like hers won't make it to 2030 if the provincial government goes through with a planned cut to foreign moose hunting licences.

In a letter dated July 19, the director of the province's wildlife branch informed Manitoba moose outfitters of an upcoming change that will halve the number of moose hunting licences for non-Canadians between 2026 and 2029, citing population sustainability concerns.

The letter said the change is being made to prioritize Manitoba hunters.

Colleen Liske, who has owned and operated Agassiz Outfitters with her husband for the last three decades, says while the letter was dated July 19, she and many others received it at the end of last week.

"We're just absolutely devastated," she told CBC News on Monday.

"Every single moose outfitter will be affected, and it's going to be a drastic effect."

Hunters from outside of Manitoba can only get a licence to hunt moose in the province through resource tourism operators like Liske's, which plan the trips, hire guides and book the flights.

Agassiz Outfitters gets 18 foreign moose hunting licences each year, and Liske says 146 were sold in 2023, adding that those customers contribute to northern Manitoba's tourism industry each year.

"This is going to cripple the north [and] all the businesses that rely on this," she said.

"2030 — you might have maybe half of your moose outfitters out of business, if not three-quarters of them."

Liske says her business now has to restructure its plans, which have already stretched into 2027.

The move also comes as many moose outfitters have just started to recover after the COVID-19 pandemic dampened tourism sales, she said.

"We're finally coming out of COVID, and now this is a horrible blow to the industry."

The province's letter was dated just days after the province said the number of moose draw licences for Manitoba residents would be cut by 75 per cent in four of 62 game hunting areas.

The notice came several weeks after Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, which advocates for First Nations in northern Manitoba, said it told government ministers in a meeting to stop issuing licences to non-Indigenous hunters without first ensuring First Nations people have harvested enough for food and ceremonial purposes. 

In a Monday newsletter, the Manitoba Wildlife Federation said it has filed an application to the Manitoba Court of King's Bench to have the moose draw licence decision overturned, alleging it was not based on scientific data.

'A massive impact'

Melanie MacCarthy, president of the Manitoba Lodges and Outfitters Association, says she's been hearing from many moose outfitters who are angry, frustrated and confused by the latest licence cut.

Many of the affected businesses employ their moose guides from nearby First Nation communities, and even donate much of their meat to them, MacCarthy said, adding that the foreign licence reduction will hurt those communities too.

"It's a massive impact across the province."

Moose are highly desired when it comes to destination hunts, because they can't be hunted everywhere, MacCarthy said.

She doesn't see any justification for the reduction, and she believes there's a lack of consultation and data behind the decision.

However, there is some hope as preliminary conversations with the province continue, and MacCarthy says she has requested a meeting with Premier Wab Kinew and Natural Resources Minister Jamie Moses.

CBC reached out to the province for comment on Monday but has not heard back.

'We need to make hard decisions'

Daniel Dupont, a University of Saint Boniface biology instructor who researches Manitoba's moose and wolf populations, says he sympathizes with the outfitters whose bottom lines will be affected by the licence reduction.

"But when we're talking from the perspective of moose, sustainability and having healthy populations, I think this is a move that probably should have happened earlier," he told CBC News.

"We should have been taking a more cautious approach with harvest, and really the first [group] to really look at in terms of reduction should be the foreign hunters," he said. "They're not even Canadian citizens. They're not Manitobans."

Dupont says moose populations have been trending downwards not only in Manitoba, but in adjacent provinces like Ontario and Saskatchewan. The drops have led the Manitoba government to issue complete moose hunting bans in large swaths of the province.

The province must do everything it can to protect moose before it decides to prohibit Indigenous hunters from harvesting the animals, Dupont says, adding that Indigenous hunters are a priority as they have treaty rights enshrined under Canada's constitution.

Dupont, who is Métis, says while scientific data is important, a lack of it in a particular area is not an excuse for the province not to make management decisions, as the goal is to proactively minimize the chances of declines in moose populations.

Reducing the number of harvesting opportunities will always be controversial, but it is one of the few options that the province has to manage moose numbers, said Dupont.

"We just have to remember that we need to do what is best for moose, and there isn't enough moose for everybody to harvest, so we need to make hard decisions."