Collared bison accidentally shot by Yukon hunter

Yukon wildlife officials are warning hunters against shooting bison that are wearing tracking collars, after an incident last week.

Conservation officer Russell Oborne said one hunter accidentally shot a bison last week, before realizing the animal was wearing a collar. The hunter immediately reported it, and the carcass was seized by officials. 

"These things do happen from time to time," Oborne said. "Sometimes [collars] are difficult to see."

Oborne said it's a concern because sometimes the meat from a collared animal is not safe to eat. There may be traces of the drug used to immobilize and collar the animal still in the meat, weeks later.

Oborne said the meat is typically not safe until at least 35 to 40 days after the animal was drugged.

Lost data

Shooting a collared animal also means lost data for wildlife research. The bison shot last week was one of about 40 in Yukon fitted with active satellite tracking collars.

Putting the devices on animals is expensive — adding up the equipment and labour required means an "absolute minimum of $5,000 per collar," said conservation officer David Bakica.

Bakica said the bison shot last week was one of four bull bison that were equipped with collars just last summer, and the last one to still have it.

"They are very hard on collars, so three of the four collars are dead. This collar was the only working collar from the four that we put out, so we were really counting on the information from it," Bakica said.

"Unfortunately, Murphy's Law is, it was the one that got shot."

He urges hunters to always "take a second look" to ensure a bison is not wearing one of the yellow collars.

"We try to make them as visible as possible. Bison do have a lot of hair on their capes and on their fronts so believe it or not, you can hide these under certain circumstances."

It is illegal to harvest a collared animal, but Bakica says reporting it immediately to officials absolves the hunter of any responsibility.