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Drivers on the Dempster Highway often see caribou from the road. Gwich'in hunters are encouraged to hunt on foot away from the road, but Yukon media have reported unnamed sources claiming NWT hunters were killing numerous caribou from the road inside the Yukon border. - Brodie Thomas/NNSL photo

TETLIT'ZHEH/FORT MCPHERSON - Reports of non-traditional hunting practices on the Dempster Highway have hunters in Fort McPherson defending their harvesting methods.

The controversy began when a Yukon newspaper cited two unidentified sources who claimed they saw a large group of NWT hunters using all-terrain vehicles and radios to hunt caribou somewhere between the Yukon/NWT border and Eagle Plains. That area is part of the Tetlit Gwich'in land claim, but within the Yukon.

The unnamed sources were unable to provide proof that the vehicles had NWT license plates or details as to the hunters' identities.

News/North was unable to verify their claims.

The story prompted Vuntut Gwich'in MLA Darius Elias to issue a press release calling for the Yukon government to monitor the area.

"When word came around that some trucks were on the Yukon side hunting and driving out on the open tundra it was a bit upsetting," said Elias.

"That constitutes non-traditional harvesting."

Elias is also calling on the Yukon environment minister and premier to reinstate a no-hunting zone within 500 metres of public roads and a law that would prevent hunters from shooting the "leaders" of the herd as they migrate.

Both laws were once in place in the Yukon, but they were rescinded.

"The pressure is coming from some aboriginal groups who figure they can hunt anytime anywhere, but my argument is that we also have an aboriginal right to conserve," said Elias.

Elias was in Washington, D.C., when the controversy arose. He was lobbying the U.S. federal government to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska. The refuge currently protects the birthing grounds of the porcupine caribou herd, but some U.S. politicians want to open the grounds for oil and natural gas exploration.

Elias said he contacted Mackenzie Delta MLA David Krutko and the two men made plans to discuss this issue once Elias had returned to the Yukon.

Krutko said he has checked with his constituents as well as officers with Environment and Natural Resources and he has found no evidence of any wrongdoing in terms of this season's hunt.

"There was no type of incident as far as they're concerned when they were on the highway last week," said Krutko.

He said there are several councils, government departments and agents who are all responsible for conservation of the herd. He stressed that it is something taken seriously by everyone involved, including the hunters. He was also skeptical of the original reports.

There are no formal investigations taking place in either territory and no charges have been laid.

Chief Wilbert Firth of the Tetlit Gwich'in Council was not happy with fingers being pointed at his community. He said hunters in Fort McPherson do not hunt in the way described by the two unnamed witnesses. He said he often tells his people not to use radios or all-terrain vehicles, and he believes they conducting traditional hunts.

"You have to get out of your truck and hunt the way the elders used to hunt. They couldn't use four wheelers in those days," said Firth.

Gwich'in Renewable Resources Board chair Robert Charlie also defended Gwich'in hunters against accusations of poor hunting practices.

"There are reports of people using four-wheelers and radios. Well, I'm not sure if that is really happening or not," said Charlie. He said he is a bit skeptical about the original report, saying whatever they came upon might have been misinterpreted.

Charlie has a cabin at Midway Lake, very close to the Yukon border, and he is familiar with the area in question.

"The times that I've been up there I've seen people walking a mile, two miles pulling caribou to the road," he said.

"They're working hard to get their caribou."

Both Firth and Charlie say the Gwich'in Renewable Resources Board and the territorial government promote sustainable hunting practices such as taking only male caribou and taking only one caribou per family. Firth said taking a female is like taking 20 caribou, since each female could potentially calve almost every year in a 20-year life span.