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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
There will be no fall bison hunt for resident hunters and outfitters after an anthrax outbreak decimated the Mackenzie wood bison herd earlier this summer.

Shawn Roper finishes off a bull bison shot at Mackenzie bison sanctuary hunting camp near Boulogne Lake, Jan. 27. - Mike W. Bryant/NNSL photo

Four-hundred-and-forty carcasses have been found within the Mackenzie bison range north of Great Slave Lake this summer, said Judy McLinton, spokesperson for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (ENR). There were an estimated 1,440 animals when the department last surveyed the herd in March, she said.

"We've got to look at options to help that herd recover from the population losses," said McLinton.

"We lost at minimum a third of that population," she said, adding that there are likely more carcasses that have not been found.

There are still a number of outstanding tags that were distributed among aboriginal groups in the area, said McLinton. The territorial government has entered into talks with several aboriginal groups, including the Tlicho government, the Yellowknives Dene and the North Slave Metis Alliance, to determine whether any animals should be taken during the aboriginal harvest this year, she said.

"We're talking to our management partners because there were tags given to aboriginal groups and we're talking to them about those," said McLinton.

Yellowknife resident Zabrina Deans was one of 15 NWT resident hunters who received a bison tag in the limited entry draw carried out in June.

"I was excited," she said. "It's too bad."

The resident hunt was scheduled to begin on Sept. 1 and run through to March 15, 2013.

This would have been Deans' first time hunting in the territory, though her husband Keith is an experienced hunter. The family had planned on heading to the designated hunting area, south of Birch Lake toward Fort Providence, shortly after the first frost when the meat could be kept cooler, said Keith.

"Unfortunately, now it's not going to happen," said Keith.

This was the first bison tag received by the family, he said.

"We were looking forward to it," said Keith. "It wasn't just myself and my wife, we were going to take a couple different family members out for the one animal and then split up the meat once we dropped it."

While the sharing of wild meat is heavily regulated within the territory, they had been looking into regulations surrounding splitting up the meat among family members, said Keith.

"Once we knew what we could give away and how much we could give away, we were going to split it up amongst the families," he said. The Deans first found out that their tag might be rescinded after hearing a voice mail message left by ENR on their phone after coming back from vacation last month, he said. The message indicated that the department might limit the hunt and that their tag could be cancelled.

Last week, the Deans received an e-mail confirming that their hunt was being cancelled "due to the anthrax effect on the herd," said Dean. They were informed that they should return their tag by the end of this week, where they would be rewarded a full refund of the $100 tag fee plus GST.

This call was then followed up with a letter signed by the department's deputy minister Ernie Campbell, stating that their tag had been rescinded for the 2012-13 hunting season, but that they would be given first priority for a new tag whenever the bison hunt reopened.

"It is unclear how quickly the population will recover," stated the letter, adding that during a normal anthrax outbreak, the vast majority of animals killed were male. This year, the number of females killed was about the same as the males, and many calves were killed or orphaned during the outbreak, stated the letter.

"The magnitude of these losses requires immediate action," it read.

"Management options to help the Mackenzie bison population recover are limited and reducing or eliminating human hunting mortality will have the greatest positive effect on the population."

All 15 resident hunting tags were rescinded late last week, said McLinton. There were also nine tags available for outfitters, but no licensed outfitters applied for tags, she said. If outfitter tags had been awarded, they would have also been rescinded.

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