Jorge Barrera
Northern News Services

Fort Franklin (Mar 25/02) - Four new big-game hunting guides could mean a new source of revenue if a local outfitter jumps at the chance.

Jeffrey Elemie and brothers David, Gary and Gordon Taniton were certified after an extensive and sometimes gruelling five week course which began on Feb. 11. Wes Werbowy, a wilderness consultant from Thunder Bay, Ont., led the course.

Elemie said the four want to build an outfitters camp as a springboard for big-game hunters looking to bag a trophy muskox.

"We are kind of ex-carpenters so we know how to build houses," said Elemie. "This is what we are planning to do but I don't know if the local organizations will contribute money for materials to build a small camp for the fall hunt."

The Deline band and the Grey Goose Lodge, which doubles as an outfitter, could not be reached for comment.

Six Deline residents originally took part in the course and four passed.

They spent a week in the bush after four weeks in the classroom.

"It was good course," said David Taniton. "We learned lots about going out in the bush and surviving."

Guides, not hunters

Elemie said they learned the difference between hunting and guiding.

The difference is huge, according to Werbowy.

He said the guides have to able to identify trophy bulls, differentiate between bulls and cows by a patch on the forehead and cut the meat in ways not common to traditional ways.

"Traditional hunting and big-game hunting have different objectives," said Werbowy, who has 20 years of big-game hunting experience and is on his way to South Africa.

The week in the bush proved harrowing. After an 800-kilometre snowmachine ride through rough terrain and 40-km/h winds that pushed the temperature down to -50 C with the windchill, they managed to bag a trophy bull.

Werbowy shot it through the heart on his second try from about 80 metres with a 30-calibre rifle.

Then it was a hands-on test to cut the meat, skin the animal for taxidermy and peel the skull.

Werbowy said the territory is in a global competition for big game hunters.

Deline's muskox is an unhunted population, which is a big attraction for hunters. But it is cheaper for Werbowy to fly to South Africa than it is to fly to Deline, something the territory should take into account when developing their big-game industry.

"They have to compete on a global scale," said Werbowy.