Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Fort Simpson (May 28/04) - Grand Chief Herb Norwegian contends that the number of kills reported by Deh Cho outfitters and the amount of meat distributed locally simply does not correlate.

"We're talking about tonnes of meat. Obviously they're not hauling it out by little bush planes," he said.

Werner Aschbacher, who observed his predecessors at South Nahanni Outfitters last summer, said the meat was cut, bagged and put in cooling shacks powered by generators.

"There was really no wastage. I was actually surprised how well that worked over there," he said.

Chris Yarrow, owner of Wolverine Air, side he made "numerous trips" last year expressly to round up meat from the South Nahanni Outfitters' camp. "I personally drove around town with probably a couple of thousands pounds of moose and caribou that I donated to the community," said Yarrow.

Outfitters in the Northwest Territories are responsible to report trophy animal kills to the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development.

Paul Kraft, Deh Cho regional superintendent for RWED, said the territorial outfitters' association devised its own system to track meat distribution last year.

"It seems to be working quite well actually," Kraft said. "I know last year we helped distribute meat around Fort Simpson." He noted that he cannot recall any instance of outfitters being charged for wasting meat.

There are no limits on kills for big game hunts in the NWT. Kraft added that it would be detrimental to outfitters' own long-term interests to take too many animals.

Ray Case, acting director of Wildlife and Fisheries for the Department of Wildlife, said his department closely monitors the size and age of Dall's sheep horns that are presented at RWED's regional offices -- Dall sheep are the most popular prey.

"Over the Mackenzie Mountains and such there is no conservation concern," said Case.