WEKWEETI/SNARE LAKES - One NWT outfitter will have two fewer camps when the big game hunting season begins this Friday.

Boyd Warner, owner of Bathurst Inlet Lodge and operator of three caribou outfitting camps in the NWT, put two of his camps up for sale two weeks ago, blaming the GNWT's decision two years ago to reduce the amount of tags available to non-aboriginal outfitters every season from 180 to 75.

Boyd Warner, owner of three caribou outfitting camps in the NWT and Bathurst Inlet Lodge, points to his Whitewolf Lake camp, 50 miles north of Wekweeti – one of two camps that will not be operating this hunting season because Warner doesn't have enough caribou tags to go around, he said. - Guy Quenneville/NNSL photo

Warner is bidding goodbye to camps at Whitewolf Lake, 50 miles north of Wekweeti, and Thonikied Lake and 40 miles southeast of the Diavik Diamond Mine.

The former camp can take up to 10 hunters; the latter, six.

Warner will only run one caribou camp this year, a joint-venture with the Tlicho Government on Little Marten Lake near Wekweeti.

At 180 tags per season, with two tags per hunter, Boyd used to accommodate up to 90 hunters a year.

With tags reduced to 75, Boyd - at 100 per cent capacity for Little Marten Lake - it's looking at around 37 guests this year, he said.

"There's no doubt in my mind that if they hadn't reduced the tags I'd still be running all of our camps," he said. "But as it stands now, we only have enough tags to run one camp."

The GNWT has commissioned the Alberta Research Council to review its statistics on caribou numbers, which suggest a decline.

The report is expected in September, but Warner didn't have time to wait, with the hunting season set to begin at the end of the week, he said.

Sad as he is to see his camps go, Warner said he thinks they present a good opportunity for developers of eco-tourism.

"We're actually hoping that somebody comes along, has an idea, takes these camps and turns them into (destinations) to bring more tourists into the North," said Warner. "I'm only using them six weeks of the year. Maybe somebody else wants to use them for three months of the year."

John Andre, a Montana-based outfitter with several cabins in the NWT, including two on Lac de Gras, said Warner's decision hardly came as a surprise.

"It's a big blow to the economy," said Andre of the tag reduction. "It's a big blow to people like Air Tindi, Weaver and Devore, etc. It's nuts. It's absolutely crazy."

Andre is forming partnerships with Inuit outfitters in Nunavut. His ultimate aim is to phase out his operations from the NWT to Nunavut.

"I'm joining in partnership with people there so I can continue my operations there," said Andre.

"And if they're going to force me out of the Northwest Territories, so be it. But they're not going to force me out without a 15 or 20 million dollar lawsuit."