Kugluktuk caribou harvest closes for 2023
Total allowable harvest of 170 was reached, says Environment Department
The Bluenose-East caribou harvest for 2022-2023 in Kugluktuk is closed effective immediately as the total allowable harvest of 170 caribou has been reached, the Environment Department announced Wednesday. (File photo courtesy of the Government of the Northwest Territories)
This season’s Bluenose-East caribou harvest in Kugluktuk closed Wednesday, the Nunavut Environment Department announced.
The community’s allocation of 170 caribou from the total allowable harvest for 2022-23 was reached, meaning no further harvesting is allowed, the department said in a news release.
Any remaining tags are void and should be returned to the local wildlife office or hunters and trappers organization.
Any further harvesting of Bluenose-East caribou during the 2022-23 season would be a violation of the Nunavut Wildlife Act and possible infractions will be investigated and may lead to enforcement action, according to the release.
The total allowable harvest was established by the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board to support the recovery of the Bluenose-East caribou herd population.
It’s considered critical to management efforts to allow the herd to recover and provide harvesting opportunities for future generations, the release noted.
“the total allowable harvest for 2022-23 was reached”.
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What is the end date for 2022-23?
For GN Accounting and Business Planning purposes, 2022-23 started April 1, 2022 and ended March 31, 2023.
For GN Accounting and Business Planning purposes, we are now well into 2023-24.
What calendar do the Bluenose-East caribou use?
The Kugluktuk area is also near the calving grounds of this herd and the local hto has put a no hunting zone around this calving area, which gives the females the opportunity to go through the area without being harvested or disturbed, the “new tag” season, I have no idea why it is not in correspondence with the GN fiscal year, but it’s different in every place.
If the hunting season was April 1st to March 31st, it would be a problem. There is plenty of harvesting for all of our major wildlife species around that time of year (polar bear, caribou, muskox).
To have two years (seasons) worth of tags out at that time would cause great confusion and potentially lead to illegal overharvesting however unintentionally.
July 1st to June 30th, being right in the middle of the year, is much less intensive harvesting time for our major wildlife species requiring tags. It is a natural time to switch from one season to another.
Wish our HTO were more pro active and do the same to protect our herd from disturbance . We have tens of thousands of caribou, the vast majority of females and young calves around our community now and it is a free for all and a lot of disturbances to the herds preventing them going where they want to go by the coast. Making them run when they need to rest after giving birth. People not listening to HTO and our conservation officers. It is a total disgrace. No respect for wildlife. The meat is very skinny now, the fatter bulls have not arrived yet. We will end up with you with a TAH the way things are going with the unlimited sales of meat to Baffin.
The caribou season for Inuit is July 1st to June 30th (no closed season).
Therefore, new tags should be available Canada Day for the 23/24 hunting season.
If you look at the Wildlife Act and Regulations, you’ll find that the harvest year is July 1-June 30.
So the title of the article should read:
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“Kugluktuk caribou harvest closes for 2 weeks”.
For all intents and purposes, it does.
Kivalliq Caribou must be skittish as some drool ’bout em. ?
Hope it did not have rabies. A moose recently had to be put down in Alaska that was drooling and charging at people . It tested positive for rabies.. caribou do not usually drool. They can contract rabies too. Please report to the conservation officer if you see this.