A presentation advocating to restrict hunting on undeveloped road allowances without permission from adjacent private land owners came to Rocky View County (RVC) council on March 22.
Council accepted the delegation from local landowner Terry Raymond as information.
“I’m asking to make it unlawful to discharge a weapon while hunting big game on or from an undeveloped road allowance unless the person hunting has authority to hunt adjacent land,” Raymond told council.
Raymond resides in northwest Bearspaw, which is a bow-only zone for hunting. A bow and arrow seldom drops an animal in its tracks, he explained, and most animals die outside of the road allowance. Therefore, hunters must trespass on private land to retrieve the animal.
Raymond noted he has worked to bring this issue forward for numerous years. His first presentation to RVC was in 2013, after which council prepared a draft resolution for the Provincial Agricultural Service Board (ASB) and Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties (AAMDC). But the resolution was ultimately defeated.
He hopes to see RVC prohibit hunting from undeveloped road allowances without the permission of the adjacent landowner on whose property the animal they’re hunting will likely be killed.
“They are allowed to kill an animal and I am supposed to be reasonable and allow them on my property to retrieve it. [That] just doesn’t make sense to me,” Raymond said. “I believe hunting is going the wrong way. I believe in hunting – I’m a hunter and I have 15 different hunters on my property. I believe hunting is a great management tool, but I want to bring hunters and landowners together.”
It’s currently legal to hunt on undeveloped road allowances in Alberta, which are considered public land and form a grid across the province, occurring every two miles north to south, and every mile east to west along roads.
Road allowances are designed for future road development and are roughly 20 metres in width, Raymond explained.
While he doesn’t want hunting to occur on undeveloped road allowances without permission, he believes public access to those allowances should remain unchanged.
Big game is what trophy hunters are after, he added, and he has given 15 hunters specific approval to hunt on his land.
He likened it to someone driving across a city lawn, uprooting bushes and flowers, and said they don’t have the right to do that and a private landowner should likewise have the right to protect their own property.
“If you ask for my permission [to retrieve an animal from my property], I will not grant permission because I believe it is unethical,” Raymond said. “I believe it is morally wrong and causes more grief between hunters and landowners.
“[The hunter] will go to his next choice and talk to Fish and Wildlife and ask permission from them, and I won’t allow Fish and Wildlife, I won’t give them access. If I give them access, they’ll do it again next year.”
Fish and Wildlife can enter private property without authorization for a public safety issue or if a crime is being committed, Raymond explained.
In order to enforce any bylaw around this issue, administration said they would send a bylaw officer with assistance from RCMP due to a firearm present at the call.
After the presentation, Coun. Greg Boehlke noted there should be some form of deterrent and some form of help for the landowner should be available to protect their land.
Administration noted that a previous bylaw to restrict shooting from various places was repealed, but is a tool that could be used again in the future.
If a bylaw were put in place that required permission from an adjacent landowner, anyone hunting without permission would be in violation, Raymond pointed out.
Wildlife officers routinely investigate animal shootings, he added, and officers would simply need evidence of a hunter being in the area and proof the animal was shot there without permission in order to enforce a bylaw.
