Southeastern military base expands area of elk hunt to reduce population

Hunters will have access to an area typically off-limits during this year's elk hunt at a military base in southeastern Alberta.

Canadian Forces Base Suffield has announced it will allow hunters to enter the national wildlife area, an area four times the size of the city of Medicine Hat.

The area is usually not used for military training, defence research or hunting.

Base public affairs officer Natalie Finnemore says one of the reasons is to reduce the elk population — numbers from earlier this season showed about 5,400 elk in the area.

Hunters who are 12 and up and who have received tags from the Alberta government along with specific First Nations Bands from treaties 4, 6, and 7, can participate in the annual hunt.

Officials are reminding hunters to not to pick up or handle any ammunition found in or around the training area.

“What we recommend is if a member of the public does find any unexploded ordnance that they contact our range control section immediately to report that and it will be disposed of by the appropriate technicians that we have here,” Finnemore said.

The wildlife area was established in 2003 to provide a safe area for the animals away from hunters and activity on the base.

The province has been getting complaints from farmers in the area, who say elk are destroying their crops and fences.

Finnemore said an environmental study was done and found hunting in the area could be beneficial.

“It was recommended to protect the sensitive habitats that are there, that vehicle traffic will be limited to only the main road within the national wildlife area and that hunters will be on foot in that area to minimize disturbance as much as possible,” she said.

The elk hunt runs until Jan. 28. Hunters are allowed inside the protected area from Dec. 1-10, Jan. 9–14 and from Jan. 23–28.

Finnemore said the expansion of the hunt has nothing to do with the bovine tuberculosis quarantine in the area.

More than 40 ranches in southeastern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan are under quarantine after tuberculosis was detected in a cow from Alberta when it was slaughtered in the U.S.