Today (Fri), Environment Minister Christine Tell and Minister Responsible for Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation David Marit are announcing a new pilot program to assist producers experiencing abnormally high wildlife damage to agricultural products.

The Big Game Management Extended Hunt pilot is another tool to help manage human-wildlife conflict while ensuring sustainable wildlife populations for rights-based harvest and harvest by sport hunters, as outlined in the Game Management Plan and Game Allocation Framework.

“Regardless of population status, deer and elk are attracted to and may congregate in areas with easy access to unprotected agricultural products, especially during severe winters,” Tell said. “This hunting opportunity will allow us to mitigate damage from wildlife while also ensuring their populations remain sustainable into the future.

“The program is also intended to encourage more landowners to implement preventative measures that reduce future conflicts.” 

A Big Game Management Extended Hunt is implemented if criteria are met, including:

• Damage by game species (mule deer, white-tailed deer, or elk) to agricultural products has been reported to Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation (SCIC) through wildlife damage claims; and 
• Producers in the RM have exhausted all other preventative measures or agree to implement preventative measures.

“We listen and respond to the needs of our Saskatchewan producers,” Marit said. “The Wildlife Damage Compensation Program provides support when wildlife damage crops and forages. The team at SCIC can help in finding available options for compensation and effective wildlife damage prevention strategies.”

The following rural municipalities (RM) have been identified for an extended hunting season November 1-10, 2024:

• Livingstone (331)
• Hazel Dell (335)
• Kelvington (366)
• Bjorkdale (426)
• Leask (464)

Each RM will be allocated 50 antlerless elk licences on top of what was available in the Big Game Draw. Licenses will only be available to Saskatchewan residents through the online Hunting, Angling and Trapping licensing system.

The Ministry of Environment and the SCIC regularly hear concerns and receive requests for compensation from agricultural producers regarding wildlife damage caused by deer and elk congregating on their property and ruining their feedstock and products. In response, a pilot program was developed with input from key stakeholders including Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) and the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation.

During the 2023 SARM convention, government committed to providing producers more solutions to manage nuisance wildlife that were destroying their product. 

“SARM is pleased that the government heard our members’ concerns and is taking action,” SARM Acting President Bill Huber said. “We were at the table when this pilot was developed, and we feel it is a good balance for agriculture producers and game management. We also encourage landowners to do their part by allowing responsible hunters to access their property.”

(Government of Saskatchewan news release)