Head of Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation reacts to new trespass law

The head of the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation (SWF) thinks new trespassing laws will cause some issues for hunters, bird watchers and other fans of outdoor activities.

As of Jan. 1, anybody hoping to use land for recreational reasons will need to contact the rural landowner and get their permission.

Darrell Crabbe, the executive director of the SWF, points to a few issues with the law.

For one, he said it’s not always easy to figure out who owns a plot of land.

“A lot of farming operations are incorporated now, perhaps under a corporate number. So it’s hard to determine in a lot of cases who owns what land and trying to access those individuals to get that permission,” he said Thursday.

That being said, Crabbe said hunters generally ask permission when they can.

“For 40 years, we’ve been promoting a program which we call Operation Respect, which encourages hunters to always ask for permission. There’s a lot of etiquette that goes with that. You certainly don’t want to be doing it during seeding season and definitely not during harvest season,” he said.

Also, he points out there is a lot of planning involved in hunting.

“When you take hunter safety course training, you’re told you should be planning quite a bit in advance, where you’re going to be hunting. And with our draw system, a lot of people put in for the draw, and they have quite a bit of advance warning as to if they’ve been drawn and what zone they’ve been drawn for,” Crabbe explained.

But still, now that it’s law, he believes there needs to be some way to connect landowners and hunters.

One potential solution is the SaskLander app, which allows users to see a map of properties and request permission through it. However, to Crabbe, the app is a bit underwhelming.

“I can tell you that the response to it from the landowners of Saskatchewan, there hasn’t been much uptake on it at all,” he said. “It’s pretty costly for a hunter to use that app, in most cases just to find out you can’t hunt somewhere. Then the only other option is to personally find who owns the land and talk to them.”

Instead, he’s hoping to work with groups like the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan and others to figure out a solution.

One potential idea he would like to see tried is some kind of a public contact list.

While he values hunting and other outdoor activities, Crabbe said landowners have valid concerns.

“I think most landowners, the biggest issue that they have is they want to know who’s on their property, when, where they are on the property and what they’re doing,” he said. “That’s very understandable.”

The SWF will get first-hand experience on dealing with permission for hunters.

In addition to its advocacy for hunters, it also owns about 80,000 acres of land and manages another 170,000 acres.

“We’re kind of operating from both sides of the fence, no pun intended, on what the implications of the new trespass legislation are,” Crabbe said.

Overall, he hopes the SWF will be able to work out a solution that will make landowners and hunters happy.

“We’ve got some time to get this together,” he said. “I’ve had about eight meetings on it already this month, so hopefully it continues being a positive one.”