'No respect for our land': Unauthorized moose hunters damaged crop, Manitoba farmer says

Farmers in southwestern Manitoba say they're getting fed up with people hunting on their land without permission and they worry that someone could get hurt.

"No respect for our land at all," said Todd Sobry, who farms near Reston, Man., a village about 285 kilometres west of Winnipeg.

Sobry said the latest incident on his farm happened about a week and a half ago. He said he got a call the previous week from someone who wanted to hunt moose on his land.

With a full crop of soybeans that was still standing because it hadn't been harvested, Sobry said no. The next weekend, his neighbour called him. 

"He found three moose gut piles and they dragged them through my soybeans out to the side of the road," said Sobry, adding that it appeared ATVs and trucks had tracked through the field. 

Conservation officers investigating

Conservation officers with Manitoba Sustainable Development later caught up with a truck carrying three people and three moose carcasses. They believe they were the same three moose killed on Sobry's land, he said. 

A spokesperson for Manitoba Sustainable Development confirmed officers are investigating an incident involving hunters who took three moose in western Manitoba.

"Meat from the animals has been seized as part of the investigation but the investigation is ongoing and it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time," the spokesperson said.

Sobry said it's a problem that's becoming more and more frustrating for him and other farmers in the area. 

"They're shooting moose and dragging them through canola swaths and standing wheat.... If we drove in their backyard and did a couple of doughnuts with our half-ton [trucks], I'm sure they would be quite upset," he said.

Livelihoods on the line, reeve says

Archie McPherson, reeve of the Rural Municipality of Pipestone, believes the problem of people hunting without permission and damaging crops is quickly becoming more of a concern than people hunting at night.

"Nobody can understand why anybody would do that," said McPherson. "People's livelihoods is to try to get those crops off.

"The last several years it's increasing," he added. "It shows a total lack of respect.... Unfortunately, it's making everybody upset."

McPherson said local farmers have routinely given hunters permission to hunt on land in the past. However, some are now feeling wary because of incidents over the years. 

He worries it could lead to a confrontation between hunters and land owners or worse, someone getting hurt, which is "the last thing we want to see," he said. 

McPherson said he has been in contact with government officials about the issue and believes local producers should give people written permission if they allow someone to hunt on their land. 

He believes recent efforts aimed at safer hunting — like the Manitoba Métis Federation's recent ban on hunting with spotlights — are a positive step, but more needs to be done to protect both hunters and farmers. 

Last fall, the Manitoba Wildlife Federation called for a ban on the practice, saying farmers and rural property owners across the province reported numerous cases of people hunting on or near their properties after dark.

For Sobry, it's not the damage to his field that he's most concerned about. 

"It doesn't matter if there was $2 damage, they still went onto a field they weren't supposed to," Sobry said.