Threatened wildlife: 

In the beginning few people frequented the region due to difficult access.  At that time, it was good for hunting because we were practically the only ones there. Since the beginning of the 90’s, the forestry companies opened new forest roads that contributed to the development of the territory. Larger numbers of autochthones came from neighbouring communities and also with the development of uncontrolled land leases; this also brought an increasing number of hunters, fishermen and nature lovers.  

Snowmobiles and quad clubs are increasing rapidly in the region while also increasing the number of tourists. In less than 20 years, this region has undergone more changes than it experienced in the last 400 years. Lots of animals have disappeared because of the enormous pressures inflicted on them, in particular the deforestation and the escalating number of autochthones and white amateur hunters. They target, the king of the forest, the Moose, which according to my observation, is on the way to extinction in this region. In average, there may be one moose to a 10 km radius. 

We say that when the moose is healthy, wolves are everywhere. Old-timers said that the moose were in abundance. Once it was not uncommon to see 3 or even 6 moose together. I can remember as a little boy, I use to listen to the elders and their hunting successes. During that time, traveling to St-Michel-des-Saints was an expedition because of the difficult access. Today, the moose and other species like the wolf and the lynx are almost all gone from the Manouane territory. The cause, massive deforestation as well as excessive amount of leases, resorts so they are encroaching on animal territories. 

It used to be that we could go for days without seeing or hearing a single truck pass by.  The loon sang in large numbers morning and evening.  Harmony was omnipresent.  I have observed for a few years now a shocking degradation of a few different ecosystems on the territory.  

Once, fishing and hunting clubs use to manage their territories and the animals and fish were abundant. In 1976, when the Quebecois party was elected, they abolished the private hunting clubs in order to give easier access to all Quebec citizens at little cost, and in my opinion this was good. So the government took complete control of the territories and their resources. They created the ZEC, Zone d’Exploitation Controllée, roughly translated as the Exploitation Controlled Zone. The abolition of the private clubs saw thousands of seasonal employment disappear as well as the supervision and control of the resources. With time, the ZEC became more and more expensive and less and less accessible to the simple citizen.  

Hunting permits quintupled. When I was a teen, it cost approximately 10$ to hunt moose and we could hunt male or female or their young, 1 per hunter. Today permits go for 50$ for one male moose (buck) per 3 hunters. Therefore it means 3 permits for 1 moose at a grand total of 150$ for each moose. The money from the permits was supposed to be reinvested to protect and improve the control of wildlife and the flora. However this was not the case, less that 10 years after abolishing private clubs, when once the wildlife and flora were in abundance, the territories are now empty of their contents.  

Quebec is a huge and beautiful, breathtaking territory, however as far as the control and conservation, it is the province with the poorest results. I lived in New Brunswick for more than 10 years, where there is more poaching than in Quebec, due to the high rate of poverty as well as unemployment, but  in spite of all that, they have an over abundance of white tail deer and moose. So what is our problem here in Quebec? I saw more often, in New Brunswick, by the side of the highway, 2 and sometimes 4 moose together and often more that a dozen deer.   

The problem here with the management of the fauna resources in Quebec is that the territory is too vast to control and are often handled by some civic worker in an office where they practice resource management through a computer with programs based on the hunting results of the year before, divided by the number of zones across the province. This poor management involves costs that the hunters and fishermen have to pay. They don’t care about the resources just as long as they make money for the government treasury by the sale of permits. Personally I believe that the moose hunting should be closed in the Lake Lortie and Manouane regions for at least 10 years because the moose is so scarce. In New Brunswick there is an abundance of moose, but still moose hunting lasts only 3 days and functions by raffle, names drawn are given a permit. I think Quebec should follow the example from our Maritime neighbours. 

The problem in the Lake Manouane and Lortie region is that during the hunting season, there are too many moose hunters and that is without counting the small game hunters. During the hunting season, often the hunters’ security is in danger. Moose hunting takes a lot of patience and silence but along with that you have to fight with other hunters to preserve your hunting area because of the flood of hunters occupying the territory. Then you have to fight with other hunters on four wheelers, hunting small game. Your chances of getting a moose, that you so carefully prepared for, 6 months in advance and which cost a small fortune, risks to be all for nothing.  You already know that there are very few moose and even with all the precautions you have taken to ensure a successful hunt, because of the noise and lack of respect coming from other hunters, it just diminished your chances for success. Then there is always the risk of injury by another hunter. If not for the conservation for the resources or for respect between hunters, you have to at least think of security.   

Forget for once about the profits that the amount of permits generates for the government reserves. Our lives, our health and our security are worth more than the profits collected through the permit sales. When we speak of poor resource management, well I have just given you a brief summary. The complaints office of the MRNF lie when they say that there are no problems with moose and that there have never been as many moose as in the zones 14 and 15. I invite the civic workers of the MRNF to get out of their offices and look for themselves instead of again making me and others look like idiots. This idiot frequents the Lake Manouane and Lortie regions for over 30 years. So I think I am in a better position than anyone to observe the changes in the territory.