Shift lynx hunting season from current Nov 15 - Feb 15 period to Nov 1 – Jan 31.

The public is invited to comment on the proposed hunting regulation described below.

Status: Proposed

Region: 5

Management unit (MU): 5-1 to 5-9, 5-12 to 5-15

Regulation type: General Open Season

Species: Lynx

Closing date: 16:30, March 22, 2024

Decision statement: Pending

Current regulation

LYNX 5-1 to 5-9, 5-12 to 5-15          Nov 15 - Feb 15          Bag limit=1  

Compulsory Inspection required

Proposed regulation

LYNX 5-1 to 5-9, 5-12 to 5-15          Nov 1 – Jan 31            Bag limit=1  

Compulsory Inspection required

Rationale

Lynx are managed across British Columbia as a game species and furbearer. In northern and central British Columbia, lynx populations fluctuate in response to the cycle of Snowshoe Hares, their primary prey, and have elicited no special conservation or management interest in these areas. Provincial estimates for Lynx populations in British Columbia have been reported as being as high as 240,000 animals during the highest peak and as low as 20,000 animals during the lowest low, although there is no practical method to confirm theses numbers, and lynx population levels and performance have traditionally been monitored through metrics of fur harvest.

The current lynx hunting season from November 15 - February 15 aligns with both the lynx hunting and trapping seasons in most regions of BC, including the Lower mainland, Thompson, Kootenay, Skeena and Peace Regions.

Lynx harvest in the Cariboo Region has been dominated by trapping harvest with approximately 90% of all lynx harvest between 2000 and 2017 being trapper harvest.  Interest in lynx hunting from resident and guided hunters has been increasing in the Cariboo in recent years.

The Cariboo Chilcotin Guide Outfitters Association requested that the current lynx hunting season, which runs November 15 through February 15, be shifted two weeks earlier to November 1 through January 31.  Shifting the hunting season would provide a longer period in which hounds could be used to hunt lynx and would align with the season start date in the Omineca Region (7A).  Based on historic harvest, this shift is not expected to materially influence overall lynx harvest in the region given the relatively low proportion of harvest attributed to licenced hunting.

Additional information