The results of the 2023 game hunts show that hunting is going well and that the forest fires have not affected the crops too much, except for the bear.
Statistics from the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks clearly explain the fluctuations in the harvest of big game.
The king of the forest
In this annual report we learn that in this permissive year in which it was possible to capture males, females and calves, without the changes in the law to preserve livestock in zones 2 and 27, the 2023 harvest would have been expanded to include large deer almost as well like 2021.
The 168,000 permit holders and 2,504 non-residents thwarted 22,600 moose. Of these, 12,959 were men, 7,339 were women and 2,362 were calves. Compared to 2021, we are talking about a decrease of 2,664 animals. However, it must be taken into account that of this number, 2128 females came from zone 2 and 443 from 27 deer. If we really compare and ignore these zones, the actual decline is only 93 deer.
When it comes to success, we are talking about a rate of 7.6% or 15.2% per group, comparable to the average of 7.8% for the last five permissive seasons. The oppressive heat and the torrential autumn rains, among other things, can explain this slight decline.
Hunting zones 1 and 29 were the most productive in the La Belle province, with harvest results of 21% and 16.6% and 42% and 33.2%, respectively, in duo hunting.
The Prince of the Undergrowth
The least we can say about deer hunting is that it's going well. For the first time, we recorded a 4% increase in the number of followers compared to 2022 to a total of 138,000. Almost 21,000 Nemrods acquired an additional license, i.e. 15% of customers.
Enthusiasts shot 55,000 deer, as many as in 2022. Note that these two years are among the best of the last 15 seasons. More than one in three hunters, or 37%, intercepted a deer. The mild winters since 2020 have contributed to the survival of this very resilient and fragile species. The eastern sectors in particular recorded the highest harvest increases. During the famous weekend dedicated to follow-up, 742 deer were caught.
The large Gallinaceae
A record 22,653 enthusiasts traveled through our woods to find a wild turkey. In the spring, an estimated 31% of permit holders harvested one turkey and only 11% harvested a second. The success rate in the fall was around 14%.
The best zones were 4 in Chaudière-Appalaches, 6 in Estrie, 7 in Centre-du-Québec and 10 in Outaouais.
Ursids
The wildfires and fire hazards that raged in June obviously had a negative impact on black bear hunting, which fell from an average of 5,800 per year to just 4,820. Of these, 85% were caught by hunters and 15% by trappers.
More than 16,996 Quebec Nemrods and 1,060 non-residents have purchased their hunting licenses.
This represents a slight decline over the last five years.
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