March 10, 2026
Today, the Saskatchewan government announced Depredation Elk Tags for producers as a measure to help address concerns expressed about high elk numbers in areas of the province and their impacts on food stores for livestock.
While the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation understands the need to strike a balance between wildlife and human needs on the landscape; this approach raises concerns about the management of resources and the privatization of wildlife in our province.
Wildlife is a public trust resource. We, the residents of Saskatchewan, trust that the provincial government will manage the wildlife in the best interest of all the citizens of this province for long-term sustainability.
Depredation tags are an allocation of permits to select individuals and do not follow the principle of equitable access to the resource. They also raise a concern around illegal outfitting that needs to be recognized and addressed in the roll-out plan to prevent individuals from profiting by the tags that have been allocated to them for the purpose of reducing elk numbers and impacts to feed stores on their property.
These tags are a stop-gap solution and do not address the root cause of human-wildlife conflict. An option to explore would be the fencing of haystacks to prevent access by elk and other wildlife; a program and grants are currently available through SCIC for producers. Other dissuasion methods could also be explored to help ensure that winter feed stores are protected from wildlife damage.
Another piece of the puzzle is granting more access to hunters during the regulated hunting seasons to help reduce herd sizes and move animals around the landscape. This is a cooperative and mutually beneficial initiative that allows hunters to help reduce the number of elk in a given area for producers.
In the announcement, it was stated that the government will draw on the information provided by SCIC to help verify claims of wildlife damage to winter food stores before issuing 8 depredation tags to the producer. We are hopeful that there will be a factual, science-based approach, with input from biologists, and adherence to selection criteria to help address the concerns of producers and provide targeted action, while reducing the impact on our provincial elk herds. There remain many unanswered questions around the framework for the program and the criteria used to justify issuing the tags. Some of these questions include: “What constitutes a history of significant damage from elk?”, “What is the threshold for damages to be considered significant?”, “How will the success of the initiative be measured?”, “What goals have been established for this initiative?”
We look forward to working with the Ministry of Environment and providing feedback on a plan for this initiative before the proposed implementation in January 2027. We want to make sure that concerns are addressed, and that all options are explored to conserve our valuable wildlife resources for future generations.