Alberta Fish and Game Association's Wayne Lowry on ethical and unethical hunting practices

Alberta Fish and Game Association 1st VP, Wayne Lowry

Toni Lucas, Crowsnest Voice

"Over the last little while there have been a number of unfortunate events that have been reported in the news of poaching incidents," said Alberta Fish and Game Association 1st Vice President Wayne Lowry, who was acting as the emcee at the Willow Valley Trophy Day event held in Pincher Creek on January 11.

"There are places where it's more prevalent than others," Lowry said of poaching. "There's those kind of people in every group, and it's unfortunate that the hunters that pay a lot of attention to practice their code of ethics and good hunter behavior have to put up with the ones that keep breaking the rules."

"They are performing these criminal acts, and we want to distance ourselves from them."

"The group that are here today are the ethical hunters. They follow the rules, do it right, and are rewarded for doing so. We want to make sure that that's the message that gets out. The vast majority of the people out in the field are good, ethical hunters."

"We go to great lengths to teach that, and teach them as young as we can get them into the classroom," explained Lowry regarding both WVTC and AFGA. "It's so they grow up with those ethics, and have good practices ingrained in their behaviours once they get independent and out in the field on their own, and for when they are teaching their own children."

Related links:
The Alberta Fish & Game Association
Willow Valley Trophy Club