He did some waterfowl hunting but Branden Trager of the Washington State-based company Adventures with Mayhem Outfitters said he “didn’t mean to ruffle any local feathers” on the weekend of Jan. 14. Reports from concerned locals about non-resident hunting and the potential for discharge of firearms near the populated area were received by Coast Reporter and posted to Facebook after a boat showing the firm’s name was spotted off Davis Bay.
Trager confirmed that while they were travelling in a company boat, it was an outing for friends not a paid outfitting excursion. “We were just up there exploring. I had a couple of buddies fly in. We stayed in Vancouver and drove the boat up the Coast,” he said in a Jan. 17 interview.
Trager reported the group of three hunters shot three Harlequin and two Goldeneye ducks and that those were left with a local taxidermist for processing before they will be shipped out of Canada. According to Trager, the group spoke with Conservation Officers while in the area and were found in compliance with all applicable regulations. Coast Reporter reached out to the BC Conservation Officer Service to confirm those details and is awaiting a response.
Reports on sightings of the group came as a surprise to the Coast Reporter’s “Good Birding” columnist Tony Greenfield. He stated via email “In over 50 years of birding, residency and reading the papers, I can’t ever remember a report of anyone hunting waterbirds on the Sunshine Coast.”
The hunting season for ducks in BC’s Resource Management Region 2, which includes the Sunshine Coast, opened on Oct. 8, 2022 and will close Jan. 22, 2023. The BC government’s hunting and trapping regulations synopsis states that discharge of shot-only firearms is allowed within a 500-metre zone off the shoreline of the Coast between Rainy River near Langdale and Haslam Creek, north of Halfmoon Bay. But under BC’s Firearm Violence Prevention Act Section 5 (1) “A person must not discharge a firearm in, on or from a vehicle or boat.”
While the voyage was enjoyable and the weather was “awesome” Trager stated that due to the travel distance to the Sunshine Coast, a return trip for him, either personal or business, is unlikely. He extended an apology for any concerns the group’s presence caused. “I know you enjoy the peace and quiet up there. I respect that and we tried to obey the laws to the letter, which I believe we did,” he said.
