Though still winging it, Manitoba has U.S. duck hunters in its sights

As if making a buck weren't tough enough, some Minnesotans are learning they owe Manitoba cold, hard cash.

Their violation? Not traveling north to that province to hunt.

Here's the background:

Last year, over the very loud but ultimately inconsequential objections of American duck and goose hunters, Manitoba announced that Americans could no longer purchase an unlimited number of provincial waterfowl hunting licenses, good for an unlimited number of autumn days in that province.

I say "unlimited," but in years leading up to the pandemic, only about 3,600 U.S. waterfowlers ventured to Manitoba to hunt. The largest share of these were Minnesotans, a state that similarly exports the most duck and goose hunters to Saskatchewan, another prime waterfowling destination.

Manitoba initially said only 1,300 licenses would be reserved for American hunters who hunt on their own, or "freelance," without the services of a guide or outfitter, which can increase waterfowlers' costs substantially.

The plan also reserved 1,200 licenses for Manitoba waterfowl outfitters to award to their American clients, most of whom, presumably, would be Americans who weren't awarded freelance permits.

In response, Americans cried foul — or fowl — noting, correctly, that for nearly a century, U.S. waterfowlers have sent billions of dollars to Canada to conserve, enhance and reclaim wetlands.

The intent of the massive northward funds flow has been to improve conditions for wetland wildlife while helping to clean Canadian groundwater. A boon for ducks, the effort nevertheless has done little to encourage Canadians to hunt. In 1978, about 55,000 Manitobans chased ducks. Now fewer than 10,000 do.

Regardless of what Manitoba officials say, the goal of its new licensing scheme, as everyone knows, is to privatize a public resource (waterfowl) for the financial gain of a few (provincial guides and outfitters) — at the expense not only of Americans, but of the small-town restaurants, gas stations and hotels where they spend money while freelance hunting in the province.

In response to the new restrictions, Ducks Unlimited wrote what in relative terms was a scathing letter. Delta Waterfowl also protested.

Whether as a result of those objections or not, provincial officials softened their stance in advance of last fall's hunting seasons. For 2023, they said, all U.S. hunters who applied for a provincial seven-day freelancing waterfowl hunting license would receive one, a reprieve that would help establish, the officials said, a baseline from which subsequent license-distribution rules could be gauged.

The result was that last fall, 2,850 Americans applied for and received Manitoba freelance waterfowl hunting licenses, an increase, a Manitoba official told me by email, of 40% from 2022. "This suggests the Waterfowl Modernization Strategy did not reduce the number of foreign resident waterfowl hunters traveling to and hunting in Manitoba," the official said, conveniently forgetting that COVID-19 related border restrictions into Canada were only lifted Oct. 1, 2022, — too late for most Americans that year to plan trips north.

And what about the cash owed to Manitoba by some Minnesotans?

Turns out they and other Americans who applied for and were granted provincial waterfowl hunting licenses in 2023, but didn't hunt — perhaps their plans changed, they were sick, whatever — owe the province $218.25 (about $160 U.S.) for the unused licenses.

Or so these applicants were informed in letters they received recently from Manitoba officials. Until the province is paid, the letters warned, the debtors can't come to Manitoba to hunt — or fish.

Such hardball correspondence wouldn't have been necessary, of course, had Manitoba required payment for the licenses with their applications, as most U.S. states do that issue licenses by lottery. That's the only way to know how many people actually intend to hunt, rather than those who might or might not hunt depending on a virtually unlimited number of personal considerations.

So much for 2023. Here's what U.S. waterfowlers who hope to hunt in Manitoba this fall need to know :

• All non-Canadians who apply for a Manitoba seven-day freelance waterfowl hunting license will again receive one. This could change, but that's the word now. For more information, including application deadlines, monitor this website.
• Members of the Manitoba Lodges and Outfitters Association (MLOA) are nevertheless continuing to call for limitations on non-Canadian freelance waterfowlers. On Feb. 28, MLOA members met to discuss changes they're seeking, including, as Manitoba officials originally proposed, capping American freelance permits at 1,400. More of the group's proposals can be found here.
• Some Manitoba guides and outfitters, in fact, are as unhappy with the new restrictions as American hunters — but for different reasons. Some say officials are giving them too few licenses to award to American clients, thus restricting their incomes.
• Some concessions to American hunters are being discussed, though nothing is assured. Zoning the province is one idea, recognizing that the major problem that U.S. hunters pose for Manitoba outfitters is competition for hunting fields favored by migrating ducks; this is in the province's southwest prairie pothole region. In the province's central and northern regions, fewer (or no) conflicts exist, and perhaps, the thinking goes, non-Canadian hunting restrictions in those zones could be relaxed.
• Unfortunate as Manitoba's waterfowl licensing situation is for U.S. hunters, the problem will be compounded if similar schemes emerge in Saskatchewan, another hotspot duck and goose hunting destination. Some outfitters there favor new rules governing non-Canadian hunters, but so far provincial officials seem to be holding out.