Most outfitting companies operating in the Weyburn area will be very busy during hunting season this fall, in spite of potential threats like the West Nile virus, SARs-induced tourist cuts across the country, and the mad cow crisis that temporarily banned the export of some wild game into the U.S.

"I've been turning guys away," said Derrell Rodine of Scattergun Outfitters in Weyburn. "I can't handle any more and do it right."

Ray Beck of Norland Creek Outfitters in Lang said the same. "I'm still getting inquiries and I can't handle them because I'm full."

Southern Saskatchewan gets a good portion of a hunting industry that brings in more than $10 million to the provincial economy each year, according to Kevin Callele, a manager in the Fish and Wildlife Branch of Saskatchewan Environment, in Regina.

He said the government gained revenue of $9.5 million in 2002-03 from the sale of licenses, about $5 million from game licenses and another $4.5 million from angling licenses.

Last year, 22,500 upland game bird licenses were sold, while 78,600 big game licenses were sold. Prices are different for residents than for non-resident hunters.

Southern Saskatchewan's biggest draw is the upland game bird season early in the fall, both for local and American hunters. The mad cow crisis did not ban the export to the U.S. of wild game birds shot by individual hunters.

Besides the direct benefit to the provincial economy, Callele estimates there's an indirect spinoff benefit to the local economies of another $10 for every $1 spent on licenses. That $10 shows up in hotel and motel costs, fuel for their vehicles, restaurant meals and everything from a new pair of boots to shotgun shells.

"A lot of people benefit and a lot of towns depend heavily on the hunters," he said. The angling side of the hunt is also very significant because of the nearby Rafferty-Alameda dams, he said.

Callele says Southern Saskatchewan probably feels more of that multiplier effect than northern Saskatchewan because northern big game hunters usually go into one outfitter's camp and stay there.

In the south, the hunters travel around and spend money through September and October, he said. "In some small towns, you're lucky to get a hotel room during that time," he said.

Beck said the average hunter spends $1,250-$1,500 for a three-day hunt. Some hunters come for two weeks to a month.

There is no big game hunt in the south for non-residents, which means only residents can hunt deer or elk in the south. All non-residents, like Americans and Europeans, must travel to the northern part of the province if they want to hunt deer or moose.
Some northern outfitters were getting cancellations in late summer until the U.S. border was reopened last week to allow American hunters to take their wild game back home.
Darrell Crabbe, executive director of the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation, said the co-operation of private landowners is very important to continuation of the hunting industry in the south.
Some hunting here is done on Fish and Wildlife Trust Lands and on SWF Habitat Trust Lands, but 90 per cent of it is on private lands, he said. Some of the American hunters who come in for the upland game bird hunt even buy memberships in the SWF because they're as interested as the organization in keeping sustainable levels of habitat and population, said Crabbe.