The moose rifle hunting season, which is drawing to a close in Bas-Saint-Laurent, was marked by high numbers and a less fruitful harvest.
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Many of them registered their animals on Friday morning at the reception station of the ZEC du Bas-Saint-Laurent in Les-Hauteurs-de-Rimouski. Several hunters were emerging from the woods after a few days of hunting moose. Moose gun hunting ends Sunday.
“It took us five days and we stole our quota … our first time here,” said Johny Vaccaro before hitting the road back to Montreal with his family. They loved the area and the experience. Besides, his cousin leaves with a good story to tell: “My first moose after all. I saw it. I was with my other cousin, I got off the mountain bike, at one point I continued to walk, I loaded. When I shot I asked: am I dreaming, yes or no? it was something! ”
André Truchon de Sayabec also experienced the festivities surrounding a successful first shot: “Lise, my friend who hunts with me, it is the first animal that she kills. So yesterday it was a party and we were a little tricked out ”.
The attendance was good this year at the ZEC of Bas-Saint-Laurent, according to preliminary figures, they welcomed 1,484 people with the arch and 1,401 with the rifle. About a hundred more, in each category, in the comparable year of 2019. “It’s very busy, but this year, the hunters were even more there,” noted the owner of the local convenience store, Nadia. Roussel.
On the other hand, fewer animals are likely to end up in the freezers. Zec officials note a decrease of 27 archery moose. The weather and a possible drop in population density could explain this.
Despite everything, the butchers are busy, as confirmed by Valérie Potvin, co-owner of the Marché Omni grocery-butcher-hardware store: “We have reached Wednesday for reservations. We have a lot of them. We have reached 80 moose ”.
Valérie Potvin and her husband have decided to offer the butchering service this year. As soon as the hunt opened on Saturday, they received calls. “We hired additional people, which created jobs. We are also happy for our small parish, it creates jobs for people. ”
Even if several hunters left the woods on Friday morning, some will return there in November to hunt deer.
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