With hunting season upon us, it’s time to go over the numbers of last year’s Hunter Harvest Survey. 

Saskatchewan’s Hunter Harvest Survey has been mandatory for four years now to help combat poaching, regulate draws, and conserve the province’s wildlife. The survey records how many licenses are sold and how many people do the survey, then creates an estimate of the success rate of big game animal hunters. 

Dale Barks, Wildlife Ecologist for the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment, interprets the numbers. 

“The Hunter Harvest Survey is one piece of the wildlife management puzzle, but it’s a really important piece,” explained Barks. “It allows us to get a variety of data from hunters who are acting as our eyes and ears on the landscape... The information they provide through the survey is crucial, and it's combined with other data sets to help make sure our quotas and seasons are set to remain as sustainable as possible going into the future.” 

The most largely hunted game in 2022 was white-tailed deer, totaling a whopping 32,638 licenses sold. With an estimated 52 per cent harvest, at least 15,000 of the cervids were harvested across the province.  

When looking at the Youth White-Tailed Deer category, it has the highest harvest success rate of 62 per cent. 

Barks explains: “It's an exciting hunt for a family to get out there, and I think there's a lot of effort put into making that successful in hunting and harvesting something. Although any hunt is successful when you get out there in nature, especially with family.” 

The least hunted animal by non-indigenous, non-veteran residents of Saskatchewan would be the wolf, with license sales amounting to 123 and a 30 per cent harvest rate.  

The complete 2022 Saskatchewan Hunter Harvest Survey can be downloaded and viewed here. 

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