A councillor with the RM of Sifton says recent enforcement stats from Manitoba’s Conservation officers is encouraging.

Scott Phillips was part of a group that started lobbying the province in 2016 to do more to control illegal hunting. “Back then the moose population was being slaughtered and a lot of it was due to illegal hunting at night, trespassing, fences being cut, carcasses being left and just the horns being taken.”

Phillips said it went against every common sense hunting practice everyone is taught as a kid, so they got together as a group of municipalities and started lobbying the government to get more boots on the ground and more enforcement.

“It was worthwhile in the end with all the fines and penalties and people being caught. Minister Greg Nesbitt responsible for conservation has done a wonderful job with night patrols and surveillance.”

Scott Phillips says it’s like on the highway you’re never going to catch all the speeders, but the province is making a dent into the illegal hunting and fishing.

“The trick now is to make the fines and penalties stick and We think the fines should be increased substantially.