Conservation Officer Service - 100 Years of Service

Initially, and due to the agency’s inexperience and a lack of government funding, Game Department policy was minimal and training non-existent. It was not uncommon for new Wardens to be issued a copy of the game laws, a badge and, along with the request to advise the Provincial Game Warden before commencing a prosecution, simply sent on their way.

Many of BC’s first Game Wardens were volunteers.

The first hunting license was introduced around this time. It was for non-residents and cost $50.00.

Open seasons were excessively long and a hunter’s bag limit extremely generous. For instance, the bag-limit for a non-resident could include:

• 10 deer
• 3 caribou
• 3 mountain sheep
• 5 mountain goat
• 2 bull moose, and
• 2 bull elk

A note in the Department’s annual report states:

“Game taken by 27 non-resident hunters in the Cassiar District included 17 moose, 56 caribou, 52 sheep, 34 goats, 6 grizzly, and 7 black bear.”

In other words, an average of over six animals for each hunter.

Operating under the same ministry as the BC Provincial Police, the Department was granted its first guaranteed annual budget. In fact, the Game Department’s budget nearly doubled, from $10,000 in 1908 to $18,000 in 1910!

While it was expected that 12,000 licenses would be sufficient to meet demand, over 30,000 were sold. Due to this unanticipated windfall, 26 new Deputy Game Wardens were hired.

The Game Protection Act was repealed and replaced with the Game Act, which would remain in force until 1966 when it was replaced by both the Wildlife Act and the Firearms Act.

By 1914, pit-lamping, or the use of lights to hunt at night, had become a very serious issue with several people nearly being shot.

Given the dangerous nature of this activity, Provincial Game Warden Bryan Williams recommended a minimum penalty of one month in jail as a necessary amendment to the Game Act.

In his annual report for 1914, Williams wrote:

“It seems almost incredible that there should be so many men who will carry on this illegal practice in spite of the danger to human life…Men who will continue this practice, in spite of all that has been said and written against it, should be treated as criminals and no mercy shown them.”

There are some indications that suggest the term “pit-lamping” may have originated in BC. In 1892, BC Provincial Police Constable W. Healy of Sooke, writing to Superintendent F.S. Hussey, describes an encounter with hunters using a miner’s headlamp to hunt for deer after dark. In reference to the headlamp Healy wrote, as a hunter came within 40-50 feet of a deer, even though its body was in darkness, the “eyes would shine like two balls of fire making a splendid target”.

This is one of the first known references to an activity that quickly become known as “pit-lamping” in British Columbia, a term still used to this day to describe the illegal activity of spotlighting, jack-lighting or the shining of wildlife for the purpose of hunting.

The Game Department was paying a heavy price for Canada’s involvement in World War I. Every unmarried Deputy Warden, and a considerable number of married Wardens, had enlisted for service. As a result, a large number of management districts went un-staffed and poaching increased.

The practice of pit-lamping deer from cars continued to rise as violators could act with near impunity. In addition to a staff shortage, those Game Wardens who had not enlisted were not provided with patrol cars. As a consequence, Wardens were extremely hard pressed to apprehend these criminals. Further, the offence was still not punishable by jail sentence.