The Environmental Appeal Board (EAB) solved the dilemma around the value of a thinhorn sheep horn set in a July 17 decision.
Panel Chair Nancy Moloney dismissed veteran hunter Joseph Gibson’s appeal for a personal possession permit after he found an eight-year-old male’s horn set in the Chischa River riverbed in the Peace River Land District.
Michel Lavallee, deputy regional manager of Recreational Fisheries and Wildlife Programs, denied Gibson’s application in December 2023. He decided the horns were valued at more than $200. Gibson filed with the EAB the next month.
Lavallee’s decision letter stated the average auction price the government received for thinhorn sheep horn sets from 2007 to 2010 was $374.50, with values ranging from $60 to $900.
Gibson did not dispute the auction prices, but disputed their relevance, because the horn set he found was not full curl and the tips were broomed off, which meant it was certified as “poor to fair.”
“These factors all reduce the value of a horn set,” Moloney wrote. “The appellant also notes that it has been 15 years since the last thinhorn sheep auction in 2010.”
Moloney said that Gibson did not specify on his October 2023 permit application whether it was for scientific, educational, ceremonial or societal purposes.
She upheld the Lavallee decision because, under the regulation and available auction data, such horns would be valued above $200 and “not eligible to be granted a permit for personal use.”
However, Moloney recommended the government consider amending the section if they no longer intend to conduct wildlife auctions. The current policy “may act as a deterrent for reporting horn finds,” Moloney said.
According to the government, 12,250 thinhorn sheep live among the mountains in BC's northern third.
