CFB Suffield Elk Hunt

Important information for trappers: Registered Fur Management Areas (RFMAs) where open seasons exist for Wolverine, River Otter, Canada Lynx, and Fisher - Species Limits (Quotas) have been removed for the 2024/2025 trapping season, please see page 16 of the Trapping Regulations for more information.

The Government of Alberta, in partnership with Canada's Department of National Defence, provides elk hunting opportunities at Canadian Forces Base Suffield (CFB Suffield) in southeastern Alberta.

2024-2025 Hunting Seasons Overview

Please note that the Government of Alberta does not control access restrictions to CFB Suffield. These decisions are made in the interest of public safety. Any concerns regarding this decision can be directed to CFB Suffield.

For further information on the CFB Suffield Elk hunt, see:

Suffield Elk and Bovine Tuberculosis

Concerns have been raised about the possibility of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in the large population of elk associated with Canadian Forces Base Suffield (CFB Suffield).

Alberta’s Chronic Wasting Disease program examines the lymph nodes of submitted wildlife, which allows for the passive monitoring of bovine tuberculosis. To date, no abnormalities have been detected that would suggest that bTB is in Suffield elk. Further active surveillance of the elk herd has revealed no evidence of bTB in any submitted samples obtained from harvested animals at CFB Suffield.

Ongoing Disease Monitoring

The original elk on CFB Suffield were translocated from Elk Island National Park in the late 1990s and all animals relocated from the park were tested for bovine tuberculosis and found to be disease free.

Elk Island National Park has implemented a continuous bovine tuberculosis surveillance program since the 1970s, and bovine tuberculosis has not been detected in the park since the early 1980s (detection in a wood bison that came to Elk Island National Park from Wood Buffalo National Park in the mid 1960s).

Bovine tuberculosis does occur sporadically in cattle (last case prior to the current finding was in cattle in British Columbia in 2011) and Canada’s national surveillance program generally finds infected cattle before the infection spreads. Investigations are focused firstly on the infected cattle and repercussions to the livestock industry, but Environment and Protected Areas' wildlife disease experts are engaged to understand the finding and assess the risk, which is typically minimal.

Bovine TB can infect humans but does not readily transfer to people. The risk of infection in wild game is very low. To date, there is no evidence of bovine tuberculosis in elk in Alberta.

Precautions hunters can take with their harvest are available at:

Related Information

Contact Information

If you would like to ask a question about Suffield Elk, please visit:

Under the General inquiries section, please select "Wildlife, Hunting and Fishing" from the Topic dropdown menu and use the subject line "Suffield Elk" in order to have your inquiry directed appropriately.

Updated: Aug 6, 2024