Close to 1,000 hunters and their families marched the streets of West Kelowna Saturday to protest the recent reallocation of hunting permits in the province.

The planned protest had an even better turnout than expected as hundreds filled the old Zellers parking lot, signs held high.

The group then walked along the highway to Premier Christy Clark's MLA office dropping hundreds of letters into her mailbox.

Letter after letter was dropped in the red mailbox outside her locked and dark vacant office with many complaining that once again the Premier was not in her riding.

A few anti-hunting protestors were speckled through the demonstration but in general the support was impactful with driver after driver honking their horn in support.

The resident B.C. hunters came from all around the Okanagan and province to join the rally organized by the Kelowna and District Fish and Game Club and the Oceola Fish and Game Club.

The protest stems from a recent change in wildlife permit allocations that increases the amount of tags that guides and outfitters get annually versus resident hunters.

The clubs say the government has now given foreign hunters, who are represented by guide-outfitters, 20-40 per cent of allocated wildlife.

They say this decision is unprecedented in North America and is not good for British Columbians, resident hunters or wildlife.

“We believe that, that share should stay with B.C. resident hunters, because guide outfitters primarily cater to foreign trophy hunters who are not even allowed to take the meat home with them,” says hunter and protestor Dena Sharkey from Vernon. “They are here to shoot something big and put a rack on their wall. For me, hunting feeds my family.”

In fact the majority of the hunters at today's rally say they hunt to feed their families and trophies have nothing to do with it.

“I don’t have a rack mounted on my wall, in fact I don't even try to take the biggest rack when I am out hunting. I just take what I can to feed my family and I do it legally, morally and ethically,” shares another Vernon hunter Bilinda Payton.

The group tells Castanet these changes will make it even harder to get tags for the larger game animals. They say under the old rules it could take years to get a tag for a moose or elk or bison and now they may never get one at all.

“We've applied every year for three years and we've never been drawn and this is going to make it even harder,” says Sharkey

“I apply for bison every year and I have never been drawn. I have heard of people putting into that draw for 20-years and never getting drawn and this is going to decrease those chances even more,” adds Payton who notes that entering the draw every year costs money.

But the guides and outfitters say they are going out of business and need the extra tags to entice more foreigners to come to the province to hunt. Tourism business they claim adds up.

Despite being fewer in number when compared to resident hunters, guide outfitters claim to have higher value to the economy.

Hunting generates approximately $350 million each year. More than 100,000 resident hunters bring in about $230 million of that, while 230 guide-outfitters brought in about 4,500 hunters last year, for approximately $120 million in revenue.

"The average client to the province pays $27,000," says Scott Ellis, executive director at the Guide Outfitters Association. "They use airlines, buy food, buy supplies, bullets, eat in restaurants, stay in hotels. Outfitters employ staff, buy quads, pay taxes – these are local guys, and the money stays in the community."

The hunters at today's rally call foul on that notion though. They believe over a lifetime of hunting each one of them contributes tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars, much more than the guides.

“The money invested from resident hunters is huge including their truck, trailer, quad, gas, camping, rifle, scope, licenses... you know I probably have put $100K plus alone into the economy,” says Alan Anders.

They tell Castanet that guides and outfitters are welcome to operate in the province but that they do not have the right to take food from their families and take more than their fair share.

Following the outrage from resident hunters, the B.C. government is reconsidering the new wildlife allocation rules that came into force in December.

It’s important to note the allocation decision does not include General Open Season opportunities, such as mule deer, whitetail deer and black bear.

~With files from Bill Everitt