I feel it is my duty to tell all of the changes that have happened PROVINCE WIDE.
All outfitters will now be allocated a certain number of form 33's, a form which all non-resident hunters must have on their person while bear hunting within their outfitters Bear Management Area (BMA). In other words, just like the Western Privinces.
Pine Acres Camp is for the most part, fine for 2016.
BUT I was told to take NO BOOKINGS for 2017. Bear outfitters ( ones who know of the new allocations)have now been told that the allocation for 2017 is unknown for now.
I guarantee I will keep everyone posted!!!
One camp E. of here sold his Archery bear camp. Now the sale fell flat and his business is in ruins because he took very few hunters in 2012,13 & 14.
This year they are taking 2012,13 &14 numbers of Form 33's, then they divide by 3.
They just announced this less than a week before hunting season opens. After all camps traveled to shows all winter and spent upwards of $30,0000.00 promoting travel to Ontario.
Change is never nice to who it effects, but it is the "Future of Bear hunting in Ontario."
It's here, let's get use to it and plan for the future.
The return of the spring bear hunt is political said AnnaMaria Valastro, a lead campaigner with Peaceful Parks. "It's not about keeping people safe."
She wrote an editorial in the Toronto Star last week, calling for the spring bear hunt to once again be deemed illegal.
She feels the hunt is unethical and is more about making money for outfitters than keeping the public safe.
"We've never been able to win anything easily....So, we have no illusions. But that's not what's motivating us, we want is to have a public dialogue" said Valastro, who expects this to be a long fight.
Political divide between north and south
Valastro said it's unfortunate the bear hunt has become caught up in the political divide between north and south Ontario.
"These are large issues, intrinsic universal issues and no one person has domain over these issues more than another person." said Valastro.
She told CBC News she tried to get data from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry about the reason behind the return of the hunt and the science behind it.
She said she tried through a Freedom of Information request to get a report from the last two years of the MNRF pilot project. She received nothing.
Much of the lobbying in the 1990s to get the government to scrap the hunt came from the Schad Foundation.
"I don't believe it was a north-south issue, it wasn't a conservation issue, it was an issue of ethics." Founder Peter Kendall said, adding he felt the heart of the matter got lost in the political storm.
Ontario begins bear hunt season For the first time since 1999, Ontario is allowing the spring bear hunt to go ahead. (CBC file photo)
"We continue to review the preliminary data"
When CBC Sudbury requested a response from the MNRF, their communications representative, Jolanta Kowalski, emailed a statement.
"We continue to review the preliminary data we have. One of the reasons we decided to expand the pilot for five more years was to gather more data about the spring hunt.
"While science shows one of the biggest influence on the number of human-bear encounters is the availability of natural food sources, we also understand that bear-related public concerns are very real for people living in northern and central Ontario. We've extended the spring bear hunt pilot because we are committed to assisting those communities and to support economic growth and tourisum in northern and central Ontario."
This is the first year the bear hunt is open all across the province and not just in select areas, like it was over the last two trial years.
American and European hunters are also able to take part, for the first time since the hunt was cancelled in 1999.
The MNRF said the spring bear hunt is still officially a pilot project and will be re-evaluated by the province in five years
Said she wasn't ready for the questions outfitters had about the new bear regs.
Sounds like they are softening their position on quota's according to NOTO, our outfitter association.
They decided to bring back the spring hunt to manage the bears, especially in the spring when the moose calves are born. Then they back step. They are worried that the residents are going to hunt bears in place of the moose hunt they once enjoyed. Residents from Toronto, Ottawa and all cities down south do not bear hunt past Sudbury. Toronto is over 1200 miles from Vermilion Bay.
Residents here ( west of Sudbury) wouldn't think of hunting bears as they can shoot them as nuicenses out the windows of their houses.
The only one out there baiting bears that I see is ME. No one else.
Then they decide to eliminate the wolf seal. A seal attached to a wolf once it is harvested. Reason for this decision to eliminate the seals was to promote wolf hunting, helping the moose in the long run.
They have just decided to cancel that plan ( elimination of wolf seals) due to over whelming votes that came in from the ANTIS. Moose population is still in peril.
As for the brain worm, the deer are rebounding very well. Deer are carriers of brain worm, moose are the host.
So, we will have no moose around for decades.
I almost got kicked out of the meeting Friday, as I called the Minister of Northern Development and Mines a a bold faced liar. I left early to go bear baiting.
As a side note, the Minnesota DNR were at our meeting on Friday to discuss the moose dilemma. But the OMNRF was AWOL.
Now, Ontario has the 2nd highest bear population in Canada. Second to BC. There is NO RATIONAL reason for a quota system. Chuck, Manitoba has less than 30,000 bears. Ontario 105,000 to 110,000 or more bears. An increase of over 35,000 bears since the closing of the spring hunt in 1999.
