How To Find Ontario Crown Land to Shoot On

Harnis said:
seems like the only Crown land closest to Ottawa is over an hour away, southwest of Arnprior and Carleton Place.....

ouch.
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We used to be able to shoot in the Marlborough forest, but then the usual jagoffs and hicks in the are ruined it. Most never cleaned up there brass/steel/wads and the local hicks used the place as a dump.

Only shooting allowed now is during the rifle seasons.
 
Anyone do rifle shooting in the region of Bobcaygeon/Bancroft?

First time gun owner here, bought an SKS and would like to find a crown land area to shoot it with. I would imagine the gunshot can be heard for 2km+ so I've been looking at some large crown areas in WMU 60-62. Would it be fine for me to go plinking with 200-300 rounds with an SKS without a hunting license, so long as I followed precautions? I assume not uncasing the firearm and having surplus steel core ammo would be proof enough that I am not there to hunt?
 
TreeOfWoe said:
Anyone do rifle shooting in the region of Bobcaygeon/Bancroft?

First time gun owner here, bought an SKS and would like to find a crown land area to shoot it with. I would imagine the gunshot can be heard for 2km+ so I've been looking at some large crown areas in WMU 60-62. Would it be fine for me to go plinking with 200-300 rounds with an SKS without a hunting license, so long as I followed precautions? I assume not uncasing the firearm and having surplus steel core ammo would be proof enough that I am not there to hunt?
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Hey TreeOfWoe: I won't help you out with where, but as to your question about plinking without a hunting licence I offer this. People in northern Ontario, if you go far enough off the beaten path and far enough away from houses, are used to gun shots. So as long as you are on Crown Land have fun. When you find a place LEAVE ONLY FOOTPRINTS. The fastest way to get a nice pit or site shut down is to leave garbage. That includes brass, targets, etc. Not to mention it is contrary to the Ontario Public Lands Act to deposit any material on the land. Regarding the Hunting License question, it's best not stray into the bush with your gun to avoid question/compromise with the Game Wardens and OPP that you are there for anything but legitimate target shooting, for which a Hunting Licence is not required. "How do they tell the difference?" you might ask. Well it used to be law that possession of a firearm in a game inhabited area was prima facie proof of hunting. This means that you are assumed by law to be hunting and they do not need to prove it. You need to disprove it by your actions. So keep them totally legitimate-appearing to avoid conflict.
 
tinmandan said:
Hey TreeOfWoe: I won't help you out with where, but as to your question about plinking without a hunting licence I offer this. People in northern Ontario, if you go far enough off the beaten path and far enough away from houses, are used to gun shots. So as long as you are on Crown Land have fun. When you find a place LEAVE ONLY FOOTPRINTS. The fastest way to get a nice pit or site shut down is to leave garbage. That includes brass, targets, etc. Not to mention it is contrary to the Ontario Public Lands Act to deposit any material on the land. Regarding the Hunting License question, it's best not stray into the bush with your gun to avoid question/compromise with the Game Wardens and OPP that you are there for anything but legitimate target shooting, for which a Hunting Licence is not required. "How do they tell the difference?" you might ask. Well it used to be law that possession of a firearm in a game inhabited area was prima facie proof of hunting. This means that you are assumed by law to be hunting and they do not need to prove it. You need to disprove it by your actions. So keep them totally legitimate-appearing to avoid conflict.
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Well said.

To avoid further confusion call ahead of time to local authorities to mention your intention ( opp, wmu and township bylaw ) and check for any firearms discharge bylaws and record names to cover yourself in case being questioned.
 
tinmandan said:
Hey TreeOfWoe: I won't help you out with where, but as to your question about plinking without a hunting licence I offer this. People in northern Ontario, if you go far enough off the beaten path and far enough away from houses, are used to gun shots. So as long as you are on Crown Land have fun. When you find a place LEAVE ONLY FOOTPRINTS. The fastest way to get a nice pit or site shut down is to leave garbage. That includes brass, targets, etc. Not to mention it is contrary to the Ontario Public Lands Act to deposit any material on the land. Regarding the Hunting License question, it's best not stray into the bush with your gun to avoid question/compromise with the Game Wardens and OPP that you are there for anything but legitimate target shooting, for which a Hunting Licence is not required. "How do they tell the difference?" you might ask. Well it used to be law that possession of a firearm in a game inhabited area was prima facie proof of hunting. This means that you are assumed by law to be hunting and they do not need to prove it. You need to disprove it by your actions. So keep them totally legitimate-appearing to avoid conflict.
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Useful info. I agree, I will definitely go above and beyond to maintain that I'm just there for target shooting. I thought I will keep the firearm in the case (locked with a trigger lock as well) until targets are set up, and then back to the case once the targets are taken apart. I was going to make a PVC pipe frame for some plinking, so it should be fairly obvious what I'm doing.

Spcamno said:
Well said.

To avoid further confusion call ahead of time to local authorities to mention your intention ( opp, wmu and township bylaw ) and check for any firearms discharge bylaws and record names to cover yourself in case being questioned.
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I was thinking of doing that.
 
berger said:
Only shooting allowed now is during the rifle seasons.
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Silly question time... but if I want to target shoot in M'boro, then I can, provided it is during hunting season and I have a license? Let's say I only want to shoot .22LR, what is the hunting season / license I'd need to do that? (I've never hunted / held a hunting permit)
 
gcdavidson please read my 1-15-2017 post to TreeOfWoe above. A Hunting Licence is not required for target shooting in a pit etc, and there does not need to be a hunting season open. So UNLESS the municipality of M'boro (or wherever that is) has enacted some other Bylaws, the provincial laws do not apply in that respect. So check on Bylaws with M'boro, and be sure to follow the other "legitimate-appearing" recommendations too, and have your federal Firearms Possession Licence.
 
gcdavidson said:
Silly question time... but if I want to target shoot in M'boro, then I can, provided it is during hunting season and I have a license? Let's say I only want to shoot .22LR, what is the hunting season / license I'd need to do that? (I've never hunted / held a hunting permit)
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Yes. No one says you have to be good hunter.

It goes without saying that one should always be a responsible hunter, and that means using brass catchers, and making sure that the amount of waste hauled out of the forest is greater or equal to the amount brought in. So for every .22 LR shot, 3 grams of rubbish needs to be found somewhere. Found an aluminium can on the forest floor? At 15 grams in mass, that means you can leave 5 boolits in the forest. Hauled an old junked car out of the forest? That is a quarter million rounds of SS109!
 
tinmandan said:
gcdavidson please read my 1-15-2017 post to TreeOfWoe above. A Hunting Licence is not required for target shooting in a pit etc, and there does not need to be a hunting season open. So UNLESS the municipality of M'boro (or wherever that is) has enacted some other Bylaws, the provincial laws do not apply in that respect. So check on Bylaws with M'boro, and be sure to follow the other "legitimate-appearing" recommendations too, and have your federal Firearms Possession Licence.
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Hi tinmandan, that is actually the exact problem - the city has enacted a by-law that forbids shooting in Marlborough Forest except for hunting purposes. We had a decent gravel pit, but it only takes a few morons shooting glass bottles, couches, TV, and leaving all their 12g cases behind to ruin it. My plan would be that I am "sighting in" my .22LR prior to small game hunting. I just want to have a passable excuse on the off chance the police (etc) come to see what I'm up to. Obviously, its all NR rifles and paper targets, and since I shoot on a mat, clean up is never a problem.

Edit: Ok, seems I need an Ontario Hunter Education course before I can apply for a small game permit, and it appears there is open season on some species, which I think would cover me for 'sighting in', though I will have to delve more into it. Too bad there are no Hunter Education courses offered near Ottawa, the closest appears to be Kingston.
 
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gcdavidson......In fact there are Hunter Education courses near Ottawa. I am in Pembroke...not far from you. I just did a course here taught by Chris Rudderham. We had quite a few people from Ottawa on the course I was on myself. Go to Ontariohunt.ca He usually posts all the courses on the website and it is updated quite often. His contact number is provided on the website also. I suggest giving him a call and just ask him when his next course is being run. He's a good instructor and it's a decent weekend. Informative, yet not too dry.
 
Hey everyone. I've been looking into this lately as well. Does anyone know where to find the map(bottom one) that OSAPRocky posted (post #120 on page 12)? I know the top one is the atlas but I've done a crap ton of research and can't seem to find a way to find it. Not the atlas, not WMU maps. I've tried municipality maps (specifically Severn as in his post) but also no luck.

Any help is greatly appreciated. I did PM him as well. Thanks.
 
Ontario Crown Land Use Policy Atlas

Borscht said:
Hey everyone. I've been looking into this lately as well. Does anyone know where to find the map(bottom one) that OSAPRocky posted (post #120 on page 12)? I know the top one is the atlas but I've done a crap ton of research and can't seem to find a way to find it. Not the atlas, not WMU maps. I've tried municipality maps (specifically Severn as in his post) but also no luck.

Any help is greatly appreciated. I did PM him as well. Thanks.
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Hey Borscht here's the link, but check the very first page, first post of this thread. It's all there.
Ontario Crown Land Use Policy Atlas web site: https://www.ontario.ca/page/crown-land-use-policy-atlas

One you have the map open, click the Layers Tab and then click the Legend button to see what the shaded areas are.
Also use the Find Information tab and then Get Land Use Information tool to click on an area for the description. And there's a bunch of other stuff too to see the Polices and Amendments for the areas.

Dan
 
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OsapRocky said:
Don't know if this was previously posted, but if you're scouting out new land to shoot on it might be best to confirm the location on the atlas is crown land with the MNF.


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The atlas shows the location to not be crown land, but the MNF confirmed it indeed was.

There could be mistakes both ways, so best to double check and stay safe guys.
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I know the atlas fairly well (i think), but the second map shows a discrepancy between what the atlas shows and the other map. I have a feeling the atlas is less accurate so i'd like to find the source of the bottom map.

I checked the map layers and i cant select the county forest as a layer in the atlas so i'm pretty sure they are different sources.
 
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