I received my Hunting License last month and in my opinion this program is part of a hunters responsibility to help manage wildlife. I will do my part.
Coincidentally, this months OOD magazine had a little snippet about the result of mandatory reporting. Turns out the whining little cry babies were wrong and mandatory reporting is beneficial. No it shouldn't be mandatory, but that's a direct result of lazy or anti government types not completing voluntary reports.
The data gathered from mandatory reporting has resulted in the approval of a month long fall turkey season being opened in WMU's 60, 63, 69, 70, 74, 75 and 86.
Hunters helped the MNRF get an idea of game populations and the result was they looked into it more and came to the conclusion the turkey population can sustain a fall harvest.
Weird how managers having more information about game populations can be very beneficial. Only a year or two into mandatory reporting and we're already seeing the benefits....
This is why we've lost so many guns over the years in this country. Guys just meekly smiling and shrugging their shoulders in an effort to get along. "Oh well, it's fine" "What's the big deal" "It's only 2 minutes/2 weeks/ select variants..."
I would be willing to bet that 100% of the guys who like the idea of making this survey mandatory and subject to punishment, also voted for Andrew Scheer.
You need to disconnect from the internet for a bit brother, the Corona is going to your brain. Shut down the computer and turn it back on in July. It’ll do ya good!
While I agree that reporting is beneficial and I’ve always contributed to every survey or report irrespective of threat of tag loss or fine, mandatory turkey harvest reports have been in place for more than a decade in Ontario so it’s hard to attribute the expansion of fall turkey hunting opportunities to these recent changes.
Ha! Maybe. Although I think I'm already about as disconnected as it gets..
Yeah, "mandatory" turkey reporting that less than half of hunters actually bothered doing before they actually started enforcing it a couple years ago. I would guess maybe 1/3 of hunters were reporting their turkey.
It is not hard at all to determine if these new hunts are a result of mandatory reporting when the MNRF specifically says 13 new turkey hunts will have been created as a direct result of mandatory reporting. If you rea the article it actually says these areas likely could have sustained a hunt years ago so lack of reporting has resulted in many people missing years worth of turkey hunting in their area. Go team non reporters!
Here is a good read with specific examples of before and after reporting numbers. In one area I believe turkey reporting jumped 3x after they actually made it mandatory with penalty.
It's a very good read for those who cannot understand the concept of reporting and how that information is used.
https://www.ofah.org/insider/2021/1...ario-drives-new-turkey-hunting-opportunities/
I’m on your side wrt mandatory reporting, but to explain that the recent expansion of turkey hunts is because we are “a year or two into mandatory reporting” just doesn’t make sense. We are more than a decade into mandatory turkey harvest reports in Ontario. I read the ofah article and they list education, changes in reporting, in addition to enforcement as likely reasons for the increased reporting rate. It wouldn’t surprise me if the MNDMNRF had the data all along but just never acted on it.
But, once mandatory reporting and penalty began in 2019 the number of birds harvested magically tripled.
Again, the old mandatory turkey reporting system had zero penalty for not reporting so fewer than half of hunters were reporting their turkey before 2019.
The article makes sense. Your assertion that the introduction of mandatory reporting in 2019 lead to wild turkey changes doesn’t because mandatory reporting for wild turkey has been in place for many years. And as far as penalties go, there is still zero penalty for not reporting - penalties such as fines and withholding tags are not set to begin until 2023.
Maybe reporting increased because hunters in some of those wmu’s woke up to the idea that completing their mandatory surveys would lead to an expanded season. Or perhaps it was as simple as sending email reminders that harvest reports were due. Or maybe it was the perceived threat of penalty. But mandatory reporting began long before 2019 so that’s clearly not the reason.
Apparently the article does not make sense to you? I even quoted a paragraph for you to make it easier.
Read that paragraph a few times until it clicks in your head. Or go read one of the other write ups explaining how mandatory reporting changes in 2019 encouraged more hunters to report their birds?
Or maybe even just read the title of the article you supposedly read?
IIRC the latest OOD mag states mandatory turkey reporting prior to 2019 was less than 70%.