Ontario withdraws proposals to ease wolf, coyote hunting regulations

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Chas

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Ontario withdraws proposals to eliminate wolf seals


http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/wolves-mnrf-hunting-coyotes-1.3522065

Well I guess we will be buying wolf / coyote seals for a while longer now.....
 
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The MNRF said public comment was provided on the proposals for seven days in January . A total of 12,113 comments were submitted, many of them against. The Ministry also received three petitions with 200,000 signatures combined, all opposed to the proposals.

"The comments were very strongly against changing the rules.
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Did OFAH publish any petitions asking hunters to express their wish for the change?
 
Ontario withdraws proposals to eliminate wolf seals
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Geez, I thought harp seals were bad .. but wolf seals? :eek: Now I want to see a battle between a wolf seal and a leopard seal. :cool: :yingyang:
 
This flip flop indicates to me that whom ever screams the loudest will dictate policy. It really begs to question as to whether the MNRF is either qualified or committed to managing the resources of Northern Ontario. It appears they are interested in taking the path of least resistance, regardless the outcome.
I don't know who is correct in this argument, the OFAH or the other group (I refuse to type their name). What is clear is that the management of resources cannot be effectively and correctly managed by experiment.
There are lots of recent examples of the MNRF acting like a bunch of Keystone Cops, this example is only the latest.
 
I have to snicker at the seal allusions. Yup Canada is a country of many cultures!

When the politicians get into the business of wildlife management the outcomes are never what anyone wants. The politicians want to get reelected, so they will answer the loudest constituency, and that is the retired stay-at-home but socially engaged grandmothers then we know how this plays out. When the trappers, hunters, outfitters, lodge owners, and Northerners complain about nuisance bears because of overpopulation or trapline predation because the wildlife cycles are off-balance, the shiney-pants most popular lawyer in his GTA riding neither knows, cares or understands. But when a calf moose or weanling black bear stumbles into someone's backyard in suburban Ottawa and the decision to euthanize is made, all h#ll breaks loose on social media.

BTW, the story circulates that a former premier stuck it to Northern Ontario by cancelling the spring bear hunt because they voted against him. Anyone care to wade into that controversay?
 
Uninformed masses that have no dog in the hunt dictating law concerning what hunters support with their money, time and effort.

They may love the wolves, but the wolves don't love them. lol
 
maple_leaf_eh said:
I have to snicker at the seal allusions. Yup Canada is a country of many cultures!

When the politicians get into the business of wildlife management the outcomes are never what anyone wants. The politicians want to get reelected, so they will answer the loudest constituency, and that is the retired stay-at-home but socially engaged grandmothers then we know how this plays out. When the trappers, hunters, outfitters, lodge owners, and Northerners complain about nuisance bears because of overpopulation or trapline predation because the wildlife cycles are off-balance, the shiney-pants most popular lawyer in his GTA riding neither knows, cares or understands. But when a calf moose or weanling black bear stumbles into someone's backyard in suburban Ottawa and the decision to euthanize is made, all h#ll breaks loose on social media.

BTW, the story circulates that a former premier stuck it to Northern Ontario by cancelling the spring bear hunt because they voted against him. Anyone care to wade into that controversay?
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My Uncle Lorne had a fix for that, drop off a tandem load of black bears on the front lawn of queens park.
Wish I could see that happen.
 
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry has set aside a controversial proposal to ease wolf and coyote hunting regulations in northern Ontario.

In a posting on the Environmental Registry, the MNRF states it has decided not to move ahead with plans to waive the need for a wolf licence and to remove the limit on coyotes in the north.
The ministry said this will help ensure hunters across the province follow the same licensing system when hunting wolves.

The Ontario Science Project manager for the David Suzuki Foundation said the ministry heard from many people who spoke out against what she calls the "scapegoating" of wolves and coyotes.

"I think the primary comment — and this was shared by a number of people across all different interest groups — was that there wasn't adequate science to show that predation of moose was the primary cause of moose declines," said Rachel Plotkin

It's hard to know what happens behind government doors, but I think we can say that we are pleased to see that they are listening to the science, and using science to support their conservation and wildlife management."

OFAH disappointed


A biologist for the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters said the group is disappointed the ministry has chosen not to proceed with the proposal to liberalize predator hunting in northern Ontario.

"As far back as 1.5-2 years ago, OFAH members in the north, and here at head office (in Peterborough), have been pushing for some improvements with wolf and coyote management in the north specifically," Mark Ryckman said.

"Based on their own merits [and] irrespective to their potential benefits to moose populations and the moose project."

Ryckman said the hunting group believes lowering predator numbers in the north had the potential to improve moose numbers in some areas.

He said it's also a missed opportunity for ministry wildlife managers and scientists.

"It would be difficult to know, for sure, ahead of time, what level of wolf harvest would be required to generate a benefit for moose populations," he said.

"But now we will never know. There is no opportunity to even test that theory in Ontario, now."

The MNRF said public comment was provided on the proposals for seven days in January . A total of 12,113 comments were submitted, many of them against. The Ministry also received three petitions with 200,000 signatures combined, all opposed to the proposals.

"The comments were very strongly against changing the rules. We talked to the public, stakeholders, and aboriginal groups and considered all the comments received and we decided we weren't going to make changes," ministry spokesperson Jolanta Kowalski said.

That doesn't mean the ministry will stop looking at ways to sustain the moose population.

"We know there are a number of factors that may be impacting Ontario moose populations, including harvest, parasites, changing climate, habitat quality and predation."

Wolf and coyote hunting regulations will rest with hunters in northern and parts of central Ontario requiring a small game license and wolf-coyote game seal to hunt wolves and coyotes.

The wolf-coyote game seal limit remains two per calendar year and all seal holders are still be required to report on their hunting activity and harvest.

with files from Marina von Stackelberg
 
They took a lot of flack for re-instating the Spring Bear Hunt (ok, technically a 5 year "pilot project") - maybe figured if they caved on the Wolves, the tree huggers would forget about the "Yogi blasting" that would be taking place :)
 
skypilot said:
Uninformed masses that have no dog in the hunt dictating law concerning what hunters support with their money, time and effort.
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Absolutely correct. Just like the spring bear hunt cancellation. A bunch of NIMBY's living in million-dollar condos screaming and crying to dictate a policy that affects northern communities that are dealing with nuisance bears on a near daily basis. Look how long it took them to "re-instate" the hunt!

The only people who's opinion should matter are those that deal with bears in the communities daily or coyote/wolf preying on their livestock/properties.
 
nowarningshot said:
Those tags and licenses are revenue for a government that needs to pay for canceled power plants.

Anyone that is going to target these is going to be stopped by these fees? Exactly how much do these licenses cost?
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It's not the cost of the tags that will stop me - hunting licences in the greater scheme of things are not overly expensive (go to a couple of movies at the theater and buy a box of pop corn and you have paid for your big game licences).

The thing was, they were going to go from a "maximum" of two tags for wolf/coyote in Northern Ontario, to an unlimited number with no tags required.

So the $11.14 (plus tax) for a seal isn't the issue - but if "predators" are part of the problem with the lower moose numbers, keeping the "limit" to two dogs (wolf OR coyote) means nothing has changed.

If it was simply a money thing they could have upped the number of seals available, per hunter, to four or five (or whatever) - that way they could have kept the money coming in, plus got some data (mandatory reporting whenever you pop one) to see if lowering the wild dog numbers had a positive, negative or no effect on the moose population in the longer run.

In Southern Ontario I can shoot all the wolves and coyote's I want, no limit, no seals, open all year in my area and fall under the small game licence.

No "outcry here", but the same ones that are "so protective" of those remote animals are the same ones that don't want a Coyote coming in their back yard and killing "fluffy" - so "down south" it's "pest control", up north it's "save the wild animals".

The bear hunt is back, not because of any pressure from the hunting public, or groups like OFAH - it's the local governments screaming about the cost of dealing with pest bears. And when it comes down to "money" they stop listing to those that want to "save Yogi" - because if they keep paying to save Yogi, then the potholes don't get fixed and they wreck the rims on their BMW's.
 
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galamb said:
It's not the cost of the tags that will stop me - hunting licences in the greater scheme of things are not overly expensive (go to a couple of movies at the theater and buy a box of pop corn and you have paid for your big game licences).

The thing was, they were going to go from a "maximum" of two tags for wolf/coyote in Northern Ontario, to an unlimited number with no tags required.

So the $11.14 (plus tax) for a seal isn't the issue - but if "predators" are part of the problem with the lower moose numbers, keeping the "limit" to two dogs (wolf OR coyote) means nothing has changed.

If it was simply a money thing they could have upped the number of seals available, per hunter, to four or five (or whatever) - that way they could have kept the money coming in, plus got some data (mandatory reporting whenever you pop one) to see if lowering the wild dog numbers had a positive, negative or no effect on the moose population in the longer run.

In Southern Ontario I can shoot all the wolves and coyote's I want, no limit, no seals, open all year in my area and fall under the small game licence.

No "outcry here", but the same ones that are "so protective" of those remote animals are the same ones that don't want a Coyote coming in their back yard and killing "fluffy" - so "down south" it's "pest control", up north it's "save the wild animals".

The bear hunt is back, not because of any pressure from the hunting public, or groups like OFAH - it's the local governments screaming about the cost of dealing with pest bears. And when it comes down to "money" they stop listing to those that want to "save Yogi" - because if they keep paying to save Yogi, then the potholes don't get fixed and they wreck the rims on their BMW's.
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Well off the top of my head....everyone stop shooting any dogs in areas represented by Nimby politicians. Let there cats be eaten, have a coyote walk right past them while they walk their kids to school.

In many areas of the sunshine coast and Vancouver island, Blacktail are right in town eating peoples gardens. No shooting areas and cougars dont like suburbia. So instead of driving the dogs out......drive them in>>>>just like the cougar and blacktail. Their stupid policy is creating the problems, it only seems fair that the problem is only in their backyard....not nimby.
 
galamb said:
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The bear hunt is back, not because of any pressure from the hunting public, or groups like OFAH - it's the local governments screaming about the cost of dealing with pest bears. And when it comes down to "money" they stop listing to those that want to "save Yogi" - because if they keep paying to save Yogi, then the potholes don't get fixed and they wreck the rims on their BMW's.
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You got a point there. For most politicians, the noise they get from the electorate over their decisions is part of doing business. What gets their attention is when local government, ie municipal or school boards, says 'This is getting to be a problem'.

I sit on a school board committee and we are mid-stream on budget development. The ministry dropped 110 pages of policy, table and formulas on each of the 74 school board CFOs just before Easter. The recommended staff budget will hit the streets in a month. Every year, I hear the CFO and the Director telling their side of the story in dealings with the ministry. Always interesting to see which squeaky wheel gets the grease.
 
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