MANDATORY HUNTER REPORTING

Introduced in 2019 mandatory hunter reporting is employed by the MNRF to assist in managing Ontario’s wildlife. The data helps to monitor wildlife populations, to set tag quotas and determine the availability of additional tags, adjust seasons, bag limits and develop management policies.

Any hunter who bought or was issued a tag to hunt moose, elk, deer, bear, wild turkey or wolf/coyote (in Wildlife Management Units where a tag is required) needs to report. Even if you had a tag but didn’t hunt or harvest.

Hunter reporting is mandatory under Ontario law complete with penalties for failing to do so such as fines or not being able to purchase a licence. Questions? Goto: www.ontario.ca/hunterreporting. Or phone 1.800.288.1155.

DETAILS

Interested in the details of the 2019 hunt? Goto: www.ontario.ca/hunterreporting for bear, deer, elk, moose, turkey and wolf/coyote. Consider deer for example (2019).

Of the 186,384 licence/tag holders, 81% reported which represents an increase of 39% over 2018. In fact 89% of the total number of licence/tag holders actually hunted in 2019 and each hunter spent 7.7 days afield. The total harvest declined from 59,912 deer in 2018 to 53,508 in 2019. Bucks made up 61%, does 29% and fawns 10%. Hunters observed one deer per 1.1 days hunting and one wolf/coyote every 5.3 days.

Elk

43 of 47 tag holders reported, an increase of 21% over 2018. 95% of the tag holders who reported said they actually hunted elk. In total 3 bulls and 10 cows were harvested with Area 5 and 6 dominating.

The site is well laid out with easy to read graphics. For 2020 I would like to see a specific category pertaining to the impact that this virus has had upon hunting. It would also be advantageous to see how many non-reporters were actually penalized and to what extent.

Of course all of the above is regarding the provincial MNRF hunts. Congratulations to the MNRF for an endeavor well done.

AOO HUNT RECORDS

If you are interested, the Algonquins of Ontario (AOO) publish their hunt details online as well. Goto: https://www.tanakiwin.com/community/aooharvest/ to see details regarding their moose and elk hunts for 2019 and previous year summaries.

HUNTER ED

In April all in-person hunter education courses were stopped due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the meantime there is a temporary online option which, the way this virus is playing out, may prove to be ‘temporary’ as in the temporary income tax.

The online option allows students to take the hunter ed course from a specific jurisdiction, to review the course content and to complete the Ontario Examination ‘virtually’ with an Ontario Hunter Education Instructor. For more details goto: www.OHEP.net