1974 A CHANGE OF HEART?

Over the years I have mentioned a magazine printed in Thornhill called Fisherman and Hunter. It is really the mouthpiece of the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters. Members of that association write most of the articles. That group should be the one that could help ensure fishing and hunting at a good level in Ontario. Some members have spent a great deal of time on various projects, and it is not their fault that the organization is not enjoying a province wide boom.

I first met with the top members of the Federation perhaps twenty-five years ago. At that time the Department was attempting to get the guides organized all over Ontario, and the man who was in charge asked me to appear at the meeting being held with the Standing Committee on Fish and Wildlife, and represent the guides, as the Federation was asking for rulings that the guides would not like.

People from various groups all over the Province would meet there, and blow off steam about changes they wanted in regulations as they affected their particular area. We never got far but at least we were able to have our say. We were also able to meet people from other sections to compare notes. It is too bad these meetings were discontinued.

But back to the Federation. The first time I attended this group it had in mind some changes in the set up for guides. Even then guiding was on the way out but I remember they wanted to ban guides in deer season from carrying any type of firearm.

In later years the Federation seemed to have a gripe against people who were in the tourist business. The Northern Ontario Tourist Outfitters, now quite a strong body, were asking for changes that would help their business, and always there was opposition from the Federation. One business manager even went so far as to state that he would not care if there were no tourists.

When the deer first started to dwindle in numbers, many hunting groups asked for some changes, the main one being predator control. There was no help from the federation, in fact just the opposite, and it was the same old story of a few small groups working against a well organized machine. Even a couple of years ago they supported the abolishing of wolf bounties.

So a lot of older people in the north do not take kindly to this organization when they are asking for more members. Too, they can recall when several clubs from the north dropped out years ago, because they were always outvoted by the majority from the south.

So it was nice to read several articles in the last issue of the magazine I mentioned. The President had supported the removal of the wolf bounty, with the understanding that the Department would have a good predator control program. I had suggested that the cost of the three programs I had been told about be published, along with the results. I think it might show that the bounty system was better and cheaper.

Another article was about the deer in Rondeau Park. For years the surplus deer have been harvested, but last fall the Naturalists wanted to try removing them via the tranquilizer method. Believe they took two, and then the Humane Society tried, and after accidentally killing a small buck did not have any more luck. Deer were to be taken where there  would be no hunting.

Also a story about the petitions presented to the ministry of Natural Resources concerning the leg hold trap. It was well publicized. The group S.A.D. (Save Animals in Distress) had a box said to contain 850,000 names, all against the use of said trap. They counted the names and found only a tenth of that number and some of them photstatic copies, and many written by children. So Far there has been no explanation from Mr. McGinn, President of that group.

These stories indicate to me a trend in the way people are beginning to think about the animals in the woods.