As a Black Bear Outfitter in…

As a Black Bear Outfitter in Northern Ontario’s Algoma District, we believe this new regulation reducing the distance to bear bait from a recognized road or trail is a necessary one. For those Bear Outfitters in the North especially, this makes things much safer for themselves as well as their hunters. Asking an Outfitter or hunter to walk into the bush for 200 meters puts them at great risk for both baiting and simply walking in to an established bear stand. Also expecting a hunter to walk out in the dark after hunting whether successful or not is asking them to risk themselves as human vision is not nearly as good as a bears and they could inadvertently walk right into the animal they are hunting and be seriously injured or killed. What happens if a hunter as injured a bear and must make his or her way back to an area for pickup or to where they have left their means of transportation. We have to remember that Black Bears are predators and it seems as if those making the decisions regarding this regulation have no idea about what Bear Outfitting in Ontario is all about. We strongly support the new proposed 30 meter rule.