I fully support the Proposal…

I fully support the Proposal to reduce the minimum distance requirement for placement of bait from rights of way and trails for black bear hunting. The ministry in general has been far to restrictive with regards to management of the bear hunt; what's worse these restrictive conditions were politically motivated and implemented with no scientific backing. This mismanagement of the bear hunt has resulted reduced management of the bear population by BMA holders (in many areas), reduced tourism revenue for the province and investment in the tourism sector. As successful businessmen from Northern Ontario, my brother and I purchased James Bay Outfitters in 2012 and paid BMA fess of almost $3500.00 per year for 6 years...without running a hunt as it was not feasible under current conditions. We have since released most of our BMAs. This left a large area of BMA unmanaged for several years an the conditions ultimately led us to avoid investing in the industry.

This mismanagement, (combined with mismanagement of other predators like wolves) for that past 2 decades has also likely led to current reductions in Moose populations. The Moose population decline coincides with the cancellation of the spring bear hunt and implementation of large scale hunting and trapping bans on throughout large areas of the province.

The bear hunt should return to something similar to what was in place in the 90s, with more non-resident spring hunts allocated to outfitters.