My family and I are in full…

My family and I are in full support of the return of the spring bear hunt. My brother and I have been fortunate enough to participate in the "pilot project" spring bear hunt for the past 3 years (2017 - 2019) in WMU 37. Although we live in the Niagara region in Ontario, we have extended family that live in WMU 37. They have graciously extended invitations to us to come and participate in the pilot project spring bear hunts and it has been an awesome experience for us. Through the spring bear hunt, our families have grown closer together, which we value very much.

In addition to being able to participate in this hunt with our families, we also really value the opportunity to travel to northern Ontario, to be in the outdoors and see another part of the great province of Ontario. The spring bear hunt provides this opportunity for us.

The spring bear hunt also provides another hunting opportunity for many Ontarians. As I'm sure you're well aware of, people have many different work schedules these days and busier or slower times of the year. In our cases, the spring is a much better time for us to participate in a hunt like this. In the fall, our schedules are simply too busy to participate in the fall bear season. With no spring bear hunt, we would not be able to hunt for bear at all.

Above all, the greatest thing we enjoy about the spring bear hunt is the meat that we are able to procure and feed to our families. It's great to participate in our hunting heritage and it more then just pulling a trigger. I get way more satisfaction out of what happens after that moment. When we are able to harvest a bear, we butcher and process the meat ourselves and I wouldn't have it any other way. It's awesome to go to the freezer and pull out safe and healthy meat to feed your family, meat that you harvested and processed yourself. As I said before, without the spring bear hunt, we would not be able to participate in a bear hunt in Ontario and provide this to our families.

I do disagree with some of the changes to non-residents. I know that there are quite a few American hunters that have bought large parcels of land (150 acres plus) in and around the area that we hunt in WMU 37. They have invested in these properties and have built small "camps" that they use for hunting opportunities as well as vacation destinations for their family and friends. They currently participate in the spring bear hunt by hunting on the properties that they own. They already pay way more for a bear license and they come to Ontario, spend money and support our economy. I would be concerned that by making them use and pay a licensed bear operator to hunt on land they own, some of these people might make the decision to not come to Ontario to hunt bear anymore, possibly even to sell this land they own, and no longer come to Ontario to hunt or vacation at all!

Thank you for your time and for reading my comments.