The Ontario Federation of…

The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters is Ontario’s largest non-profit conservation-based organization, representing 100,000 members, supporters, and subscribers, and 740 member clubs. On behalf of our membership, we have reviewed the abovementioned proposal and respectfully submit the following comments for consideration.

The OFAH has always championed the spring bear hunt as a necessary component of proper black bear management. We enthusiastically supported the expansion of the spring bear hunt in 2015 but raised concerns about the unnecessary restrictions on the practice of bear baiting. In our submission dated November 30, 2015, we voiced our opposition to restrictions on the timing, placement, amount, and method of baiting for the purposes of black bear hunting. However, we also stated that many of the hunters that we spoke to were willing to accept spatial buffers of a reasonable size around specified features. At the time, the government did not provide any detail about what features would be buffered or the size of buffers under consideration. When it became clear that the government was imposing unnecessarily large buffers around features (some of which are very difficult to define), hunter support declined substantially.

The current spatial restrictions have significantly reduced the amount of area in which hunters can legally bait for bears. This is particularly noticeable in southern Ontario where the density of roads, trails, and buildings make it difficult to find an area to bait for bears. They have also imposed unnecessary burdens on tourist outfitters and created difficulty for northern Ontario hunters due to the uncertainty about what constitutes a ‘right of way for public vehicular traffic’.

To date, we have never been provided evidence to support the need for any spatial restrictions or an evaluation of their utility. However, for the purposes of this proposal, the OFAH supports reducing the buffer to 30 metres from rights of way and maintained trails but we also recommend reducing the buffer around public buildings and dwellings from 500m to 100m.

Thank you for considering these comments. We look forward to future discussions about the permanent return of the spring bear hunt.

Mark Ryckman
Manager of Policy