I live in Whitestone…

I live in Whitestone township north east of Parry Sound. The area where I live has had a trial spring bear hunt for the past few years.
I spend a lot of time in the bush in this area and I can tell you that the bear population is definitely in a major decline. I am seeing very few bear signs in the bush and the local dump may have one or two bear visitors in the summer where it used to have several. I’m not sure who’s informing you about bear numbers. Between the fall hunt and the proposed spring “hunt” there are a total of about four and a half months to kill bears. What other game animal has that length of season? Climate change and winter flooding of dens is a major concern for denning mothers and cubs, not to mention people who vilify bears and shoot them if they deem them a nuisance. This proposal is about money and not about sustainability. Please rethink your ideas regarding bears and hunting them when they are in a starvation state coming out of dens in the spring. Thank you.