I have owned property in…

I have owned property in Ontario for 17 years and started bear hunting about 14 years ago. It is one of the main reasons I purchased property in Ontario and it has been a family tradition to engage of all aspects of the hunt with my family. I highly oppose the changes to keep non residents from doing there own hunt. I would like to list some points that probably overlooked in the recommendation.

1. its a family tradition that my wife and child always get involved in the baiting and hunting part each year. We have 2 properties so we both can draw a tag to hunt.

2. Over the last 14 years I have brought in 20-30 other hunters who hunt with my neighbor who is a resident and has a BMA. Most of these people come back every year or every other year. he provides hunts to these customers and it helps him earn a living and run a business. He does not advertise ot attend shows but is pretty full almost every year.

3. My family is far more selective on the bears we shoot than hunters who just come up to shoot a bear. Each year we pass many bears and only pursue trophy animals. Most years my family will harvest on of the largest bears at camp even though there are many other hunters that come to hunt in his BMA. This will become much more difficult as my local outfitter does not bait the same way as me and does not put the time into the process as I do as its just a job for him.

4.There is no shortage of bears in our area so we are not hurting the population and always try to maintain to harvest the mature bears. There are only 3 hunters in our area and the baits are spread out as well. In fact only one local Canadian hunts bears in our area as most Canadians are not interested in bear hunting.

5. We do not hunt in his BMA. Our baits are many miles apart so rarely are we pursuing the same bears.

6.Each year I help my local bear guide with the BMA locate bait for his upcoming season since I have many connections in the states for good bear bait. This has happened for many years!

7. This is meat that my family lives on and we consume the meat for many of our meals. If we would hunt through the outfitter this becomes much harder and we will end up having to take smaller bears.

The other parts of the new initiative I don't have any issues with but we would like to remain with the possibility of hunting on our own and letting non resident property owners continue this great tradition.