Bird dogs play an important…

Bird dogs play an important role in upland hunting, and having a well-trained dog is key to hunter success which provides several safety and environmental benefits.

Since 1997, half of the training grounds used by dog handlers has been lost which reduces training opportunities and results in less effective bird dogs.

Hunters who use dogs do not shoot birds off the ground which improves both safety for dogs, other trail users and also gives birds a fair opportunity to escape ("fair chase").

Use of well trained bird dogs also has several positive environmental impacts: It greatly improves the chances of recovering a wounded or dead bird which will count towards a hunters bag limit. It also helps hone a dogs instinct to point vs catching and killing a possibly unlimited number of birds themselves, instead allowing the hunter to shoot the bird and count that towards his or her bag limit.

Finally, while I'm not aware if this happens in Ontario yet, there are several jurisdictions in the US where trained bird dogs are used for field research to band birds to gather conservation data. Having a well trained dog is absolutely crucial during conducting field research on ground nesting birds to ensure that it doesn't kill vulnerable nesting chicks. See attached links.

Thank you for taking the time to consider my comments.