There will be no way to…

There will be no way to accurately control the moose population and issue the required amount of tags, regardless of the system developed, until the MNRF is given the stats for the number of moose taken each year by indigenous hunters. Licenced hunters are required to report their harvest or face a penalty. If band leaders were actually concerned about wildlife sustainability in this province, they would work together with the MNRF to provide accurate harvest stats each year. I know of a number of native and Metis hunters who take multiple numbers of moose each year because they "can" not because they "need" to. One hunter I know personally, and hunted with as part of a group for many years, was involved in the taking of 11 moose in the Cochrane area last fall. He hunts with non-status hunters and claims the moose kills as his own regardless of whether he shoots the moose or not. His actions are part of the reason we disbanded as a hunting group.

My wife hasn't had a tag in many years despite applying and paying for her licence each year. With this new system, she was able to pull an adult tag in the second draw in the spring. With the length of time left before moose season opens, there is no way to plan a hunt or actually know if you can go hunting, because life happens. With the proposed changes, she would lose her points, claiming the tag or not, even if we couldn't hunt due to health or family issues that arise after the tag is won. The past two years we have not claimed her adult tag due to those factors.

Losing her points because she is issued the tag, even if she didn't claim it is ridiculous.

We were not happy that our hunt didn't happen but we were pleased that she could keep her points total and apply again the following year. We are also pleased that we could help ensure that one adult moose did not get harvested both years and that we actually helped out the sustainability of the herd.

I know many hunters who have quit moose hunting in the past couple of years because of these misguided draw systems. Don't change the current draw system to take away points for an unclaimed tag unless you come up with a more common sense strategy to increase the herd population. In my opinion we are headed to an era where the only moose hunters will be indigenous hunters and the moose herd will have dwindled to an extremely low number.