bear

Northern Ontario outfitters having to turn away out-of-province hunters for the upcoming spring bear hunt are getting answers.

Many northern outfitters are outraged over being told too late of the cap on out-of-province hunters for the first spring bear hunt since 1999.  Ministry of Natural Resources & Forestry spokesperson, Jolanta Kowalski says the MNRF has been under pressure as well to get this out quickly.

“The legislation confirming a spring bear hunt was only confirmed eight weeks ago.  It was a bit of a challenge to get everything done in time for the spring hunt.”

Kowalski says outfitters shouldn’t be assuming they get a certain number of Black Bear Hunting License Validation Certificates, or form 33s.  She says there is another hunting season but it’s the population of bears is the same.

The MNRF was handing out certificates based on the outfitters’ numbers from last fall or base on a three-year average between 2012 and 2014.  Kowalski says there might be a way to received more form 33s in the future.

“Once we’ve got the data from last fall’s hunt and the preliminary data from next week, outfitters could get more form 33s.”