'Tis the season for Ontarians to become familiar with hunting regulations in the outdoor areas we frequent.
MNR has posted a new web page to make it a *little* less cumbersome for non-hunters to find out when legal hunting takes place in different parts of the province. Note that the province is divided into many small "wildlife management units" with different seasons so you need to check the maps carefully.
In Caledon, we've got deer bow hunting season from this week until the end of the year. Coyotes and skunks can be hunted legally at any time. Turkey, pheasant and raccoon seasons start next week. Certain local masters athletes will be interested to know that squirrel season opened last week; note the maximum of 5 squirrels per day.
This web page tells you "when" and "which animals" but the more difficult question is *where* hunting may occur. For example, we live beside a large piece of conservation land where hunting is illegal but one of our neighbours hunts deer there anyway. Next to that is private land where we have permission to use the trails but the landowners invite deer hunters in. We spend more time on the conservation land at this time of year, and we wear bright colours and put orange hunting vests on our dogs when we have reason for concern. If we had kids, we probably wouldn't take them to some of these places.
There are many places in Ontario where bullets can whiz legally across the Bruce Trail and other trails that pass through private land. In the Milton/Georgetown area (e.g. the land north of Hilton Falls where many of us have orienteered), there is a gun hunting season for deer from Nov. 5-9 and bow hunting from October to December. Warning signs are rarely posted, It's our responsibility to know about this; it's not anyone's responsibility to tell us.
A few kilometers away from us
in Simcoe County, much of the public forest is multi-use including hunting. A hunter who shot and killed a grandmother hiking on a Simcoe Country trail several years ago
was acquitted because it could not be proven that he had broken any rules of hunting . Once again, it's up to us to find out where hunting is permitted so we can make an informed decision about whether to share the woods with people who can kill us without breaking any laws while pursuing their recreational pastime.