Feature Article November 4, 2004
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Hunting opportunities vary in Eastern Ontarioby Jeff Green
Some things about the annual two-week rifle hunt for deer in Eastern Ontario havent changed in a generation. Orange-hatted hunters have set up their camps with provisions; rifles have been cleaned and oiled; and it is quite a bit quieter than normal in the halls of the local high schools. Families gather together and head into the bush, rekindling a tradition that has been practised on the land for longer than anyone can remember.
In other ways the hunt has changed quite a bit. Several years ago, the Ministry of Natural Resources, in a bid to preserve the deer population, initiated a lottery system. Individuals who purchased a deer license were entitled to hunt for a buck, and if they requested it their number was entered into a lottery for a doe license. This system was designed to maintain and increase the deer population.
In the past few years the population has thrived, and the concern about so-called nuisance deer, which have been responsible for significant crop damage in some areas, have led to calls for deer culls in agricultural pockets of the region. In isolated cases kill permits have been issued by the MNR for landowners.
According to Ed Reid, a biologist with the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (OFAH), If the provincial government had started issuing more deer seals we wouldnt have seen this problem.
The MNR divides up the province into Wildlife Management Units (WMUs) and sets quotas for antlerless tags in each of the units. In Eastern Ontario, from Road 38 east and north to Renfrew, including most of North Frontenac and Addington Highlands, all of the WMUs are managed by the MNRs Kemptville offfice.
This year all of the units within the Kemptville range have a policy of 100% antlerless tags; there is no lottery. As well, in select units, individuals are able to purchase multiple deer seals, so single hunters can kill up to 6 animals if they want to buy that many seals. They can hunt with rifles for two weeks, and until the end of November using crossbow.
I dont mind saying it, Ed Reid said, but the Kemptville office of the MNR was being pretty conservative in earlier years, but theyve come around now, and weve seen a large increase in hunting opportunities.
The OFAH takes the position that sport hunting is the most effective way of managing the deer population, enhancing a socially important activity in the province and providing tourism opportunities as well, said OFAH communications officer Robert Pye.
The increased hunting opportunities do not extend west of Road 38, however. In management unit 62, which is bordered on its north-eastern edge by Roads 38 and 509 and extends west to Tweed, there was a quota of 800 antlerless seals in 2003, which were split among 2500 applicants, giving hunters a 31% chance of obtaining an antlerless seal. For unit 68b, which has its eastern border at Hwy. 41, a quota of 400 antlerless tags were shared by 1202 applicants, giving a 33% chance, and unit 61, which takes in Portland district and Lennox and Addington County to the west of Road 38, there was a quota of 1800 antlerless tags for 3842 applicants, a 46% chance. There is a policy of one deer seal per hunter in each of these units.
According to Christie Curley, a biologist with the Kemptville area office of the MNR, All the deer quotas throughout the province are set using the same system. We look at the harvest in the previous year, the predation rates, among other factors, and then we set the quota. As to why the quotas are lower in other regions, it probably has something to do with the geography of the areas.
According to Monique Pidgeon, a biologist with the Kingston office of the MNR, The target population for deer is 6 per square kilometre; that is what we consider sustainable. When we set the quota for antlerless tags we look at the results from the previous hunt, and at nuisance deer, calls about accidents and crop damage.
She added that she had not heard a lot from unit 62 as far as nuisance deer or accidents are concerned, but the quota for antlerless tags has been raised from 800 last year to 1000 this year.
