Spring Black Bear Hunting In Ontario

Well finally the Ministry of Natural Resources has come to their senses. It only took an overwhelming number of human/bear conflicts, cottages being broken into, who knows how many calf moose being predated before they woke up. We own 500 acres in northern Ontario, 30 years ago we never saw bears nor did we see any sign of bears. They were there just not the numbers we currently have. Our moose population was very healthy but gradually over 20 years that population has dropped off also, lots of cows and bulls but not that many calves. In order to manage populations of wildlife, you first need to have accurate information on populations, and you also need to realize what is adversely impacting those populations. I might also add that the decline in moose population is not directly linked to hunting as being successful for an adult tag is virtually impossible. So the ministry continues to issue calf tags, in order to continue to collect revenue. This on top of black bear predation on moose calves leaves minimal success of calf moose to reach adulthood. Lets hope that better management of our natural resources starts to occur in the near future.