ORIGINAL: hardcorehunter
ORIGINAL: _Dan
ORIGINAL: hardcorehunter
They took away the spring hunts and still have the fall. I am sure it hurt some economies in little towns up there. Mothers fresh out of the den with mommy possibly getting shot and leaving the cubs behind has a lot of sympathy from hunters too.I am speaking about America, not Canada.Canadiansrolled over and gave up their handgun rights too. I am not Canadian and can't answer why they do what they do up there. From what I have heard this about to be reversed because the ON bear pops are too high. To be honest, Canadians don't bear hunt and there may have not been enough pressure from Americans to keep the spring bear hunt open. I have bear hunted 7 times and only one was in the spring. Miserable hunt because of the black flies, ticks, and mosquitos. I would never hunt in the spring in ON if I could for bear.
I'll kinda jump off topic for a sec.....
The likelyhood of a sow with cubs getting killed is almost 0%. The cubs are usually the first to the bait or are next to the sow. It was purely sentimental and not factual. As far as hurting "some" economies "up there," it nearly put a lot of resorts out of business. Some people had to sell thier camps. Also, as far as the spring season coming back, don't hold your breath. I am a resort owner and bear guide and I would be shocked if it did come back.
Carry on.........
I totally agree. Do you agree with the fact that Canadians don't bearhunt and that very few people ina community actually guide for bears and that in order for bear hunting to stay open in the spring you have to have people that are interseted in it besides the outfitters. I have also seen inexperienced cityguys with gunsin my fall bear camps shoot cubs or sows with cubs. It always disgusted me and I wouldn't call theseguys hunters. How one can mis judge a cub for a shootable bear is beyond me. This one guy in a MN camp brought in a cub that couldn't have weighedmore than25 lbs. The bear guide told him to never come back.I wish you the best in your camps and hope you guys can bear hunt the springs again if this is what is wanted.
I agree 100% that very few Canadians bear hunt. The revenue lost in NW Ontario as a whole is a lot more than what you may think. The closing of the spring hunt hurt a lot more people than just the guides and outfitters. The people that it didn't hurt are those from Southern Ontario. Sadly, those are the same people who are making the laws and buy into all the sentimental BS about sows with cubs.
As for the people you witnessed shooting sows with cubs, that is illegal and was done knowingly. I would boot anyone like that out of my camp in a heartbeat. May I note that your comparison to them orphaning cubs with what happened in Ontario is different. The Ontario season closure was based on the idea that large numbers of cubs were orphaned unknowingly, not because it was thought guys were doing it on purpose.
On a side note....The closing of the spring season did not affect me, I bought my camp in 2002, 3 years after the season had been closed. Personally, the only reason I would like to see it come back is for the other resort owners. I can make just as much on fall hunts as spring hunts, plus I have more time to do it and provide a quality hunt in the fall.