To give you a sense of how bad things have gotten in the woods of eastern ON and western QC, I have spent the last two weeks worrying that the white-tailed deer season where I hunt back home would be closed completely this year.
It was one scary thought, let me tell you!
A hunting buddy from QC’s Laurentians called me up explaining that the rumour was the Ministry had plans to close Zone 9 completely this year – an area we have hunted for the past 30 years!
Could this be possible, I thought? The last time the deer season was closed up north was back in the mid-1970’s when deer numbers were extremely low, but apparently that is where we are today.
In much of the Outaouais-region and the Laurentians, deer harvest numbers have plummeted by 50% and more over the past two seasons. Even parts of the Outaouais which had enjoyed very high deer densities since the early 1990’s has seen a drop in numbers and possible season changes.
I certainly breathed a sigh of relief this am when a message arrived from wildlife biologist Monique Boulet. She explained that our Zone would, in fact, be open for hunting this year, but that the season would be shortened by at least two days, and the antlerless deer tag draw would either be severely cut or removed altogether.
Deer seasons are being cut back in other parts of the province too like Gaspe, which has also seen huge number declines over the past two years.
My feeling is we will see more of this for eastern ON as well..as Central Canada tries to rebuild the deer herd after two years of steep decline.
Outdoorsguy
I do not know if sunday gun hunting is allowed in your area but with them now closing two days early does that mean you will loose sat and sunday?? with that said mabey they should shorten the deer season by opening it on a wed instead of monday so as the MNR would say “give the working man more time to hunt ” but i would guess that they keep it the same and shorten it by taking out sat and sunday .
Actually Chessy, hunting has never been closed on Sundays in QC, as far as I know..so our rifle season this year will run over two weekends instead of 3(14 days instead of 16) which is no problem, as far as I’m concern.
Really when numbers are this far down, they probably should have the rifle season put down to just 1 week..as it was many years ago..
As far as extra tags go, when times get are tough don’t issue any!
Outdoorsguy
Isn’t it amazing how the hunters saw this coming,with the extreme deep snow and yet the MNR with all there (scientific data)and there ability to help and or educate the general public to the plight of the deer herds did nothing.The ignorant public just took the view of oh well (out of sight out of mind).In other words as long as i don’t have bamby dying on my front lawn all is good or as the animal rights would say(let nature take it’s course).The MNR had the knowledge and did nothing which makes them accomplasses in the crime of deliberatly allowing an animal to suffer,which i think is a crime by there own laws.Now if or purchase of licenses supports the mnr then it looks good on them if they can’t even put gas in there trucks.Now do you want me to tell you what i realy feel about the MNR.LOL
Ah man, it is one pickle for sure!
Paul, any idea what their(MNR) plans are where eastern ON is concerned?
Have they made any season or tag# changes for this year, as far as you know? It only makes sense that something should be done.
See where I hunt, they had just put together some fresh winter survey results..combined with harvest numbers from the past couple of years, so all indications were that a cutback was in order..as I’m sure it goes in ON, the Ministry cant and don’t do winter yard surveys for every WMU each and every year, so they must rely on stats which are not always that up-to-date..
Outdoorsguy
Oh I agree numbers are down. But in order to keep the “Money rolling in ” they will have to do something . Although I love the rifle season one week would be fine to me (second week of course) lol . With the number of guys hunting now it would be a little dicey in the woods for a spot to hunt. ( I hunt in Algoquin park) so this will not effect me but to other hunters it would be a nightmare. mabey we should keep the season the same but like you said one tag only per hunter ?
Paul I don’t understand the mnr did all it could. It put out extra tags and made nuisance permits easier to get. They wanted the numbers down. Some people and organizations were against allowing non-residents extended seasons, and made it publicly known that people were taking to many deer but where did that get us. With two hard winters lots of dead deer. It takes to many months possibly years to make dissensions on wildlife issues. When numbers are high we get the tail end of it (lots of tags) and then a huge crash. If we were allowed to take more deer when numbers “START” to climb we may be able to keep the numbers HIGH with out the huge crash.
I am not aware of any changes yet.I will talk to someone i know to get some info. Although it seemed to be a poor hunt last year for some, we did quite well. After seeing 29 deer all in one location in the open while on a walk a couple weeks ago i am not so sure this winter was that bad.They appeared to be in pretty good shape.I was not able to find any remains from the winter in the area of most activity.WMU’s 58-59-63 and further north had quite a bit more snow so it will be interesting to see if it translates into fewer tags and or shorter season.If the pic you displayed is from around your area, they would have had a brutal winter.If they depend on data obtained threw the surveys no wander we’re in the situation were in now.
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how it goes…
Actually, the buck in that photo was taken at Kenauk in Montebello…1.5 hours away and a much higher density area than my home woods in the Laurentians.
“If the pic you displayed is from around your area, they would have had a brutal winter.”
Paul, I’m not sure I get your meaning?
Outdoorsguy
I’m talking about the pic of the 2deer up to there neck in the snow trying to plow through.
Sorry man, guess Im a little snow..I mean slow today..hehe
This past winter should help in restoring the deer herd, but I think it takes a few years before a winter can make an effect.
At our camp last year in 58 we had a great year, we saw 31 deer which is close to double the average year but a lot of camps around us had poor years. There was a recent cut near our camp so I think that that drew a lot of deer to our area. It also drew a lot of moose
It is funny Iggy..I have heard so many gangs reporting the same..one camp does well, while the next one over has a terrible year!
I think 2 or 3 more winters like this and we should be back on track!
Outdoorsguy
I was talking to maple syrup guys from zone 10 this week and they were saying lots of deer in the fields now enjoying the new growth. They haven’t found any winter-kill yet, which is a good sign. Seems to be good survival. It’ll be interesting to see how the fawns do with the early spring. Should be seeing twins and triplets this summer as the does are pretty healthy.
Grant
Geez Grant, a trout expert and deer enthusiast..hehe..good to hear from you!
Yes, there will undoubtedly be a rebirth in the deer woods this spring, after such a favourable winter. The odd thing about Zone 10 is…there seems to be great regional disparities with regards to deer numbers and health of the herd..parts of Zone 10E closer to my neck of the woods is in quite bad shape, actually, while further west into the Zone..toward the Pontiac seems to be flourishing with deer with no signs of trouble following those two harsh winters.
Mmmm…maple syrup…I just bought a gallon of that sweet stuff my father made this spring at the Science School he used to manage back home near Tremblant..it truly is nectar of the Gods!
Regards
Outdoorsguy
P.S. I can’t wait to see twins and triplets in my back field..I’ll have my camera at the ready!