Knee-jerk reaction?

Dear editor:
Please accept this open letter to Natural Resources and Forestry minister Bill Mauro.
Dear sir:
It was with sadness that I witnessed the latest attempt to address serious concerns regarding our Ontario moose herd. I am perplexed, not only by this apparent first step, but by the continued disregard for the seriousness of the problem.
I will start by addressing your first step—another attempt to change how moose are legally hunted.
I wrote in response to the EBR in February of this year, but it would appear that the request for public response was lip gloss as it did not reasonably give time to absorb, much less respond to, presented concerns.
I said then and repeat, without prejudice or malice, that the changed regulation of calf hunting shortened to two weeks’ duration will hit the residents of Northern Ontario hardest. For us, hunting is not a one- or two-week vacation but an integral part of our recreation and fall life experience.
This effectively will reduce that recreation from nine-and-a-half weeks to two weeks for the vast majority who are satisfied to purchase a calf tag so they can at least participate.
I’m unable to find statistics on the actual calf harvest, but I think it safe to assume that it is minuscule when compared to the overall picture.
On the topic of the calf hunt, if the concern within your ministry is so great, why are we not implementing an outright ban? I contend it is merely for the money.
We are expected to purchase a licence every year, then be allowed to hunt calves during a time when we all recognize the “quiet time” when moose are most evident by their absence.
This ends the social aspect of my concern.
Has any thought been given to licensing methods such as Alberta uses, where you don’t purchase your licence up front in hopes you might be fortunate enough to get a tag.
Instead, for an administrative fee only, you submit your name for the draw. If successful, only then do you purchase a licence. If unsuccessful, you are added to an escalating pool for the next season’s draw.
We have the privilege in Ontario of only two pools—‘A’ (preferred and only if you purchase a licence every year) or ‘B’ (base pool with no chance in the current draw but the guarantee of being promoted to Pool ‘A’ if you purchase a licence again next year).
It really does seem to me to be all about the money.
Back in the 1980s, Ontario adopted some highly-successful Scandinavian models for moose management. Finland, Sweden, and Norway had experienced similar dismal herd numbers earlier but since the 1960s were showing dramatic increases.
When we chose to emulate these management concepts in 1984 (open hunting for calves with draw for adult moose), calves were up to 40 percent of Scandinavian harvest.
Apparently, their successful strategies continue today, some even too well, with moose herds causing farm and forest damage.
What went wrong in Ontario? What is different here? Why are we not paying closer attention to similar “successful” systems instead of reinventing the wheel yet again.
Whatever happened to species management by Wildlife Management Unit (WMU)? It was said to be a cornerstone of how we do business for the biologic benefit of both our resources and recreationists—your customers and partners.
This year, we are slapped with a 15 percent tag reduction across the board when some WMUs actually are showing increases and stability in herd numbers. What are we doing? Are we truly managing the resource or is this merely a knee-jerk reaction?
My last point is simply this—in this day and age, we live and die by statistics. If you can’t count, you cannot manage.
Until we admit to our past mistakes and statistical shortcomings, by aggressively addressing wolf and bear predation, and actively encouraging the participation of aboriginals and Métis, the slope only will get steeper and more slippery.
It is too late to fix the 2015 hunt. But please, forget the politics of moose management and put some real muscle into scientific efficacy.
Respectfully,
David O’Dell, RR3,
Fort Frances, Ont.
Proud but
highly-disappointed
hunter and
conservationist