Dear sir:
The Ministry of Natural Resources is proposing to issue a second deer tag for hunters this fall, with the change in regulation slated to be posted on the Environment Bill of Rights in early February.
Earlier, the MNR had stated the snow depth cracked the 50-cm (20-inch) mark at its measuring station at Arbor Vitae on Jan. 26, which the ministry says is deep enough for the deer to begin having mobility problems.
With the groundhog supposedly predicting six more weeks of winter last Monday (Feb. 2), the 50-cm mark almost certainly will increase to a level of severe mortality rate when the thawing/freezing situation rolls around that I wrote about in my letter last week.
So before deciding on a second deer tag, the ministry should wait until the deep snow crisis subsidies, which is roughly around the first week of April.
As I also mentioned last week, the local snowmobile club could get back on track by using the trails they’ve created for pleasure and instead put them to good use to help deer survive the crisis that’s sure to come.
This could be done by promoting this for a government grant, sponsorship by private business, and the help from the ministry, the Fort Frances Sportsmen’s Club, and the snowmobile clubs throughout the region to put it together utilizing the trails to put out bales of hay at deer populated points.
They will need this to keep the mortality rate down to a respectable level.
Let’s not wait for it to happen, otherwise there will be no need for a second deer tag but instead a reduction on regulations to restore them back again to a normal situation.
It seems we wait until it’s too late, then react on a building process as necessary to restore what is lost.
Sincerely,
Michael J. Baranowski
Nestor Falls, Ont.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
