the MNR
The manager of a fishing lodge in Rainy River District has been fined a total of $2,250 for charges related to disobeying a sign and caching an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) in a conservation reserve.
Vincent Armstrong of Atikokan, manager of Tip Top Wilderness Lodge, a fly-in fishing resort on Sandford Lake north of Atikokan, was fined $1,750 for disobeying a posted sign.
He also was fined $250 each for caching an ATV in a conservation reserve and having an unauthorized licence plate on his ATV.
Court heard that last May 11, Armstrong towed his five-metre boat and motor along Anne Bay Road to Sandford Lake.
The next day, he towed his ATV along the same road to Sandford Lake.
He left the ATV in the Campus Lake Conservation Reserve and retrieved his boat trailer.
Ministry of Natural Resources’ conservation officers already had advised Armstrong on three separate occasions that he was not permitted to use the road, which is posted as restricted access to Sandford Lake.
His ATV was seized and will be returned once the fines are paid.
Justice of the Peace Pat Clysdale-Cornell heard the case March 16 in Atikokan.
Meanwhile, two Ontario residents were fined a total of $2,250 for charges related to illegal moose hunting.
Renee Poirier of Marathon was fined $1,000 for unlawfully hunting cow moose and $500 for failing to immediately attach a game seal to a harvested animal at the kill site.
Matthew Mootrey of Coronna was fined $500 for unlawfully hunting cow moose and $250 for failing to notify his hunting party that he had killed a moose.
Court heard that on Oct. 12, Poirier and Mootrey were part of a four-member moose hunting party on Camp 72 Road in Sandra Township.
The group had agreed to hunt for a cow moose together using Poirier’s adult game seal. Mootrey shot and killed a cow moose.
When he could not immediately contact Poirier to attach and notch her cow moose tag to the animal, he sent a member of his hunting party to look for her.
Poirier was found at Pasha Lake cabins, about 15.3 km away from the kill site.
As Poirier was not hunting at the time of the kill, and was more than five km from the kill site, the use of her game seal was not valid.
Justice of the Peace Ray Zuliani heard the case Feb. 7 in Nipigon.
