March 20, 2005
The Northwestern Ontario Sportsmen's Alliance is no fan of changes to the wolf hunting season in Northern Ontario. "(The changes) do more to decrease the overall quality of wildlife management in the province," president John Kaplanis said Friday.

Beginning this year, the Ministry of Natural Resources will close the hunting and trapping season for wolves from April 1 to Sept. 14 in central and Northern Ontario. The restrictions also apply to coyotes due to the difficulty in distinguishing between the two species in the wild, the ministry said. The coyote season in southern Ontario remains open all year. Kaplanis said the "trend" to protect large predator populations like wolves and bears will do nothing to enhance the region's moose population and will only serve to cut into limited funding for other wildlife management.

"If anything, more should be done to promote the hunting and trapping of wolves as is currently being done in Alaska in order to provide an overall balance between the predator populations and large ungulates like moose and deer," he said. While Northwest outfitters do book some U.S. tourists for wolf hunts, it's not known how many local people hunt the animals.

"We really don't know how many (Ontario residents) hunt wolves," MNR spokesman Steve Payne said, adding that there's not a lot of data on wolf hunting. "We consider it opportunistic hunting," where hunters may shoot an animal if they come across it, Payne said. That is why mandatory reporting of wolf kills is one of the things being considered under the province's new wolf conservation strategy, he said.

Resident hunters can currently hunt wolves under a small game licence. Meanwhile, tourist outfitters are also howling about the season changes. Walter Fleming, owner of Fleming's Black Bear Camp in Jellicoe, maintains that the lack of a spring wolf hunt and increased predation will eventually impact moose and caribou populations. "This is a dangerous animal," he said.

Chris Lavoie, owner of Pine Acres Camp in Vermilion Bay, has said the wolf hunting season changes will hurt area tourism. He maintains the changes will "push away the American tourist trade." The spring wolf hunt is not the only activity being affected, Lavoie said, explaining that a major selling point of the September hunt was that U.S. hunters could hunt for wolf as well as black bear. "People who want to do a wolf and bear hunt in early September, can't now. We're going to lose hunters," he said. He said the cost of a wolf hunting licence for non-residents is also jumping "drastically" from $87.50 to $337.50. He said Ontario hunters will pay $10 more for a wolf licence. Kaplanis went on to predict that the "political expediency" of the wolf hunt changes will lead "to the next chapter in this story which will no doubt see (environmentalist) groups teaming up to push for an all out closure of wolf hunting and trapping provincewide."

The wolf hunting changes have been endorsed by some environmental and conservation groups including the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters. MNR staff continue to review public input on other proposals including developing and implementing a research and monitoring program for wolves; a requirement that wolf and coyote hunters purchase special game seals; and whether hunters and farmers who kill wolves or coyotes in defense of property should be required to report their harvest.

Ontario's wolf population has been pegged at between 8,000 and 10,000.