It's hunting season in Ontario: 6 injuries!

Deer-hunting season comes with self-inflicted hazards

UPDATE: We're up to 6 injuries in Southeastern Ontario!
It's better than the 'good old days!'  In the 1960s there were more than 100 incidents a year. By the 70s, there were 16 people that died. Now, there is better training. These days, we can expect about 10 incidents per year.

• All ages get hurt, it seems. A 75-year-old in North Glengarry Township.
• A 23-year-old in North Grenville.
• A 59-year-old outside Smiths Falls.

On their way, via boat,
to hunt on Crown Land.

A 22-year-old died last year. This year 6 men have had serious incidents.


Deer hunting season begins.
I've whined about the hunters near-by, since our property abuts one where they target shoot (for hours all day) and hunt sporadically, which isn't so bad. We have 16 acres, they have 35. I'll not go on about it. Sorry! For me, the noise is terrible.

I think it terribly sad that with the season just beginning, there have been 5 shooting incidents. (You cannot call them accidents. I figure it is a self-inflicted wound!) Basic safety says, keep you finger off the trigger, point it away from yourself, keep the safety on until you're ready!

Excellent grounds crew!

 Illegal hunting is the bane of landowners around the province, whether they hunt or not. Hunting violations are reported by the MNR. One neighbour, with 600 acres, finds hunters parking near their land, and off they go in, without permission. I understand the traditions of the 'sport', and further understand that many fill their freezers, especially in the north, whilst culling herds, but stupidity abounds. Disrespect for property and property owners, and pollution, exists on the land, water and in the air.

Man seriously injured in hunting accident in Madoc, Ont.
This incident involved a 59-year-old man on Weedmark road in Montague Township.
"Provincial police say officers were called to the scene in a wooded area north of Madoc on Monday after a man who was with a group of hunters accidentally shot himself."

target practice

The others took place in Tudor and Cashel Township, about 80 kilometers north of Belleville, and in Odessa. There were two who shot themselves in the hand, one on the torso.
Next: a Barrie report:
Since Monday, five people have been accidentally shot while hunting in Ontario – one incident was on Monday near Ottawa, and four people were shot yesterday including a 17-year-old near Peterborough, a man in Huron County and two people in Essa Township.
A North Glengarry man, 75, also sustained a gunshot injury when his shotgun accidentally discharged on Nov. 7. So far police have laid charges in only one of these cases – a teen from Essa has been charged with careless use of a firearm and that gun has been seized by police as part of the investigation.

Hunting Regs.
for 2013/2014

The Ministry of Natural Resources is asking for our help to curb illegal hunting. (Hunting Regs. for 2013/2014) Hunters are reminded they have to unload and encase firearms from a half hour after sunset to a half hour before sunrise. It is also illegal to possess a loaded firearm, or shoot a firearm in a vehicle. 

If you know of anyone partaking in any illegal hunting, which also includes hunting without a license, you’re asked to call your local police and report it. 1-888-310-1122 You’re also reminded that your report can be completely anonymous. To contact the Ontario MNR about hunting concerns or illegal hunting practices contact the MNR’s tip line: 1-877-TIPS-MNR (1-877-847-7667).
For hunting rules and regulations, visit mnr.gov.on.ca or ohep.net.
That ends my public service information!

Close race in Ontarios Conservative Carleton-Mississippi Mills

Locally, there is some fooferaw around the provincial Conservative nomination run in Carleton-Mississippi Mills riding. This is nearby-by, my Federal and Provincial riding is  Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington.

UPDATE: Jack MacLaren won the nomination. 
Candidate who toppled Norm Sterling is a ‘bully,’ PC riding president says.

Sterling won the 2007 election with an 8,350-vote margin over his Liberal opponent. MacLaren’s Landowners endorsed the Green candidate in that race.
The race itself was interesting...


Sterling candidacy given boost by Harris

Jack MacLaren & Norm Sterling

Veteran Ontario Conservative MPP Norm Sterling has gained a celebrity endorsement in...written to party faithful supporting Sterling, who served as a cabinet minister and...Norm's experience and dedication." Sterling, a 34-year legislator, is facing...

Dear old former Conservative leader Mike Harris has written to party faithful, recommending Norm Sterling to the nomination. 

Not to be outdone, MacLaren's homies did the same!

 MacLaren's web page says they are in a dead heat (1200 - 1200!)

He tweets:

jackmaclaren1 Jack MacLaren 

Two Days Away From a Day of Change: There are only a couple of days left before the big day, and our meeting at ... http://bit.ly/eVG0tr

Sterling, is facing a nomination challenge from a former leader of a libertarian rural rights group, Jack MacLaren.

MacLaren is being supported by our Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington very right wing MPP Randy Hillier (AKA "Nanny Randy" "The Nanny State and You" - Randy Hillier speaks at Queen's!), as well as his buddy MP Scott Reid. Reid wrote a letter to a national newspaper following accusations that Hillier and Reid have a 'very narrow and right wing agenda.' (How'd they vote?) Ya think?

Maclaren, "Small government, lower taxes, fewer regulations."

Both want to embed property rights in the Charter:

Constitutional First for Ontario: Scott Reid and Randy Hillier Seek to Amend Charter of Rights and Freedoms

concrete, bricks dumped

 THis is the place where landowners decry MNR laws, complain about the government that they want to back off. The signage is almost frightening. I have written previously about how Muskoka's Georgian Bay was decimated by loggers who clear cut, destroyed fishing and spawning habitat. Canada has a long history of exploiting the land. Rather than fewer oversights, land protection laws, we need more to watch what is going on now. 

You only have to read the terrible stories of hunters violating the migratory birds act in this part of Ontario. 

Ghosts from the Day - Part 2

Jan 10, 2010

A royal commission in 1898 found that Georgian Bay fishermen were using undersized nets, and exceeding the number of permitted nets. They estimated that more than 2000 nest were strung in the Bay. This combined with effluent pollution by lumber barons created ghost towns...

I firmly believe we need laws to protect the land. Financial penalties, some complain, are ravaging some landowners, and they may or may not be justified, but clear cutting, pollution, and other environmental issues must take precedence over the right of a landowner to do anything s/he want to the land.

Hillier writes:

The Rural Economy, Caught in the Line of Fire

The hypocrisy is clear; unnecessary legislation intended to protect society and the environment remove good stewards from the land, and shatters the cornerstones of democracy. Freedom and democracy, once cultivated in the countryside, are being culled from society in the nets of red tape; and independence, prosperity, and self-reliance suffocate as the rural economy and lifestyle becomes extinct for the “public good.”

Hillier also proposes that the government supports for-profit long-term care centres:

Long term care facilities need government support to meet new requirements

It is fearful for me, since this group of men oppose controls of land, land use, how and where producers sell goods, yet these policies protect us. Not only this, but it is in our taxes that we find the resources to ensure that food has high standards, that services are available to us, our garbage collected, water use controlled, land use is protected.

As well as Reid and Hillier oppose same-sex marriage. Hillier's post says, 

Dangerous Precedent Set with Same-Sex Marriage RulingThe separation of church and state is crucial, to my mind. I fear what Harper's rise to power has done to this country. Harper, a former Alliance mover and shaker from out west, has brought his policies to Ontario. They are gaining momentum, as they would wish to return to an old-style Canada of a previous era. In the past people in same sex marriages must move to the cities for the respect, and anonymity, a big city accords them. Issues such as homelessness, poverty, are growing as society changes. Small town Ontario is becoming an increasingly difficult place to live as modern life bears down on us. With transportation becoming easier, many citiots can make visits here, as well. Hunting violations are scary. The speed of traffic, wild animals dying and bleeding on the road, as monuments to humanity's intrusion into nature break one's heart. Sterling's spat with Hillier reignites A fight within Ontario Conservative party ranks flared up again this week after an e-mail revealed links between a renegade candidate and a sitting MPP. Environment Canada Reports Violations Ontario Northland Transportation Commission Fined $60,000 for Violation of Fisheries Act NORTH BAY, Ont. -- March 2, 2011 -- Ontario Northland Transportation Commission pleaded guilty yesterday to one charge of depositing a deleterious substance into fish‑bearing waters in contravention of the Fisheries Act. Stratford Area Man Convicted of Killing Swan and Destroying Eggs STRATFORD, Ont. -- January 11, 2011 -- Luke Van Nes of Perth South, Ontario, was sentenced on January 10, 2011, in the Ontario Court of Justice in Stratford, to a fine of $1,000 to be made payable to the Environmental Damages Fund. U.S. Hunter Charged With Violations While Hunting Waterfowl EDMONTON, Alb. -- January 31, 2011 -- On January 27, 2011, Environment Canada laid 10 charges against Jeffrey Foiles, of Pleasant Hill, Illinois, under the Migratory Birds Convention Act,1994, and two charges under the Criminal Code.

Hunting blue jays?

Environment Canada - Enforcement - Athens Man Receives Fines An Athens, Ontario man was sentenced March 16 in the Ontario Court of Justice in Brockville, Ontario, to a fine of $855. Mr. James Kenneth Rogers pleaded guilty to two charges under the provincial Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act, 1997. As well, on February 25, 2011, in Brockville, Rogers also pleaded guilty and was fined $1,050 for violations under the federal Migratory Birds Convention Act, 1994. In addition to the $1,905 in fine, Rogers is subject to a one-year prohibition against hunting migratory birds.

- for Violations Under The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act, 1997 and Migratory Birds Convention Act, 1994

Links to the Migratory Birds Conventions Act, 1994 and related regulations'

• Migratory Birds Convention Act, 1994 ( 1994, c. 22 )
• Migratory Bird Sanctuary Regulations
• Migratory Birds Regulations
• Migratory Birds Hunting Regulations 2009 (Summaries)

Other Links

• Migratory Bird Sanctuaries
• National Wildlife Areas
• Protocol Between The Government of Canada and The Government of The United States of America Amending The 1916 Convention Between The United Kingdom and United States of America for the Protection of Migratory Birds in Canada and The United States (signed the 14th of December, 1995)