If you hunt black bear during the spring, the season opens tomorrow.
From May 1st to June 15th, the spring black bear hunting season opens in Haliburton. But the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry wants you to remember the laws around hunting bears. Senior Media Relations Spokesperson Jolanta Kowalski says there are laws around what types of bears you can hunt.
Kowalski says the limits are in place to monitor the bear population and make sure it stays healthy in Ontario.
Kowalski says hunters need to report their activity to the MNRF to help keep track of the population. She reminds you that black bears are large, fast predators that have great senses of smell, so it’s important to make sure that you pick your shot and stay safe while doing it.
The spring bear hunt was reintroduced as a pilot project in Ontario in 2016, after being banned for nearly two decades. The goal is to assess human-bear conflicts and to support economic growth and tourism. According to Kowalski, it’s hard to say if the MNRF has seen any progress just yet. She says the MNRF will have extremely good data by the time the pilot is wrapped up in 2020.
With files from Andreas Pandikiu.Â