In the Beginning Part III - Now What?

All right. You are now an eager...soon to be hunter. You sally forth to go buy your license that will get you out in the field, and are confronted with the bureaucratic nightmare that is the rules, and regs, as well as the inevitable choices of what to hunt and where.

Let's just start off with the Licensing part, shall we?

As a successful hunter safety graduate, you now can walk into any place to purchase the applicable hunting licenses for your quarry. These are usually outdoor stores, sporting goods retailers, and in the case of Ontario, you can also purchase all licenses at ServiceOntario branches. Typically there is a card fee, and you then add licenses to it.

Most are self explanatory, but as a bit of an overview.

Deer: This will provide you with a license to hunt a buck ( antlered), permits to hunt antlerless ( does) are available on a lottery system for the different WMUs across the province.

Moose: This will provide you with a tag to hunt a calf. Tags for Bull / Cow are available through the lottery system.

Bear: This will give you a tag to harvest either male or female black bear. There are very specific WMUs that allow hunting for black bear. Please do verify with the regs as to where you are looking at hunting.

Elk: There in fact is an introduced elk population in ON. There are tags available via lottery for them.

Turkey: There are two seasons for Turkey in ON, Spring and Fall, one license for each. Turkey also has it's own education component, which needs to be completed before being able to purchase tags.

Small Game: This will likely be the first license that a new hunter will aquire. With it the hunter can take a variety of game birds ( pheasant, grouse, quail, partridge, etc), as well as smaller mammals such as rabbit, raccoon, fox, coyote, wolf, and squirrel. It is also the base hunting license that other Federal Permits require.

Migratory Wildfowl: This is the one permit that cannot be purchased at the local license seller. As Migratory birds not only cross provincial boundaries, but national ones, it falls under Federal jurisdiction. The "Duck Stamp" as it is customarily known is sold in the one Federal presence that exists in every small town from coast to coast......the post office.



This is a strict overview only. There are several nuances, and regs that must be reviewed, but this should provide a general point of reference for the licensing system.

Now you're licensed. Where?

Well, as mentioned in an earlier entry, technology can be your friend. There are lots of online presences like hunting and outdoor forums which not only are valuable sources of information, but also as social hubs where new(er) hunters can make some connections.

Find a mentor. You'd be surprised at how many people hunt. Conversations around the subject will no doubt reveal a few potential hunting partners / mentors.



There is always of course the tried and true, joining a gun or sportsmens club, however these are often expensive, and quite often have a very long waiting list.

You can always also go it solo. Many varieties of small game require little except just getting out there. Living in ON, there are vast tracts of Crown Land which are not only free to hunt, but plentiful in game opportunities. A quick scan online of areas,and overlaying them with topographic maps can often develop into excellent, and closely guarded "hunting spots" which you may find yourself mentoring other hunters in, in years to come.

Hunting, like many pastimes ( obsessions) is not an instant gratification activity. The effort spent in cultivating partners, areas, and a community is far greater reward than the act of simply taking game. "If I wanted meat...I'd just go to the store" is an adage many hunters use to describe the experience. The amount of effort put in, results in exponential benefits taken out.

Enough reading...go shooting.

Cecil the Lion

Cecil the Lion

An op-ed piece for those who feel they have a valid opinion on the subject of big game hunting on the continent of Africa.

1. Do not take 1st world views and values and place them in the 3rd world and expect your moral outrage to mean anything. Unless you've been boots on the ground in Africa, and have seen firsthand the imbalance between the money a country spends ( or doesn't) on it's people, and what hunting brings in, and directly assists, just shut up...period...full stop.

2. The amount of money that hunters bring to regions devastated by poverty, outstrips any and all funding that is funneled through animal rights and conservation groups. How much did PETA spend in Africa last year? ZERO. How much did PETA spend on marketing, and photo-shopping ads and marketing pieces in support of their views? MILLIONS. Each hunter that lands in a region contributes $15-20K directly through license fees, this is not including any accommodation expenses, direct compensation to local businesses, nor the fact that many Africans can not afford to hunt, yet foreign hunters are compelled to donate the meat and products from game animals for local consumption.

3. The world is not Walt Disney. Animals do not have names. That is a North American affectation that we place on them. It personalizes, and humanizes that which is not. The lion in question was just that....a wild lion. Not endangered, as some would attest, not a local favorite, as many would assert. Simply a wild lion. Collared...yes, and off limits as he was part of a study, yes.

4. Lions are not endangered. In fact, in many African countries their deaths bring joy to villages that live near their populations. There are many African people who know at least one person with a lion attack story....many do not end well. No one living in Africa is weeping for the death of this lion, except those few who have seen an opportunity to exploit North American guilt.

5. The fault is not with the Dentist who made the shot. He arrowed the lion, then as part of an ethical hunt, spent a very long period of time tracking his quarry. He did so under direction of his guide. The fault lies with the guide, not the hunter. The rules in many countries for foreign hunters are expressly that a hunter must use a professional guide, so that all rules and regs are adhered to. In this case, the guide erred, but why villianize a poor native Zimbabwean, when the world press can crucify a white American dentist.

6. There has been much discussed about the head and cape that was taken. Well folks, in the hunting world, if you wish to have a mount done be it moose, deer, bear, or any other game animal, you take the head and cape, which the taxidermist then uses.

7. As reprehensible, and offensive as some may find the act of hunting on safari, or taking trophys. The fact remains that it actually has done more for wildlife population controls, and in fact improvements, than any other group on this Earth. When a value has been placed on licenses and tags, the governments of those nations also put a focus on population protection, and preservation. This includes the prosecution of poachers.

If you take issue with any of these arguments, that's fine. Do the world a favour, shut up, and get off your wallet and do something about it....talk is cheap, so is your moral outrage at non-facts as reported by the media.