Night hunting enforcement indicates some hunters are still ignoring regulations after Manitoba’s new Wildlife Amendment Act came into force on October 10, 2020.
Manitoba Conservation officers conducted a night hunting enforcement operation that saw nine warnings issued and four people facing charges.
Officers say that in the early morning hours of October 13 a vehicle was seen by aerial surveillance turning onto a non-maintained road on Crown land west of Bissett. Officers stopped the vehicle as it exited the road and issued warnings to three hunters for hunting at night near a built-up area.
On the same morning another vehicle was seen using a spotlight in the bush in Red Deer Provincial Forest near Lac du Bonnet. Aerial surveillance directed officers to the vehicle and a stop was made. Three hunters were issued warnings for hunting at night without a permit.
A third vehicle was stopped in Nopiming Provincial Park after the occupants were seen calling for moose and using a spotlight along Provincial Road 314 near Cat Lake. Four people will appear in court for night hunting and hunting inside a moose closure zone. Officers seized a 2019 Dodge Ram Truck, two rifles, spotlights and other hunting equipment.
On the day the new legislation came into force officers stopped three hunters in a moose closure zone near Swan River. No animals had been taken so officers issued the hunters warnings. The hunters told officers that they were told they could hunt moose in the PorcupineMountains.
Under the new legislation rights-based hunting is permitted on some crown land. In northern Manitoba, Indigenous hunters may hunt on Crown land but night hunting is not permitted near occupied sites and roadways for safety reasons. In southern Manitoba is banned except with a permit that allows rights-based hunting on crown land subject to terms and conditions that establish where it can be done safely.
© News4.ca 2020
