Can I carry a gun while bow hunting?

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Originally Posted by redd foxx

Agreed GW11. I was more meaning actually having the loaded gun in the vehicle and shooting from it in what I posted above.



Now above I posted the definition of hunting from the Act. Travelling in a vehicle on bush roads is a grey area in my opinion with regards to the way the law is written (never easy). In the first part, hunting includes searching for which lots of hunters do on bush roads. So if we are driving down the road looking for moose, deer, partridge or whatever with the intent to kill one....we are illegal by the letter of the law.

The bottom section allows us to use a vehicle to search for game as long as the intention is to not kill, capture, etc. A very fine line here.

Hopefully the intention of the law is what prevails because if I travel in my vehicle looking for chickens or moose to kill, see one, stop and get out, load my gun, get off the road and kill one....I may have used the vehicle to hunt. I'm not saying this should be enforced necessarily but point out the black and white of the law. If the black and white prevailed...we'd all have to walk to our hunting grounds.

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You are right. When driving bush roads, logging roads, etc., you are "hunting" given the broad definition. You are "searching for" game, and if you park and watch a cut from your truck, you are "searching for" and "laying in wait for " game. You are meeting the technical definition of hunting. I am aware of charges being laid for not meeting the hunter orange requirements when "hunting" from a truck. Obviously the officer was enforcing the strict technical definition of "hunting". No charges were laid for hunting from a vehicle as no loaded firearms were in or on the vehicle. Lots of guys "hunt" all week, strictly by road hunting from their truck. Not my idea of hunting, but perfectly legal. We "hunt " coyotes all winter by driving back roads "searching for" yotes. We sit in the trucks "laying in wait for" a yote to bail out of a pushed bush. No loaded firearms, but are still "hunting" from a vehicle.
I think this poor horse has been beaten to death !!!!

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Originally Posted by GW11

Keep in mind that you sound like a nice enough guy and I'm not trying to come down on you here. Your fear of a bear attack while in the woods, while not uncommon, is about at rational as a fear of being struck by lightning while in your tree stand. The chances of a bear attack are so remote that the list of things that are more likely to happen to you while in the bush, or on your way there and back for that matter should have you shaking in your boots. Driving to the bush, climbing in and out of the tree stand, exerting yourself, weather, falling tree limbs, etc., are things probably far more likely to kill or hurt you than a bear attack.

You sound like you're pretty new to hunting and your fear of bears in the bush will subside over time. Buy a can of bear spray and keep it in your hand the entire time if it gives you peace of mind. It's far less cumbersome than carrying another firearm, and (arguably) quicker to incapacitate a bear than a gun shot. A bear wounded by a bullet or shot can put up a good fight for a while before dying. The chances of making an instant kill shot on a bear while you're fearing for your life are slim. On the other hand, a bear that all of a sudden finds his face, eyes and nose on fire and is unable to breathe will probably give up the fight in short order.

Good luck, keep at it, and hopefully you get past your fear. For what it's worth, I'm deathly afraid of being bitten/eaten by sharks while swimming in the ocean. If it was socially acceptable to swim with one of those rods that you push into the shark's snout and it fires a twelve gauge round at point blank, I would swim with one.

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Thanks GW11 for the clarifications. Actually I am not new in hunting. I have been hunting since 2005 in Ontario and before that in home country before immigrating to Canada. I had no fear of bears and I didn't even think about that but it started since about a few months ago there was a bear in the middle of Newmarket in a very populated area and I was thinking that they are around even close to major cities . Also once I saw some bear signs where I hunt, I was more concerned as I have no idea what my reaction will be if I encounter a bear in the middle of bush...