Wow, do they have their eyes on you or are there people complaining?
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I'm checked at least once a year, most years once fishing and once hunting. I do agree there should be more and they have a very difficult job. I wish they had the money to do more.
Unfortunately , I hunt and fish where there are numbers of participants, so CO's get to be in a small area and check a lot of people. Like on Lake Simcoe ice fishing in a hut village, 50 huts so maybe 200 people to check. Local eastern tribs during salmon time 20 guys in half a mile. Time management I guess.
So you are in the perfect spot for them to get some real numbers, I can see that.
There used to be check stations along Hwy 144 north of Sudbury but never on Hwy 11. My aunt and uncle would travel south from my grandparents down 144, they would get stopped and discuss their fishing, we took 11 as we lived in SW Ontario and never saw a CO. The last few years I have seen the Enforcement truck but always in town around Kemptville, which is where the local office is. The land they cover is just insane.
Yup they go where the numbers are. On one trib. as I was being checked by the same CO within a week, I pointed that out to him , he replied........ ' I know, it is not for me, but for those other guys down the creek watching, so they don't think I pick and choose who to check, I check everyone'.
As others have said, overall deer numbers are way down in WMU 47 thanks to 5 harsh winters in 7 years. For many regular hunters, last year's hunt was the worst in a lifetime. But there are pockets near urban and cottage areas where deer seem to have benefited from feeding and/or fewer predators.
As for camps, many only hunt the 1st week. Keep in mind that just because its public land is to does not make it right to infringe or piggy-back on their hunt. If you run into camps, ask them where they intend to be that day and tell them you will go where they are not. Some will gladly point you in the right direction, others will be less friendly. Think of a public duck marsh... it might be legal to put your boat between two manned blinds, but it may be neither safe nor respectful.
I don't fish and have been checked once deer hunting in 30 years only because I was blocking closest to the road when he was driving by.
We are checked yearly in 56 both at our remote acreage and the camp. Always above board, always a knock.
Used to get checked yearly during Moose in 57, always good.
Checked while ice fishing Gull lake Minden. Checked ice fishing Kushog. All in the last 14 years.