Hunting Niagara Public ?

Hey everyone, I'm a new hunter, and have had a couple unsuccessful seasons turkey hunting. Finding area to hunt on seems impossibly difficult in southern Ontario. I've managed to get permission from someone, but the land itself doesn't seem to be great for turkeys unfortunately. I'm considering trying out some of the conservation spots in Niagara where hunting is permitted. Does anyone have any experience here? Especially for turkey. I know they're in Niagara, I see them on the sides of the road all the time. Just don't know if they're abundant in the conservation areas, or if it would just be more worth my time to keep searching for private.

It's quite frustruating as a new hunter with no hunting relatives or connections to big plots of land:ashamed:

To be honest, likely nobody is going to give you any information about public land when it comes to the quality of hunting. The best bet for you is to go to the places you plan to hunt as often as possible and learn the patterns of the wildlife and other hunters. I started off in the same situation you are in, after 10 years of wandering the woods and reading and learning, I'm finally a confident hunter and have a good idea how to find whatever game I'm seeking as well as land to freely hunt (public land).

If you have the patience, you'll figure it all out.

iHunter Ontario is about $45 a year
It has layers with huntable county parks and Crownland, seasons, municipal boundaries and so much more

Made a world of difference for me when getting started



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Finding public land with turkeys during season is hard, but possible.
Initial search strategy for public hunting land was to:
1. Find tracts that border agg fields (+1 if there is creek nearby, -1 if tract is all swap (by suggestions some some members of forum, turkey prefer dry land close to water source)

2. Drive around the tract an hour after sunrise, hour before sunset with binos to check for birds in field as you can see far away

3. Come back multiple times at dawn/dusk to see where birds are coming from/to

4. Once get an approximate location is found, boots on ground to learn the public insideout.
Place cams and so on

5. For info about actual hunting/calling strategy, my go to source is Dale:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjp...MdFeCzRw_oglKg


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Look into the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority site https://npca.ca/images/uploads/commo...bined-2018.pdf

Not much opportunity within the public lands and with others competing in these locations in would not be a gratifying hunt.....

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Originally Posted by BDH

Look into the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority site https://npca.ca/images/uploads/commo...bined-2018.pdf

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I was looking into this. Is it overly competitive at the conservation sites?

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Originally Posted by Lou

I was looking into this. Is it overly competitive at the conservation sites?

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It's overly competitive on all public land [emoji23]
Especially in smaller tracts, but it's part of game

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You may have to travel outside the Niagara area ? I've heard of lots of turkeys near Selkirk or try other conservation areas as in the Long Point Regional Conservation Authority or the Nature Conservancy of Canada properties both have areas that allow hunting. Of course it's a "first come first gets" scenario at the NCC properties as you must have written permission from them and they control hunter occupancy to each property whereas the LPRCA areas are open to all.

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Originally Posted by longpointer

You may have to travel outside the Niagara area ? I've heard of lots of turkeys near Selkirk or try other conservation areas as in the Long Point Regional Conservation Authority or the Nature Conservancy of Canada properties both have areas that allow hunting. Of course it's a "first come first gets" scenario at the NCC properties as you must have written permission from them and they control hunter occupancy to each property whereas the LPRCA areas are open to all.

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Norfolk has alot of public land just wish the maps where better. Would love to get my hands on a large detailed map as opposed to the vague sketches provide by the municipality. Edit- just looked up LPRCA got an interactive map up though still would like a paper map just old school that way

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Originally Posted by finsfurfeathers

Norfolk has alot of public land just wish the maps where better. Would love to get my hands on a large detailed map as opposed to the vague sketches provide by the municipality. Edit- just looked up LPRCA got an interactive map up though still would like a paper map just old school that way

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I use google earth then overlay the way points from the conservation areas (in my case its Halton). Google Earth Pro is the best as you can also back date the picture to reveal fauna and walking trails at different times of the year. Stay away from any area with easy access, if you can walk to it without hip waders keep looking for another location.