Deer Hunting Info in Eastern Ontario

Hi, I'm new to the forum and I'm hoping to get some information. I'm interested in establishing a yearly deer hunting trip to Eastern Ontario. I say Eastern Ontario because I already hunt in Quebec and I live in Vermont; I only want to drive up to maybe 6 hours from my home.

As a starting point I've kind of picked Smith's Falls as my home base in hope to hunt in the surrounding area. What are the deer hunting numbers like in that area? Is there any Crown Land available? I would also be interested in paying an access fee or lease to hunt private land if you know anyone that may be interested in that type of arrangement.

Any help that I can get will be very much appreciated. I've looked online and can't seem to find harvest information for certain areas and I find the maps of locations of Crown Land to be difficult to follow.

Thanks in advance for your time,

Kevin

There is the Ontario Crown Land Use Atlas, it is not exact as there are places that show as crown that are actually not and there are areas shown as private that are actually public lands.

There is not a lot of crown land around Eastern Ontario, at least not close to the river and not until you go a ways from Ottawa. If you want to get into big woods deer hunting in Eastern Ontario I would suggest going further into the Addington Highlands, tons of crown land out that way.

As for land leases, I do not know too many people around here who do that as there is a big liability once you accept money from someone. Also, a lot of the property around this area has been hunted by the same families for a long time, it is hard to crack that egg. I moved away from the city and getting property for deer hunting has been tough as almost every property already has people hunting on it.

As Fox said Eastern Ontario from Ottawa down to Smith falls is tough. However just step over on the other side of Highway 7 and it begins to get easier. Especially the closer you get to the Algonquin Park area.

What kind of hunting..Bow? Rifle ? Muzzle loader ?..

Crown land in Eastern Ontario is VERY busy the opening week of Rifle season, then drops off significantly for the 2nd week (we have two weeks of Rifle season in most areas).

If you hunt other than rifle, the crown land in the Kemptville area is actually pretty good for Deer and is accessible.

Hi Fox, thanks for the info. I find the Ontario Crown Land Use Atlas difficult to navigate to say the least. Is the "general use" considered Crown Land? If so, it looks like I have to go quite a ways further NW. One more question if I may; do you know where I can find harvest details?

Hi MikePal, thanks for the info. I was thinking of rifle but would consider muzzleloader, I just have to check the dates of that season. Thanks for your help!

Crown land - not a lot of it near Smith's falls, but there's a bit of it on the nw side of white lake near Arnprior. If you go a bit further - up to Pembroke - the south and east sides of the Algonquin park (outside the park) have tens of thousands of acres of crown land and it's not too crowded. WMUs 55A, 55B and 48.

Not 100% sure, but I think you'll find WMUs with crown land usually don't have mz seasons.

The ML season for 2015 is Nov 30-Dec 6th.

What are you looking for in a Harvest report, because harvest reporting isn't mandatory for Deer, the numbers are usually meaningless.

Here is what the MNR releases:

http://www.ontario.ca/document/resid...nting-activity

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by werner.reiche

Not 100% sure, but I think you'll find WMUs with crown land usually don't have mz seasons.

---

Smith Falls is WMU 66A and WMU 64....the Limerick Forrest (although not Crown land but essentially treated as such see; http://www.limerickforest.ca/en/faqs.asp) and the Marlborough Forest are both great places to Hunt deer and both have ML seasons.

I didn't realize that deer didn't have to be reported so I agree, the numbers would be useless! I just don't want to go to an area that doesn't have many deer taken; I'm not a trophy hunter. While I'm somewhat selective, I hunt for the enjoyment of it and for putting meat in my freezer; I have 3 kids and they love venison! Thanks again for your help.