13 week deer season?

[finsfurfeathers]

For me this is one of those " not my thing and I wouldn't do it but hey if it floats your boat go for it." situations. If you have valid points why and isolated biosystem can't be managed with area specific regulations go ahead and debate it.
In the end one has to believe hunters wouldn't shoot themselves in the foot (ya poor choice of words) by endorsing regulations that might hurt their hunt.

[Gilroy]

For me this is one of those " not my thing and I wouldn't do it but hey if it floats your boat go for it." situations. If you have valid points why and isolated biosystem can't be managed with area specific regulations go ahead and debate it.
In the end one has to believe hunters wouldn't shoot themselves in the foot (ya poor choice of words) by endorsing regulations that might hurt their hunt.

Well on that note I think what bothers me is what hunters wrote back in the environmental registry

(1) This particular WMU did not do any reports on their harvest numbers up until very recent years.
(2) Because of this apparent exemption nobody would have any idea what number of deer were on the island so how were decisions made.
(3) This WMU gets a 13 week season and the only reason given is that they needed it because of high deer numbers? Who had the numbers?
(4) The next reason given by a member on here is that hunters only have a few days. When asked why this is, no comment.

So when they started answering the mandatory deer reports they apparently reported very low numbers, that is not consistent with asking for 13 weeks because of high deer numbers.

They have a full time game keeper on the island so is everybody going by that individuals word about deer populations?

So for all intents and purposes nobody in the public sphere knows HOW MANY TAGS ARE ISSUED, WHAT THE HARVEST WAS and all the usual information one can get from any other WMU.

Although its an island I would imagine deer from the mainland travel across the ice in winter? These deer to me are still a provincial resource and should be managed the same as all other deer populations and there should be full transparency with this WMU like the others. If there is no population transfer from the mainland, are the island deer now closely inbreed, that is another cause for concern.

[finsfurfeathers]

I have no factual knowledge however to answer why a group of hunters might ask for a 13 week season simple answer to me would be, so we can spread the members out and everyone can have a gun season and not be crowded in one time and place. Seems logical and reasonable to me. With mandatory reporting tag allocation shouldn't be a problem now.
Would not the culls by Indigenous peoples be kind of the same thing? Special rules for a select few.

[trimmer21]

The OMNRF needs to "camp on their doorstep" to ensure accurate monitoring,notwithstanding,the obvious special considerations given the supposed closed environment. We know that overcrowding can lead to starvation. We also know that the environment of very close quarters are the precursor for CWD (among others equally as deadly),hence,the banning of deer farming of certain species and high fence hunting facilities. So far,we're "dodging the bullet" of the onset of severe disease. I want to see it stay that way.

[Species8472]

Would not the culls by Indigenous peoples be kind of the same thing? Special rules for a select few.

The special rules for indigenous were granted by legally binding treaty between them and the crown in return for us taking their land. Like or lump it that's what happened. Pretty sure the fat cats on the island have not given anything to the country/crown in return for special rights or least no more so than any of us who pay tax.

And actually if i wanted to play Gilly's banjo the island should have the exact same rules as the mainland in that area. If that leads to overpopulation than natives should be brought in to conduct a cull just like happens in other areas like Pelee. Not saying that's what should happen but someone (read Gilly) could make that case.

[Sam Menard]

I just took a look at this thread today. A couple of things came to mind:
1) Why are these small islands even classed as separate WMU’s? The owners must have been big contributors to whatever political party that was in power at the time of delineation. I can think of other (bigger) islands in Ontario that are lumped in with the mainland. There is another island in the group (White Cloud) that is part of the mainland WMU, so not sure of the logic. Money talks, the owners must be very well connected as they got first class service from the government.
2) The furthest island is just over 3kms to the mainland, and the closest is about 1.5kms. I doubt that the deer population on these islands were as a result of stocking, so the deer must have swam or walked across the ice to get there. Presumably if the deer did it once, they can do it again.
3) It really doesn’t matter to me what the length of the season is since these islands are privately owned. If the hunters shot every living deer on the islands it wouldn’t matter to anyone but themselves. Maybe they have a deer farm i.e. hunting preserve.
4) when I was looking at Google Earth and the WMU maps, I just realized that there are quite a few tiny WMU’s in that part of the world. Not sure what the rational is behind that.

[trimmer21]

The special rules for indigenous were granted by legally binding treaty between them and the crown in return for us taking their land. Like or lump it that's what happened. Pretty sure the fat cats on the island have not given anything to the country/crown in return for special rights or least no more so than any of us who pay tax.

And actually if i wanted to play Gilly's banjo the island should have the exact same rules as the mainland in that area. If that leads to overpopulation than natives should be brought in to conduct a cull just like happens in other areas like Pelee. Not saying that's what should happen but someone (read Gilly) could make that case.

If you're hearing Gilly's banjo,you need to paddle a whole bunch faster.

[Species8472]

If you're hearing Gilly's banjo,you need to paddle a whole bunch faster.

Now i'm pretty sure I need to visit the dentist and ditch the electric on zodiac and go back to my yammy. Nice tangent buddy. Hard to believe that flick was over 50 years ago .

[Gilroy]

I have no factual knowledge however to answer why a group of hunters might ask for a 13 week season simple answer to me would be, so we can spread the members out and everyone can have a gun season and not be crowded in one time and place. Seems logical and reasonable to me. With mandatory reporting tag allocation shouldn't be a problem now.
Would not the culls by Indigenous peoples be kind of the same thing? Special rules for a select few.

I do not think "crowding" would be anywhere in the mix. You have a land mass of 2300 acres and 70 members, even in the very unlikely event that all the members showed up on the same day to hunt they would have over 32 acres a piece, in an island apparently that needs 13 weeks to hunt because of the high deer numbers. As has been posted by a member of that camp, these hunters only get a few days to hunt in this very long season I will assume because they are very busy people. So the odd's of over crowding are about zero IMHO.

[longpointer]

Yes ; They may be wealthy and they may be connected but I think the real reason they need 13 weeks is because none of them know how to shoot.