Ontario will not open a sandhill crane hunt, but there will be a federal study to determine ways to mitigate the agricultural damage they do.
It will be business as usual for the pheasant hunts at Pelee Island this fall, after some local debate about whether or not the hunt is still viable.
For most upland grouse hunters, an ideal day afield would include many flushes — the more, the merrier, in fact. I don’t see it exactly that way.
Each spring Bird Studies Canada (BSC), in partnership with the MNRF and Environment Canada, oversees woodcock singing ground survey (SGS) routes provincially. Of the 111 active routes, 89 returned data this year.
Some hunters build nesting boxes, others donate money for conservation initiatives. This hunter plans on counting woodcock.
Migratory bird hunters visiting southern and central Ontario will learn a little about humility and a lot about why mourning doves are North America’s favourite game bird.
Talk to any upland gunner about bird hunting in Ontario and they’ll probably tell you about ruffed grouse, woodcock, and perhaps released pheasant. Further north, they might add spruce and sharp-tailed grouse into the mix, maybe even ptarmigan. But, these days, it’s a rare hunter who mentions Hungarian partridge.
