Natural Resources and Northern Development provided an update on conservation officer enforcement activities Jan. 20, highlighting several Thompson district incidents that led to fines in September and October.
A conservation officer and park patrol officer on patrol Sept. 5 saw four people walking down a bush trail. When the group emerged from the bush, one hunter was carrying two firearms. Two other members of the group told the officers they were not hunting. Following the encounter, the officers conducted surveillance and witnessed the fourth member carrying a loaded shotgun. The Thompson resident was ticketed and fined for hunting a game bird without a licence and received a one-year-suspension of his big game and game bird hunting licences.
During a patrol near Lynn Lake on Sept. 23, a park patrol officer and a conservation officer found a hunting camp on Laurie Lake. When a boat returned to the camp, the officers conducted a compliance inspection, discovering a loaded firearm in the boat. The gun’s owner, a Steep Rock resident, was ticketed and fined $486 for having a loaded gun in a vehicle and the gun was seized. His big game and game bird hunting licences were also suspended for one year.
A Gillam resident was fined $203 for not wearing the required hunter orange while hunting near Gillam on Sept. 29.
A Thompson resident travelling by boat on Fish Lake near Wabowden was subjected to a compliance inspection on Oct. 8 and found not to be carrying the associated game tag portion of their moose hunting licence, resulting in a $486 fine. Hunters are required to carry a licence, including its game tag portion, which must be notched immediately when an animal is harvested.
A conservation officer and park patrol officer conducting a patrol near Paint Lake Oct. 10 saw a truck followed by a car driving along a decommissioned rail bed. A gun with one live round in the chamber was found under the spare tire in the truck bed. A passenger in the truck, a Mitchell resident, received a $486 ticket for having a loaded firearm in a vehicle and had his big game and game bird hunting licences suspended for a year. The officers also seized the gun.
A Thompson resident observed to be carrying a gun on a forestry road near Thompson Oct. 30 told a conservation officer he was not hunting but carrying a second gun for the other hunter he was with. Then he said he was hunting grouse and had purchased his licence the night before but did not have it with him. The officer checked the e-licensing database and determined the licence had been purchased 15 minutes after the officer first made contact with the man, who was given a ticket for hunting a game bird without a licence. If convicted, he faces a $298 fine and a one-year suspension of big game and game bird hunting licences.
Anyone with information on illegal hunting or fishing activity is asked to call a local Natural Resources and Northern Development office or the Turn in Poachers line at 1-800-782-0076.
