Manitoba Natural Resources and Northern Development reports that conservation officers, through a variety of enforcement activities, have fined numerous individuals for illegal activities during the fall months of 2022.
On September 28 near Churchill, conservation officers were conducting routine hunter compliance checks when a local tour operator was observed offering a walking tour to see a polar bear near a mother polar bear and her cub. The operator was observed with no means of deterring the bear if it were to approach and allowing patrons to sprawl on foot, potentially exposed to a bear attack. Officers charged the tour operator with breaching polar bear safety conditions on its resource tourism operator licence. On November 9, the ecotourism operator went to court and was found guilty, receiving a fine of $802.
On Oct. 16, a Riverton conservation officer stopped a truck in the Broad Valley area. While speaking with the driver, the officer observed a rifle in the passenger area and asked the driver to step out of the truck to inspect the rifle. Instead, the driver fled. The officer obtained the license plate number and identified the driver. The driver was given a serious offense notice for fleeing police under the Criminal Code and a $672 fine for failing to allow the officer to inspect the firearm under the Wildlife Act.
On October 22, conservation officers from the Sprague area, in partnership with the RCMP, were conducting hunter inspections. During a traffic stop, officers found a loaded firearm in a vehicle. Further investigation revealed that the individual was trapping prior to the traffic stop and did not have a valid hunter’s license or a valid possession acquisition license. The individual was fined $723 for carrying a loaded firearm in a vehicle and trapping without a permit. The firearm was also seized.
On Oct. 25, a Riverton District Conservation Officer received a call about gunshots heard in the Blacks Point Cabin Subdivision in Grindstone Provincial Park. The officer assisted and located a suspect retrieving a whitetail deer he had just shot. An investigation revealed that the suspect had illegally hunted and killed the deer near an illegal bait site. Officers located corn and beans used as an attractant. It is illegal to use any cervid attractant. The suspect was issued two tickets for hunting within 800 meters of a deer decoy under the General Hunting Regulations and was fined $672, and unlawful possession of a big game animal according the Wildlife Act and a fine of $1,296. He was issued a restitution notice for the illegally killed whitetail. If convicted, he faces another $3,000 fine. The suspect was also given a written warning for failing to tag the deer.
On October 27, conservation officers conducted a patrol to crack down on illegal night hunting northeast of Roblin. Officers observed a northbound vehicle on Provincial Highway 584 enter a field, make a U-turn and then continue. As the vehicle entered a second field, officers saw a spotlight being used to illuminate the field from the vehicle’s window. The vehicle continued to drive through the field while using the headlights. Officers stopped the vehicle and two male occupants, one from Winnipeg and the other from the Roblin area, were arrested for night hunting. Officers seized the firearm, hunting equipment, as well as the vehicle. Both individuals received court appearance notices for illegal hunting at night with lights.
Riverton conservation officers received complaints about illegal commercial fishing at Calders Dock after Lake Winnipeg’s commercial fishing season ended on Oct. 30. A well-known commercial fisherman and his assistant were observed hauling nets from Calders Dock about 50 meters offshore. Later that morning, the commercial fisherman and helper were observed delivering the fish from the nets to the freshwater fish marketing shed at Lake St. Martin. Conservation officers attended and confiscated all the fish.
The fisherman and helper were ticketed for commercial fishing during a closed season under the Manitoba Fisheries Regulations and fined $502. Officers also discovered that the fisherman, who was driving, was subject to an indefinite driving suspension. He was issued a ticket for driving while disqualified under the Traffic Act and fined $672. The truck was impounded and detained. Another commercial fisherman and a helper who also attended were given written warnings for commercial fishing during a closed season.
The accused fisherman was previously fined on June 5 for the same two offences, for delivering fish well in advance of the start of Lake Winnipeg’s commercial fishing season.
On November 5, 2021, a Riverton conservation officer found illegal deer bait west of Inwood. On November 14, 2022, the officer was conducting whitetail deer rifle season enforcement patrols on the opening day of the rifle season. The officer checked the illegal baiting area from the previous year and saw a truck parked nearby. The agent followed fresh boot prints in the snow and located a hunter in a patch of plywood trees near the illegal bait site.
The officer confirmed that a new illegal baiting site was in the same location as last year, about 100 meters from the stand. A trail camera faced the illegal bait site on the same fence post as last year. The officer seized the hunter’s rifle, which contained four live .308 rifle cartridges, as well as a sample of the bait and trail camera. It is illegal to use a lure for big game. This illegal baiting practice can also create concentrations of deer, where the disease can spread more easily.
Anyone with information about illegal activity should call a local Natural Resources and Northern Development Manitoba office or the Turn in Poachers (TIP) line at 1-800-782-0076.