Another set of eyes

[Guest mucky]

Could someone please tell me if I can recieve a fine if I bring my wife and dog out grouse hunting in september. Both of them do not have a licence. I really enjoy going for walks, quading or just driving around on the roads with my wife and dog but a friend said you could recieve a fine because the wife does not have a licence and is considered "another set of eyes"

Ive read the regulations a few times and cannot find anything in there to my knowledge about this being a problem. My wife does not shoot or "hunt" anything but more a less comes along for the ride to enjoy the outdoors.

From what I understand from the regs, you need a dog licence if hunting large game animals (moose, deer, elk ect) and they must be on a leash in an area where there are large game in the closed season. But I dont think it states that you need a licence to hunt grouse.

[Guest MNR]

It is fine for your friend (non hunting companion) to accompany you while you’re out hunting (for safety/companionship, learn, watch etc.) but he/she cannot get directly involved in hunting and cannot carry a firearm. The Fish & Wildlife Conservation Act specifically mentions the possession of a firearm in a game inhabited area as proof, in absence of evidence to the contrary, of hunting.

Ontario’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act defines hunting as lying in wait for, searching for, being on the trail of, pursuing, chasing or shooting at wildlife, whether or not the wildlife is killed, injured, captured or harassed.

The Act also goes on to say that hunting does not include:

(a) trapping, or

( lying in wait for, searching for, being on the trail of or pursuing wildlife for a purpose other than attempting to kill, injure, capture or harass it, unless the wildlife is killed, injured, captured or harassed as a result.

This second half of the definition of hunting is what would allow a photographer to essentially hunt for wildlife so long as it is not killed, injured, captured or harassed.

Once an animal has been harvested, (deer for example) you can enlist as many friends as you want to help bring it out of the bush. You would of course offer some of the meat of the deer to your friends for helping and as long as the deer was harvested legally (in season, proper wildlife management unit, with permission of land owner etc.) it would be legal for them to have it.

In the example of upland bird hunting, your friend could help carry any birds you harvested and you could give away your daily or aggregate limit of game birds to your friend, however, no one can possess or take more game that allowed by law.

A dog only needs to be licensed when big game hunting.