MAN FINED $3,000 FOR SNARING DEER

[Some Old Guy 968]

THUNDER BAY — A Lappe man has been fined $3,000 after pleading guilty to illegally snaring and killing a deer.

The man was fined $1,000 for killing a white-tailed deer by trap or baited line, $1,000 for making a false statement to a conservation officer, $500 for hunting white-tailed deer without a licence, $250 for possessing unlawfully killed game and $250 for possessing a body gripping trap. He was required to forfeit the deer and snares to the Crown and is also banned from hunting for five years.

The court was told that on March 4, 2007, Ministry of Natural Resources Thunder Bay District conservation officers received a tip from the MNR-TIPS line that a deer had been shot on the man’s property.

Officers went to the site and the man showed them a deer he initially claimed was a road kill. When officers investigated they found a hunting blind, a feed barrel and six wire snares set around the barrel. At this point, the man claimed the deer was shot with a crossbow by a First Nation man with treaty rights in the Thunder Bay area. Initially, the First Nation man corroborated his story, claiming he shot the deer, but an examination of the deer revealed it had been snared and then shot with a crossbow. The First nation’s man eventually admitted he had nothing to do with the killing of the deer.

The First Nation’s man was fined $500 on June 6, 2007 after pleading guilty to knowingly making a false statement to a conservation officer.

The case was heard in Ontario Court of Justice, Thunder Bay, January 17, 2008.

The ministry reminds the public that it is illegal to snare big game animals. Provincial hunting regulations protect the sustainability of wildlife populations and give all hunters a fair opportunity to take part in the hunt.