Hunting with a Non-hunting companion

[idealteak 0]

I wanted to know if it is illegal to go out hunting with a non-hunting companion? Can my wife, who does not have a hunting licence, be with me while I am hunting?

The definition of hunting has been posted as “Hunting means: 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.” It almost sounds that if you are out taking pictures of wildlife you could be classified as hunting!

[Guest MNR]

It is fine for your wife (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.