Three people were fined a combined $9,500 and had their hunting licences suspended after pleading guilty to illegal deer hunting practices in central Ontario in 2021.
According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, the individuals entered their pleas during a joint court appearance in Belleville on Oct. 30, 2023.
Court heard that between Nov. 1-14, 2021, three individual were guest hunters on a property in Eldorado, about 10 kilometres north of Madoc, hunting white-tailed deer.
During their time, Steven (Qing) Mou of Ajax, Ont., shot and killed a doe. However, he did not invalidate his deer tag (notching the day, month and time immediately after a kill, at the site of the kill and before moving the animal). And he failed to keep the invalidated tag with him or attached to the carcass. He continued to hunt deer without a valid licence.
Mou pleaded guilty to hunting big game without a licence, failing to invalidate a tag immediately after killing a deer and failing to keep an invalidated tag or attach a tag to an animal after killing a deer. He was fined $3,500 and received a one-year hunting licence suspension.
The court also heard that Rachael Wentworth and Christopher Fraser, both of Burlington, Ont., were hunting white-tailed deer in the same ground blind. Wentworth possessed a deer licence deer tag valid for antlered deer only. Fraser did not possession a valid licence.
Wentworth pleaded guilty to shooting a deer without knowing whether it had antlers and discovered the animal was not antlered. Fraser admitted to lying in wait for deer and that Wentworth shot the animal based on his identification and guidance.
The ministry says a conservation officer found the deer a short distance from where it was shot, but determined Wentworth and Fraser “did not conduct a reasonable nor sufficient search.”
Wentworth and Fraser both pleaded guilty to hunting big game without a valid licence and allowing the meat to spoil. Both received a one-year hunting licence suspension along with a $4,000 fine for Wentworth and a $2,000 fine for Fraser.
The deer meat seized as part of the investigation was forfeited to the Crown.
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