Five Ontario hunters were fined thousands of dollars after an investigation into the over-harvesting of white-tailed deer just north of Bancroft in November 2023.
Provincial court in Belleville heard details of an investigation by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry into hunting in the Birds Creek area.
The investigation revealed that between Nov. 6 to Nov. 11, 2023, four hunters — Dwayne Musclow, Doug Musclow, William Fransky, all of Bancroft, and Darrin Musclow of Oshawa — had party hunted with a group of successful deer hunters.
Two of the individuals, Doug and Darrin, had used their original deer tags.
Court heard Fransky did not use his original deer tag but possessed two additional copies.
Following that hunt, Darrin, Dwayne, Doug, a woman named Sue Tate from Bancroft, and an apprentice hunter continued to hunt deer on several other occasions between Nov. 18 and Dec. 10, resulting in four deer being harvested: one each by Doug and the apprentice hunter and two by Dwayne.
“All the deer were tagged using copies of tags or tags that ought to have been used previously,” the ministry stated. “Collectively between Dwayne Musclow, Darrin Musclow and Doug Musclow, they possessed seven additional copies of their tags.”
The five hunters were convicted of licence tag-related offences and fined a total of $24,500.
Dwayne was fined $8,000 after being convicted of failing to tag a deer killed by an apprentice hunter, possessing copies of his deer tag and hunting deer without a licence.
Doug was fined $6,500 and Darrin received a $7,000 fine after each was convicted of possessing and using copies of his deer tag and hunting without a licence.
Fransky was fined $1,500 after being convicted of possessing copies of his deer tag.
Tate was also fined $1,500 after being convicted of party hunting and failing to immediately invalidate her tag for a deer killed by a member of her hunting party.