Total of $2,900 in Fines for Big Game Hunting Violations
Moose photographed in Northern Ontario. Photo ©OntarioNewsNorth.com
Three southern Ontario men have been fined a total of $2,900 for moose and bear hunting offences in the New Liskeard area.
Tyler Rasenberg, of Woodville, pleaded guilty to four hunting-related offences. He was fined $400 for hunting a bull moose without a licence, $550 for abandoning a bull moose and allowing it to spoil, $650 for abandoning a cow moose and allowing it to spoil, and $400 for hunting a black bear without a licence. Rasenberg also received a three-year hunting ban.
Brian Jewell, of Cameron, was fined $400 for making a false statement to a conservation officer.
Jean-Francois Pelletier, of Welland, was fined $500 for attaching his black bear game seal to a bear killed illegally by Rasenberg.
Court heard that in October 2013, conservation officers received information from the public about an abandoned bull moose carcass. A seven-month investigation ensued, involving the ministry’s canine unit, the execution of a search warrant at Rasenberg’s residence, forensic examination of his rifle and bullets recovered from the moose, and interviews with members of the hunting party located in five different parts of Ontario.
The investigation determined that on October 5, 2013, Rasenberg shot at what he believed to be a cow and calf moose. Despite thinking he had hit the animals, he and other members of the party searched for them for only 30 minutes before leaving the area.
On October 11, 2013, Jewell and two other hunt party members discovered the carcasses of a bull and cow moose near the location where Rasenberg had hunted previously. They decided not to notify conservation officers. When interviewed in February 2014, Rasenberg and Jewell denied any knowledge of the moose. During the investigation, it was also determined that Rasenberg had shot and killed a black bear in the same area on October 6, 2013. He did not have a licence to hunt bear, so Pelletier attached his game seal to the animal.
Justice of the Peace Michel Moreau heard the case in the Ontario Court of Justice, Haileybury, on September 25, 2014.
For further information on hunting regulations, please consult the Ontario Hunting Regulations Summary available at ontario.ca/hunting.
To report a natural resources violation, call the MNRF TIPS line at 1-877-847-7667 toll-free any time or contact your local ministry office during regular business hours. You can also call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
