Canada: Leamington men fined $17,500 for unsafe hunting practices

https://www.ctvnews.ca/windsor/article/leamington-men-fined-17500-for-unsafe-hunting-practices/

05/02/2025

Two Leamington men have been charged a total of $17,500 by the Ministry of Natural Resources for unsafe hunting practices.

According to the ministry, on Oct. 16, 2022, conservation officers held a deer decoy operation on Tri Lake Road near Nestor Falls, Ont.

Around 30 minutes before legal hunting time, a vehicle went to the decoy location. Officers said two men shot their rifles seven times at the decoy. When the shooting stopped, one man put his loaded gun back in the vehicle.

Armenio Ferreira pled guilty to hunting at night, careless hunting, having a loaded firearm in a vehicle, and hunting big game without a license. He was fined $10,000 and is facing a two-year hunting suspension.

The second man, Michael Cabral, pled guilty to hunting at night and careless hunting. He was fined $7,500 and suspended from hunting for two years.

Ferreira and Cabral have to do the Ontario Hunter Education Course after their suspensions are over, before they can buy another license.

Through the investigation, officers said Ferreira also harvested an antlerless deer in 2021 around Nestor Falls, but used a Wildlife Management Unit 7B tag, only valid for antlerless deer harvested in Kenora.