Bear hunting season : the MFFP requests the cooperation of citizens

Bear hunting season : the MFFP requests the cooperation of citizens

Bear hunting and trapping begins this Friday and the Ministère des Forêts, de la Faune et des parcs (MFFP) has informed hunters and trappers that a team from the Ministry is currently conducting a study on black bear populations in four regions of Quebec, including the Outaouais.

The Department wishes to obtain data on the reproductive and survival parameters of the species in order to ensure sound management of the populations.

For this purpose, some bears have a red plastic label on their ears, and sometimes even a radio collar. Harvesting a bear with a radio collar or a plastic ear tag is legal. If you catch a black bear wearing a radio collar, you are invited to contact the Ministry so that the collar can be recovered and then placed on another bear. The phone number to dial is printed on the back of the plastic tag on the bear’s ear. If the bear only has this plastic label, without a transmitter collar, you are also invited to inform the Department.

It is also mentioned that in the vast majority of cases, the meat of a bear wearing a radio collar and / or a plastic label can be consumed. However, before consuming it, you are invited to communicate with the Ministry to ensure that the waiting period prescribed by Health Canada is respected between the moment of capture (chemical immobilization) of the bear and its death. The phone number to dial is printed on the back of the plastic tag on the bear’s ear. Hunters are encouraged to contact the Ministry by calling the number printed on the back of the label if you are harvesting an animal that has one of these labels.

It is also possible to register game online on their website by visiting: https://mffp.gouv.qc.ca/covid-19-implementation-measures-register-wildlife-remotely-2020-04-20-2/?lang=en