Editor:
On Nov. 5 at approximately 3 p.m., a guest at our property on Concession 8 was walking down our driveway towards the road. She saw a man driving an ATV. This individual was dressed in full hunting camouflage. He drove slowly past our property, made a U-turn and drove back. He did this twice. He was holding a shotgun in his lap. The shotgun was not in a case. It is hunting season for deer this month Nov. 4-8 and again Dec. 2-6. This individual was tracking a deer… on a public road… in front of four residential properties… with an uncased shotgun.
Members of my family have their Outdoor Cards and Firearms Possession Licenses. We are not anti-hunting. We also own two ATVs. There are safe and appropriate places to engage in both of these sports. Our roads, specifically Concession 8, Ward 2 is not such a place.
I was surprised to learn that you can hunt from an ATV. Did Mayor Measures and members of Council discuss that detail when they decided to support the amended by-law allowing ATV access to the entirety of Concession 8? Concession 8 is only 7.8 km in length, with 46 residences and 15 caution-marked curves. It also has a speed limit 80 km. These facts alone create safety risks that should have stopped Mayor Measures and Council from including Concession 8 in the amended bylaw. Now we have the added danger of hunters on ATVs.
There are only two OPP officers assigned to all of Clearview Township. On Thursday only one officer was on duty. This reality precludes any opportunity for the OPP to respond to an ATV related incident. That, along with the fact that an ATV can easily leave the road and “disappear” into a field effectively eliminates the ability to hold an ATVer accountable for any breeches of road or hunting safety.
This bylaw in its current form cannot be allowed to stand. Clearview council has ignored its duty of care to its constituents. They have made a reckless decision that has put the residents of Concession 8 in real danger.
Marie McFarlane,
Glen Huron.
Re; Hunting by ATV a concern,
While Marie Mcfarlane stated that she learned you could hunt from an ATV, I will put a paragraph in from the 2020 Ministry of Natural Resources. Page 23 cites; No possession of a loaded firearm within 8 meters of the travelled portion of a road or roadside fenceline if it exists at any time AND no discharge of a firearm from or across a right of way for public vehicular traffic. Page 26 states, vehicles( includes any kind of vehicle that is driven, propelled or drawn on land or ice by any kind of power, including muscular power, and includes snowmobiles, boats and the rolling stock of a railway) may not be used for chasing, pursuing, harassing, capturing, injuring or killing any wildlife. It is illegal to have a loaded firearm in or on, or discharge a firearm from, an aircraft, vehicle( including snowmobile and all-terrain vehicle) or motorboat or anything towed by a motorboat. Call the Ministry at 1-877-847-7667 instead of the OPP. They’ll only talk to him. Ministry will confiscate the ATV and the firearm on the spot. This guy is destroying the opportunities for everyone.