COCKBURN ISLAND—Grey, wet weather conditions made it difficult over the first few days of the Cockburn Island gun deer hunt last week.
“The deer population is good, there are lots of deer around, but the hunting conditions were bad,” stated Ian Anderson of Kagawong who took part in the first few days at the start of the annual deer hunt.
“The weather was grim,” said Mr. Anderson, noting during the first three days of the hunt “there was maybe four hours in total that it wasn’t raining.”
However, in the first three days of the hunt, the 90 hunters or so had harvested 30 deer, said Mr. Anderson. He said there will probably be an additional 25-30 hunters taking part in the second week of the hunt. He explained the coyote/wolf population on Cockburn seems to be under control, “but there is no shortage of black bears around. There were an awful lot seen, and over the spring and summer I have seen 14 black bears in my trips to the island.”
In contrast, “I haven’t seen any bears on Manitoulin for about a year, even though I know they are around.”
“The bear density on Cockburn is really high,” said Mr. Anderson. “They cause some predator problems for fawn deer, and they can create damage to property on occasion. And they are awfully hard on apple trees,” he said noting Cockburn has had a large bear population for many years.
