October 19, 2018
An Orillia man has been fined a total of $6,500 for offences under the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act.
Jonathan Pearson was convicted at trial and fined $2,500 for discharging a firearm from a roadway and $4,000 for trespassing on private property for the purpose of hunting.
Court heard that on November 3, 2014, the Ontario Provincial Police and West Nipissing Police Services contacted the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry after finding a dead deer in the trunk of a vehicle whose driver they had stopped for erratic driving near Sturgeon Falls.
During a subsequent investigation, ministry conservation officers determined that Pearson had travelled from Garden Village along numerous side roads to Port Loring to hunt for deer. Along the route, Pearson shot at deer from the travelled portion of the road at two locations before shooting and killing a deer on private property and loading it into the trunk. He did not have permission to hunt on the private property.
Justice of the Peace Ruby Beck heard the case in the Ontario Court of Justice, North Bay, on October 3, 2018.
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 ministry’s 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). And visit Ontario.ca/mnrftips to view an interactive, searchable map of unsolved cases. You may be able to provide information that will help solve a case.