Man who accused MNRF of using ‘creative math’ chairs new moose management committee

THUNDER BAY — John Kaplanis says “it’s an honour” to lead a new provincial advisory body that will review moose-hunting quotas and tag allocations.

Kaplanis will serve as chair of the Big Game Management Advisory Committeeannounced last week by Natural Resources and Forestry Minister John Yakabuski.

The Thunder Bay resident is also the executive-director of the Northwestern Ontario Sportsmen’s Alliance, a group that has sharply criticized the MNRF for “inconsistent” and overly cautious moose management and tag allocation processes.

In a media release, Kaplanis said the ministry has used “creative math” to over-estimate the previous year’s moose harvest, “thus forcing the moose harvest allocation formula to generate fewer adult tags” for resident hunters in northwestern Ontario.

“Despite a large increase in moose tags for rifle hunters in Wildlife Management Unit 15B [north of Thunder Bay and west of Lake Nipigon] due to a moose population survey that revealed very encouraging numbers…many other WMUs with increasing or stabilizing moose populations are still not being afforded the hunting opportunities that they should be,” the statement said.

By: Gary Rinne