Mandatory Hunter Education Before Hunting Manitoba

There will be a few complaints as one more to-do before making that trip-of-a-lifetime, but promoting hunter safety puts a positive spin on the public's perception of hunters.  Another step in the right direction.  Beginning January 1, 2012, all resident and non-resident visitors hunting in Manitoba, Canada, must provide proof of hunter's safety certification before purchasing a Manitoba hunting license.  Eligibility to purchase a hunting licence can be established with a certificate or card that certifies successful completion of a hunter education course in Manitoba; either a Hunter Education Course or the old Hunter & Firearm Safety Training Course, or the equivalent in any other province, territory or country.

Learn more about Manitoba Canada Hunter Education

For hunters that have not yet recieved Hunter Education, it is available online at http://www.huntercourse.com/

One-time fee exemption now makes it easier for US hunters visiting Canada

For some hunters, it has been deterent to taking long-awaited Canada goose and duck hunting trips:  certain misdemeanor criminal offenses, such as DWI, are recognized in Canada as a felony.  Visitors with criminal felonies are denied entry.   It requires explaining Canadian inadmissibility with clients during pre-trip planning, and it has always been a delicate point of discussion, "Does anyone in your group have a DWI from back in the day?"  But it beats their being unaware and, following expensive travel, being denied at Canadian Customs.

That changed this week.  For foreign nationals considered inadmissable due to criminal records, Canadians have eased rules regarding entry.  The Canadian tourism industry has a large hunting- and fishing-guide contingency.  Their source of complaints stemmed from the the significant loss of hunter-related revenues.  They put sustained pressure on Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) to implement common-sense policy.  New policy grants visiting Americans hunters or anglers a one-time fee exemption for a Temporary Resident Permit (TRP) for certain offences, including offences such as driving while impaired. It used to be a long, convoluted and expensive process.

Americans with convictions still must receive "rehabilitation" to permanently clear their records, but receiving the TRP will prevent their rejection at the border.  This new policy covers DWI if it's the only conviction on their record.  It is yet unknown whether this is a one-time-only pass, or if it will apply indefinitely.

Read Full Summary Operation Bulletin 389 - February 27, 2012


Your trip of a lifetime deserves - and gets - our full attention: Ramsey Russell 's GetDucks.com is a full-time, full-service travel agency specializing in wingshooting with major emphasis on trophy duck species and trophy duck hunting experiences. Our expert travel assistance includes not only the best wingshooting location at the right time, but also customized itineraries, airline schedules, customs assistance, hunting licenses and permits, hotels, dining, car rentals, travel insurance, and trophy bird importation to our taxidermist or yours.

Exciting proposal for goose hunting in Canada

For hunters that extend their annual goose hunting opportunities by hunting ducks and geese in Canada, an exciting measure has been proposed.  You’ll get no complaints from me.

From the Environment Canada website: “It is proposed to eliminate the current requirement to use only blue or white phase Snow Goose decoys when electronic Snow Goose recordings are being used. Decoy restrictions were implemented in Manitoba (and Saskatchewan) due to concern about the potential vulnerability of Canada Geese to electronic Snow Goose recordings; however, research has since shown that Canada Geese are less vulnerable to electronic recordings of Snow Geese than to traditional hunting methods.  Removal of this restriction would allow hunters to target both Canada and Snow Geese during the same hunt, which would provide additional opportunity to manage overabundant Snow Geese through hunting.”

While many waterfowlers, southerners especially, dislike hunting light geese, many find that shooting decoying snows and blues is as much fun as shooting honkers and mallards.   The key word is “decoying.”

We usually do well targeting snow geese in September and October, as they stage in Manitoba preceding their migration.  Success requires scouting and waiting for the flock to start building in a certain field.  Even over all-white spreads, ducks and dark geese are typically taken.  Because the bag limits for snow geese (20 daily) are so much higher than for mallards (8 daily) and Canada geese (5 daily), it’s possible for 5-6 hunters to achieve an aggregate of 100 or more waterfowl daily.  And we suggest bringing extra ammo to the field.

This new measure, if enacted, will make duck and goose hunting trips to Canada far more productively exciting and is proposed to manage the mid-continental population of light geese.  Once again, hunters are being relied on to achieve long-term wildlife conservation goals.  Once again, we’ll make the best of it.

More information Canada Goose Hunting trips