Sudbury — A video showing a man firing a rifle at three moose from a road in northern Ontario is causing outrage among hunters online and conservation authorities say an investigation is underway.
Justin, who asked CTV News to not publish his last name, lives in Echo Bay and drives Highway 17 to and from work in Sault Ste. Marie. On his way home Wednesday around 5:30 p.m., he saw a bull moose in a marshy area off the road about 12 kilometres west of his home and pulled over to get a good look. He quickly realized there was more than one, saying there was a cow, a bull and a young bull moose standing about 80 feet off the highway.
"I've never seen that many moose clustered together off the highway," Justin, an avid hunter and former professional guide, told CTV News in a phone interview. "It's very odd. I have been driving that highway a long time."
Another vehicle stopped to look as well and told him it is nice to see moose in that area again, he said. They all stood there talking, taking pictures and videos of the wildlife.
When Justin was about to leave, he noticed a truck pull up behind him on the shoulder of the road.
"I could see him in my rear-view mirror and noticed he had pulled his gun out of the back of his truck," he said. "I thought there is no way this guy is just going to start shooting these moose."
But he did and Justin recorded it.
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He said the cow was the only one left standing after the shots were fired. He walked towards the man who was wearing jeans, running shoes and a jacket, but no requisite hunter's orange.
The man walked towards Justin as he reloaded his gun and was visibly excited saying "hey, I just shot a moose," he said. He told Justin someone had called him and told him the moose were there.
What bothered Justin is safety didn't appear to be on the man's mind at the time and was not properly dressed to go into the swamp to retrieve the animal. The man called some relatives to come to help him get the moose out and reports of a large group of people were seen going out to help him collect it.
The videos were sent to a small group of Justin's friends through social media and it was subsequently shared with others once word got out. He said he never intended for it to be posted online, but once it did many people were furious and several reported it to Ontario Provincial Police and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry.
In a Facebook post, Kris Desjardin pointed out some of the apparent violations: shooting from a traveled portion of a roadway, no hunter orange, and having a loaded firearm on a roadway.
Jolanta Kowalski, a spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry, confirmed the incident is being looked into.
"All I can say at this point is that the Ministry of NDM, Natural Resources and Forestry is investigating the incident," she said in an email Friday morning.
In Justin's view, the man was careless when pointing his loaded gun and wasn't in control, saying it is important at all times.
"It just takes one person to abuse their rights to ruin a reputation for a whole community," he said.
The ministry put out a tweet Thursday morning reminding hunters of the rules around firearms and vehicles.
Correction
The firearm the man used was a rifle and not a shotgun according to Justin. The incident happened on Highway 17, not Highway 17B as initially reported.
