MAPLETON TOWNSHIP- Mapleton Township is open to allowing gun hunting on Sundays. In the past, the Township has denied requests for allowing a Sunday gun hunt but a recent delegation seems to have changed some attitudes on council.
Ray Kuper of Moorefield appeared before council Tuesday night and pointed out that, according to him, 90 per cent of Ontario municipalities allow a Sunday gun hunt, including the neighbouring Town of Minto.
“Hunting on farm land or in the bush on a Sunday as opposed to a Saturday or a Wednesday does not make it any more or less safe, it merely makes no difference whatsoever,” argued Kuper.
Kuper also maintained that hunting accounts for just .001 per cent of all sporting injuries though he did not provide a source for that statistic.
Councillor Marlene Otten told council while she is not a fan of guns, after speaking with Kuper and other hunters, she’s changed her opinion.
“You only get one weekend a year where you can do that and if you want to put a deer in the freezer it adds, it adds if you are working all week it gives you two days instead of one to do that,” explained Otten. “So I appreciate the request and bringing it back, so I would change my attitude on this from my previous vote.”
Council directed staff to draft a bylaw allowing Sunday gun hunting to be brought before a future council meeting.
