Duo charged, fined for shooting moose from a motorboat

Two people were charged and fined after a moose was shot by hunters from a boat.

Spencer Palmer of Stevensville, near Niagara Falls, and Logan Bauer of Fort Erie, pleaded guilty to unlawfully discharging a firearm from a motorboat and possessing illegally killed wildlife.

Both were fined $3,700 and received a one-year hunting licence suspension for all species.

The court heard that on October 9, 2023, conservation officers were conducting aerial moose hunting enforcement patrols and found Palmer and Bauer in possession of a bull moose.

The Ministry of Natural Resources investigation revealed the bull moose had been shot from a motorboat by Palmer while Bauer operated the motorboat. The duo were on the Patten River, north of Cochrane, at the time.

The bull moose was subsequently seized by the officers.

Justice of the Peace Jean-Marie Blier heard the case remotely in the Ontario Court of Justice, Cochrane, earlier this summer.