SUDBURY -- Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources says a Waterloo man has been fined $6,500 and had his hunting license suspended after an incident in northern Ontario.

Conservation officers were doing a moose decoy operation on Black Sturgeon Road, northwest of Nipigon on Oct. 23, 2019, when a man got out of his vehicle and shot his high-power rifle down the road at the decoy before legal hunting time.

As a result, the man was convicted and fined $4,500 for careless use of a firearm while hunting, $1,500 illegally hunting at night and $500 for illegally having a loaded gun during transport. He also had his hunting licence suspended for six months, has to retake the Ontario hunter education program and pass the test in order to buy a new one.

The case was heard in Thunder Bay last month.

"The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry wants to remind hunters that shooting from or down roadways is dangerous and illegal," the provincial body said in a news release.