Protesters are planning on greeting aboriginal hunters as they enter Short Hills Provincial Park this weekend for a deer hunt.

Robin Zavitz has started an online petition in an effort to stop the hunt which she calls illegal.

With over 1-thousand signatures so far, Zavitz says for 40 years the park has been a sanctuary and safehaven for wildlife and shouldn't be turned into a hunting ground.

The Ministry of Natural Resources points out under terms of the Indian Act, aboriginal groups have a treaty right to hunt for food and for ceremonial purposes.

MNR Media Relations Officer Jolanta Kowalski told CKTB they began sending out the notices as soon as they finalized details of the hunt earlier this week.

She adds the hunt will be limited to the southeast corner of the park which has the least development and fewest trails.

Kowalski  says they expect between 15 and 20 hunters each day and there will be no guns involved.

Short Hills will be closed this weekend and next from just before sunrise until just after sunset for the hunt.