PERCENTAGE LOST OF SEALS STRUCK. 391 



This year the seals are wilder than the year before; I think it was be- 

 cause they were hunted so much. We did not 



capture as many in proportion to the number shot ^ hos - Brown (No. i),p. 

 as we did the year previous, and did not save 

 more than one out of six that we shot. 



We got 011 an average three or five out of every twelve killed and 

 wounded. It depends a great deal upon the 

 weather. There were lots of seals in the water ^Thos.Broxvn{No. 8), p. 

 at that time. 



I have boarded a large number of vessels fitted out as sealers and 

 engaged in sealing, and have conversed with their 



masters and crews on the subject of pelagic seal- #£ G ' Ca " iwcll > P- 

 ing. From information gathered from these and . 

 other sources, and by comparison of testimony given by the seal- 

 hunters, would say that at least 66 per cent of seals killed or wounded 

 escape and are never recovered. 



The average hunter would get one out of every three that he shot; a 

 poor hunter not nearly so many. There are twenty- 

 one buckshot to a shell. * When Chas. Chalall, p. 411. 

 they are in school sleeping we get a good many. 



We did not get as many we shot at in the Bering Sea as we did on 

 the coast. If we got one out of every three that we wounded in the 

 Bering Sea we were doing pretty well. 



I used a shotgun almost exclusively last sea- Julius Christiansen, p. 

 son, and lost about one-third of all fur-seals shot. 219. 



I think about 50 per cent of the seals shot 

 with shotgun are lost, and greater proportion are Peter Church, p. 257. 

 lost when shot with a rifle. 



In hunting with guns I usually get about two out of five that I shoot; 

 sometimes I would wound one and it would get T „ c ,,,,„, ,„, „ QQO 



, ., , , , , , ,. => Jas. Claplanlioo, p.doJ. 



away and it probably would die. 



I always use the shotgun for taking seal. I Wm. Clark, p. 293. 

 think about 25 per cent are lost. 



Q. Is it not a fact that you destroy a large percentage of seals that 

 you do not catch? — A. Yes, sir. 



Q. What is that percentage? — A. We catch Daniel ciaimen, p, ill. 

 about seven seals out of ten. 



Q. What percentage of seals are taken compared to those you destroy 

 in doing so; in other words, how many do you actually get out of those 

 you shoot? — A. We get about 75 per cent of what we shoot. 



Q. Is it not a fact that when you first started in the business and was 

 inexperienced in hunting, that you, like all other beginners, destroyed 

 a much larger proportion than you now do? — A. It is; yes, sir. 



Over 50 per cent are lost when shot with shotgun. Jno. c. Clement, p. 258. 



My observation of the seal-hunting by white hunters in 1888 is that 

 they do not secure more than two or three out of 

 every one hundred shot. The number of shots Louis Culler, p. 321. 

 fired by a hunter in an ordinary day's sealing is 



