tion. All this helps, but thousands of square miles in northern Ontario still 

 remain out of reach to the average hunter. 



A close watch is being kept on Ontario's moose herd. In almost every 

 northern forest district field personnel are assessing the effect of high moose 

 populations on the supply of woody browse which constitutes their winter food. 



Other studies are designed to determine the various types of parasites and 

 diseases and their normal occurrence in Ontario's moose herds. At present, 

 moose appear to be in good condition and in an effort to keep them that way 

 long liberal seasons have been provided for in northern Ontario, and moose 

 of any age and sex are legal game. The access problem is very difficult to 

 overcome, however, and inaccessible areas will not be able to support large 

 numbers of moose indefinitely. 



The 1963 Moose Hunt 



The 1963 moose hunt was one of the most successful on record. Licence 

 sales continue to climb and 40,161 residents and 6,770 non-residents purchased 

 licences in 1963. 



A large sample of hunters again provided information on their hunt. 

 A systematic sample of names was chosen from licence book covers and postcards 

 requesting moose harvest data were mailed to hunters following the season. 

 Questionnaires were forwarded to 34.8 per cent of all licensees, and of these 

 89.5-per-cent were returned. Additional information on the hunt was obtained 

 through road checking stations and by field contacts of hunters. Table 6 shows 

 the results of the mail surveys by forest district. 



Table 6 



RESIDENT NON-RESIDENT 



Calc. Calc. 



Licences Calc. % Licences Calc. % 



used in Kill of Hunter used in Kill of Hunter 



Forest District District Moose Success District Moose Success 



Sioux Lookout 1,352 563 41,6 1,591 1,106 69.5 



Kenora 1,284 556 43.3 1,347 796 59.1 



Fort Frances 671 268 37.8 _ _ _ 



Port Arthur 3,837 1,504 39.0 889 411 46.1 



Geraldton 3,022 1,007 33.9 654 331 51.0 



Kapuskasing 4,055 1,127 27.8 342 189 55.3 



Cochrane 3,311 845 25.5 81 42 52.0 



Swastika 4,060 845 20.8 79 23 29.1 



Gogama 1,584 375 23.7 261 110 42.1 



Chapleau 1,879 450 23.9 424 144 34.0 



White River 1,978 470 23.8 651 265 40.9 



Sault Ste. Marie 2,787 660 23.7 359 146 40.5 



Sudbury 3,230 522 16.2 62 13 21.0 



North Bay 2,235 341 15.2 22 4 19.5 



Parry Sound 1,393 272 19.5 _ _ _ 



Lindsay 455 79 17.4 — — — 



Tweed 132 10 7.6 — — — 



Pembroke 389 100 25.7 _ _ _ 



Toronto Cash Office — — — — — — 



TOTAL 37,654 9,994 26.5 44,416 13,574 30.5 



The western region provides the best hunting in the Province for both residents 

 and non-residents and 48.9-per-cent of the moose harvest was taken in that region 

 last year. The overall success rate for this region was 44.6-per-cent compared to 

 the 30.5-per-cent Provincial average. 



Only in southern Ontario, south of the French and Mattawa Rivers, was there 

 a decline in the kill from 1962. It is possible that very heavy hunting which occurs 

 in this region may be overharvesting this portion of the moose herd. Plans are 



50 



