MAIL FIELD 



20% 1962 10% 1963 1962 1963 



Number of township licences issued 595 600 595 600 



Number of questionnaires sent out 121 60 — — 



Number of hunters reporting 102 55 — — 



Number of questionnaires received incomplete 7 .00 — — 



Number of hunters reporting not hunting 10 9 — — 



Number of hunters reporting hunting 85 46 421 489 



Number of pheasants harvested 147 70 206 234 



Number of man-days hunted 188 130 — — 



Hunter Success (bird/per hunter season) 1.7 1.52 — — 



Hunter Success (bird/per hunter day) .73 .54 .49 .48 



Average number of days of hunting 2.2 2.83 — — 



Man-days to kill a pheasant 1.28 1.86 — 2.06 



Man-hours hunted — — 1462 1742 



Man-hours to kill a pheasant — — 7.1 7.4 



Length of average hunting day when checked — — 3.5 3.56 



Estimated harvest for township 920 764 — — 



Total number of licences not hunting 62.6 98 — — 



In Lake Erie District sex and age ratios were gathered by the conservation 

 officers during the shoot and although the samples are small figures they are of 

 interest for comparative purposes. They are as follows: 



Adult cocks 27 



Adult hens 44 



Total adults 71 



Adult cock/adult hen ratio 1:1.63 



Juv. cocks 82 



Juv. hens 81 



Total Juv 163 



Juv. cock/ Juv. hen ratio 1:1 



Total cocks 109 



Total hens 125 



Total 234 



Total cock/hen ratio 1 :1.5 



Juv. per adult hen 3.48 



This figure corresponds very closely with Pelee Island. These figures were used 

 for estimating the population for the fall shoot with 3.5 juveniles per adult hen with 

 a brood. 



Ruffed Grouse 



During the summer and fall of 1963, District Staff again conducted the annual 

 inventory on the production and harvest of the ruffed grouse in Ontario. These 

 figures have been compiled for reference and comparative purposes from the 

 material they supplied. The purpose of obtaining such records is to estimate the 

 success of the current breeding season. Thus on a comparative basis from year to 

 year this production figure can be used to inform the public of the quality of 

 hunting in various parts of the Province. 



In order to have the District field officers concentrate on brood counts rather 

 than other aspects of the work, it was suggested that the collection of wings and 

 tails of grouse for age and sex studies would not be necessary for 1962 and 1963. 

 However, a number of districts had already established patterns of co-operation with 

 hunters on a local basis and a total of 2,576 wings and tails were collected in 16 

 districts. Where comparative data were available from last year it was found that 

 eight districts had an increase in the ratio of young to adult female, while only three 

 reported a decline in this ratio. The greatest change in this ratio was noted in the 

 Kemptville District where the ratio rose from an average of 1.5 per female in 1962 

 to an average of 6.3 per female in 1963. 



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