24 THE REPORT UPON No. 32 



than for a number of years past, and angling fishing for bass was good. 

 There has also been a good number of tourists around there this summer. 

 The muskrats are numerous as ever. Quite a number of wild geese 

 stop with them for two weeks on their way south. The black and gray duck 

 were in abundance, and the sportsmen enjoyed hunting them. The fall 

 duck was not so plentiful as blue bills, redheads and whistlers. The deer 

 hunting has been the best for a number of years, and the hunters were well 

 pleased. 



Overseer B. A. Dusang, of Fesserton, reports that carp has been plenti- 

 ful, but very few were caught. Trout and whitefish have been plenti- 

 ful, and angling has been as good as last 3/ ear. Pickerel have increased. 

 There were quite a number of tourists, but not as many as the year before. 

 The close season has been well observed. He fined one fisherman |20 and 

 costs, also seized over a mile of night line, and 425 .hooks, which he destroyed. 

 About half of the fish this year were consumed in Canada, the other half 

 going to the United States, as the Canadians are paying better prices. He 

 has travelled 2,500 miles in 1908 by gasoline launch and train and other 

 conveyances. He has sixteen licensed fishermen in his division, besides 

 about seven or eight others who get their licenses from other overseers. 



Overseer James Hewitt, of Honey Harbor, reports that rod fishing has 

 been good in Honey Harbour. He has had guests at his house who caught 

 their limit for three days; and as for small black bass below the limit, the 

 guests remarked upon their catching so many little ones that had to be put 

 back again, and thought that it went to show that the bass is increasing. 

 As for pickerel, he says they had more caught at their house than for 

 the last four years, so he believes that the pickerel is catching up a little, 

 but yet there are some trap nets found inside of the boundary line. Trolling 

 for maskinonge was better, and pike trolling was good. Bass was plentiful 

 on the shores in spawning time, and he also saw quite a few schools of little 

 bass swimming around the shore this year. There were bass around all 

 the shoals and rocks and in places where he never knew bass to be before. 



Deer was prettj plentiful in his district. There are a number staying 

 in the little swamps near by, and if let alone will be free from the wolves. 

 There are quite a few partridge, and he believes they have increased over 

 last year. Duck hunting was not very good in the early part of the season, 

 but from November till it froze up they were plentiful, in fact there are some 

 around yet, as he saw some on the 5th January. Snipe and woodcock were 

 rather plentiful. 



The laws have been fairly well observed around Honey Harbor as 

 regards game. 



Overseer J . W . Jermyn, of Wiarton, reports that the fishing in the early 

 spring and summer was very light, small catches being general. In the 

 fall the fish were late in coming on the shoals, and the latter part of the 

 season the weather was rough and high winds prevailed, so that the fisher- 

 men could not either set or lift nets for several days at a time. Another 

 cause was the dense clouds of smoke from bush fires, which made it impos- 

 sible to see any distance on the waters. While there were not as many fish 

 caught this year as last, he cannot attribute this cause to the scarcity of 

 fish, as thej were plentiful wjien the weather permitted the fishermen to 

 take them. He is pleased to be able to state that the game and fishery laws 

 were well observed in his division during the past season. 



In respect to the game on the Bruce Peninsula. He regrets to state that 

 it suffered severely from the terrible bush fires. During the hunting season 



