1911 GAME AND FISHERIES. 29 



Partridge are veiy scarce, and there should be a close season for three years, 

 he thinks, or they will be extinct in that part. The settlers recommend the same 

 course, as there is not one partridge now where a few years ago there were dozens. 

 He was in the woods for a couple of weeks, and only saw five or six partridge in 

 that time. Deer are there in fairly large numbers, but he would recommend chang- 

 ing the open season from the 15th November to the 1st December, as there are deer 

 wounded and never found, as they cannot be followed on bare ground, and if the 

 season were later there would be snow on the ground and they could be followed, 

 and consequently there would be fewer dead deer in the woods. He would also 

 recommend that game and fishery overseers sell hunting licenses inrtead of the 

 township clerks, as they would then know who had licenses and who had not. 



Overseer David Irwin of Little Current, having been in charge of the patrol 

 boat " Vega " all summer, is not able to give a very full report of the game and 

 fisheries in his district, but says that from what the fishermen have told him, the 

 fishing has been as good as usual, and the fishery laws very well observed. 

 As to game fish, he finds that the tourists between Penetang and St. Joseph's 

 Island, with a few exceptions, were well satisfied. The guides in most places are 

 a great help in the enforcing of the laws. 



He thinks deer in that district are on the increase. Ducks are more plentiful 

 than they have been for years. Tlie last two years of close season for partridge have 

 had the desired effect*, as they are now quite plentiful, but he would recommend 

 that the number to be shot by each perron be limited, as he knows of some who 

 shoot altogether too many. The game laws have also been well observed. 



Georgiax Bay. 



Overseer B. A. Busang, of Fesserton, reports that the 20th April to the 31st 

 October, 1910, angling has been as good as in 1909. The tourists were more 

 numerous. He sold $406 worth of angling permits — about $100 worth more than 

 the year previous. He only got those who happened to slip past at the Bridge 

 and again at Penetang. The only kick he heard from tourists was that there were 

 too many coarse fish, such as pike and suckers, and they would like to have them 

 thinned out. 



There has been quite a lot of illegal fishing with trap nets. Since the 23rd 

 January he has got 13 trapnets and leaders, and a leader without the trap, and 

 also over 500 yards of gill net and a night line 100 yards long and 29 hooks, and 

 destroyed everything on the spot. He had one conviction for illegal fishing. He 

 says it is pretty hard to catch those fishermen, as they know his boat (the "Flor- 

 ence ") at all times. He is on the search every day it is fit to be out, but the islands 

 are great hiding places. He does not think there is any inside of the angling 

 line, as he drags all over. The fish caught is about half consumed in Canada, 

 the other half going to the United States. 



On Nov. 26 he seized 26 yards of trout net, 6 feet from cork to lead at Lake 

 Island. Total of gill nets up to date, 1,000 yards. 



Ducks are scarce so far this sear oh, and they are keeping outside until cold 

 weather sets in. Partridge seem to be plentiful. He seized eight steel traps and 

 a patent wooden box for mink. When a mink goes in he sets the trap for the next 

 one. 



There are not marly deer hunters so far, and he has sold only a very few 

 licenses. He thinks there should be some way to prohibit firearms coming into the 

 country. Those who bring them in seem to get off in the woods and shoot away. 



