1911 



GAME AND FISHERIES. 31 



Partridge this season are numerous. Ducks are plentiful, and very wild, on 

 the lakes, not veiy many being shot this season. Deer are reported as being plenti- 

 ful, and 'one deer to one man will certainly save a lot this season. If the dogs 

 were stopped for a couple of seasons, it would make the deer more numerous ; but 

 it would be more dangerous to the hunter, as there are so many inexperienced 

 hunters in the woods who shoot at everything they see moving, which is not nec- 

 essary, as there is no man that looks like a deer, and if they would look twice before 

 they "^shoot, it would give them time to think what they were shooting at. 



Overseer Thos. McKcnmj. of Thornbury, reports that trout and whitefish were 

 fairly plentiful in early spring, but the summer catch was an almost entire failure. 

 He has known men to set seven boxes of nets (or about 2,100 yards), and only 

 catch four fish from the lot. 



In the fall the fish were unusually late in coming on the spawning grounds. 

 Added to this the weather has been very stormy, preventing the setting or lifting 

 of nets, and consequently the catch has been very light. The law throughout his 

 division has been fairly well observed. He, however, heard that baited lines were 

 being used in the northern part. It is very difficult to locate these lines, as the 

 law-breakers set them on ranges without any buoys or floats of any kind, and, 

 knowing their ranges, drag for and get hold of them ; not knowing the ranges, one 

 would have to drag the bay to find them. He would further report that during 

 July and August, while spending his annual holiday at his cottage on the North 

 Shore (about 15 miles from Penetanguishene), he discovered that trap nets were 

 being extensively used, and felt it his duty to stop the practice, if possible. His 

 efforts were fairly successful. He seized and destroyed six of these engines of fish 

 extermination ; and here he wishes to offer a suggestion — that overseers should ex- 

 change work in their several divisions occasionally, his reason being that if an 

 overseer works only in his own division, he is soon known to fishermen, both legiti- 

 mate and the reverse, and his approach is heralded ahead by telephone, telegraph, 

 etc., so that when he arrives all is as it ought to be. Now in his own case this sum- 

 mer on the North Shore he was not known as an overseer, but simply an ordinary 

 know-nothing tourist, and this fact gave him a chance to Avork which a local or 

 known overseer would not have had. The open season is now over, and he regrets 

 to say has been anything but a successful one to the great bulk of fishermen. 



Overseer Murdoch Watts, of Byng Inlet, reports that he has had a number of 

 convictions in his division for illegal fishing and hunting deer out of season, but he 

 is glad to say that his division is well rid of illegal fishermen and pot hunters. He 

 has been greatly assisted by Provincial Constable C. H. Knight in every way. 

 They have spent hours and days together trying to run down illegal fishermen 

 and hunters, and have been successful in clearing them out. The bass fishing 

 th:s year was not so good as in previous years, and he would suggest that a close 

 season be established for a period of, say, three years. He has found his launch 

 *' Maggie May " a great convenience for the protection of the fish and game, as 

 it is utterly impossible for any overseer in that section to look after the game and 

 fish as he should, without the services of a gasoline launch. There is such a large 

 portion of water to get over that it would be out of the question for an overseer 

 to do his duty there with a canoe or rowboat. He has travelled some days as far 

 as 70 miles strictly on official business. 



Partridge seem plentiful, also deer. He heard a man say recently that he 

 had shot 25 partridges in three hours. He would suggest that the number be 

 limited to five birds a day. 



