although adverse weather during the hunting season lowered success slightly in 

 Kenora and Fort Frances from the very high success enjoyed last year. 



In Port Arthur District, an increasing deer herd is reflected in a significant 

 increase in deer licence sales this year. A mailed survey of hunters indicated that 

 4,190 licencees took 976 deer — a success rate of 23.3%. This is higher than last 

 year's figure of 20.5%, calculated on the same basis. 



Along the northern margin of the "eastern" deer range from Sault Ste. Marie 

 to North Bay, deer herds showed signs of slow recovery from the very severe 

 losses sustained during the winters of 1958-59 and 1959-60. North Bay District 

 showed the greatest gains and hunter success rose to 17.2% from a low 8.3% 

 in 1961. Fawns comprised 38.7% of the North Bay kill, indicating excellent 

 reproduction. 



On the Sudbury District mainland (excluding Manitoulin Island), hunter 

 success at 12.7% was still low, but better than in 1961. A high percentage ot 

 young deer in the kill suggests an increasing population. (See Table 3) 



In the Sault Ste. Marie area, bridge checks and hunter questionnaires were 

 used to obtain harvest information. District staff feel that the shorter season, lack 

 of snow cover during the season and fewer hunters combined to reduce the number 

 of deer taken. Success for residents was 10.1%, compared to last year's 17.1%. 

 it is evident that the Sault deer herd is still at a low level, although the 338 hunters 

 who hunted from camps had a success rate of 48.5%; this, however, was also a 

 slight reduction from the success of camps in 1961. 



On Manitoulin Island, Sudbury District staff operated a checking station at 

 Little Current twenty-four hours a day during and subsequent to the season. 

 Hunter success rose from 21.2% to 25.3% this year. Fawns comprised 35.2% 

 of all deer taken, indicating excellent reproduction. Better hunting was reflected 

 in the number of man-days of effort required to bag a deer — 15.7 compared to 

 18.0 in 1961. 



South of the French and Mattawa Rivers, in the heart of the main eastern 

 deer range, weather during the hunt influenced the harvest considerably. 



In Parry Sound, District staff examined 1,854 deer which passed through 

 their checking stations. Results of these checks indicated a hunter success rate of 

 22.4%, down slightly from the 23.7% recorded in 1961. We believe actual success 

 was better than this, since heavy rains on Saturday, November 10, almost "washed" 

 out checking station operations. Reports from hunt camps are a more reliable 

 indication of success and Table 2 shows little change in Parry Sound camps from 

 1961 to 1962. Weather during the first week was only fair, that of the second 

 week excellent. Had this been reversed, the much heavier hunting pressure which 

 occurs the first week would have undoubtedly increased the kill. Several aspects 

 of the hunt were encouraging; fawns increased from 30 to 33% of all deer checked 

 and yearlings, as a percentage of all adults, rose from 27.3 to 34.9%. Crops of 

 strong young age-classes such as these show that the Parry Sound herd is re- 

 covering from the effect of previous harsh winters. 



Deer hunting in Lindsay District was much improved. Table 2 shows that 

 reports from 361 camps comprising 3,513 hunters indicated 50.1% success; this 

 is the highest since 1958. Results from Lindsay checking stations indicate (Table 

 1) a reduction from 25.4% in 1961 to 23.5% this year. Again, the operation 

 of check stations suffered from the torrential all day rain during Saturday of the 

 first weekend. Results were also biased by the fact that mild weather during the 

 first week forced many hunters to take out their deer early. These deer were then 

 missed during the weekend road checks. For one or both of the above reasons, 

 the information contained in Table 1 is not as reliable as deer camp data in Table 



61 



