Pheasant Harvest Report 



LAKE SIMCOE DISTRICT— 1962 



Open Seasons. October 17 -October 27 — Counties of York and Peel and 

 Townships of East Whitby, Whitby, Pickering, Reach, Uxbridge and Scott in the 

 County of Ontario. 



October 17 -November 3 — Counties of Duflferin and Simcoe. 



October 6 - October 27 — Remainder of the district. 



Statistics. Although the hunting of pheasants was open throughout the entire 

 district, our statistics cover only nine of the fifteen regulated townships in the 

 district — East Whitby, Whitby, Pickering, Markham, Whitchurch, King, Caledon, 

 Chinguacousy and Toronto. The remaining townships either were well outside 

 pheasant habitat, or the amount of pheasant hunting was of little consequence 

 and no reports were forwarded. 



No. of parties checked in the field 

 No. of parties using dogs, 48% or 

 No. of hunters checked in the field 

 Total pheasants bagged 

 Per hunter bagged 

 Total hunter hours 

 Hours to bag a pheasant 

 Approximate kill in the nine townships 



See Table for complete summary. 



Distribution. A total of 15,900 pheasant day-olds, poults and adults were 

 received this year for distribution. All but 1,000 poults received from a private 

 hatchery in Sault Ste. Marie were received from the Provincial Hatchery at 

 Codrington. They arrived in the district as 8,300 day-olds, 7,000 poults and 600 

 adults. The majority of poults and adults were released shortly after arrival at 

 their destinations. Day-olds were raised by regulated townships, township game 

 commissions and interested sportsmen, to approximately 8 weeks before release. 

 A loss of only 8.1% in raising day-olds to poults was reported from the six 

 townships participating in the banding of all released birds within their boundaries. 



Licences. A total of 6,341 township licences were sold up to the close of the 

 pheasant season in the regulated townships. They consisted of 2,722 resident 

 licences and 3,619 non-resident licences, a decrease of 7.8% from the previous 

 year. 



Weather. Changeable weather throughout the open season in the regulated 

 townships again greeted the hunter, being a mixture of warm, sunny, overcast 

 and wet. Light wet snow fell in the northern portions of the district on Tuesday, 

 October 23, and covered most of the district by Friday, October 26. Most of it 

 had melted by the following day. 



Harvest. Some hunting took place in all fifteen regulated townships and a few 

 outside areas such as Camp Borden, Stayner, Barrie, Reach and Uxbridge 

 Townships. Hunter success and hours to bag a pheasant were down somewhat 

 from the previous year. Although hunters in some townships reported a good 

 number of pheasants seen, the birds seemed to be flushing faster than in previous 

 years and presenting a more difficult target. 



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