HUNGARIAN PARTRIDGE 



It was a good year for Hungarian partridge, particularly in 

 the eastern counties of Dundas, Stormont, Prescott, Russell 

 and Carleton. Kernptville district staff tallied 367 gun days 

 of hunting and 1,049 Huns for an average of 2.9 birds per 

 gun day. This compares with 2.8 and 2.2 birds per gun day 

 for the 1967 and 1966 seasons, respectively. 



Hungarian partridge were live-trapped in the Ottawa area 

 again during the 1968-9 winter, and 56 were traded to 

 Michigan in return for fox squirrels which will be introduced 

 into Lambton County. Attempts to propagate partridge at 

 the Codrington Came Bird Farm continued, but results in 

 1968 were disappointing. 



RABBITS AND HARES 



The cottontail rabbit, the European hare (or jack), and the 

 snowshoe or varying hare produce a considerable amoLmt 

 of hunting recreation. Cottontail rabbits and jacks were in 

 reasonably good supply over most of the range in southern 

 Ontario in 1968. A total of 3,559 hunters, checked in Lake 

 Huron and Lake Simcoe districts, averaged approximately 

 6.3 hours of hunting for each rabbit or hare taken in 1968. 

 This compared with almost seven hours of hunting required 

 the year previously. 



WOODCOCK 



The American woodcock is a much overlooked game species 

 in Ontario, hunted by comparatively few dedicated hunters. 

 Good numbers of woodcock are produced in Ontario, but 

 relatively little is known concerning relative breeding densi- 

 ties across the Province. In 1968, Ontario participated in a 

 survey of breeding woodcock which was co-ordinated 

 throughout eastern North America by the United States Fish 

 and Wildlife Service. 



Little information on woodcock hunting for 1968 is avail- 

 able. Twenty co-operating hunters in the Lake Simcoe dis- 

 trict reported a season kill of 369 woodcocks during 381 

 man-hours of hunting for a season average of 18.5 birds per 

 hunter, and a hunting effort of slightly mce than one hour 

 per bird bagged. This may be compared with an average 

 season bag for 36 hunters of 11.1 birds in 1967. 



RACCOONS 



Raccoons are gaining the attention of more hunters each 

 year. "Coon" hunting with hounds at night under the 

 authority of a raccoon licence, available from Department 

 offices only, is more popular than many people realize. In 

 1968, 1,050 raccoon hunting licences were sold across 

 southern Ontario. Raccoon populations are high, and this 

 was reflected in hunter success in Lake Simcoe and Lake 

 Huron districts where 242 hunters reported 4,484 raccoons 

 harvested, or 18 per hunter, in 1967. 



COYOTES 



There has been a general increase in coyotes or brush wolf 

 populations m agricultural southern Ontario, and many 

 "hound men" are taking advantage of some excellent sport 

 and are also collectmg bounties. Of 892 coyotes taken dur- 

 ing 1967 in the six most southerly forest districts, 549, or 

 over 60%, fell to the shotgun or rifle. The figure includes a 

 few wolves killed m the northern parts of Tweed and 

 Lindsay districts. 



GREY SQUIRRELS 



Grey squirrels provided reasonably good hunting in south- 

 western Ontario, the only area in the province with a 

 squirrel hunting tradition. Black squirrels, a colour phase 

 of the grey, become progressively more common as one 

 moves from south to north in southern Ontario; they are 

 extending their range northward in the Precambrian Shield, 

 and they are more abundant than usual in south-central 

 and eastern Ontario. They are an excellent, but largely 

 neglected, game animal in the Province. 



WATERFOWL MANAGEMENT 



VVatertowl management objectives in Ontario include the 

 maintenance of populations at or near levels which occurred 

 in the 1955-8 period, and the provision of sustained quality 

 recreation for hunters and non-hunters alike. 



Waterfowl hunting remained extremely popular in On- 

 tario, and 139,182 Federal Migratory Bird Hunting Permits 

 were sold in the Province for the 1968 season. This total 

 was more than that of the three Prairie provinces combined 

 and almost 40 per cent of the national total. 



The 1968 waterfowl season was not as successful as dur- 

 ing the previous years, and very mild "bluebird" weather 

 made ducks difficult to hunt. In addition, a poor produc- 

 tion year of blue and snow geese in the high Arctic marked- 

 ly lowered success on James and Hudson Bays. 



Opening-day duck hunter success was good, averaging 

 approximately one bird per hunter in southern Ontario and 

 as high as 1.7 birds per hunter in local areas of northern 

 Ontario. Duck hunting later in the season was not nearly as 

 productive. Federal surveys indicated the average bag per 

 successful hunter fell from 11.0 in 1967 to 9.8. The propor- 

 tion of the various duck species taken by Ontario hunters 

 remained similar to that of the previous year, with mallards, 

 blacks, wood ducks, green-winged teal, blue-winged teal, 

 and ring-necked ducks making up almost 80 per cent of 

 the total harvest. 



Although continental populations of Canada geese con- 

 tinue to rise, there are few opportunities to hunt these 



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