ANNUAL REPORT, 1938-39 



In the carrying out of such a programme of conservation the Department, 

 due to the difficulties which arise from time to time, requires the full co-operation 

 of the sportsman and which co-operation can best be provided by a complete 

 observance of the laws himself, and by his assistance in educating others to the 

 necessity for so doing. The Game and Fisheries Laws have the approbation of 

 every good sportsman. They are restrictive only to the extent necessary to provide 

 better sport. They embody the result of knowledge and experience and are con- 

 servation measures of the utmost importance. 



Following is a summary of conditions as they apply to the game life of the 

 Province, — both animal and bird, — compiled from information supplied in reports 

 submitted by the various members of the Field Service Staff of the Department: — 



UEEK: — Reports received in the Department are to the effect that the deer 

 herds in Northern Ontario are more than holding their own despite more intensive 

 hunting than has been the case in previous seasons. There is every indication that 

 these animals are, generally speaking, quite plentiful in the various districts in 

 Northern Ontario, though there are some scattered and isolated sections in the 

 various northern divisions where such is not the case, largely due to the fact 

 that conditions are not quite favourable. Similar observations would be applicable 

 in the several Districts and Counties in the more northerly portion of Southern 

 Ontario, viz.: — Parry Sound, Muskoka, Haliburton and Renfrew, as well as the northern 

 portion of Victoria, Peterborough, Hastings, Frontenac and Lanark. 



The value of conservation measures for the protection of wild life perhaps 

 has no better illustration than in the case of deer in the southwestern and southeastern 

 counties. Years ago it became quite evident that the number of deer in these 

 sections of the southern portion of the Province was rapidly diminishing and their 

 numbers becoming quite scarce, and with a view to their restoration the protection 

 of an entire closed season was provided. 



Quite obviously the deer have permanently disappeared from the most thickly 

 settled areas, but there is every indication, according to communications and news- 

 paper reports reaching the Department, that they are more prevalent in largely 

 increased numbers in the sections adjacent to the centres of densest population, and 

 where they are now more numerous than they have been for the past several 

 years. 



Whatever may be the future of the deer in those areas where settlement and 

 population have made the greatest inroads one thing is certain, — the perpetuation and 

 development of our wild life resources can be definitely assured if we will but 

 unite to afford them that measure of protection and proper control which is 

 necessary to our wise use of them. 



MOOSE: — Nowhere in Ontario are these animals to be found in numbers 

 which may be classified as plentiful. There has been an entire close season on 

 this species for several years in Southern Ontario, and reports indicate some 

 improvement in Muskoka, Haliburton, Frontenac and northeastern Renfrew. In 

 Northern Ontario conditions were about the same with some increase in scattered 

 sections of Cochrane and Sudbury Districts. An entire close season existed in 

 the northern part of Nipissing, the southern part of Temiskaming and the south- 

 eastern part of Sudbury in the east, and in the District of Rainy River and that 

 part of the District of Kenora south of the main transcontinental line of the C.N.R., 

 in the west and reports would indicate slight improvement in these two protected 

 areas. 



CARIBOU: — An entire close season prevails on this species, a few of which 

 may be found in scattered and widely separated sections in northwestern Cochrane, 



