The 195^ deer hunting licence sales axe compared below with those of 



L953. 



TOTAL 103,200 101,085 



Many people not entitled to Farmers Deer Hunting Licences bought them in 

 ,953 • Education and enforcement was probably responsible for the swing of over 5000 

 of these to buying Resident Licences in 195^« There was little change in the com- 

 mned number of Resident and Farmer licences taken out, but there was an increase of 

 over 2000 in the niamber of Non-Resident licences sold. Nearly all of these non- 

 -residents hunted in the Western Region where hunting pressure is light and where 

 there are plenty of deer available for them. 



The collection of statistics concerning the condition of the deer herd 

 and the success of the hunt in 195^ was carried out along the same lines as in 

 previous years. Eleven checking stations operated across the Province at which 

 16,050 hunters were interviewed and 6083 deer were examined. Table 5 summarizes 

 the results for each Forest District. 



On the whole, the 195^ deer season gave slightly higher hunter success* 

 In most Districts the effort or hunter-days required to kill a deer was less. 



The study of the ages of the deer shot was continued and valuable basic 

 Information on the condition of the herd was obtained. The percentages of deer in 

 each sex and age class are summarized in Table 6. A healthy age distribution exists 

 in the districts lying south of the French and Hattawa Rivers. North of this line 

 there continues to be a relatively high proportion in the 5^ years and over age 

 group. The deer there could and should be hunted harder if range deterioration from 

 overuse is to be avoided. In the Western Region there was a shortage of li year old 

 deer. Weather information suggests that fawns produced in 1953 failed to survive 

 their first winter. History may be about to repeat itself in this part of the 



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