by spruce bud worm have produced excellent deer habitat. This fact, coupled with 

 comparatively mild winters with little snow have produced an abundance of deer. 

 Remote from high human population densities the western region experiences low 

 hunting pressures. A much larger harvest is desirable however, since heavy mor- 

 tality will result if a severe winter with deep snow occurs. 



In the main eastern deer range, from Sault Ste. Marie east and south, deer 

 hunters in 1964 enjoyed better success than in 1963. The main difference was 

 weather which, unlike the heavy rains of the year previously, allowed hunters to 

 hunt white-tails in reasonable comfort. In the central region, including Sault 

 Ste. Marie and Sudbury mainland areas, success rates were still much lower than 

 the levels enjoyed in the late 1950's. There was evidence that huntable popula- 

 tions of deer were distributed more widely across the Sault Ste. Marie District 

 in 1964, but herds are recovering very slowly from the very severe winters of the 

 early 1960's in the Sudbury District. The north shore has been plagued by very 

 deep snow almost every year since 1958 and prospects for a good season in Sault 

 Ste. Marie in 1965 are not good since snowfall was very heavy during the winter 

 of 1964-65 and surveys again have indicated starvation from malnutrition. In 

 Sudbury there were some brighter spots and excellent hunting was enjoyed in the 

 French River area with many camps getting their count. Very low hunter success 

 was reported from areas such as Lake Penage, Drury and Massey which were 

 once prime hunting areas. 



Manitoulin Island enjoyed a banner season and success rates rose to almost 

 30%; the 3037 residents and 151 non-residents interviewed at the Little Current 

 checking station had very few complaints. Of the 958 deer inspected from Mani- 

 toulin, 34.6% were fawns. This indicates that a bumper fawn crop was produced 

 last year and this augurs well for the 1965 hunt. North Bay District hunter success 

 rose slightly and to the south in Parry Sound success was also somewhat 

 improved over 1963. At Parry Sound over 8,000 hunters were interviewed at 

 checking stations, while 566 camps mailed in reports of their hunter success. 

 Information received from deer hunt camp reports is contained in Table 2. Many 

 of these camps have been in operation for many years and consistently report 

 on their hunting success; summaries of these Crown land camp reports probably 

 constitute the most reliable statistics pertaining to success rates which are collected. 



Slightly further south in Lindsay and Tweed Districts, hunters enjoyed better 

 success than during the dismally wet season in 1963. Tweed recorded an increase 

 in organized camp success of 6.1%, while a gain of 3.6% was indicated at 

 Lindsay. In both districts fawns represented a good proportion of the kill which 

 is a promising sign for 1965. An added bonus for deer hunters was the very large 

 number of black bear taken all across the eastern range. A combination of mild 

 weather before the hunt, a good supply of acorns on the ridges and numerous 

 bears provided a good many hunters with opportunities to bag a bruin. 



Pembroke District hunters fared somewhat better than the year previously; 

 organized hunter success improved from 13.1% to 19.4%, casual hunters from 

 7.7% to 12.9% and Crown land camp success increased from 20.7% to 23.5%. 

 These success rates still are not comparable to those enjoyed during the 1950's 

 and general habitat conditions have slowly deteriorated over the past few years. 

 It is hoped that commercial logging combined with winter deer habitat improve- 

 ment programs will keep success rates on a continuing upward trend. 



In Kemptville District camp reports for over 1 800 hunters indicated a success 

 rate of 32.5% an improvement over the 26.7% tallied in 1963. Agricultural 

 areas produced far more deer than most of us realize and it is not surprising that 

 fawns comprised a very high 37.9% of the total kill. This is an indication of the 



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