have reduced pheasant cover and (2) increased use of insecticides and herbicides. 

 Studies to ascertain the specific cause of the decline are underway. 



Pheasant studies conducted in the Lake Simcoe district indicated that the 

 survival of poults is much lower than that of adults. It follows that the closer 

 the birds are planted to the opening day of the season, the larger is the proportion 

 taken by hunters compared with those lost to the elements, predators and accidents. 

 More birds will be raised to the adult stage prior to release and the game bird farm 

 production will be geared accordingly. The demand for adult and stock birds at 

 the public hunting grounds intensifies this phase of the hatchery program. 



PELEE ISLAND PHEASANT SHOOT 



Pheasant hunting on Pelee Island in 1964 was held in two periods, October 

 22-23 and October 29-30. This was a departure from the former two day seasons. 

 The aim was to reduce hunter congestion while allowing a large number of hunters 

 to participate in the Island hunt. There were 1,321 hunters who took part in 

 the special four-day Pelee season, an increase of 307 (or 30% ) over that of the 

 1963 season. 



In all, 10,533 birds comprised of 7,612 cocks and 2,921 hens were bagged 

 by the hunters. The average take was 7.73 birds per hunter representing a harvest 

 effort rate of 0.70 birds per hunter hour. More than half the hunters were success- 

 ful in obtaining their quota of ten birds each. The crippling losses were estimated 

 to be 2,314 birds or 20.6% of the total bag. Hence, the total mortality of pheasants 

 at Pelee as a result of the shoot was in the neighbourhood of 12,850 birds. 



The increase in the number of hunters was reflected in a 24% increase in 

 harvested birds and in a 28.5% rise in crippled losses as compared with 1963 

 figures. It was also reported that the water level in the ditches and canals was the 

 lowest in 18 years and as a result the birds were concentrated in the woodlots, corn 

 fields and rough lands adjacent to canals with a reasonable supply of water. This 

 undoubtedly contributed to the success enjoyed by Pelee pheasant hunters. 



Some hunters met with difficulty in trying to flush birds out of unharvested 

 corn fields. Although, as expected, a number of hunters did complain that they 

 had not obtained the full limit, the fact that many filled their quota, 47% of 

 hunters in the first shoot and 66% in the second, indicates that this is truly a 

 quality hunt. 



Data collected by Lake Simcoe staff show that 5,518 township licences 

 comprised of 2,047 "resident" and 3,471 "non-resident" licences were sold in 

 the 13 regulated townships within their district. This represents a decrease of 

 10.6% compared with 1963 sales but most of this can be accounted for by the 

 "opting out" of Albion Township from the regulated township scheme. Difficulties 

 in other Peel County townships probably depressed licence sales, too. Almost 

 1,800 hunters were checked by Simcoe District officers and their harvest of 964 

 birds reveals an average take of 0.53 birds per hunter. This success figure repre- 

 sents an increase of 15% over that of 1963. The effort decreased from 1963 by 

 one hour per bird to 6.4 man hours per bird in 1964. Poor weather did depress 

 opening day hunter success but pheasant hunters in King, Pickering and Chinga- 

 cousy Townships averaged one to one and a half birds per hunter. In Markham 

 Township, where no birds were released prior to the season, hunters fared 

 reasonably well, averaging .85 birds per hunter on opening day and attaining 

 an average of .61 birds per hunter for the entire season. The next table provides 

 information on the Lake Simcoe Forest District 1964 pheasant hunt. 



37 



