this worthwhile youth training programme. During the past year, some 18,650 

 completed the course, making a total of 85,034 new hunters in the field who have 

 obtained the fundamentals of safe gun handling since the inception of this project 

 The following table shows the progress that has been made since 1957: 



Students Graduated 



Total To Date 



1957 281 281 



1958 1,668 1,949 



1959 2,780 4,729 



1960 10,917 15,646 



1961 15,267 30,913 



1962 15,082 45,995 



1963 20,387 66,382 



1964 18,652 85,034 



A great number and variety of organizations have participated in these courses 

 and the table below outlines the percentage of new hunters that each have gradu- 

 ated. 



Game and Fish Clubs 



Miscellaneous 



1960 71% 29% 



1961 63% 37% 



1962 59% 41% 



1963 47% 53% 



1964 48% 52% 



The rapid increase in the number of students processed by miscellaneous 

 groups may be explained by the fact that this program was incorporated into the 

 curriculum of the High School Cadets and the Cadet Corps of the Canadian Militia. 

 Other organizations participating included service clubs, Boy Scouts, church groups, 

 community centres and many individual instructors in remote areas. 



Data on hunting accidents is gathered through co-operation with the Ontario 

 Provincial Police, as well as by our own conservation officers and our newspaper 

 clipping service. The Ontario Provincial Police participation commenced in Sep- 

 tember, 1959. Prior to this our records are incomplete. 



It is noted that an encouraging improvement has been made and great credit 

 must be given to the instructors for their devotion to their work. 



An alarming number of accidents are associated with disregard for the game 

 laws. In reviewing the accident reports it is noted that 35% of the shooters in- 

 volved in hunting accidents were contravening one or another of the laws and 

 regulations. 



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