A special survey of hunters using motor toboggans in Kapus- 

 kasing District revealed that 388 residents killed 111 moose 

 and nine non-residents killed four. The success rates of 

 28.6% for residents using motor toboggans and 44.9% for 

 non-residents were considerably higher than the overall 

 success rate for that District of 22.6% for residents and 

 35.8% for non-residents. A similar survey in Cochrane Dis- 

 trict showed that hunters with motor toboggans went as far 

 as 30 miles from main roads. Thus, the use of these 

 machines for moose hunting provides increased hunting 

 opportunities during the latter part of the season by pro- 

 viding an opportunity for hunters to get away from the road- 

 ways. As long as they are used for transportation only and 

 not for chasing moose, the introduction of the motor tobog- 

 gan can be viewed as a progressive development in moose 

 hunting. 



Prospects for the 1967 season are for even more hunters 

 and a higher kill of moose. Results of aerial surveys and 

 analyses of biological data — such as sex and age ratios 

 and reproductive rates — indicate that the allowable harvest 

 from the total population of moose is nowhere near being 

 utilized as yet in most of the northern moose range. In the 

 south, the situation is different since with more hunters 

 and greater accessibility moose are more vulnerable to 

 hunting. As a result, local overshooting has occurred in the 

 past. To allow moose numbers to build up, the seasons were 

 shorter or in some areas closed. 



Traditionally, the moose hunt has not lasted much more 

 than the first two or three weeks of October, during which 

 time 70% to 80% of the kill has been made. That is, after 

 the snow came and lakes froze up, most hunters seemed to 

 prefer not to hunt moose. The advent of cheap reliable 

 winter transportation in the form of powered snow tobog- 

 gans apparently is changing this. In each of the last few 

 years, there has been more use made of such vehicles and, 

 as a result, hunting pressure is gradually being spread out 

 more over the whole season. 

 SPRING BEAR HUNTING 



Bear management aims at reducing the wasteful shooting 

 of bears merely because they are a nuisance, and promot- 

 ing more positive uses such as sport hunting and observing. 

 It is evident that this policy is succeeding from the con- 

 tinued increase in licence sales. In 1966, 3,910 non-resident 

 spring bear hunting licences were sold, representing a 48% 

 increase over sales in 1965, and 813 resident licences, 

 representing a 39% increase. Inquiries about bear hunting 

 by residents have been increasing and it seems evident that, 

 after a rather slow start during the past few years, bear 

 hunting is increasing in popularity. 



Table 7 



MOOSE HARVEST DATA FROM HUNTER SURVEYS 1966-'67 



Mailed surveys of bear hunters are not conducted, but in- 

 formation is obtained through post cards attached to the 

 licences. As a result, the percent success reported is too 

 high, for hunters who have shot a bear are more likely to 

 reply than those who have not. However, this bias should 

 remain fairly constant from year to year. This being so, the 

 results (see table 8) suggest that more bears have been shot 

 than in previous years. As is the case with moose, the in- 

 crease in numbers of bears shot has not kept up with the 

 increase in numbers of hunters. This is probably because 

 many hunters taking up bear hunting for the first time are 

 inexperienced. 



Over 80% of the bear hunters are non-residents. Of these, 

 about one-quarter come from Michigan, a fifth from Pennsyl- 

 vania and nearly a fifth from Ohio. The rest come from the 

 remaining eastern and mid-western states. These hunters 

 go mainly to Sault Ste. Marie district (167 reported), 

 Chapleau (163), Swastika (116) and Kenora (92). Among 

 these the highest success in 1966 was reported from Kenora, 

 where it was 49%; Swastika reported 40%, Sault Ste. Marie 

 35% and Chapleau 34%. 



Most of the bears shot are adult males. In 1966, they com- 

 prised 60% of the kill. The rest were 26% adult females. 

 9% male cubs and 5% female cubs. Since bears collected 

 in other ways usually show less than 50% adult males, it 

 seems that hunters are selecting them because of their size, 

 or else they are inclined to boast about shooting adult males 

 when in fact they have not. Probably both these factors 

 affect the sex ratios reported. 



Bears weighed thus far in Ontario have averaged less than 

 bears from other areas. The average for 34 adult males was 

 179 pounds, compared with 263 for 19 weighed in New 

 Hampshire, 324 for 49 weighed in New York, and 305 for 16 

 weighed in Florida. The average weight for 26 adult females 

 in Ontario was 126, compared with 183 for 11 in New Hamp- 

 shire, 200 for 19 in New York, and 189 for 12 in Florida. The 

 biggest bear weighed so far from Ontario was killed by a 

 car in the Magnetawan River area of Parry Sound district 

 and weighed 451 pounds. For comparison, record weights 

 from New York were 599 pounds (1956) and for Florida 580 

 pounds (1959). The reason that bears in Ontario are smaller 

 is not known. 



The favourite month for hunting bears is May, when 57% 

 were shot in 1966. Bears are also shot during the fall hunting 

 seasons, but present statistical data concerning numbers 

 and sex is not adequate. 



No. Moose 



DISTRICT Killed 



Pembroke 76 



North Bay 487 



Sudbury 466 



Sault Ste. Marie 470 



White River 460 



Chapleau 416 



Gogama 397 



Swastika 666 



Cochrane 1,031 



Kapuskasing 976 



Geraldton 1,088 



Port Arthur 1,652 



Fort Frances 284 



Kenora 599 



Sioux Lookout 456 



Grand Total 9,524 



Av.21.7 



5,069 



Av.41.4 



14,593 



