184 REPORT OF ONTARIO GAME No. 52 



sion but not as yet adopted, that the open season for deer be made a 

 fortnight later than at present and that the killing of bucks only be per- 

 mitted, but these and kindred measures and recommendations are 

 enacted and made to meet the necessities of the case as they exist; as 

 a temporary but indispensable means of saving the game resources of 

 the Province from extravagant depletion, if not absolute annihilation. 

 Once some method of increasing or maintaining the supply of game had 

 been discovered or devised, or once some means were available for rigidly 

 enforcing such laws and regulations as might be in force, it would at 

 once become possible in a great many instances to relax the restrictions 

 in regard to numbers, and also, in all probability, to greatly extend the 

 open seasons for many varieties so as to meet practically all the 

 various opinions and wishes on the subject. This is, indeed, the objec- 

 tive which it should be sought to attain, and its achievement rests 

 equally in the hands of the administration and the general public. 



One of the principal causes of the destruction of game and wild 

 life generall}^ is the indiscriminate carrying of firearms in the wilder 

 portions of the country. Indeed, in some regions it is quite the excep- 

 tion to meet a man not armed with at least one weapon, and for the con- 

 venience of those who chance not to be so supplied, as a rule the young 

 boys and youths of the district only, there is in such cases but small 

 difficulty in renting a firearm for a small sum. All the hardware 

 stores and most of the general stores also in these regions carry 

 a large stock of weapons of many varieties in addition to making 

 a practice of renting second-hand w^eapons as occasion offers, and it 

 would seem inevitable that so long as this condition prevails the greatest 

 difficulty will be experienced in safeguarding, even perhaps perpetuat- 

 ing, the game in these localities. In no case is the necessity for the 

 habitual carrying of firearms apparent, and in fact it is a menace to 

 peaceful citizens traversing these regions, but while the promiscuous 

 exposing for sale and selling of firearms is permitted doubtless the prac- 

 tice will remain in force. In so far as the protection of game and wild 

 life is concerned there can be little question that it would be most 

 highly advantageous were a gun tax put into force and some control over 

 the exposure for sale and the sale of firearms exercised, more particu- 

 larly in the direction of preventing the sale or renting of any variety 

 of them to any but bona fide citizens or to those who had not as yet 

 attained the legal age of maturity, but to recommend such a measure, 

 affecting so great a diversity of interests and occupations, would, per- 

 haps, be trespassing beyond the limitations of this Commission's range. 

 At least, the resident hunting license, recommended in the Interim 

 Report of this Commission, could be expected to effect some good in 

 this direction, more especially so if it were enacted that to be in the 

 public forests or on the public wild lands in the possession of firearms 

 without such license during the open season for any species of game 

 whatsoever was an indictable and punishable offence. 



