188 REPORT OF ONTARIO GAME No. 52 



as this Province is concerned, for the meat of the cow moose is usually 

 more tender than that of the bull, and consequently more highly 

 esteemed for food purposes by those who are more concerned with the 

 meat than with the head, such as the settlers and Indians, and it is an 

 indisputable fact that a very large proportion of the total numbers of 

 this animal killed during the year meet death at the hands of settlers and 

 Indians, while in the case of the deer, even though the distinction be- 

 tween the flesh of the male and female is, perhaps, not quite so clearly 

 marked, the doe is, nevertheless, as a rule, found to be more tender than 

 the average, buck. It is further claimed that by forbidding the killing 

 of females the percentage of bulls to cows will be so dangerously de- 

 creased that the young, weak or decrepit bulls, which are the least likely 

 to attract the hunter, and consequently the least likely to be shot, will 

 play a far greater part in the perpetuation of their species than they 

 would under nature's ordering, for where the spoils are to the victor in 

 a fight, the young, weak or decrepit bulls are likely to go lacking. Ex- 

 perience, however, would not appear to substantiate this contention, for 

 no one could accuse the moose of New Brunswick of having deteriorated 

 to any marked degree. It would seem, therefore, that this wise pro- 

 vision has been rightly applied to Ontario, for the decrease in the num- 

 bers of moose in recent years is indisputable, its securest retreats are 

 graduall}'^ but incessantly being rendered accessible, and there can be 

 little question that unless the measure is maintained and strictly en- 

 forced the day would soon arrive when the diminution ot the moose 

 would become so plainly marked and generally recognized that far more 

 drastic measures would have to be enacted if it was to be perpetuated 

 in the Province. If the measure is vital to the perpetuation of the moose 

 and caribou, it would appear in no less degree to be equally so in the 

 case of deer, and it is, therefore, to be earnestly hoped that the provision 

 will be extended to cover this animal also. 



The restriction of one moose to a hunter is reasonable, and no com- 

 plaints have been recorded on that score, although through many por- 

 tions of the moose area rumors are afloat of head hunters and others tak- 

 ing far greater numbers when opportunity offered. Particularly so was 

 this the case in the Rainy River District, in the neighborhood of the in- 

 ternational boundary, but seeing that, if, as seems probable, some 

 offences of this nature were committed, the offender, in all probability, 

 had no license at all, it does not affect the question of a reasonable bag 

 limit, but serves only to enhance the necessity for better protection. 



In regard to the open season, as at present existing, it is to be hoped 

 that a distinction is made between the country to the north and south 

 of the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway, from Mattawa to the 

 Manitoba boundary; the open season for the northern area extending 

 from October 16th to November 15th, inclusive, and that for the south- 

 ern area from November 1st to November 15th, inclusive. The great 

 bulk of the territory in which moose is now to be found naturally lies in 



