1« THE EEPORT UPOX Xo. 13 



Partkidge and Grouse. 



Partridge never were so numerous in the last thirty years as this season. 

 Grouse are fully as numerous as last year. 



Ducks and Geese. 



Ducks have been much more numerous this season than for the last four years, 

 and would recommend that the season west of Port Arthur to the boundary of 

 Manitoba and Minnesota be open from the first of September, as in Manitoba to 

 the west, and Minnesota to the south. The seasons both open on September 1st, 

 and make it more difficult for the Game Wardens to handle. 



Geese are fully as numerous as last year. 



Warden J. H. Willmott, of Beaumaris, reports that with regard to fish, the 

 past season has been marked with a vast improvement by anglers, especially in the 

 Muskoka lakes. During the past season he has deposited four carloads of bass 

 fingerlings in the following lakes: Muskoka, Rosseau, Joseph, Gull, Vernon, 

 Fairy, Peninsular and Buck, and he has no doubt that the results will justify the 

 Department in the step they have taken in operating the breeding ponds at 

 Brantford. 



He thinks fishing clubs should be discouraged, for, as a rule, the members do 

 nothing but fish from morning till night. He knows of a certain club whose mem- 

 bership is between 30 and 40, and most of these are inveterate fishermen. The 

 members are all gentlemen who comply with the law most strictly. Say, for ex- 

 ample, that 20 out of this number fish daily and procure their legal number of 

 bass. This would amount to 4,160 fish in a month, allowing 26 days for fishing. 

 This is a severe drain on any lake, and he feels sure is a greater number than all 

 the other tourists combined would procure, and for this reason he thinks these 

 clubs should be discouraged. As a set-ofl! to this, of course, they leave a large sum 

 of money in the country, but does one action compensate for the other? 



With regard to deer. The late reduction in the number which can be taken 

 by any one individual will unquestionably have a most salutary effect in preserving 

 and increasing the stock of this noble animal. The late Order-in- Council, passed 

 on the 20th April last, allowing the actual settler to procure one free of cost, is 

 received with gratitude by those to whom this applies. There may be a little 

 trouble in determining the rights of some of these men, as the Order does not lay 

 out any specified scope in which these men may hunt, consequently they are at 

 liberty to hunt near and far from their places of residence, and hence the trouble 

 in their recognition. The old system of permits was a means by which they Avould 

 be known, and he would strongly recommend the introduction of them again. Deer 

 are reported to be on the increase in these places in which a close season has been 

 set for a number of years. 



Partridge are reported plentiful in different localities. The two years' close 

 season, and also the shortening of the open season have been the means of favorable 

 results. 



Beaver have increased to a large extent. Many small streams and lakes, where 

 these animals were unknown for years, are. now well stocked. 



