1912 GAME AND FISHEEIES. 75 



bass and maskinoiige lias been of a small size, and he would suggest that the close 

 season for bass and maskinonge should be from the first of April until the 

 fifteenth of June instead of from the 15th of April, as the bass and maskinonge 

 of the lakes and rivers of that locality generally start to spawn in April, and it 

 gives the trappei's a great chance for catching them while they are out trapping 

 when the fish are on the spawning bed, and these men are hard to watch. He 

 would suggest that the frogs be protected for at least two years, as they are get- 

 ting scarce. Eats are not very plentiful. Mink are on the increase. Deer seem to 

 be fairly plentiful, but he thinks the wolves kill an awful lot of deer in the winter 

 when the snow is deep. He would suggest $20 a head bounty for wolves instead of 

 $15. Partridge are more plentiful this season than they have been for many, years. 

 He thinks it the right move to have only one month of open season for partridge. 

 There have been five or six flocks at the edge of the corporation, and some flocks 

 of about nine or ten inside the village of Fenelon Falls, and it is a common thing 

 to see partridge on the main street. So he thinks it shows well the way they have 

 been protected. Ducks have been very plentiful. Capt. Carson, with the steamer 

 " Naiad," has been making his regular trips, which he thinks is having good 

 results. 



Overseer A. J. Kent, of Beivdley, reports that, having covered his division 

 thoroughly during the close season, he is in a position to state, without hesitation, 

 that very few fish, if any, were taken illegally during the spawning season. Sleep 

 was out of the question for a good many nights during that time, and to his knowl- 

 edge there was only one attempt made to use a jack light. Preparations were being 

 made when he surprised the parties, and they quickly disappeared from the shore. 



When the season opened, the maskinonge fishing was not very good, on account 

 of so much windy weather, then in midsummer the extremely hot weather came, 

 so that the fishermen confined themselves to bass fishing, which was extra good. 

 In fact there were more bass caught this last season than any two previous seasons 

 that he remembers. 



The trappers had a fair catch of muskrat last spring. It is his opinion that the 

 season for trapping those animals should be made shorter, as they are being trapped 

 too closely, altogether. 



Ducks have been plentiful this season. There are some large marshes at that 

 end of the lake, and the number of black ducks that hatched there last spring was 

 surprising. He came across several nests, but trapping muskrats where the ducks 

 have nests is very annoying to the ducks. In fact a number of black ducks were 

 caught in the traps, and most of them were dead when found. It also keeps the 

 ducks flying too much when they should be on the nests. 



The fall ducks were very numerous this season, and on his division there are 

 quite a number of creeks and bays that are good places for shooting. Duck 

 liunters have invaded his territory to quite an extent this season, but they are 

 all welcome as long as they behave themselves; but he does not care A^ery much 

 for those pump guns. They are almost as destructive as the automatic. 



Partridge shooting has been very fair, but there are so many huiitors that it 

 is hard for any partridge to escape. Every year seems to add numbers to the hunt- 

 ing squad. 



Black squirrels are numerous, but in order to protect squirrel and partridge, 

 Game Wardens should be appointed for each township, at a small salary, because 

 he finds that the unpaid Game Wardens are allowing the black squirrels to be 

 killed ofl' in several places, since about the 15th of October. Squirrel hunters do 



