1913 GAME AND FISHEEIES. 17 



Muskrat is still fully holding its own as compared with the last season. 



With regard to the larger game, he would say that never to his knowledge have 

 moose been so plentiful as they are at the present time. 



Scarcely a week passes but it is reported to him by ■ men working upon the line 

 of the Canadian Pacific Railway that moose have been killed by passing trains, ■ and 

 he may say that about fifty per cent, of the hunters, to whom he has issued licenses, 

 have reported killing the one they were entitled to. 



Eed deer particularly and caribou are increasing in that District. Through- 

 out the Lake of the Woods and the northern portion of that district, red deer can 

 be seen upon any island, any stream, or any lake that one may go to. The only 

 reason he can give for this is that they have been protected by the laws of the 

 Province. The greatest enemy of the deer, in the past, was the number of wolves 

 in that part of ithe district; but the wolf is not. now reported as being very numerous 

 in that part of the country. 



Birds. 



Among the game birds, the exceptionally wet year we have had affected the 

 partridge and grouse during their hatching season, with the result that at this 

 season the birds are very scarce. 



This would also apply, in part, to the ducks, ,' which are more scarce this year 

 than they have been for the past thirty years, and in the case of the , ducks the 

 unusually heavy snow storms of last September had a tendency to drive these 

 birds to the south. 



In conclusion, he would suggest that every person who has use for a gun 

 should be licensed to carry such gun, as the indiscriminate way in which firearms 

 are now carried and uised, causes many of the troubles which the officers of the 

 Department meet with. 



Warden J. II. Willmott, of Beaumaris, , reports that the sporting tourist has 

 not, he believes, met with the same success in angling as has been enjoyed for 

 several years. The cause of .this has not been from the scarcity of fish but rather 

 from the unprecedented cold and wet season. 



He would again point out the advisability of allowing the actual settler the 

 privilege of netting herring during the month of November. At that season it 

 would be highly improbable that other fish would be taken where herring frequent, 

 with perhaps the exception of a few white fish which would really not signify. 

 Many of our northern lakes abound in herring, which do not answer any other 

 puipose than to provide food for other fish. His idea would be to issue permits 

 for which a charge of say $2 could be made, and he has no doubt it would be 

 clieerfully paid by the holders of such permits. He would then make it illegal for 

 anyone not licensed to have a net in possession at any other time of the year. He 

 would also make it compulsory for licensees to deliver up their nets to overseers 

 at the end of November and leave them in their charge until the beginning of the 

 following November, when they would again become possessed of them on payment 

 of the license fee, and so on from season to season. Under the present law nets 

 can only be seized whilst in actual operation, whereas by granting licenses they 

 could be seized wherever found during the prohibited time for their use. During 

 the present year a number of bass fingerlings have been deposited in the inland 

 lakes with great success, these fish having come to hand in first-class condition, and 

 with very little loss. This means of re-stocking is much preferable to importing 



