64 THE EEPOET UPON No. 14 



this vicinity. He would suggest that the Department stock some of the numerous 

 spring lake* with these beautiful fish. With reference to partridges, at the time 

 of hatching, the weather was very bad for the young, being very wet; he thinks 

 this accounts for these being a little more scarcer this season than last. Ducks 

 have never been very numerous in the inland lakes, on account of there being 

 no wild rice or other food grown in this part of the district, but if wild rice were 

 sown in some of the waters, he feels confident that in a short time they would 

 have ducks of all kinds in large numbers. 



Deer are holding their own very well, considering the number taken by 

 hunters each year, also the number killed by v^olves. In his travels about this 

 part of the district, he has seen many deer during the past summer, and believes 

 that they are more numerous this fall than they were last. 



With reference to wolves, these are the most destructive animals they have, 

 as he believes that they kill more deer than all the hunters put together. He has 

 known one wolf to kill seven deer in one week, and only suck the blood from 

 their cut throats; of course this was when the crust was on the snow, but if one 

 wolf will do this much, what will hundreds do? He is of the opinion that it 

 is time that something was done to destroy these pests, and would suggest that 

 a straight bounty of twenty-five dollars be given by the Government for each 

 pelt, or if the trapper were allowed to keep the skin, then give a bounty of 

 twenty dollars. It is a positive fact that if wolves are allowed to increase, as 

 they have been doing for the past few years, in a short time they will be dn such 

 numbers that they will practically clean out the deer; at the present time the 

 bounty is only fifteen dollars, which does not pay a man to go after them as 

 they are very hard to get. Sometimes a trapper will work two or three months 

 without getting a single wolf, then he may get one or two, but what is thirty 

 dollars to a man for two or three months' work? The result is that very few 

 of the trappers will bother with wolves at all, while, if as suggested, the bounty 

 were raised to $25, it would pay a man to begin poisoning or trapping them. 



There are a few colonies of beaver in his section, he thinks otter are holding 

 their own. Muskrats are increasing slowly. Mink are about the same. There 

 are no marten in this district, they used to be fairly plentiful years ago, but of 

 late none have been seen. 



From all reports there will be more hunters this fall than usual. From 

 careful observation he finds that in nearly all cases hunters as a rule live up to, 

 and try to obey the Game Laws. 



Overseer H. W. Reid, of Parry Sound, reports that the fishermen state that 

 the spring and summer fishing was very good, but during the fall it was very 

 poor owing to the stormy weather; in October, it was very hard to get out to 

 the nets, many of which were destroyed in the storms, and some of the men with 

 small rigs were unable to fish at all. 



On Nov. 23rd, he went to Moon Eiver on the "Katharine C," and found a 

 large trap net hung up in the bush newly tarred ready to set. He destroyed it 

 by burning it. 



During the summer he found part of a trap net on a small island near Copper 

 Head and took it to Parry Sound and burned it. 



There have been a large number of tourists in his district this summer, and 

 they appeared to be well pleased with the bass fishing, he did not hear of any 

 complaints and did not find any of them breaking the laws. 



