74 THE EEPOET UPON No. 14 



Ducks have been very scarce this fall. There were quite a number before 

 October 1st. The hunters were all ready to start the night before, and they seemed 

 to frighten all the ducks away. He recommends that the open season for that par- 

 ticular district be from October 15th, as it would give the ducks a better chance to 

 come round. At it is they are scared away just as they come, and do not get a 

 chance to locate a feeding ground. 



Cotton-tail rabbits and hares are very numerous. Wild geese seem to be about 

 the same as usual. There have been a few partridges, but they are always scarce. 



There are quite a number of muskrat houses, which have been built on the 

 marsh, but he never saw them build in the lake so far from the shore. 



Mink are not very plentiful. On a little reserve belonging to Sir Edmund 

 Walker there are upwards of 1,000 black squirrels, which shows what a little pro- 

 tection of the game will do. 



Overseer B. A. Busang, of Waubaushene, reports that maskinonge have never 

 been known to be so plentiful as they were this year. He knows one man who has 

 caught over forty during the season. Speckled trout are about the same as last 

 year; there are not many in his district. Pickerel have increased about fifty per 

 cent, in the last two years. Whitefish and salmon trout are about the average; 

 there were not so many caught this year owing to the rough weather. Bass, pike 

 and coarse fish are about the same as last year ; he has received no complaints about 

 the fish from anglers. It is thought that two maskinonge is sufficient for one man 

 each day. 



Partridges and ducks are more plentiful than they have been for years. Deer 

 about the same as usual. Muskrat and mink not so plentiful as other years, and 

 there are no otter or beaver. The tourists' trade was not so good as it was last year. 



He has been on patrol work since spring. He took seven trips — along the 

 north shore as far as Parry Sound, and along the south shore as far as Christian 

 Island and Nattawasaga Eiver, Hope Island, Beckwith and the Tombs. 



Overseer Charles G. Gaudaur, of Atherley, reports that whitefish were very 

 scarce in the fall of 1912, compared with other years. Fishermen who were spearing 

 for trout through the ice last winter, state that they were very scarce, but the trout 

 run has been good this year. Herring are very plentiful in Lake Simcoe, and 

 many of then\ are caught with the fly through June. Sportsmen say that fishing 

 for herring with flies is the finest sport of the season. Maskinonge are not so 

 numerous as they have been other years at the Narrows and on the different spawn- 

 ing beds, but trolling through the open season was fairly good, some fine catches 

 having been reported. Black bass have been very scarce, and he thinks that some- 

 thing should be done with regard to stocking Lakes Simcoe and Couchiching with 

 black bass fry. Carp are very plentiful at the Narrows and rush beds in this dis- 

 trict; it is possible to see them by hundreds where the black bass and maskinonge 

 spawn. They are very destructive to fish that spawn in muddy grounds, as they 

 eat up the spawn as soon as it is deposited. Fish such as rockbass, suckers, sunfish, 

 perch, catfish and carp are very plentiful in Lakes Simcoe and Couchiching. 



On October 17th he seized one trout net on Strawberry Island. 



Fur bearing animals, muskrats, mink and foxes, were plentiful last fall and 

 the trappers had a good season. Eabbits were very numerous during the winter. 

 There are indications of a good season for muskrats this year, as there are numerous 

 houses around the Narrows, Lake Couchiching and Mud Lake. 



