Appendix VIII 



Notes Concerning the Conservation of Game in Quebec 



By 



JOHANN BeETZ, 



Piastre Baie, Saguenay, Que. 



THESE few notes are only suggestions made by a hunter, breeder 

 and experienced observer towards the conservation of the 

 fauna which represents one of the greatest resources of the Province 

 of Quebec. 



Hunting foxes out of season deprives the Province of Quebec of 

 an enormous natural revenue; it wUl exterminate species particularly 

 its own and ruin the fur-farming, for the following reasons: 



(1) In the entire world, the territory between the strait of 

 Belleisle and the Saguenay river produces the finest black, black- 

 silver and silver foxes in the wild state. 



(2) Eighteen years ago, when I arrived on the North shore 

 of the gulf of St. Lawrence, the average catch of the choicest 

 foxes, on the territory above mentioned was about 250 per year. 

 To-day, under the same conditions, the catch averages 15 to 20, 

 a demonstration that the animal is being exterminated and that 

 it is better to protect it than to risk its extermination. 



(3) Allowing the hunting of foxes out of season will inevitably 

 result in, not only the useless and complete destruction of these 

 valuable fur-bearers, but also in the destruction of all other fur- 

 bearing animals living in that region as they will be unavoidably 

 caught in traps not intended for them. 



(4) As the fur of most foxes caught in traps or otherwise, 

 out of season is valueless, they die without yielding the hunter 

 any profit. Death will often be caused by a wound received in the 

 trap during warm weather, by the absence of the mother because 

 the captured animal is too young, or by the hunter not attending 

 to it in a proper manner. Often also through an instinct of self- 

 preservation, the fox brings forth its young in an inaccessible place. 

 In such case the mother only, can be captured as, to provide food 

 for the young, she must come out of the den. As young foxes 



