FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSIONER. 243 



localities that more deer were killed in the fifteen days of open season 

 in November than in the balance of the hunting season, the month 

 of October. These facts make advisable the cutting out of the November 

 hunting. 



The winters of 1905-1906 and of 1906-1907 have been unusually 

 favorable for the deer, and out of hundreds of deer seen in this time I have 

 only found one which had certainly been winter killed. The favorable 

 result is due to the light snow fall, which permitted the deer to travel far 

 in search of food. During this time the heaviest cut of evergreen timber 

 in the history of the Adirondacks has been made. Many famous yarding 

 grounds for deer have been obliterated. The result will be that many 

 deer will perish the first severe winter of heavy snows. 



There is and always will be summer feed greatly in excess of the 

 requirement, but even in an untouched forest the winter feed is rarely 

 sufficient where deer yard thickly. The deer cannot find sufficient winter 

 sustenance in a hardwood -forest with the evergreens removed; nor can 

 they get about in such country in deep snows, and every hunter knows 

 that, deprived of the balsam and evergreen forest, they will perish. I 

 do not think it an overstatement to say that the future of the deer sup pi v 

 in the Adirondacks depends more upon State ownership of the lands within 

 the Adirondack park than on an}" other immediate factor. 



The Missisquoi bay anti-netting agreement has turned out unfortu- 

 nately again this year, as Quebec, contrary to the general understanding, 

 has issued licenses to the commercial fishermen. Vermont has passed 

 uniform laws with New York, and both States are mutually interested 

 in putting a stop to netting in Lake Champlain. Quebec, by reason of 

 its ownership of most of Missisquoi bay, which, while only a small fraction 

 of the area of Lake Champlain is the only important spawning ground 

 for pike-perch in the lake, is effectually interfering with this laudable 

 object. These fish are taken up to April fifteenth, while on their way to 

 the spawning beds, with the natural result that their numbers are steadily 

 decreasing, as may be shown both by the testimony of the anglers and 

 the records of the commercial fishermen. Added emphasis to Quebec's 

 unfriendly attitude is given by the fact that the United States Govern- 

 ment has for a number of years past maintained a fish hatchery on 



