108 



THE GAME BREEDER 



to help save the grouse and make them but first of all the ground must be made 



plentiful should know how to go about inhabitable. How to do this and where 



it. The birds can be most successfully to get the stock birds and eggs will be 



and inexpensively reared in a wild state, discussed in another article. 



THE FISH AND GAME CLUBS OF QUEBEC. 



What They Mean to the Province. What Privileges They Enjoy. 



By Hon. E. T. D. Chambers. 



The Province of Quebec is the only 

 one of the Dominion which offers to 

 sportsmen the practically exclusive privi- 

 leges of fishing and hunting over large 

 tracts of forest, lake or river territory. 

 These privileges are leased to residents, 

 non-residents alike, and non-residents 

 who are lessees of such privileges, or who 

 are members of a club leasing the same, 

 are entitled to non-resident fishing and 

 hunting licenses at the lowest rates, which 

 are only one-half the prices charged to 

 other non-residents, and in some instances 

 even less. 



The unsettled territory of the Prov- 

 ince of Quebec is enormous, so that not- 

 withstanding the fact that over five hun- 

 dred leases have already been granted to 

 sportsmen, there are thousands of miles 

 of good sporting territory still available 

 for private preserves. Many of the 

 leases of fishing or hunting territory, or 

 of both fishing and hunting privileges 

 combined, are held by private individuals ; 

 but over two hundred fish and game 

 clubs are incorporated in the Province, 

 nearly all of which are lessees of fishing 

 and hunting territories. 



Some clubs, having a large member- 

 ship and controlling fishing and hunting 

 rights, exercise these rights over exten- 

 sive tracts of country, from one to two 

 hundred square miles each in extent. 

 Others are, of course, very much smaller. 

 The law limits to two hundred square 

 miles the extent of territory that may be 

 held for hunting and shooting purposes 

 by any one club, and three dollars per 

 mile per annum is the minimum price 

 that can be charged for shooting privi- 

 leges. 



The amount of rental charged for fish- 



ing privileges depends upon both their 

 quality and accessibility. Less than fifty 

 years ago, a season's lease of the salmon 

 fishing in the Grand Cascapedia was of- 

 fered for $100. Today no less a sum 

 than $12,000 a year is paid for the ang- 

 ling rights of a portion of the river. 



The prices paid for fishing privileges 

 are in every case exceedingly reasonable. 

 Leases for both shooting and fishing 

 privileges are usually made for a term 

 of five years, but are renewable for simi- 

 lar terms, though always at a compara- 

 tively slight advance in the rental, be- 

 cause of the increasing demand for such 

 rights and their rapid improvement in 

 actual value. 



Many clubs and private individuals 

 erect comfortable camps upon their 

 leased fish and game preserves, and some 

 of them have erected really luxurious 

 suijamer homes in the gorgeous woods of 

 our entrancingly beautiful North Coun- 

 try, often overlooking a charming bit of 

 lake or river scenery. Here they spend 

 their summer vacation, or come to enjoy 

 their autumnal or winter hunt, often ac- 

 companied by the members of their fam- 

 ilies. In no part of the world is there 

 to be had better water or more healthy 

 and ideal camping sites than among the 

 Laurentian lake and mountain country of 

 the Province of Quebec. 



The fishing rights in the inland waters 

 of the Province, wherever the land re- 

 mained the property of the Crown, be- 

 came vested in the Province in 1882, in 

 virtue of a judgment of the Supreme 

 Court rendered on the 28th day of April 

 of that year, which decided that the right 

 of fishing in inland waters belongs to the 

 owners of the lands in front of, or 



