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Canada is almost entirely of this type. White-tailed or
mule or coast deer may be found adjacent to most settled
areas in Canada and these prolific species bear the brunt of
hunting. It is this type of hunting that brings game manage-
ment first, largely because of the organized public interest
in game and public demand that management be carried
out. In the North Pacific Region, this type of hunting
exists only in the vicinity of agricultural settlements and
mining camps. It is likely to increase only as settlements
develop. Such hunters rarely cross provincial boundaries
because if they did they would have to buy nonresident
licences. It is unlikely that residents of southern British
Columbia, where excellent hunting may be had, would be
interested in going to northern British Columbia to hunt,

even if new developments in transportation made it easy
for them to do so.

(d) As a resource for persons depending on hunting for
a portion or all of their food supply. This includes all the
trappers, except for a few farm boys in settled tracts. In
the North Pacific Region, a great many people come under
this classification with respect to their use of game. Kill
records for the Northwest Territorie¢s and the Yukon
indicate clearly that subsistence hunters are interested
chiefly in moose and caribou. Other species are taken
casually. Moosehide moccasins are essential equipment to
all Indians and many white men. In the Far North, caribou
skin clothing is considered necessary.

Subsistence hunting is so far the only kind that need be
considered as a factor in controlling the numbers of game in
the North Pacific Region. So long as the game supply will
stand it, there can be no objection to it. For Indians
especially, it is desirable. Studies in nutrition show that

in northern Manitoba, where the Indians have ceased to

live in the manner of their ancestors, deficiency diseases
are rampant. In the Mackenzie District, where “country
food” still prevails, although the natives suffer from
tuberculosis, they do not suffer from vitamin deficiencies.

In addition to hunting, predators and diseases destroy
big game animals. Forest fires and overgrazing affect the

capacity of the range to support them, thereby limiting
their numbers.

The only predatory animal of importance in the North
Pacific Region is the timber wolf. In primitive areas,
wolves live on the surplus of big game animals and do not
normally cause depletion. They may serve a useful purpose
in removing diseased and defective stock. In management
areas, their depredations may give some cause for concern.
This fact, coupled with their raids on trap-lines and the
high price of their fur, provides incentive for their destruc’
tion. However, even the added incentive of bounty has
not sufficed to control the wolf population, and analyses
of various bounty returns in Canada make it clear that the
yearly fluctuations revealed are the natural fluctuations of
the animals, uninfluenced by the annual kill by man. The

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system of government predator hunters used in the United
States has been expensive and not generally accepted.

Experience has shown that predator control is on a
satisfactory basis only in those cases in which the predators
are hunted for sport or for some other purpose, on much the
same basis as game animals. In Ontario, the sport of fox
hunting is well developed and foxes are valued as fur
bearers, and for those reasons little is heard of fox depreda-
tions. In Europe, the wolf ranks higher as a game animal
than any species of deer, and its control is no problem.
On the other hand, in wilderness areas where hunting is _
on the old Indian basis, wolves are seldom hunted, yet
their natural controls are so effective that they cause no
depletion of game stocks.

Disease in big game herds in Canada is much more
common than generally suspected and is always the result
of excessive numbers. Superabundant animals deplete the
stock of forage, causing lowered resistance during critical
periods of the year. Disease organisms are very effective
under such circumstances. Crowding also favours their
spread. Tick poverty, septicemia (originally brought on
by lungworms) and lumpy jaw (actinomycosis) are the
most serious diseases. Devastating epidemics may occur
even in remote areas. In the long run, a natural adjustment
takes place, because the range recovers while the game is
scarce. With such natural fluctuations taking place, it
is hard to become alarmed over the depredations caused
by wolves.

The use of forage by big game in Canada is very poorly
understood, but it is evident that a single occurrence of
overpopulation may destroy the balance among range plants
so that the carrying capacity of a certain tract with respect
to big game may be permanently reduced.

The most important agency affecting the carrying
capacity of the land with respect to big game in the North
Pacific Region is forest fire. Fire destroys ground-cover as
well as forest-cover. Some forage plants recover rapidly,
and fires may not be harmful to certain big game species.
This has yet to be studied in the North Pacific Region.
For one very important species, there is no doubt. Forest
fires destroy the winter range of caribou so that a burnt
area is useless for at least 50 years. As the caribou is a
very important big game animal, it follows that any increase
in forest fires due to human occupation of the North Pacific
Region should be viewed with the utmost concern.

The status of various big game species may be briefly
reviewed as follows:

Black Bear—Common and well distributed.

Grizzly Bear.—The North Pacific Region contains most
of the grizzly bears still remaining in Canada. They are
found throughout, except in the low country of northern
Alberta and Mackenzie District and the Fort Nelson area
of British Columbia. Up to the present, the grizzly popula-
tion has maintained itself well. This species is a great
attraction in the luxury-hunting industry.