AMERICAN GAME 
 
 
     POACHER, OR PAYING GUEST 
          (Continued from page 58) 
 this general limitation. The sportsman, how- 
 ever, are better satisfied and the inequalities 
 will be worked out. It is a distinct departure 
 from the European system, where the game it- 
 self is sold, not as an inducement to hunt, but 
 as meat, and where the public has no necessary 
 part in the annual harvest of the excess crop of 
 game. 
 
           Better Law Observance 
   All those who get a fee for hunting privileges 
 on their lands do not intelligently manage their 
 game crop, but there is more effort and more 
 intelligent management and better observance 
 of conservation regulations on most of these 
 lands than there was before the system came 
 into vogue. These landowners realize that they 
 cannot readily find a market for the shooting 
 privileges on their lands unless these lands are 
 well populated with game. The sportsmen have 
 learned to make personal investigation, long be- 
 fore the season opens, of the game resources of 
 the land which they desire to lease. Many of 
 the landowners have long since come to rea- 
 lize that it is only the excess crop which they 
 can afford to market if they are to have other 
 crops for other years. 
 
              The Bag of Game 
   During the season of 1928, 3,201 bucks and 
 628 wild turkeys were killed on land operating 
 under the shooting preserve law. The acreage 
 in these preserves totaled approximately 1,500,- 
 000. The reports indicated that there was a 
tatl f 1          nti  ds     !sumed in taking 
this game. Of course, it is reasonable to sup- 
pose that all of this time was not consumed 
in hunting. In that year there was a very poor 
turkey crop and the killing of turkeys was dis- 
couraged in many shooting preserves.    The 
record for the 1929 season, when the compila- 
tion is completed, will show a much larger kill 
of turkeys. Records obtained during the past 
few years show that there is no apparent de- 
.cline in the number of turkey and deer killed 
  on these preserves which may be taken to mean 
  that in the aggregate there has been no break- 
  down under intensive hunting. Compared with 
  the best available figures of ten to fifteen years 
  ago the annual kill is more than double, which 
  is a strong argument that the system is produc- 
  tive of a larger game supply. 
 
            Vast Game Sanctuaries 
    There is a considerable acreage in Texas of 
  lands that are held primarily for hunting pur- 
  poses, to which only the owner and his friends 
  are admitted. These areas are probably far 
  in excess of the areas to which the public is 
  admitted for a price. There are 3,000,000 acres 
  reserved in Texas as State game sanctuaries. 
  There are other vast areas on which most 
  hunters are not welcome, and other great areas 
  where hunters are tolerated and natural en- 
  vironmental conditions are good. On much of 
  this latter acreage, however, there is little game 
  because it has not been properly managed. 
  If the landowner of this area accepted the in- 
  centive that has been offered through the shoot- 
  ing preserve system there is little doubt but 
  that game would greatly increase even with 
  increased hunting, because better management 
 
 
under proper environmental conditions produces 
more game. Ours is no longer a virgin coun- 
try and we cannot depend upon a virgin or ac- 
cidental supply of game for an increasing army 
of hunters. 
 
 
            System Will Spread 
  We believe the leasing system, which is now 
practiced so extensively in the central south- 
western portion of the State, which is known as 
the hill country, will spread rapidly to other 
sections and that with its spread and the con- 
sequent better management of the game re- 
sources on the land to which this system is ap- 
plied, there will soon be a better place to hunt 
for every man who desires to hunt in the Lone 
Star State. There is plenty of room in this 
State for such a spread.     Texas embraces 
170,173,440 acres, of which 2,238,720 acres are 
under water. When more and more lands are 
being leased for the shooting privileges, there 
will be greater competition among the land- 
owners, and finally the landowner may have to 
advertise for hunters to compete with his neigh- 
bors and with other landowners operating un- 
der the same system in other sections of the 
State. When this time arrives there will be no 
need of fixing a maximum price that may be 
charged. 
   Of course bag limits will always be neces- 
 sary, and in the best interests of conservation 
 the open seasons must not be too long. If the 
 bag limits were lifted, again there would be 
 merit in the cry that only the wealthy could 
 afford to hunt, for unfortunately there would 
 be a few wealthy persons who would want to 
 kill more than their share as stipulated under 
 
 
 
          System Adapted to Quail 
   It is true in Texas that the leasing system 
 is practiced most extensively in the turkey and 
 deer ranges of the State, but these are exten- 
 sive, and there are lots of folks in Texas and 
 those who come from adjacent states who are 
 willing to pay a price to kill a turkey or deer. 
 The bag limits of Texas provide that a man 
 may kill two buck deer with pronged horns, and 
 three turkey gobblers each season. Of course 
 the law does not specify that charges for hunt- 
 ing privileges may be made only for deer and 
 turkey. There is considerable commerce made 
 of favorite hunting places for waterfowl, and 
 it is reasonable to suppose that this system will 
 spread to those sections where there is only 
 bob-white quail, and I know of no game with 
 which it might work more successfully. It 
 might be the means of restoring the prairie 
 chicken to the rightful place it should occupy 
 among the game birds of the State, by awak- 
 ening the interest of the landowner in this 
 bird, which he does not now have. 
   With whatever objections that may be found 
 to a system of this kind, there is no denying 
 that the landowner is better capable of protect- 
 ing and enforcing the conservation regulations 
 on his own premises than anyone else. When 
 he can be given the incentive towards enforcing 
 these regulations and, in addition to requiring 
 an observance of intelligent regulations, refrains 
 from overstocking his range, practices predator 
 control and does all possible to keep down 
 diseases of game as well as livestock-we will 
 be closely approaching the Happy Hunting 
 
 
Ground, that may be provided for a rapidly in- 
creasing population. 
 
          Laws Alone, Insufficient 
   Perhaps we are awakening to a realization 
that game laws alone do not provide a com- 
plete panacea for the profligacy of a people in 
a given locality. Perhaps we have clung too 
long to the idea of free shooting. It was a fine 
thing while it lasted, but it is gone like the ox- 
cart and the kerosene lamp. The country is 
under fence. Most of the ranges of game are 
privately owned. It behooves us to realize that 
we cannot restore game, even under favorable 
environmental conditions, unless the man who 
owns the land is willing. He will not be will- 
ing unless he has the incentive. The incentive 
provided in Texas may not be the best plan, 
but it is working and we believe will work out 
to the ultimate good of those who want game 
and a place where it can be hunted. It is not 
the old pioneer, open-range system. But is it 
the modern, pay-your-way, American system. 
It lifts the hunter out of the class of the poach- 
er into the class of the respected customer. 
 
 
BRANT NOT INCLUDED IN BAG LIMIT 
                REDUCTION 
   Inquiries coming to the American Game Pro- 
 tective Association indicate doubt as to whether 
 recent reduction in bag limits on wild ducks and 
 geese applies to Brant. Assurances have been 
 received from the Chief of the Bureau of Bi- 
 ological Survey that Brant are not included in 
 the reduction. The new bag limits on wild 
 duck commencing with next shooting season 
wl"         er da yajg qn geese. 4per&  . This 
applies to all species of ducks permitted to be 
killed and means that only 15 in the aggregate 
of all kinds taken may be killed in one day, 
and the same rule applies as to geese. Four 
geese in the aggregate of all kinds only may 
be taken. The daily limit of eight Brant re- 
mains in effect. 
   It should be understood, however, that the 
 term Brant does not include Snow geese or 
 Blue geese sometimes referred to as Brant but 
 only to the true Brant, which is limited in its 
 range to the Atlantic coast and is largely a 
 sea bird. 
 
 
 JOBBERS      SUPPORT      CONSERVATION 
   At a recent meeting of the Southern Hard- 
 ware Jobbers, held at Galveston, Texas, the 
 following resolution was unanimously passed: 
   "Whereas, we realize and believe that the 
 restoration of the wild-life resources of this 
 country is a necessity of vast importance, 
   "And Whereas, we are acquainted with the 
 work that is being done to further this end 
 by such agencies as the American Game Pro- 
 tective Association: the Sporting Arms and 
 Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute, and in- 
 dividual members thereof; State Game and 
 Fish Departments; and many such worthy or- 
 ganizations, 
   "Therefore, Be It Resolved, that the Southern 
 Hardware Jobbers Association, in convention 
 assembled, at Galveston, Texas, April 7-10, 
 1930, hereby endorses this program and com- 
 mends to its individual members that they take 
 some active part in the movement for restora- 
 tion of the wild-life resources of America." 
 
 
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