PUBLIC DOCUMENT No. 25. 59 



matter of cents per head annually, and when full grown, if 

 large, healthy and mostly black in color, they are marketable 

 at a price which insures an excellent profit. 



Muskrats. 



Muskrats are the most prolific of our fur-bearing animals, 

 producing an average litter of six. The value of their fur far 

 outweighs any little damage they may cause, and they should 

 be carefully protected. 



DEER. 



Deer are holding their own in all sections of the State. 

 Numbers are annually killed by farmers, dogs and trains. The 

 open season for hunting and the privilege ot killing deer 

 damaging crops have done much to bring about more amicable 

 relations between hunters and farmers. Even the farmers are 

 not slow when it comes to picking off deer damaging fruit 

 orchards and saving ammunition at the same time, as, for 

 instance, in the case of John Brown ot Brimfield, who secured 

 two deer at one shot. 



The dog question is difficult to handle. It is especially 

 difficult to keep hunting dogs always tied, and it is their nat- 

 ural instinct to seek out the woods. Nevertheless, owners of 

 valuable hunting dogs should not allow them to run at large 

 during the closed seasons, since it interferes with the breeding 

 of ground-nesting birds and quadrupeds. 



We appreciate the fact that in certain counties the logic of 

 the case is that the deer must either be exterminated or so 

 reduced as to no longer be a menace to the fruit-growing in- 

 dustry. It seems entirely possible for the State to support a 

 large population of many kinds of birds and game and still not 

 menace the landowner. With this in mind w T e should lend 

 every assistance to the development of our agricultural activi- 

 ties. Withal there are thousands of acres of land whereon deer 

 may thrive and afford sport and pleasure for generations to 

 come. 



