Tin-: NATIONAL F()Ki:STS 151 



There is only one condition which might operate to partially offset 

 the growth of this demand, and that is the development of more attrac- 

 tive hunting grounds on other territory — that is, on private lands. To 

 correctly forecast the future of game management on the Forests, it is 

 necessary to carefully consider the probal^le future relation between 

 National Forests and outside hunting grounds. 



Game conservation in America has now pretty well passed the initial 

 propaganda stage and people are beginning to think about ways and 

 means. It is no longer a question of whether, but of how\ One of the 

 most popular of the various proposed solutions of the "more-game" 

 problem is the doctrine loosely designated as "game farming." 



Game farming, as at present advocated by certain radical elements, 

 includes a number of wholly vicious proposals, such as the wholesale 

 opening of markets and the abandonment of restrictive game laws. 

 But it also includes a number of fundamentally sound proposals which 

 have both a direct and an indirect bearing on the question of game on 

 the National Forests. Among these are the artificial control of vermin, 

 the artificial establishment of food plants and coverts, the feeding of 

 game during critical periods, and the maintenance of a stable breeding 

 stock by liberating game artificially reared. 



It is axiomatic that as the natural production of a desired natural 

 resource fails, it is supplemented by semi-artificial means of produc- 

 tion. This is the long and short of game farming. This is the long and 

 short of Forestry. The aspect of this process which concerns the sub- 

 ject in hand is the fact that these semi-artificial means of production 

 alwa\s require an iwi'cstincnt, and therefore must pay a return on that 

 investment. In short, the product becomes commercialized and the 

 free supply comes to an end, because even the remainder of the virgin 

 supply acquires a sale value. 



Game farming, however carried on, requires an investment of money, 

 time, material, or land. Therefore its product, hunting, will be sold to 

 the highest bidder. ]\Iore concretely, the farmers, who own the greater 

 part of the hunting grounds of the nation, jvill maintain coverts on little 

 odd corners of land, will winter- feed their birds, will set their boys to 

 killing off vermin, and then will lease their hunting privileges, for cash, 

 to individuals or groups of hunters. It follows that they will post their 

 lands against trespass, and free hunting on farms will be a thing of the 

 past. 



It is hardly necessary to point out that this commercialization of 

 hunting privileges will take place first on lands of high value — that is, 

 agricultural lands. It is already foreshadowed by the wholesale posting 



