152 JOL'RNAL OF FORESTRY 



of such lands throughout the country. It will take place last, if at all, 

 on lands of low value — forest lands. It is also evident that it will take 

 place first with upland game and last, if at all, with migratory game. 

 But it will, in the not- far-distant future, result in the end of free hunt- 

 ing for a larger part of the five million sportsmen now dependent on 

 wild game for outdoor recreation. 



Is it necessary to point out the effect of all this on the free recrea- 

 tion grounds of the National Forests? I think not. It simply means 

 that people will flock to the Forests in numbers we now do not even 

 dream of. 



They will come there, too, for other reasons than mere inability to 

 own a private shooting preserve or pay dues in an exclusive club. Re- 

 gardless of cost, there is an ingrained repugnance in the heart of many 

 sportsmen to having their sport served to them in a spoon. There is a 

 certain rugged independence — I suspect inherited from generations of 

 self-respecting yeomen — poachers of the feudal ages — which eschews 

 "boughten" sport. These estimable throwbacks, regardless of financial 

 ability, will choose to test their skill, not on posted preserves, but on the 

 public hunting grounds of the National Forests, beholden to no man or 

 his dollar, but only to the law of the land. 



In short, demand for hunting on the Forests will increase not only 

 with population and with transportation, but especially with the rising 

 price of hunting elsewhere. The rate and extent of the increase will 

 probably be greater than we are at present able to comprehend. 



This forecast, if correct, certainly contains some lessons in National 

 Forest game policy. What are they ? 



First and foremost, it means we must do something. It means that 

 the time is ripe for aggressive thought and action on the game question, 

 lest we be overwhelmed by a demand for which we are unprepared. 

 The development and perpetuation of the nation's last free hunting 

 ground — is that not an opportunity for service which should stir the 

 imagination of more than a mere handful of "cranks"? 



Secondly, it means that thg Forest Service must hang tooth and nail 

 to its traditional policy of keeping out exclusive privilege. The writer 

 here and now pays his respects to the man who wrote into the Forest 

 Manual the absolute prohibition of private game preserves. The larger 

 part of the United States will be a private game preserve in 1940, and 

 to extend this form of monopoly, inevitable on private lands, to the 

 National Forests would be little short of a crime against democratic 

 society. That the temptation will exist is evidenced by the pressure 

 already brought to bear for fishing preserves on some of the western 

 Forests. 



