Photo by Philip S. Farnham 

 Does are now safe from the hunter, although at one time they and the fawns were the chief victims in the 

 shooting season. Under the "buck law," the deer in Vermont, which were almDst exterminated forty years ago, 

 have increased until six thousand bucks were killed there last open season 



Common-Sense Law in Game Protection 



By JOHN B. BURNHAM 



President of the American Game Protective Association 



LAWS which govern us have been 

 aptly defined as "rules of ac- 

 tion." Game laws in this coun- 

 try are rules designed to prevent the 

 extermination of our wild species. Both 

 sentimental and selfish reasons are be- 

 hind our game laws. It is a religion 

 with some men to exert themselves to 

 protect the wild game solely that pos- 

 terity may benefit thereby. With others, 

 the incentive is to perpetuate a sport 

 in which they are interested. 



Both sentiment and selfish interest 

 meet on the ground of common sense. 

 There can be no division of opinion 

 when it is shown that a species has been 



killed off more rapidly than it breeds. 

 The only important difference of opinion 

 likely to occur among game protection- 

 ists is as to when and to what extent 

 any particular species requires protec- 

 tion. 



In this country in recent years some 

 very interesting problems in game pro- 

 tection have developed in which the old 

 method of simply shortening the shoot- 

 ing season is either not sufficient or not 

 practical as a means of conserving the 

 supply, and where neither the reduction 

 of the bag limit nor the prohibition of the 

 sale of game will avail. Here for the first 

 time on a large scale the park principle 



533 



