62 Deer and Antelope of North America 



The true way to preserve the mule-deer, how- 

 ever, as well as our other game, is to establish on 

 the nation's property great nurseries and winter- 

 ing grounds, such as the Yellowstone Park, and 

 then to secure fair play for the deer outside these 

 grounds by a wisely planned and faithfully exe- 

 cuted series of game laws. This is the really 

 democratic method of solving the problem. Occa- 

 sionally even yet some one will assert that the 

 game " belongs to the people, and should be 

 given over to them " — meaning, thereby, that 

 there should be no game laws, and that every 

 man should be at liberty indiscriminately to kill 

 every kind of wild animal, harmless, useless, or 

 noxious, until the day when our woods become 

 wholly bereft of all the forms of higher animal 

 life. Such an argument can only be made from 

 the standpoint of those big game dealers in the 

 cities who care nothing for the future, and desire 

 to make money at the present day by a slaughter 

 which in the last analysis only benefits the wealthy 

 people who are able to pay for the game, — for 

 once the game has been destroyed, the livelihood 

 of the professional gunner will be taken away. 

 Most emphatically wild game not on private 

 property does belong to the people, and the only 

 way in which the people can secure their owner- 

 ship is by protecting it in the interest of all 

 against the vandal few. As we grow older I 



