216 OUR USE OF THE LAND 



densely populated region. In a democratic country it is difficult 

 to restrict the number of hunters, as everyone claims the right 

 to hunt. Extra measures must therefore be taken to keep up the 

 game supply. 



In some states, like Iowa, farmers and sportsmen are coop' 

 erating to increase the game supply and restrict hunting to the 

 annual increase. If the Forest Service succeeds in its claim to 

 regulate game in the National Forests, it will no doubt work 

 toward restricting the annual "take" to the annual increase. 

 As the National Forests cover about 8 per cent of our land area 

 and contain most of the best of our big game ranges, this pos' 

 sibility is of the utmost importance. 



In addition to the educational programs and the bag limit 

 laws, the states and the federal government developed another 

 method of saving wild life. State and federal wild'life refuges 

 were created to provide game with a safety 2ione in which they 

 would be able to develop. This is a change from the earlier 

 wild'life programs, which were designed to restrict the killing 

 of game. With the exception of the planned killing of preying 

 animals like the wolf and the mountain lion, there was little 

 attempt to "manage" game. 



Game management means to work out a method which both 

 limits the kill of game and at the same time controls the num' 

 bers. Game management is in many ways a sort of land man' 

 agement in that one of its main objects is to provide sufficient 

 food and shelter. It is a shift from a crude effort at regulating the 

 number of game animals killed to a systematic control of wild' 

 life environment in order to maintain a natural balance. 



So far as wild life is concerned, this shift is best illustrated 

 in the change in the Biological Survey's attitude toward preda' 

 tory animals. Under the first phase of the conservation move' 

 ment, the Biological Survey was chiefly interested in destroying 

 those animals which killed other animals for food. Until quite 

 recently the Survey had fifteen or more hunters on its pay roll 



