GAME LAW ENFORCEMENT 205 



deer out of season, like getting drunk in public, is frowned 

 upon by good citizens but is not taken very seriously. On 

 the other hand, commercial hunting like commercial vice 

 arouses the ire of the whole community and offenders are 

 likely to be strictly punished. 



Game law enforcement authorities, whether they be fed- 

 eral or state, have the greatest difficulty in dealing with 

 offences which, if taken singly, are not important but when 

 considered in mass constitute a real menace to wild life. 

 Hunting after dark, killing a duck or a goose or a single 

 deer out of season, catching a few fish during closed season, 

 when many times multiplied are a serious threat to wild life. 

 The district attorney whose duty it is to prosecute these 

 offenses and the judge before whom they are tried are too 

 prone to see only the case before them and to belittle the 

 seriousness of the charge. This problem more than any 

 other at the present moment is the greatest obstacle in the 

 way of strict game-law enforcement. 



Educating Public Opinion: The solution of the problem 

 lies in the education of public opinion along wild life con- 

 servation lines. An education program may not bring imme- 

 diate results but until public opinion gives its unqualified 

 support, game laws in themselves remain notable for their 

 lack of enforcement. 



That progress has been made along educational lines no 

 one will dispute but much remains to be done. That there 

 is any interest in conservation at all, that public opinion dis- 

 approves of market hunting, is in large measure due to the 

 educational work of the various conservation agencies such 

 as the Izaak Walton League, the American Nature Asso- 

 ciation, the American Game Association, the Audubon Soci- 

 eties and the sterling work of such individual conservationists 

 as Dr. William Hornaday, Jack Miner and a dozen others. 



