A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



493 



of the West have increased definitely in numbers under this manage- 

 ment. The high density of the Pacific-coast region is itself very much 

 lower than that for California alone, where about 65 acres per big- 

 game animal is the average for the State. In the East the figures are 

 equally significant. In the South and Central regions, the acreage 

 per head is high and this indicates the need for a study of the develop- 

 ment of the game resource. In Pennsylvania, the sole representative 

 of the Middle Atlantic region where game management has for some 

 time been practiced, the density (chiefly "due to the deer population) 

 is nearly as great as that in California. 



TABLE 1. Estimate of big-game animals on national forests by regions as of Decem- 

 ber 1931 



EASTERN STATES 



WESTERN STATES 



1 Only New Hampshire represented. 



2 Only Pennsylvania represented. 



3 Nebraska, Tennessee, and West Virginia. 



* Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Virginia. 

 8 Figures on net area. 



6 Figures on gross area forested land, antelope excluded. 



7 Areas as of June 1932. 



SOCIAL VALUES 



In Europe hunting was traditionally the sport of the nobility or 

 of the privileged classes. The American ideal, in contrast to 

 European tradition, is hunting for all who wish to enjoy it. There 

 are several motives and reasons which underlie this traditional Ameri- 

 can conception of hunting. 



The first Americans had to rely on wild game to fill the family 

 larder. The pursuit and killing of game was a vital necessity, and 

 skill in the use of firearms was the natural result. The skilled hunter, 



