PREFACE 



E purpose of this survey is to appraise the chance for the practice of game 

 ; management as a means to game restoration in the north central region. It 

 attempts to describe game conditions as they exist, the opportunities which those 

 conditions offer, the human machinery available for acting on them, and the prob- 

 able consequences of their further neglect. 



The survey is financed by the sporting arms and ammunition industry. The 

 motive hardly requires explanation: success in game restoration means continuance 

 of the industry; failure in game restoration means its shrinkage and ultimate 

 liquidation. 



The method of survey was to compile and interpret the observations and ex- 

 perience of sportsmen, naturalists, scientists, officials, and landowners. Time per- 

 mitted of only such original field investigation as was necessary to understand and 

 appraise the significance of work already done by others. Methods had to be de- 

 veloped by trial and error, hence the States surveyed last are described best. 



The survey concentrated on farm game, because the crux of the game problem 

 is on the farm. Our legislatures decree game conservation; our sportsmen and 

 nature-lovers resolve we shall have it, but our landowners do not practice it, nor 

 are they yet offered any inducement or motive, other than altruism, for doing so. 

 At the same time the public expects the free run of their lands, and of such game 

 as may accidentally persist thereon. Such is our present impasse. Some more 

 tenable relationship between the landowner, the game, and the public is obviously 

 needed. The farm seemed the place to seek light on what it should be. 



The survey began July 1, 1928. Map 3 shows routes and dates of travel. 

 Reports on the progress of the survey have been given from time to time before the 

 American Game Conference, Izaak Walton League conventions, and other public 

 meetings, and published in their proceedings. 



No single statement in this report is offered as final or sufficient fact. (This 

 qualification is needless for those who realize there is no such thing.) On the 

 contrary the whole thought and purpose is to show how much and what interesting 

 work remains undone, and what services to conservation may result from its com- 

 petent performance. The success of the survey will lie not in how long its find- 

 ings stand, but rather in how quickly they are superseded by more thorough work. 



Many cooperators in many fields have generously contributed their time, 

 thought, and the accumulated results of their own labors. Their names are listed 

 in the Appendix. 



As a means of stimulating action on some of the unanswered biological ques- 

 tions disclosed by the survey, the institute has financed fellowships for their study 

 at the universities of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. These are under the 

 advisory supervision of the U. S. Biological Survey. A further purpose of the 

 fellowships is to demonstrate the possibilities of professional training in game 

 management. 



A companion volume to this report, defining terms and outlining principles of 

 game management, is shortly to be published. This will incorporate a series of 

 lectures delivered by the author at the University of Wisconsin in 1929. 

 December 1, 1930 ALDO LEOPOLD. 



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