Pheasants and Hungarians 



133 



The whole Ingham County project constitutes an indirect method of com- 

 pensating the farmer for regulated public shooting. It provides for game man- 

 agement by the collective action of sportsmen and farmer groups. If such a plan 

 can be shown to be successful, there is no reason why it should not spread to 

 other kinds of game and other States. 



The Ingham County project, together with the shooting preserve statute, con- 

 tain the essential machinery for the simultaneous development of private and 

 semi-public initiative in pheasant management. 



Charges for Pheasant Shooting. A perceptible tendency to charge for 

 pheasant shooting was found in Iowa, and a few scattered instances were en- 

 countered in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Ohio. All such charging consisted of "tolls" 

 per man per day, rather than of land rentals or leases. In no case was the charg- 

 ing accompanied by positive management measures to increase the crop. The 

 rates are indicated in Table 26. 



TABLE 26. Charges for pheasant shooting privileges 



Locality 



Tolls 



Remarks 



La Salle County, Illinois 



Marion County, Ohio 



Spring Valley, Green County, 

 Ohio._ 



Fort Dodge, Iowa. 



Sullivan Township, Jefferson 

 County, Wisconsin 



Summit Township, Waukesha 

 County, Wisconsin 



$0.50 per day_._ 



$1.50 per day_ _ . 

 $2.50 per day.._ 



$1.00 per day- ^ 

 $1.00 per day. \ 



Rate not determined 

 Only a few farmers charge 



Only one farmer charges 



Four or five farmers charged 

 this rate 



These instances of charging are conspicuously rare, especially when one con- 

 siders the heavy pressure of hunters desiring to shoot pheasants in States like 

 Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, and Iowa. Evidently the theory that the farmer 

 should not charge the public for the privilege of harvesting his pheasant crop, 

 because the seed was originally provided at public expense, enjoys considerable 

 credence among farmers as well as sportsmen. If this were not the cast, charges 

 would be expected to be more frequent. 



