THE LEGITIMATE USE OF GAME 107 



upon standing crops. They love peas, beet-tops, 

 turnip-tops, green corn and many other items of 

 the garden. The state of Vermont wisely refrained 

 from the foolish step of shooting deer found damag- 

 ing crops, but elected that damages should be 

 settled with cash. Furthermore, and for the reason 

 that the counties inhabited by live deer were those 

 that in the hunting season killed and ate of those 

 deer, the state shrewdly decided that each county 

 should pay for the damages inflicted by its own 

 deer. This legislation required the ravaged farmers 

 to pay themselves literally out of their own pock- 

 ets a very different proceeding from payment by 

 the state at large, from an impersonal state treas- 

 ury! Under this system each claim for damages 

 became a neighborhood issue ; and for once we have 

 seen claims upon public treasuries kept down to an 

 honest basis. 



During the two years 1908 and 1909, the total 

 number of deer claims paid was 311, but the total 

 sum of them was only $4,865. Of those claims, 

 102 were between $5 and $10 and 80 were under $5. 

 Only four exceeded $100 and the only one which 

 exceeded $200 was the largest claim of all, $326. 

 The total number of deer legally killed during those 

 two years, and not counting several hundred that 

 were killed illegally or by accident, was 7,186, and 

 at $15 per carcass they were worth $107,790 to the 

 people of Vermont. This fairly answers the ques- 



