84 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



peasantry, gave the deathblow to the cherished rights of the 

 chase — reUcs of the feudal ages — claimed by all the large 

 landed proprietors. The peasant-shoots as a consequence of 

 the revolution came into existence in that year ; for anterior to 

 it the peasantry were feudal vassals to whom their seigneur's 

 game was almost as sacred as their lives, poaching in the 

 olden days being an offence punished by loss of limb or life. 

 It may be interesting to refer briefly to one of the few 

 instances of peasant- shoots dating back to earlier times than 

 1848. 



In this instance, the rights of the chase date back to the 

 year 1709, when an imperial grant conveyed the sporting 

 privileges to the peasantry of this particular valley as a reward 

 for their conspicuous bravery in the defence of their country 

 against overwhelming odds. Since that time the heirs of the 

 twenty-six peasants who participated in the war have exercised 

 the sporting rights over a very large area. By careful manage- 

 ment and the adoption of the following rules, it is made a profit- 

 able property. At the commencement of the shooting season 

 the twenty- six shareholders, as they might be called, meet in 

 solemn conclave and settle among themselves what number of 

 chamois and stags are to be killed that season, the severity or 

 mildness of the preceding winter having, as in all Alpine 

 districts, much to do with this matter, and they also select 

 three of their number, who for the ensuing twelve months 

 have to act as keepers to guard against poachers from the 

 adjoining valleys. During the season, any one member may 

 shoot as many head as he chooses until the agreed upon total 

 is reached. As there is a good market for the game within 

 reach, every head is turned over to the treasurer, who sells it. 

 Half of the proceeds goes to the man who killed it, while the 

 other goes to a general fund which is equally divided among 

 the twenty-six members at the end of the season, so that a 

 man who has not fired a shot draws at the end of the year 

 what to these simple folk is a considerable sum. In one year, 

 when the writer was shooting there, the total reached three 



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