8 CONSERVATION OF CANADIAN WILD LIFE 



non-agricultural lands has already received some considera- 

 tion by our governments. In the future it will demand 

 more attention than we have hitherto thought necessary. 

 And it is here primarily that the practical application of 

 the principles of wild-life conservation should receive seri- 

 ous attention, for it will afford one of the most important 

 methods by which the unproductive or scarcely productive 

 areas can be rendered productive. However, it is of the 

 gravest importance to remember this, that while the ques- 

 tion as to the utilization of such lands is under considera- 

 tion we do not permit the means whereby their productive- 

 ness can be secured, namely through the taking advantage 

 of the presence of our wild life, that is, by the utilization of 

 our natural resources, to disappear through our neglect to 

 appreciate at the present time their potential value to the 

 community at large. 



Deer as a Meat Supply. — One of the most serious prob- 

 lems of the present day is the gradually increasing cost of 

 food, particularly meat. Every effort is being made to 

 increase mixed farming and to encourage the live-stock in- 

 dustry. And yet a potential source of meat is left to the 

 mercy of sportsmen or gunners and their dogs. I refer to 

 our native deer, and particularly to the white-tailed deer 

 which frequents the Canadian woods and forests east of the 

 Rocky Mountains. Here is an excellent meat animal which 

 is hardy, and with proper protection, by which is meant 

 the prohibition of unwarranted slaughter, will increase 

 rapidly in numbers. There are hundreds of square miles 

 of land unsuited to agriculture, and forest land that might 

 be producing not only timber but meat also, and in every 

 way such production would be profitable. 



That such an idea is not theoretical but eminently prac- 

 tical is demonstrated by the experience of the State of 

 Vermont. In common with the adjoining States the peo- 

 ple in Vermont some years ago had reduced the numbers of 



