CHAPTER XLVIIL POACHERS AND 

 POACHING. 



AFTER one has killed off all the vermin and reared a 

 good head of game, it is of no use expecting to find 

 it there available for sport when the shooting season comes 

 on unless as much vigilance and attention is given to the 

 prevention of poaching and the detection of poachers as 

 will suffice to ward these gentry off. 



Poaching is essentially of two kinds, and poachers of 

 many ; but very much less of the real business goes on 

 than is generally supposed, and a great deal more game 

 killing practised by non-professional poachers. We never 

 found strict preservation to result in the prevention of 

 poaching so effectually as when the labourers, &c., were 

 treated in a fair spirit as regards the game. The most 

 advisable way is to make all the men who are likely to 

 go astray take an interest in maintaining a good head of 

 game, and the coverts will go poacher free. There used 

 to exist, and there exists still in many parts of the country, 

 a feeling amongst the labouring men, skilled workmen, and 

 others, on an estate, that the game on the Squire's land 



K K 



