THE FARMER'S INTEREST IN GAME PROTECTION. 



EDWARD HOWE FORRUSH, STATK ORKITHOLOGIST OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



IXTIIODITCTION. 



It is unfortunate that so many farmers evince little or no in- 

 terest in game protection. Some regard game laws as of no 

 advantage to the farmer, but rather as class legislation for the 

 benefit of the sportsman. Xevertheless, the protection of game 

 aifects the agriculturists more vitally than any other element 

 of our population. The farmers own the greater part of the 

 land, and the game is more accessible to them than to any other 

 class, for they live upon the land where the game is. Game 

 conservation is advocated under our present system not solely 

 to furnish sport for a limited number of individuals, but to pro- 

 tect the useful species of birds and mammals for the l^enefit of 

 the whole people. Rational game protection should so work out 

 as to restrict injurious species to some extent, to protect the 

 land owner against law-breaking, trespassing hunters, and to 

 create a community of interest between the farmer and the 

 sportsman. The principle that game is the property of the 

 State is now well established, and has been sustained by the 

 higher courts ; but by means of laws against ti'es])ass, Avhich 

 have been enacted simultaneously with the game laws, the 

 farmer who posts his land against hunters or trespassers has 

 been given practical control of the game so long as it remains 

 on his land, and the exclusive privilege of hunting it there 

 during the open season.^ Tn Massachusetts he is even allowed 

 by law at any time to kill deer that are injuring his crops, and 

 also to collect damages from the State for such injury. Game 

 laws tend to limit the ninnber of hunters and to shorten the 

 season during which hunting is legal. They also protect most 

 insect-eating birds at all times, and abolish the trapping and 



^ The possession of a hunting license gives no privilege to hunt on the posted lane' of another. 



