20 PISH AND GAME COMMISSION 



Pasture cattle should be removed before the shooting season unless 

 owners sign Avaivers for damage and loss. 



Pasturage by sheep should not be allowed in most cases. Their 

 use may be permissible under special conditions as where it is desir- 

 able to remove weed growth. 



Payments to Counties in Lieu of Taxes 



It is anticipated that strong objection to State acquisition of large 

 tracts of lands will arise unless some means is devised to compensate 

 the respective counties for loss of tax revenue. Legislative action 

 will be required before this is possible. Such payment should be 

 limited to the amount of taxes levied at the time of acquisition. The 

 type of lands being considered are largely marginal so far as agri- 

 culture is concerned. On the basis of current land values and tax 

 rates, the charge for this item should not exceed 50 cents per acre 

 annually. 



Hunting Management 



This will unquestionably be the most difficult phase of the entire 

 program. The term ''public shooting ground" will convey to many the 

 idea of free and unrestricted use by any or all individuals. This will 

 not be possible. All applicants can not be accommodated at any one 

 time. Some system of accepting and acknowledging applications must 

 be devised. Priority of requests appear to be the only fair basis of 

 assigning hunting privilege. To produce a workable system ' will 

 require much thought, effort, and experience. 



Cost of permits must be kept substantially lower than charges 

 by commercial clubs if the plan is to benefit the hunting public. 

 Charges for the first season must be estimated as closely as possible ; 

 thereafter charges should be modified annually in conformity with 

 the previous year's actual costs. 



What expense shall be considered in determining permit charges? 

 If initial cost of the land is met from accumulated license fees, paid 

 in part for this specific purpose, then no attempt to recover cost of the 

 land through permit fees is justifiable. Development, maintenance, 

 and operating costs can and should be met by permit fees. 



Development costs should be amortized over a considerable 

 period of years, not less than 10, and preferably 20. Over a 20-year 

 period the permit fee attributable to this source would be 75 cents 

 per acre per year. Other costs to be added to the permit fee are 

 outlined and summarized below. 



It is believed that a minimum of 20 acres should be allotted to each 

 double blind, or 10 acres per permittee. In addition, one-third of the 

 entire area should be closed to shooting each season to provide unmo- 

 lested feeding and loafing space. This will avoid driving the birds 

 from the tract when the season opens. Thus 15 acres becomes the 

 actual minimum for each hunter and is the unit on which the fee per 

 shooter day must be calculated. 



If salaries of employed personnel are to be charged to the hunter, 

 they can be estimated as follows : 



Two permanent employees for each 5,000 acres $4,800 per year 



Extra seasonal labor for each 5,000 acres 2,700 per year 



Total $7,500 per year 



