222 THE PRESENT AND FUTURE 



ing of the young and immature males. By some sportsmen 

 it is believed that through long-continued killing of the finest 

 and largest males, the red deer of Europe have been growing 

 smaller; but on that point I am not prepared to offer evidence. 



In regard to the in-breeding of the elk herds in large open 

 parks and preserves throughout North America, there are 

 positively no ill effects to fear. Wild animals that are closely 

 confined, generation after generation, are bound to deteriorate 

 physically; but with healthy wild animals living in large open 

 ranges, feeding and breeding naturally, the in-breeding that 

 occurs produces no deterioration. 



WHITE-TAILED DEER. In "Our Vanishing Wild Life" I 

 have noted the quick and thorough success with which the 

 white-tailed deer has been brought back in Vermont, Massa- 

 chusetts, Connecticut and southern New York. 



No state having waste lands covered with brush or tim- 

 ber need be without the ubiquitous white-tailed deer. Give 

 them a semblance of a fair show, and they will live and breed 

 with surprising fecundity and persistence. If you start a 

 park herd with ten does, soon you will have more deer than 

 you will know how to dispose of, unless you market them 

 under a Bayne law, duly tagged by the state. In close con- 

 finement this species fares rather poorly. In large preserves 

 it does well, but during the rutting season the bucks are to 

 be dreaded; and those that develop aggressive traits should 

 be shot and marketed. This is the only way in which the 

 deer parks of England are kept safe for unarmed people. 



At this date deer-hunting is not permitted at any time in 

 Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas where there 



