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so reduced in numbers that in 1888 the Fish and Game Commission 

 recommended to the legislature that a close season be established." 4 

 It was estimated that in Michigan, 100,000 deer were killed in 1890, 

 75,000 in 1894, 25,000 in 1903, 7000 in 1904, showing a steady de- 

 cline. 5 Caribou have been exterminated in Arctic coastal portions of 

 Alaska, and greatly reduced elsewhere, largely for their skins. 6 



Deer were so ruthlessly pursued that they were nearly or entirely 

 exterminated in many states before anything approaching adequate 

 legal protection was provided, notwithstanding the fact that there have 

 been local laws giving them some sort of protection in many places 

 for a long while. Ancient laws in New England were directed toward 

 preventing certain persons from hunting. In New Jersey in 1771 an 

 open season of three months each year for deer was established, per- 

 mitting only voters and their sons over eighteen years of age to hunt 

 on unimproved public lands. 7 In 1920 there were open seasons in 33 

 states, with does fully protected in 17, but in 15 states there was no 

 deer hunting, because they were all gone or so scarce that no hunting 

 of them was permitted. 8 It is true that the spread of dense populations 

 in some areas would inevitably drive out the deer, 9 but most of the 

 destruction was inexcusable, and they could still easily be maintained 

 in most of their former range. 



In addition to their esthetic value, deer furnish sport and recreation 

 to many hunters and constitute an economic resource which may be 

 greatly increased by proper protection, whereas without protection 

 they would soon cease to be an asset esthetic, recreational or eco- 

 nomic. In point of utility, the deer family ranks next to the Bovidae 

 and Equidae (cattle, sheep, goats and horses). 10 The utilitarian aspect 

 of their status must be recognized, and some hunting must be al- 

 lowed, or they would soon overstock their range, to their own detri- 

 ment, as well as to the detriment of human interests. 



What may be done to partly restore deer to their former position as 

 game animals has been demonstrated in some states. In Vermont deer 

 were practically exterminated before 1870; 13 were introduced in 

 1875, tnev an d their offspring were protected until 1897, then a short 



4 Hunter, Deer hunting in California, California Fish and Game, x, 20, 1924. 



8 Shields' Magazine, Sept., 1905, p. 251. 



'Hewitt, The conservation of the wild life of Canada, pp. 59-66, 1921. 



7 Rhoads, Mammals of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, p. 26, 1903. 



8 Palmer, Game as a national resource, U. S. Dept. Agric. Bull. No. 1049, pp. 2-3, 

 1922. 



9 Stone and Cram, American animals, p. 35, 1902. 



10 Lantz, Deer farming in the United States, Farmers' Bull, No. 330, 1908. 



