288 With Rod and Gun in New England 



CHAPTER XIX. 



Game aj^d pisH op ]V[ahMe. 



TfiE ^ANGEIiEY bfl^ES REGION. 



In no other section of the continent is found such a wealth of game 

 and fish as is contained within the borders of the State of Maine. 



Its forests, which cover nearly one half of the State, having, it is esti- 

 mated, an area of about 9,000,000 acres, abound with the large varieties of 

 game, moose, caribou, deer, bear, etc., together with immense numbers of 

 the more valuable game birds, while its lakes and rivers teem with the 

 most desirable game fish, such as sea salmon, Sebago salmon, lake and 

 brook trout, and bass. Some idea of the great possibilities available to 

 the angler may be formed, when it is stated that the lakes and large ponds 

 exceed 1,600 in number, and the surface area of these, together with that 

 of the principal rivers, is in the neighborhood of 3,200 square miles. 



That these almost unbounded resources have attracted wide attention, 

 goes without saying, and the " Pine Tree State " has for years been the 

 mecca to which sportsmen from all localities have turned their steps. The 

 number of these visitors is prodigious, and it increases annually in a sur- 

 prising degree. It is stated that upwards of 7,000 sportsmen and anglers 

 visit the Rangeley lake system alone, and that the total yearly revenue 

 that the State in various ways derives from those who visit her with rod 

 and gun, is upwards of $3,000,000. 



Notwithstanding the immense inroads that these armies of sportsmen 

 have made on the stock of game and fish, the supply does not seem to 

 diminish, but, on the contrary, it has increased in a wonderful degree. In 

 the early " sixties," when the writer was a regular visitor to various sections 

 of the State, deer and other large game were so scarce that when tracks or 

 other signs of the animals were found, they were pointed out as curiosities. 



The State has, however, by the enactment of wise game laws and the 

 rigid enforcement of them, succeeded in not only saving those animals 

 from utter destruction, but has given them such protection that they have 

 increased and multiplied until they are now in many localities so abundant 



