American Big Game in its Haunts 



which by reason of party differences the State 

 legislatures are powerless to effect. 



Having elaborated in one's mind the idea that 

 a Game Refuge, in order to be a success, should be 

 about ten or twelve miles square, the question 

 arises, how near are these to be placed to one 

 another? If they are established at the begin- 

 ning, not less than twenty or twenty-five miles 

 from each other, it seems to me that the exi- 

 gencies of the situation would be met. It is 

 not our purpose, in creating them, seriously 

 to interfere with the privileges of hunters ad- 

 joining the forests where they are established. 

 On the contrary, all that is wished is to pre- 

 serve the present number of the deer, or to 

 allow them slightly to increase. The system of 

 game refuges of the size indicated, would, I be- 

 lieve, accomplish this end. In all probability, at 

 the beginning of the open season, the deer would 

 be distributed with a considerable degree of uni- 

 formity throughout the reserve, outside of the 

 game refuges as well as within. They would go, 

 of course, where the food and conditions suited 

 them. As the hunting season opened, and the 

 game, in a double sense, become more lively, the 

 deer would naturally seek shelter where they could 

 find it. Since this, with them, would be a question 



434 



