170 TEN YEARS OF GAME-KEEPING 



must have heen brought about by the conflict of 

 foxes and hunting with game and shooting. If 

 there were no cause, there would be no conflict. 



It seems to me an injustice -that shooting-men 

 should be called selfish, even if they absolutely bar 

 foxes or hunting on their ground. For every man 

 who holds shooting-rights has to pay heavily for 

 them, directly or indirectly ; that is to say, either he 

 pays rent for the privilege of ' sporting ' over every 

 yard of his shoot, or if the land is his own, forgoes 

 the income he might enjoy by letting it. Therefore, 

 whatever avoidable circumstance detracts from his 

 returns is equivalent to a direct tax on his pocket. 

 It must be admitted that if foxes and hunting were 

 of no detriment to shooting-interests, which many 

 hunting-men are so foolish as to declare, there 

 never would be the least objection to foxes and 

 hunting. To the credit of the sporting fellowship 

 of shooting-men, it must be said that they show a 

 long-suffering spirit of give in contrast to the ever- 

 lasting take of hunting-men. The more you give 

 the majority of hunting-men, the more they want, 

 and the more they will take. 



It has been suggested that hunting makes ample 

 return to shooting for all it takes by keeping down 

 foxes. Surely this is an admission that foxes are 

 exceedingly harmful to shooting-interests. Assuming 

 that hunting kept foxes within reasonable limits all 

 over the country which it does not there are 



