GAME AS A NATIONAL RESOUKCE. 3 



list of States, see p. 15; and map, fig. 1.) Statistics are available 

 • for only about one-third of the deer-hunting States, but include the 

 more important hunting areas. Figures given for other States are 

 necessarily estimates. The Biological Survey has published esti- 

 mates for the years 1908, 1909, and 1910 of the number of deer killed 

 in the States east of the Mississippi River, including Louisiana and 

 Minnesota. The returns showed that in 15 States in 1908 the num- 

 ber was 59,878; in 1909, 57,494; and in 1910, in 17 States, 60,150. 

 An estimate of the total number of deer killed throughout the United 

 ' States in 1910 gave 75,000 to 80,000, and a similar estimate of the 

 deer killed in 1915 showed about 75,000. The latter total, covering 

 36 States (all in which deer hunting was permitted), included ab- 

 normally large numbers killed in California, Connecticut, and Ver- 

 mont, which were offset somewhat by a decrease due to closing the 

 seasons in Colorado and North Dakota. If the average dressed 

 weight of a deer is taken as 150 pounds, the total weight of 75,000 

 deer is 11,250,000 pounds. At 10 cents a pound this meat would be 

 worth $1,125,000, and at 20 cents a pound it would be worth 

 $2,250,000. 



The region north of a line drawn along latitude 42^ and Mason 

 and Dixon's line includes 19 States, 16 of which had deer hunting 

 in 1920 (the exceptions being Connecticut, Rhode Island, and North 

 Dakota ) . Of the 29 States south of this line, Delaware, Maryland, 

 West Virginia, and 9 States in the corn belt had no deer hunting, 

 and Missouri had very little. Omitting from consideration the 

 States in which hunting is practically closed (leaving 16 States 

 with open seasons in the northern tier and 17 in the southern tier), 

 the possible deer crop is more than twice as great in the northern 

 tier as in the southern, the States north of the line having under 

 normal conditions a possible kill of 60,000, whereas those to the 

 south have less than 25,000. The only States to the south where the 

 number is likely to exceed 5,000 are California and Texas, whereas 

 at least 4 States to the North may exceed this limit, while in 4 of the 

 New England States — Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massa- 

 chusetts, where one deer, on the average, is obtained on each 5 square 

 miles of territory— the kill might total 20,000, a number equal to the 

 present possible crop of all the States to the south except Texas. 



If the deer crop can be increased to 100,000 head a year, the quan- 

 tity of meat would be increased to 15,000,000 pounds, which at 20 

 cents a pound would be worth $3,000,000. To attain this total it will 

 be necessary to increase the present number of deer killed each year 

 25 per cent. No permanent increase can be expected during the 

 next few years in the number killed in 6 of the principal States — 

 Maine, California, New York, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan. 

 In fact,' figures of the last few years are likely to show a decrease. 



