14 BULLETIN 1049, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



sidered that many of the lioensiees did not hunt at all, or were unsuccessful, 

 or failed to report, the actual average of the successful hunter is seen to be 

 very mucli higher. At the valuations given in the table, which are based upon 

 current market prices for game or fur legally salable, and upon conservative 

 estimates for all other species, this game was worth a total of $3,239,277. This 

 value, however, was simply the annual dividend, and not the value of the 

 State's capital stock of wild life. If we consider that it was a dividend on the 

 basis of 6 per cent, then tlie actual capital value of the State's stock of game 

 and fur-bearing animals, on the basis of the 1918 reports of game killed, which 

 are themselves low, is $53,987,950. * * * 



* * * One of the most important of the conclusions based upon this in- 

 vestigation in economic biology can thus be stated as follows : 



The game and fur-bearing animals of New York State, if capitalized, are 

 worth not less than $53,000,000 ; they return an annual dividend of more than 

 $3,200,000 ; and they cost the State for their protection and increase the nominal 

 sum of $182,000. This cost of protection and increase is thus less than 6 per 

 cent of the annual dividend. 



Oregon. — Mr. W. L. Finley, in the report for 1914 of the Oregon 

 Fish and Game Commission, made the following estimate : 



The game of our State is worth approximately $800,000 annually from a food 

 standpoint. In the neighborhood of 9,000 deer, 150,000 duclvS, and 45,000 Chinese 

 pheasants are killed annually. When we also consider the numbers of grouse, 

 quail, geese, sliorebirds, and other game that are killed, when we estimate that 

 this meat is worth from 12 to 16 cents per pound, whether on the table of the 

 farmer, the mountaineer, or the merchant, it means a big income to our people. 

 * * * A large amount of money is derived annually from the hunting and 

 trapping of our fur-bearing animals. This is a crop that is worth $100,000 

 annually to our State. A large part of the revenue derived comes directly to 

 the homesteader and the settler who needs it to develop his property. * * * 

 From an economic and business standpoint, the game and other wild creatures 

 of the State are worth $5,000,000 annually to us. This is not placing a high 

 estimate on these resources. 



Vermont. — The following estimate of the fish and game commis- 

 sioner of Vermont is contained in the biennial report for 1918-14. 

 pages 3-4 and 101 : 



It will be acknowledged that whenever one brings to the table a mess of fish, 

 regardless of how obtained, it has a market value. The same holds true in 

 reference to any form of wild game, which is a luxurious substitute for meat 

 from the butcher. When a member of the family fishes or hunts, has it oc- 

 curred to the reader to figure up at market prices what he, while indulging in 

 his favorite recreation, contributes to the luxury of the table? * * * On 

 this basis an attempt has been made to figure up the value of all fish and game 

 annually taken in Vermont. 



The sum total, conservatively estimated at the lowest market value, makes a 

 grand total of over $502,000, which, at the savings-bank rate of 4 per cent, is 

 an annual dividend on $12,500,000. In making this estimate the value of in- 

 sectivorous birds, without the aid of which authorities assert that agriculture 

 would be impossible, has not been taken into consideration. * * * Tiie 

 figures do not include the returns from private preserves in the form of arti- 

 ficial i>onds and deer parks. * * * Most of these preserves make unproducti\e 

 land valuable and indirectly raise the value of ad,iacent property. * * "■= 



