26 BULLETIN 1045, V. S. DEPARTMEXT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



In establishing game refuges tlie protective method is carried a 

 step further by suspending all hunting on a given area and allowing 

 the game to multiplj^ without harvesting any of the annual increase. 

 The surplus is allowed to overflow the surrounding region and thus 

 improve hunting on the lands adjoining the refuge. When refuges 

 of adequate size are properly selected and well stocked, this method 

 proves very satisfactory. On the other hand, poaching is likely to 

 occur, and, furthermore, the game, being subject to disease, to depre- 

 dations of predatory animals, or to unfavorable climatic conditions, 

 does not always increase at the rate anticipated. 



By resorting to restocking, the first positive step is taken in 

 directly increasing the amount of game by artificial means. This is 

 done either by the transfer of native species from adjoining or dis- 

 tant regions or by the introduction of foreign species. Restocking 

 has the advantage of arousing general interest, improving public 

 sentiment toward game protection in a region, and enlisting the 

 support of many persons who otherwise would take little or no inter- 

 est in game conservation. It requires considerable funds, though 

 money is usually more easily obtained for restocking than for warden 

 service. The results, however, are not always satisfactory. In fact, 

 the percentage of failures is much larger than in the case of experi- 

 ments with refuges, mainly because many attempts at restocking 

 have been ill-advised — species not adapted to a region have been 

 introduced and insufficient attention has been given to details of 

 capture, handling, and feeding. 



On the theory that game can be produced like poultry or domestic 

 stock, the game farm has been heralded in some States as the solu- 

 tion of the problem. It is sometimes asserted that, given so many 

 dollars, so many pheasants may be produced for liberation. Simple 

 as this method may seem, it has proved more difficult and more 

 expensive than any of the others mentioned, and in several instances 

 expense and lack of initial success have resulted in loss of interest 

 on the part of the public and have ended, temporarily at least, in 

 the abandonment of the project. Artificial game propagation is still 

 in an experimental stage, and the kinds of birds which can be pro- 

 duced in large nimibers with any degree of certainty are at present 

 very limited. Failures are due most frequently to initial investments 

 on too large a scale, to devoting time aiid money to birds the propa- 

 gation of which is still in an experimental stage, and to attempts to 

 produce too much stock in a limited time. 



PROTECTION. 



In the conservation of game in the United States more attention 

 has been given to protection than to any other method. Probably 

 three-fourths of the funds and of the eifort have been expended in 



