GAME AS A NATIONAL RESOURCE. 29 



animal at which he aims has horns has been the means of saving 

 many a human life. Comparatively few deer-hunting accidents oc- 

 cur in States which have doe laws, but notwithstanding this fact, 

 such important deer-hunting States as Maine and Minnesota still 

 allow the indiscriminate killing of bucks and does. In States like 

 Pennsylvania and Vermont, where does have been protected for a 

 number of years (although Vermont allowed killing for a time), 

 the results have been so beneficial that the policy has gained general 

 approval. 



ESTABLISHING GAME REFUGES. 



To replenish and increase their game resources, many of the States, 

 by establishing State game preserves and refuges, have encouraged 

 game animals and birds to breed under natural conditions. These 

 reservations are (a) public hunting grounds or shooting preserves; 

 and (&) game preserves or refuges. In addition, many States have 

 experimented in game farms. Public hunting grounds, consisting of 

 State lands where game is protected throughout the greater part of 

 the year and Avhere the public is allowed to hunt in the open season, 

 have thus far been provided only in New York, Pennsylvania, Mary- 

 land, Michigan, and Louisiana. State game preserves have been 

 established in nearly two-thirds of the States, including half of those 

 east of the Mississippi River and all of those w^est of that river except 

 Arkansas, Missouri, Nevada, and Texas. 



PUBLIC HUNTING GROUNDS. 



The most notable examples of public hunting grounds are the 

 Adirondack Preserve, in New York; the Susquehanna Flats, in 

 Maryland ; the State forests in Pennsylvania ; and the recently estab- 

 lished Pass a Loutre shooting grounds in Louisiana. 



The Adirondack Preserve now includes timber or cut-over lands 

 in northern New York which have been acquired by the State. ' These 

 lands, set aside primarily for forestrj^ purposes and for the pro- 

 tection of the water supply, are open to the public for hunting during 

 the open season and furnish the most extensive public hunting 

 grounds in the country. Most of the deer hunting and much of 

 the best grouse shooting in New York may be found within the 

 Adirondack Preserve. This preserve has also been stocked with elk 

 and other animals, but these species are rigidly protected and there 

 is no open season during which they may be hunted. 



The shooting grounds on the Susquehanna Flats, at the head of 

 • ChesaiDeake Bay, Md., constitute the oldest of the State game reserva- 

 tions, the regulations for the protection of the waterfowl having been 

 enacted about half a century ago, in 1872. Within this area water- 

 fowl shooting is regulated to a certain extent by special State laws, 

 providing rest days, prohibiting night shooting, limiting the use of 



