THE RELATION OF SPORTSMEN TO GAME 

 EXTERMINATION 



BY THEIR own acts and ethics, the men who shoot game 

 are now dividing themselves into distinct groups. 

 Heretofore all members of the entire body have been known 

 as "sportsmen," chiefly because the line of cleavage has not 

 heretofore been clearly defined. Now, however, the time has 

 arrived when it is not only possible, but also necessary, to 

 separate the men who hunt and kill game into two classes. 



One class consists of real sportsmen, who may be defined 

 as men with logical minds, high moral principles, ethical 

 standards either developed or latent, and a willingness to 

 make any personal sacrifice for the preservation and in- 

 crease of wild life that circumstances may render necessary. 



The other class consists of men whom we will call "gun- 

 ners," whose minds are impervious to the logic of situations, 

 who recognize nothing resembling broad policies in the pro- 

 tection of wild life, who are devoted to the gun and shoot- 

 ing, and who believe in killing game by every means that 

 the law permits, to the full extent that th Q law permits, so 

 long as any game remains alive, and regardless of the pros- 

 pects of the extinction of species. 



The word "sportsman" has reached the point where it 

 must either disappear altogether or be split into fragments, 

 each bearing either a new name or a qualifying adjective. 

 The time when the old and favorite term necessarily meant 

 a game protector, is gone by. The men who lack the sense 

 of fairness, and lack the spirit of self sacrifice which is 

 found in every true sportsman, must now and henceforth 

 be reckoned with separately. 



