REVENUE FROM WILD GAME 



131 



South the White-Tailed Deer of the North nec- 

 essarily becomes a small or inferior animal. A 

 collection of more than one hundred pairs of 

 antlers from Texas, recently inspected by the 

 writer, contained a surprisingly high percentage 

 of large and heavy specimens, fully equal in 

 length, spread and weight to the best examples 

 from Montana, Minnesota and Maine. 



Wild Game as a Source of Revenue. — All 

 persons who pay state taxes in states or terri- 

 tories inhabited by "big game," and game fishes, 

 will do well to bear in mind that under certain 

 conditions wild animal life can be made an 

 important and legitimate source of revenue. 

 The United States Supreme Court has decided 

 (Ward vs. Race Horse, 163 U. S. 507) that all 

 wild game on unoccupied lands is the prop- 

 erty of the state, and that even the national 

 government may not, either by treaty with Ind- 

 ians, or in any other manner save actual seques- 

 tration, convey any rights or privileges affecting 

 it adversely. 



The states of New York and Maine long since 

 discovered that their wild deer constituted val- 

 uable state property, and both entered seriously 

 upon the task of preserving them from the anni- 

 hilation that everywhere follows swiftly upon 

 the heels of non-protection. New York elected 

 to preserve the great Adirondack wilderness as 

 a free hunting-ground for her citizens. Maine, 

 with perfectly proper thrift, decided that her 

 game should not only pay the cost of its preser- 

 vation, but also be made for her citizens a legiti- 

 mate source of annual income. All guides must 

 be licensed by the state, no visitor may hunt 

 without a guide, and every non-resident hunter 

 must procure a license, at a cost of $15. This 

 permits the killing of one bull moose and two 

 deer, but no caribou, nor female moose. 



As a result of the game and fish laws of 

 Maine that state becomes every autumn a vast 

 hunting-ground, visited by perhaps ten thousand 

 sportsmen who desire to fish, or to procure deer 

 or moose in their haunts. The army of recre- 

 ationists annually expends within that state a 

 total sum which is usually estimated at one mill- 

 ion dollars, or more. And yet, the supply of 

 deer is maintained so successfully that to-day 

 there are in Maine a greater number of deer than 

 anywhere else in the United States, unless it be 

 in the Adirondacks. 



The records of the Maine railways show ac- 

 curately the number of White-Tailed Deer trans- 

 ported by them annually for hunters leaving the 

 state, and afford a very fair index of the abun- 

 dance of the species. The following are the 

 figures for the last nine years: 



1894 1,001 



1895 1,581 



1896 2,245 



1897 2,940 



1898 3,377 



1899 3,379 



1900 3,756 



1901 3,882 



1902 4,495 



Total 26,656 



Of course these figures do not take into ac- 

 count the great number of deer that are killed 

 and consumed in camp, or by residents of the 

 state who live in or near the great hunting 

 grounds. The whole number of deer in Maine 

 is roughly estimated at 100,000, and the total 

 number killed annually at between 15,000 and 

 20,000. 



The Flat-Horned Deer. 



The Caribou. — In general terms it may be 

 stated that a caribou (pronounced car'ry-boo) 

 is a wild deer-like animal, which bears a general 



\> if 



REMARKABLE 



FREAK ANTLERS OF WHITE- 



TAILED DEER. 



Total number of points, 78. Owned by Albert 

 Friedrich, San Antonio, Texas. 



