154 BIG-GAME SHOOTING IN UPPER BURMA 



better have shot a couple of does. If, for 

 the next two years, the Local Government 

 would limit the number of stag heads to four, 

 none to be shot without a game licence costing 

 Rs.30, to include big game of all kinds except 

 elephants, and would permit two thamin 

 does to be shot by the licence-holder in addi- 

 tion to the stags, we should soon see an increase 

 in the number of shootable heads, as well as 

 an improvement in their quality. When the 

 does became reduced to their normal proportion 

 as intended by Nature, orders forbidding their 

 destruction might again be brought into force. 

 Game laws on these lines would benefit Govern- 

 ment and the sportsman alike. The thirty-rupee 

 licence might include permission to shoot big 

 game in reserved forests. 



It may be urged that such game laws would 

 be difficult to enforce. But much more strin- 

 gent ones are in force throughout most parts 

 of India, and are, generally speaking, strictly 

 observed. In India practically the only person 

 who habitually infringes them is the native 

 shikari, who shoots for the pot and to sell the 

 skin and horns. These men are often in the 

 pay of local taxidermists. But in Burma few 

 villagers have guns, or the means of obtaining 

 them, whether on hire or loan. And as villages 

 in the dry zone are always being visited by 

 Government officials, hunting with dogs could 



