90 GAME COMMISSIONS AND WARDENS. 



In Minnesota the killing of a human being bj T shooting with a gun 

 or other firearm, when resulting from carelessness in mistaking the 

 person shot for a deer or other animal, is manslaughter in the first 

 degree and punishable as such. So far no conviction under these 

 statutes has been reported. 



On the other hand, in a North Carolina case (State v. Horton, 139 

 N. C; 1 L. R. A., n. s., 991), decided in 1905, it was held that the 

 unintentional and accidental killing of a human being was not ren- 

 dered criminal by the fact that the slayer was at the time violating a 

 statute prohibiting hunting on lands of another without permission. 



COLD STORAGE. 



One of the greatest obstacles to effective game-law enforcement is 

 the modern cold-storage plant and the facility it offers for conceal- 

 ment of game. The ease and certainty with which dead game may be 

 preserved even in hot weather removes all limitation formerly imposed 

 by that condition and stimulates the killing of vastly larger quantities 

 than in days before this invention. It is therefore a direct incentive 

 to the unlimited destruction of game. It has furnished a defense often 

 invoked in prosecutions for possession of game in close season, when 

 the defendant has asserted that the game was lawfully taken in the 

 open season and held in cold storage. It is often difficult, if not impos- 

 sible, for the State to controvert this defense. Hotels, restaurants, and 

 clubs are therefore able to serve game to their guests throughout 

 the close season, and many other avenues of illicit commerce in game 

 are thereby opened. It has proved such a menace to the preservation 

 of game in Minnesota that in 1905 the legislature prohibited, in the fol- 

 lowing terms, the placing of game in any cold-storage plant: 



The placing or receiving within or storage of any game bird or game animal, or 

 any part thereof, in any cold-storage plant, is hereby prohibited and made unlawful. 



Other States have placed restrictions on the storing of game. As an 

 example, Nebraska has made it unlawful to store game, except during 

 the open season and five days thereafter, when stored for the person 

 lawfully in possession thereof, and at any time when it has been law- 

 fully imported into the State. This limitation is followed by a positive 

 prohibition of the possession or serving of game by hotels, restaurants, 

 cafes, and boarding houses to their patrons in close season. In Colo- 

 rado a permit from the game commissioner is required to store game. 

 In several States the owners, proprietors, or managers of cold-storag-e 

 plants are required to permit the game wardens to inspect the plant 

 upon demand. Kansas requires the fish and game warden to inspect 

 all places where meat, fish, and game are kept for sale or shipment or 

 stored for pay, and those storing such articles are required to permit 

 inspection. New York defines the limitations on the privilege of 



