BIG GAME. 13 



framed with reference to protecting the animals from indiscriminate 

 and unreasonable havoc, leaving all persons free to take game under 

 certain restrictions as to the season of the year and the means of 

 capture. * * * As the most effective means of enforcing such 

 statutes, most of them prohibit all persons, including licensed dealers, 

 under penalty, from buying or selling or even having in possession 

 or control any game purchased within a certain period after the com- 

 mencement of the close season."^ The principle that the game 

 belongs to the State and that its capture is a privilege, but not a right, 

 is becoming generally recognized. It has been upheld by several of 

 the State courts; and the laws of Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Minne- 

 sota, Texas, and Wisconsin declare specifically that the title to game 

 is vested in the State^ 



Laws fixing seasons for the killing of game date back more than a 

 century, as exemplified by the New York statute protecting heath 

 hens, which was passed in 1791. The necessity for regulations con- 

 trolling the manner of capturing game also attracted attention at an 

 early date, as shown by the Virginia law of 1832, which prohibited 

 killing wild fowl with swivel guns, or while they were at rest on the 

 water at night. More recently, restrictive measures have been adopted 

 which require licenses from nonresidents, limit the number of birds 

 or animals which may be killed in a day or season, and authorize 

 the maintenance of wardens for the special ijurpose of enforcing game 

 laws. Of late years, legislation has also been directed toward restrict- 

 ing traffic in game. Laws prohibiting export of game from the State, 

 at first experimental, have been generally adopted since their con- 

 stitutionality was established by the Supreme Court ^ in a decision 

 rendered March 2, 1896. Progress has also been made in restricting 

 the sale of game and the killing for market. In several States, market 

 hunting for deer and certain game birds is absolutely prohibited at all 

 seasons; in others, laws against the sale of certain game are in force; 

 while in three States at least — Kansas, Idaho, and Montana — the sale 

 of all game protected by the State law is illegal. 



Bia GAME. 



The big game of the United States is rapidly disappearing. As 

 already stated, buffalo are almost extinct; elk and antelope have been 

 killed off in many localities in which they were formerly abundant; 

 moose, caribou, mountain sheep, and mountain goats are now found 

 in only a few States; and deer are rare in many places where 

 they should be common. To such an extent has this decrease pro- 

 ceeded that vigorous measures are now necessary to prevent the 



^ Bouvier's Law Dictionary. 



^Geer v. State of Conn., 161 U. S., 519. 



