AMERICAN GAME PROTECTION. 



15 



The progress made in gradually shortening the open seasons may- 

 be illustrated by comparing the deer seasons first established in the 

 Atlantic Coast States with those in effect in 1910: 



State. 



Original open season. 



Number 

 of days. 



Open season for 1910. 



Number 

 of days. 1 





1830, Sept. 1-Jan. 1 



122 

 153 

 224 

 184 





65 



New Hampshire 





Oct. 1-Dec. 1 



52 



1779 June 10-Jan. 10 



Oct. 25-31 



6 





Nov. 21-27 



6 













1698, July 15-Jan. 15 



1705, Aug. 1 Jan. 1 



184 

 153 

 184 

 184 

 184 

 153 



184 

 215 

 153 

 243 

 212 



do 







Sept. 16-Nov. 1 



38 















Nov. 15-Dec. 1 



13 













1730, Aug. 1-Jan. 1 



Nov. 10-Jan. 1 (Allegany Co.) 

 Oct. 1-Jan. 1 (Garrett Co.).. 



44 





1699, Aug. 1-Feb. 1 



79 



78 





1738, July 15-Feb. 15 





105 







79 





1850, Aug. 1-Apr. 1 2 





145 







79 











1 Exclusive of Sundays, on which hunting is now prohibited in all these States. 

 3 Richmond County only. 



CLOSE TERMS. 



Early in the history of the country, in some localities where game 

 was becoming exterminated, hunting was suspended for a term of 

 years in order to afford opportunity for recuperation. These close 

 terms were later extended to so many States that in some cases the 

 species received absolute protection throughout its range in the 

 United States. The first close terms were apparently those for deer 

 for 3 years in Massachusetts, 1718, and 4 years in Virginia in 1772. 

 Later a similar suspension of the hunting season occurred in three 

 counties of Massachusetts for a term of 5 years in 1818, New Jersey in 

 1862, and in Vermont for 32 years from 1865 to 1897. Comparatively 

 few close terms for quail have been established in States well within 

 the range of the species, although such periods are common in locali- 

 ties where birds have been introduced, or reach the border of their 

 natural range, where they are likely to be winter killed. In the case 

 of doves the species was first removed from the game list in Con- 

 necticut and New Jersey in 1850, and has since been given complete 

 protection in about a third of the Northern States, although in the 

 South and Southwest it is still retained on the game list. 



By the establishment of a close term on caribou in Minnesota in 

 1905, the last State which had any of this game was closed to hunting, 

 and caribou were practically removed from the game list in the 

 United States. 



Close terms for antelope have likewise been extended and adopted 

 by successive States until in 1909 they covered the entire range of the 

 species, thus practically removing antelope from the game list. 



