EFFECT OF PRESERVES ON GAME SUPPLY. 51 



Gun Club, of Clinton County, Pa., placed about 90 deer, mostly does, 

 in their 4,000-acre park. These have multiplied to nearly 2,000 head, 

 and a further increase of about 1,000 fawns was expected during the 

 season of 1908. These experiences in stocking large preserves with 

 deer, although highly successful, are probably not exceptional. 



EFFECT ON GAME SUPPLY. 



The effect of private preserves on the supply of game in the State 

 should not be overlooked. While they may temporarily restrict the 

 hunting privileges of a few citizens, ultimately they become a source 

 of game supply secondary in importance only to state preserves. 

 Already a number of private preserves have become overstocked, and 

 game has escaped or been turned out to become the property of the 

 people. Both deer and elk are said to have escaped from the Corbin 

 preserve in New Hampshire and from the Whitney preserve in 

 Massachusetts. The game in the well-stocked preserve of Dr. W. S. 

 Webb in the Adirondacks became the property of the State when, in 

 1903, the owner demolished the fences which for many years had sur- 

 rounded his 8,000-acre park. 



Charles C. Worthington writes, May 21, 1908, that when, in 1902, 

 the deer in his New Jersey preserve became too numerous to be sup- 

 ported by the acreage inclosed, several wide gates were left open for a 

 few months. Few of the animals availed themselves of the oppor- 

 tunity to escape. Mr. Worthington says : " There was little incentive 

 for them to leave the inclosure, and most of those that did probably 

 returned at the first alarm, their instinct directing them to the in- 

 closure as a protected, safe retreat. The few that remained outside 

 have increased in numbers, until now the region round about for a 

 radius of several miles is well stocked. While some complaint has 

 been made by the farmers in the neighborhood that the deer destroy 

 some of their grain, the general sentiment is in favor of having the 

 laws for their protection rigidly enforced." 



The success of private enterprise in propagating deer in inclosures 

 is an object lesson for state game commissions and others, and sug- 

 gests that the State should undertake similar work for the public. 

 The establishment of game preserves on public lands of the State is 

 a most important step in game preservation, especially if the lands 

 are already stocked with wild deer. But the further introduction 

 of breeding animals will hasten multiplication, until the preserve be- 

 comes a source of game supply for the surrounding territory. While 

 more national preserves are needed, a system of state preserves is all- 

 important. Those already established in Pennsylvania and other 

 States have proved highly useful, and it may truthfully be said that 

 in every country that has tried them, public game preserves have been 

 instrumental in increasing the game supply. 



