40 



THE GAME BREEDER 



these laws, just stand aside and see us 

 fill the law books. We will be on hand 

 when the close season periods expire to 

 see that they are renewed, etc., etc. 



We must admit that it is not easy to 

 interest people in. any work which does 

 not pay, either in sport or in food. Who 

 can be expected to rent the land or the 

 breeding and shooting rights; to pay for 

 planting suitable covers and foods and 

 for the wages of beat keepers to see that 

 the game enemies are controlled when 

 the only reward in sight is a term in jail 

 or an excessive fine if a grouse or a quail 

 be shot or eaten ? 



Already there are between 500 and 

 1,000 pheasant breeders in Ohio. There 

 are, we are sure, no quail breeders. 

 Why? Because the law says the people 

 who produce pheasants may shoot them 

 and eat them. The people who would 

 produce quail, the best bird in the world 

 for Ohio, excepting possibly the prairie 

 grouse, must only feed their cats and 

 dogs and the common game enemies on 

 quail. 



Who on earth can be expected to lift 

 a hand to save the prairie grouse and 

 the quail so long as thousands, many 

 thousands, of dollars are gathered every 

 year to put an end to the shooting and 

 eating of quail and grouse? 



The most important work in sight for 

 game breeders is to see that they have 

 the right to produce the game which 

 most needs their attention. There are a 

 few places, fortunately, where the work 

 can be done legally. What is needed 

 most is for some one to show how plen- 

 tiful the birds quickly can be made and 

 how cheaply the work can be carried on. 



Sharp-Tailed Grouse in Town. 



Mr. Charles HaDock, dean of Amer- 

 ican sportsmen, writes: "Referring to 

 page 169 of your September issue anent 

 the sharp-tailed grouse and the cause of 

 their disappearance from Minnesota and 

 Dakota, let me mention in contrast that 

 the year I located Kittson County seat in 

 Northwestern Minnesota (1879) I drove 

 a hen and brood from an adjacent lot, 

 in September, 'shooing' her in a persua- 

 sive way until I got her in front of the 

 post-oflfice, and the mother took things 



quietly, making no protest, like hens in 

 tne barnyard. 



"Later I found it difficult to drive these 

 grouse from ofif a stack of ripened wheat, 

 i had guns but it was wicked to kill more 

 than enough for the table and considerate 

 sportsmen in that section were not shoot- 

 ing for the market." 



Air. Hallock agrees with us that game 

 produced by industry should be marketed 

 and the proceeds should be used to pro- 

 duce more game and to keep it plentiful. 



The Prairie Chicken. 



We have received an interesting little 

 book about the prairie chicken, written 

 by Mr. J. P. Turner, and published by 

 the M^inister of Agriculture of Manitoba. 

 We print a few paragraphs on the de- 

 crease of the prairie chicken in this issue 

 and later we will print what Mr. Turner 

 says about the coyote, the crow and other 

 enemies of the grouse. It is quite evi- 

 dent from Mr. Turner's remarks about 

 vermin that they need a lot of Oneida 

 traps in Manitoba. The goshawk, one of 

 the worst enemies of grouse, easily could 

 be reduced in numbers by trapping. 



Lack of Preparedness, 



There was a greater lack of prepared- 

 ness in the game line than in any other 

 food producing industry. It seems for- 

 tunate that the "more game" movement 

 was well started. Our reports indicate 

 that hundreds of tons of game will be 

 eaten tliis season and the ratio of increase 

 will be geometrical as surely as the prices 

 keep up which they will until we have a 

 few thousand more big shoots. There 

 are many places where the bag will run 

 over a thousand birds this season. 

 Black Bass. 



We especially wish to hear from our 

 readers who can tell us where we can get 

 black bass. We have inquiries for these 

 fish and they seem to be very scarce. 



The safest place to buy game and eggs 

 is from advertisers in The Game Breeder. 

 We require good faith and advertisers 

 are well aware what will happen if they 

 do not deal fairly with members of the 

 society. 



