THE GAME BREEDER 



75 



ants of the English half-breeds were dis- 

 tributed broadcast in America. Import- 

 ers, also brought over many of the Eng- 

 lish ducks and eggs since the game laws 

 in America made it almost impossible to 

 get the proper wild stock for breeding 

 purposes. There are many places in 

 America where there is a great desire to 

 stamp out the half-breeds which have 

 been called "near mallards" in The Game 

 Breeder. 



There are various degrees of "near- 

 ness," however, and when the birds are 

 alert and trim in appearance and when 

 they are strong on the wing and excellent 

 on the table, they are, I believe, highly 

 suitable for sport, and there can be no 

 reason why such birds should not be sold 

 by dealers to sportsmen who wish to pur- 

 chase them. All hands should, however. 



strive to improve the character of their 

 flocks and this only can be done by in- 

 troducing much new wild blood. The 

 game laws should be amended every- 

 where so as to permit and encourage 

 breeders to trap and to import birds for 

 breeding purposes where it is evident they 

 will produce thousands of ducks, as many 

 are now doing, in places where wild 

 ducks had ceased to occur. 



How perfectly absurd it seems, to say 

 that any one can shoot 25 or 50 ducks 

 per diem throughout the season, but that 

 no one can trap any birds for breeding 

 purposes even when he has shown that 

 his plant is equipped to turn out thous- 

 ands of ducks every year? A big food 

 producing industry has been and is ham- 

 pered and in many places prevented by 

 ill-advised laws. 



NOTES FROM THE STATE GAME DEPARTMENTS. 



The reports from the State Game De- 

 partments coming to The Game Breeder 

 indicate that practically all of the depart- 

 ments are in favor of the rearing of game 

 for sport and for food. It is gratifying to 

 observe that the game departments rapid- 

 ly are becoming of great economic impor- 

 tance and that they will represent all of 

 the people. State game officers are becom- 

 ing a little tired, no doubt, of the activities 

 of non-residents who sweep in with 

 plenty of money urging the farmers to 

 put an end to sport. They will find when 

 the sportsmen and farmers work together 

 in a few places they will be strong enough 

 to resist the prohibitionists. When it ap- 

 pears that the farmers, even in a few 

 places, are getting their taxes paid by 

 sport ihere will be little danger of laws 

 being enacted making it impossible for 

 the sportsmen to deal with the farmers. 

 The result will be that shooting can be 

 kept open everywhere. The preserved 

 areas will tend to stock the rest of the 

 country and the receipts from shooting 

 licenses can be kept up. It will only take 

 a very little land to make America the 

 biggest grouse and quail producing coun- 



try in the world. Very little land has 

 been used to make the country the big- 

 gest pheasant producing country in the 

 world. The production of thousands of 

 ducks about many ponds where there 

 were no ducks a few years ago has in- 

 creased the sport for all hands in regions 

 where there are many duck ponds. 



Clearly we are headed in the right di- 

 rection. 



Oregon. 



Hon. Carl O. Shoemaker, state game 

 warden for Oregon, reports that all spe- 

 cies of game birds and game fish reared 

 in captivity can be sold as food. 



The licenses issued to game breeders 

 cost $2.00. The sales of game are reg- 

 ulated; the game sold is identified by 

 tags which cost five cents. 



Game can be sold for propagation at 

 any time. 



Oregon has a large number of game 

 breeders who are making money and 

 they must be pleased with the attitude 

 of the State department towards their 

 industry. 



