120i 



THE GAME BREEDER 



{Cuntmucdjrovi page 104. ) 



[We have shot with the "Nimrod Red- 

 Man" and dodged some of them in the good 

 old days long ago. — Editor.] 



How long did the white sportsman, 

 pot-hunters, gunners and game-hogs take 

 to loot this wilderness, Mr. Biographer 

 of Wild Life? 



[Not very long. It is time to drop the game 

 law industry and go in for "more game." — 

 Editor.] 



Very short period we learn and only 

 too late. Now we have to substitute the 

 civilized man's orderly semi-domestic 

 game-preserve if we want to pose as 

 hunters great or small. 



[Not at all, we have preserves where game 

 is bred wild in states which have abandoned 

 some "fool laws." — Editor.! 



It may be foolish to grow too senti- 

 mental a-bout this romantic past period, 



[Many grieve over past multitudes who do 

 nothing to preserve what is left. — Editor.] 

 but let's beware of brute character with- 

 out any sentiment. 



[Some of our most sentimental friends have 

 plenty of game and shoot little or none. — 

 Editor.] 



Only the splendid sentiment of good 

 people will prevent the vicious destruc- 

 tive element from killing off everything 

 that runs and flies free. 



[At this point you might cuss the game pro- 

 hibition a little. We belong to the "good 

 people" class and where the laws permit such 

 industry we advocate the preservation of 

 -American game under conditions which so 

 closely resemble the good old days that you 

 would be pleased with the restoration could 

 you see some of the places. When you come 

 to New York we will show you how it is 

 done. We are just now starting a place of 

 this kind and will send all the game to hos- 

 pitals. — Editor.] 



Just to illustrate here is my personal 

 experience: The past few seasons my 

 folks and neighbors produced a fine lot 

 of pheasants (State furnished stock). 

 Unfortunately an open season was on 

 lately. The licensed and untettered hunt- 

 ers fairly swarmed the fields. To-day 

 not a single bird or specimen can be 

 found. 



[You need a gamekeeper. Let us send you 

 one. — Editor.] 



Let me state that I advocated rearing 

 these birds in a semi-wild way, which 

 proved highly successful. 



[Bully for you. — Editor.] 



One hyphenated game-hog hero 

 bragged on his getting four. Four hens 

 at that, mind you. 



[We know a man who took 30 just outside 

 of our fence. We congratulated him. — Edi- 

 tor.] 



The greatest outrage to game propa- 

 gation in Ohio is the unfortunate open, 

 season on pheasants. 



[We would advise an end to propagation 

 if there can be no open season. — Editor.] 



And if we continue the free open sea- 

 sons even the prolific cottontail will be- 

 come scarce. 



[Why not put cottontail on the song bird^ 

 list? This will tend to save the quail as a 

 singer. — Editor. ] 



I say close the season entirely, let it 

 up to the landowner to get proper reve- 

 nue on certain game-food animals, • and 

 if the gunner or hunter isn't of a dis- 

 position and character to pay a fee to 

 cover the cost of such production why, 

 dang him, let him do without. 



[There can be no harm in letting him shoot 

 on unposted land where no game breeding is 

 carried on or on public water. — Editor.] 



It is the writer's intention to own or 

 control an ideal wilderness game-farm, 

 but no free lance gunner will be toler- 

 ated to even have a look-in, unless he is 

 handcuffed to a guard. I have no fairh 

 in public -owned game farms;, the poli- 

 tician sportsman always manages to got 

 there first. 



[You should invite many people to shoot. — 

 Editor.] 



Yes, indeed, I agree with you that the 

 only hope is in maintaining game farms, 

 but the game will become sort of do- 

 mesticated like unto the over-size mal- 

 lard ducks your articles so freely com- 

 ment on. 



[Don't believe this for a minute. We know 

 where it is perfectly safe to shoot several 

 thousand quail in a season as wild as any 

 quail ever were and true wild turkeys are 

 shot on the same jground. The reason why 

 this is so is the farmers and sportsmen work 

 together. We know one place where we ad- 

 vised thinning the quail out after 2,000 had 

 been shot because there was danger of an 

 overabundance. The keeper said he had de- 

 cided to do this. No one seemed to know 

 just what the law was on the subject, ex- 

 cepting that the birds killed in the thinning 

 process could not be sold. They were 

 wasted. The reason we have many over- 

 sized ducks is the laws prohibit the taking of 

 breeding stock. — Editor.] 



