40 



THE GAME BREEDER 



sponsible and irresponsible, to shoot the 

 game, the poultry, the farm animals or 

 even human beings. We have said often 

 the farmer who wants deer or other 

 game should have them, stand the dam- 

 age they do and sell the meat. 



It will be a remarkable spectacle if the 

 program for the war on the deer on 

 Shelter Island is carried out. We can 

 picture a State Conservation Commis- 

 sioner, mounted on a war horse, with 

 drawn sword, charging the deer at the 

 head of his troops. The plan of battle, 

 as it is outlined in the daily papers, con- 

 templates avoiding any close encounters 

 with the antlered herd until the deer are 

 in full retreat and have been driven to 

 the edge of the island where the blue 

 waters of Long Island Sound are too 

 wide and too deep to give any chance for 

 the escape of the enemy. Here the in- 

 fantry are expected to close in and by 

 volley firing to make the annihilation 

 complete. Fathers and mothers, the last 

 named pregnant with young, are all to 

 die together at the hands of Conserva- 

 tionists and the allied militia. We never 

 thought the "more game" movement 

 would lead to this. A change of the 

 name of the Game Conservation Society, 

 publishers of The Game Breeder, is con- 

 templated. 



A Better Way. 



There clearly is a better way of hand- 

 ling deer than to shoot them all down in 

 the spring time. The State of New York 

 has a big public play-ground where, at 

 certain seasons, sportsmen are permitted 

 to shoot the deer, and each other, to their 

 heart's content, that is provided the heart 

 is contented with one or two deer. The 

 fray for most individuals usually ends 

 for the season with the death of one 

 sportsman shot down because he looked 

 like a deer. 



The Shelter Island deer and the deer 

 in other farming regions, where they are 

 regarded as a nuisance, should be 

 trapped and turned down in the Adiron- 

 dacks where they will thrive until the 

 time for the venison harvest arrives. 



Massachusetts has a good rule. Any 

 farmer who is damaged by deer puts in 

 a claim and the State pays for the dam- 



age. He raises his crop, and in places 

 where deer occur in fair numbers, he has 

 a sure customer at a fair price. 



Vermont has a somewhat similar law, 

 we believe, and the fusilade on the 

 farms, when the wild meat season is 

 open, is said to be lively. We never 

 heard if the little yellow horse dropped 

 in the shafts or the colt killed by a stray 

 bullet just after he had been put in a 

 barn to escape the dangers of the bat- 

 tle were paid for. They should be, of 

 course, if public sport is expected to re- 

 main popular. 



A Pot Shot at Deer. 



About the year 1730, John Rider of 

 Plymouth killed three deer at a shot in 

 that town. It was in a summer season, 

 in a rye field * * * It was out of 

 season by law to kill deer. The Superior 

 Court, then in session in that town, ex- 

 cused the man on the spot, it being in. 

 protection of his standing grain. — Col- 

 lections of Massachusetts Historical So- 

 ciety, cited in Report of the Massachus- 

 etts Commissioners of Fish and Game. 



This was clearly a case of justifiable 

 cervicide and courts would do well to 

 follow the precedent When boys are 

 brought in for defending cabbage- 

 patches from rabbits. 



One on the Editor. 



Owing to the unavoidable absence of 

 the Editor last month, Mr. Hill, the Vice 

 President of the Game Conservation So- 

 ciety, took charge of the magazine. One 

 of the readers said to the Editor a few 

 days ago that he thought the April num- 

 ber was one of the best ever issued. The 

 Editor agreed with him. 



p_ s. — As we go to press we learn that 

 the battle with the deer has been called 

 off. Sportsmen have arranged- to have 

 them trapped and shipped to private 

 game preserves, the proper place for 

 such animals when found outside of pub- 

 lic parks. ^ 



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