T^^ Game Breeder 



VOLUME VII 



JUNE, J9t5 



Co:) 



SURVEY OF THE FIELD. 



NUMBER 3 



Ohio Makes a Start. 



A letter from the Ohio State Game 

 Warden to The Game Conservation So- 

 ciety states that a law has just been en- 

 acted which permits and encourages the 

 profitable breeding of pheasants. 



There was some opposition to the 

 breeding of wild ducks and other game 

 but if the pheasant law proves to be 

 satisfactory, as it will no doubt, other 

 species will be added to the list of profit- 

 able foods. 



Ohio has been practically a prohibition 

 State in so far as shooting is concerned. 

 The prairie grouse, deer and wild tur- 

 keys are extinct and the shooting of 

 quails and doves is prohibited at all 

 times. There is comparatively little 

 duck shooting because there is not much 

 land and water attractive to wild fowl. 

 Many places can be made to yield wild 

 ducks abundantly, when the breeding of 

 these birds is permitted. The Game 

 Breeders' Association proved that it is an 

 easy matter to have thousands of ducks 

 about a small artificial pond. 



The breeder's license fee in Ohio is 

 only 50 cents. This is enough. Massa- 

 chusetts charges nothing for a breeder's 

 license. 



New Jersey Duck Law. 



A new law passed April 6, 1915, pro- 

 vides that the open season for wild ducks 

 in New Jersey shall be October 1 to 

 March 15. 



Evidently the people of New Jersey 

 believe the Federal law prohibiting the 

 spring shooting of wild fowl is unconsti- 

 tutional. Some courts have so held, one 

 at least has upheld the law. 



We believe wild ducks should not be 

 shot in the spring — an open season from 

 September 1 to March 1 should be long 

 enough. February 1, would be a better 



closing date. Game breeders are aware 

 that it is wise not to shoot their ducks 

 after February 1. During the month of 

 February, the ducks are kept quiet and 

 are fed well in order that the egg pro- 

 duction may be early and profitable. 

 They should sell some birds as food if 

 they wish to, of course, even later than 

 February, because often they have more 

 drakes than are desirable for the size of 

 the waters used and if they have more 

 ducks than they want and the prices are 

 attractive, they should let the people have 

 the food. 



Advice to Clubs. 



Mr. Forbush, in the article "Game Pre- 

 serving," printed in the December num- 

 ber, v/ell said: 



The prejudice against game preserves arises 

 largely from the fact that too many preserves 

 in this country are merely lands from which 

 the public is shut out, and on which the owner 

 enjoys exclusive opportunity of shooting wild 

 game which is, in law, the property of the 

 people. In many cases the landowner does 

 nothing whatever to propagate the birds or to 

 increase them ; but, instead, attracts them to 

 his preserve that he may shoot them. This is 

 not the kind of game preserving which should 

 be advocated. The public has some rights. 

 The law should be so drawn that a person 

 desiring to establish a game preserve should 

 be required to make it a game farm. In that 

 case he must secure his stock from some pri-- 

 vate source — some breeder of game birds in hi* 

 own or some other State — and must engage in 

 propagating the birds ; then they are as much 

 his own as are poultry or cattle under the same 

 conditions, and there is no reason why he 

 should not prohibit other people from shooting 

 them on his own land, nor is there any reason 

 why he should not be allowed to sell them in 

 the market under proper restrictions. 



We would strongly urge all of our 

 readers who belong to the thousand and 

 more clubs which have not undertaken 

 game breeding to get busy at once. It 

 is a great advantage to own a lot of wild 



