

THE GAME BREEDER 



GAME FARMS. 



By Hon. Theodore Roualt, Jr., 

 State Game Warden for New Mexico. 



A Paper read at the recent convention of State Game Commissioners 





The subject, "Game Farms," is so 

 broad that one can hardly do it justice 

 in a brief article. However, I have 

 made an effort to be not only brief but 

 to the point. At the beginning I may 

 also explain that this covers conditions 

 pretty much as found in the Southwest 

 and particularly my own State. There- 

 fore the proper title should be '"A Game 

 Ranch in New Mexico." 



This being a "Win the War" conven- 

 tion of this Association, I believe it is 

 most appropriate that the subject of 

 game farms be diligently discussed in an 

 effort to find ways and means by which 

 game farming may be better utilized in 

 helping out with the food supply. I 

 consider this a most opportune time to 

 engage in this work. Have any of you 

 given the subject of game farms thought 

 in connection with our injured boys re- 

 turning from the battlefields in France ? 

 To many of these boys this work will 

 not only be most helpful, pleasant and 

 interesting, but also most profitable. A 

 great number of these chaps probably 

 have had former experience in private 

 game preserves, and the game farm 

 would naturally appeal to them. This, 

 too, Would be one more way for him to 

 help "win the war" and at the same time 

 bring him a most liberal income. 



I just noticed an advertisement in the 

 corner of the hotel reading "Reclama- 

 tion Is Conservation." I therefore 

 would favor this International Associa- 

 tion of Game Commissioners going on 

 record as urging Congressional action 

 toward the granting, under favorable 

 conditions, of suitable tracts of land for 

 game farming to any of our soldiers 

 who have seen service abroad and who 

 may desire to enter this work. There 

 are countless thousands of acres through- 

 out the United States, and particularly 

 in the West, admirably adapted to the 



purpose, but worthless for anything else. 

 The reclamation of these lands by game 

 farms spells Conservation. It would be 

 only a short time until game and wild 

 fowl would be as plentiful on the mar- 

 kets as in former years ; and, at the same 

 time, help materially in conserving our 

 beef supply. 



Have any of you given thought to the 

 drain on our cattle resources brought on 

 by this war? Probably not, unless you 

 are a cattle man or happen to be from 

 the Southwest, where cattle are run in 

 large herds. Only ten days ago, in talk- 

 ing to a friend of mine, I asked how 

 many cattle his range could stand. He 

 replied, "Fifty thousand." I asked him 

 how many he usually had on his stock 

 range. He replied, "From twenty-five 

 to thirty thousand, but that now he only 

 had about twelve thousand, as this war 

 had made it impossible for him to buy 

 cattle or keep what he had." Think of 

 it, gentlemen ! Only 22 per cent, of what 

 his range can stand, and grass knee high 

 all over his three hundred and fifty 

 thousand acres of land ! 



In some manner we must make up for 

 this wastage and, in my opinion, the 

 solution of the problem is game farming. 



Up to eighteen years ago, out of Santa 

 Fe, New Mexico, there were a number 

 of professional hunters who weekly 

 made trips into town with pack- burros, 

 loaded down with venison, turkey, elk, 

 antelope and bear meat. This was sold 

 by the butcher just as beef or pork are 

 sold today, excepting that the price was 

 about one-fourth or less than what we 

 are paying today for our ordinary cuts 

 of meat. Before the Federal and State 

 laws were enacted and the sale of game 

 was still considered legal, I have seen 

 quail sold at 50 cents per dozen, dead or 

 alive ; rabbits, two for 5 cents ; ducks, 

 10 cents ; brant, geese and cranes at 50 



