THE GAME BREEDER 



169 



GAME SHOOTING CLUBS. 



By D. W. Huntington. 



Now that the laws in many states per- 

 mit and encourage the breeding and sale 

 of game it is important that the people 

 should be educated to take advantage of 

 the new laws and that the desirable food 

 should quickly be made abundant and 

 cheap. 



Already there are many thousands oi 

 game farmers in America who are suc- 

 cessfully producing game. There an; 

 also thousands of sportsmen who indi- 

 vidually or as members of clubs deal 

 fairly with the farmers and produce 

 game for sport. Some of the clubs have 

 so much game that they can send some 

 to market every year and in this way 

 they pay a good part of the cost of the 

 sport. It is important that sportsmen of 

 moderate means should combine to share 

 the expense of good shooting. They are 

 the best customers of the game farmers 

 who supply them with stock birds and 

 eggs. 



It long has been evident that where 

 everyone insisted upon the right to shoot 

 on farms without permission the result 

 was disastrous to the game. Continual 

 shooting and no production must result 

 in extermination. The farmers in no 

 case can be expected to look after the 

 game simply to induce trespassers to 

 shoot up the farms. As a result of such 

 shooting most of the farmers post their 

 lands and prohibit sport. In all cases 

 where the sportsmen combine and rent 

 the shooting the game is to be found 

 every year, the amount depending upon 

 the amount of the protection and pro- 

 duction on any place. 



There is certainly room enough in our 

 vast country for all sportsmen who wish 

 to do so to have good shooting. 



The first requisite is to deal fairly 

 with the land owners and the second is 

 to look after the game and keep it plen- 

 tiful, purchasing stock birds and eggs 

 from the game farmers in years when 

 from overshooting or other causes the 

 game is not as abundant as it should be. 



There are a great variety of shooting 



clubs or syndicates. Some have very 

 small annual dues ; some have larger 

 dues and elaborate clubhouses. 



Quite near New York there are some 

 quail clubs with dues of $15 to $25 per 

 year. These clubs usually deal with a 

 few land owners renting the shooting 

 and often the members arrange to stop 

 at a farmhouse when shooting. One 

 club I have visited has its headquarters 

 in a little country hotel. Usually some- 

 one is employed to look after the wild 

 breeding game, part of the time at least. 

 Some foxes, hawks, crows and other ver- 

 min are trapped and shot and in winter 

 a little food is supplied for the birds. 



No big bags are expected but some 

 good shooting can be had year after year 

 and occasionally when there has been a 

 bad nesting season or there have been 

 some bad losses due to climate in the 

 winter a few dozen stock birds are pur- 

 chased and liberated. Clubs of this char- 

 acter usually have no game to sell, the 

 members and their friends using what 

 they shoot. 



Other clubs with somewhat larger dues 

 employ skilled game keepers and many 

 of them now produce thousands of 

 pheasants, mallards, quail and other 

 game birds. 



Having a big stock of breeding birds 

 these clubs often can sell a good lot of 

 eggs and some of them sell game to the 

 game dealers and hotels and in this way 

 keep their expenses down. 



It is an easy matter to start a game 

 shooting club and one of the best places 

 to start is a place where there is no game 

 since there can be no possible objection 

 to game production in such a place. It 

 is an easy matter to procure stock birds 

 and eggs from advertisers in The Game 

 Breeder and a good game keeper soon 

 will show some good shooting and some 

 well-trained dogs. 



A club with a large membership can 

 have comparatively small dues, a club 

 with few members must have larger 

 dues. It is an easy matter to figure up 



