THE GAME BREEDER 



CLOSED SEASONS. 



By the Editor. 



The U. S. biological survey and the 

 game protective associations seem to rely 

 chiefly upon laws prohibiting shooting for 

 a term of years in order to save the game 

 from extinction. Such laws are only a 

 temporary makeshift. It is admitted that 

 the natural enemies of game and the fatal 

 domestic cat ; the close cultivation of the 

 land and the draining of marshes ; cli- 

 mate, floods, fires, farm machinery, wires 

 and other ills due to civilization all con- 

 tribute to reduce the numbers of birds. 

 All of the losses due to these causes con- 

 tinue during and are unaffected by the 

 closed season; and where rabbit shooting 

 is permitted it is very generally con- 

 ceded by state game officers and other 

 capable observers that there will be con- 

 siderable illegal shooting of the protected 

 game. 



All naturalists know that when the 

 game enemies are over-abundant when 

 compared with the game that nature's 

 balance is upset in the wrong direction 

 and the species will decrease in numbers. 

 The cat and the other checks to increase, 

 above referred to, are enough to prevent 

 any increase of the game birds in many 

 areas provided the game be not properly 

 looked after, especially during the breed- 

 ing season when young birds are an easy 

 prey to cats and many eggs are lost to 

 vermin and during the open season for 

 rabbits when there are losses due to il- 

 legal shooting. 



At the end of the closed season it is 

 usually deemed best to extend it and 

 there is danger of the farmers taking a 

 hand, as they did in Ohio, and making 

 the closed season perpetual. 



If the game appears to have shown 

 an increase in any region and the shoot- 

 ing is again permitted, history will re- 

 peat itself, the additional check to in- 

 creased shooting, soon will be found to 

 produce extermination and the whole per- 

 formance must be repeated. During 

 each closed period there is a loss of in- 

 terest in shooting. The older sportsmen 

 put away their guns and the young men 

 coming of age who should be taken to 



the fields learn nothing about field sports 

 because it is illegal to shoot everything 

 but rabbits, and these often do not in- 

 terest those who should instruct their 

 younger relatives in the art of shooting 

 over setters and pointers. 



There can be no doubt that a long 

 closed season will not restore game to vast 

 areas where it no longer occurs. A closed 

 season in Ohio on wild turkeys, made at 

 a time when there were some wild tur- 

 keys in the state, did not result in an 

 increase in the number of wild turkeys; 

 the turkey became extinct. The law was 

 repealed as unnecessary. There are many 

 wild turkeys in Ohio today, introduced 

 and produced by private industry. Should 

 another law be enacted closing the sea- 

 son on wild turkeys and prohibiting the 

 sale of birds and eggs the result would 

 be to exterminate the turkeys. If such 

 a law be applied to poultry it would ex- 

 terminate the poultry. 



Granting that closed seasons may seem 

 expedient and necessary, we insist that 

 when they are made the laws creating 

 them should provide that they do not 

 apply to food producers who by their 

 industry are willing to produce the de- 

 sirable food on lands which they own or 

 rent for such purposes. 



The laws permitting pheasant and wild 

 duck breeders to breed and sell these 

 birds and their eggs have resulted in a 

 great abundance of pheasants and ducks 

 on places where the owners produce the 

 game. Much of it is now sold in the 

 markets as food. 



Quail and prairie grouse and the sharp- 

 tailed and ruffed grouse can be produced 

 in vast numbers much cheaper than 

 pheasants can be, since the quail and 

 prouse find most of their food in the 

 fields and woods. A law prohibiting the 

 shooting, eating and sale of these birds 

 for a term of years or forever puts an 

 end to the industry of those who have 

 quail or grouse and prevents any one 

 from giving them the attention needed 

 to make them and keep them an abun- 

 dant food. 



