THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 



entirely exterminated by the payment of bounties, the bounty 

 method would be considered a success. Within another year or 

 two, moles and gophers will again be as abundant as they were 

 when the bounty law was passed. Tillamook county must con- 

 tinue to pay for moles and gophers each year or the investment 

 fails. 



Third, a mole and gopher bounty is an unjust expenditure 

 of public money, because it is only a temporary benefit to a few 

 farmers and not a real help to a large number of taxpaj^ers. 



EFFECTIVE GAME PROTECTION. 



During the past summer a section foreman on the Southern 

 Pacific Railroad near Gaston called attention to the nest of a 

 Chinese pheasant containing twelve eggs which had been de- 

 stroyed by burning the grass along the right-of-way. He said he 

 found several nests each season which were destroyed because 

 the birds nest within the right-of-way along the railroad and were 

 not discovered until after the grass was burned. 



Each spring a large number of nests of game birds are dis- 

 turbed either by the plowing of land or the cutting of grain. In 

 some places, irrigation destroys many nests. We often hear of 

 hen pheasants sitting so close to the nests that they are injured 

 or killed when the hay is cut. 



On account of the many accidents during the nesting season 

 and with the many enemies which young birds have, such as 

 hawks, cats and other creatures, it is surprising that our game 

 birds hold their own as well as they do. 



Value of the Game Refuge. 



Small and large areas of land in various parts of the state 

 that have been set aside as game refuges where no hunting is 

 allowed are very important factors in game bird protection. In 

 many of the eastern states where hunters are abundant and wild 

 land is somewhat scarce, the sportsmen have made an especial 

 effort to have certain areas of land set aside as game refuges. 

 We are printing in this issue an account of some of the large game 

 refuges established in Louisiana. Eight thousand acres of moun- 

 tain land bordering the Delaware river and owned by C. C. 

 Worthington have been offered to the state of New Jersej- to 



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