THE GAME BREEDER 



83 



carries no more dangerous weapons than 

 his rod, line and hooks. The danger of 

 maiming or otherwise injuring stock is 

 reduced to a minimum, and the loss to 

 the individual through the forfeit of his 

 sole and exclusive right to fish in that 

 stream is nil. 



On the other hand, we have the time- 

 worn and vexing question of private 

 game preserves or hunting grounds. 

 The erroneous idea prevailing among 

 some people regarding these institutions 

 is founded upon a lack of information 

 concerning them. The people at large 

 have not taken the time to correctly in- 

 form themselves upon this subject. It 

 is claimed that private hunting grounds 

 may be done away with and the self-same 

 argument used in the matter of public 

 fishing is advanced against them. But 

 the positions of the two questions are 

 not analogous in any particular. Can we 

 exercise the right of eminent domain 

 against the private hunting ground, or 

 can we condemn it in the interests of 

 the great mass of hunters, and yet be just 

 and equitable to the owner of the land? 

 We must take into consideration the 

 natural elements entering into the ques- 

 tion, and, in so doing, we would com- 

 mence with the most prominent bone of 

 contention, the "duck club." 



The greater portion of duck club 

 grounds furnish the best stock pastures 

 in the State. On the duck-shooting 

 grounds of the Sacramento and San Joa- 

 quin valleys you will find more grazing 

 stock to the acre than anywhere in the 

 uplands. While this territory is covered 

 with water the year round it is not 

 flooded merely to make it a rendezvous 

 for the waterfowl. Nature herself is re- 

 sponsible for these immense areas of 

 water. The water is from six inches to 

 two feet in depth over the whole area 

 and you will see stock feeding upon the 

 succulent aquatic grasses and plants that 

 spread their heads above the surface. 

 The whole area is enclosed in a stock- 

 tight, barbed wire fence to keep the pas- 

 tured stock from wandering. But when 

 the annual floods come, pasturing is at 

 an end and the duck club becomes a thing 

 of the past. 



Now the owner of valuable lowland 



grazing areas must certainly have the 

 right to utilize those lands for whatever 

 purpose he desires as long as he does not 

 infringe upon the rights of adjoining 

 property owners. If he wishes to pro- 

 hibit hunting altogether he may post his 

 land according to law, as does the up- 

 land owner. The latter certainly does 

 not care to allow indiscriminate hunting 

 by irresponsible hunters and suffer the 

 possible chance of injury to his grazing 

 stock. This upland owner is very de- 

 sirous of maintaining the law that en- 

 ables him to keep hunters off his land, 

 yet he raises his voice in anathemas 

 against the "duck clubs." His execra- 

 tions are born of thoughtlessness. If a 

 law is good for the upland farmer, why 

 is it not good for the lowlander? If this 

 lowland farmer wishes to rent the hunt- 

 ing privileges of his land and to so safe- 

 guard his interests that he can hold his 

 lessees responsible for all damage done 

 by them, is it possible to prevent him 

 from so doing? 



This lowland farmer leases to a club 

 the sole and exclusive right for them to 

 enter upon his premises for the purpose 

 of hunting. There is written in that 

 lease an iron-clad clause to the effect that 

 the members of the club, jointly and sev- 

 erally, are responsible for any damage 

 accruing to either his real or personal 

 property contained in the premises. 

 Since this owner has granted to a few 

 responsible people the all and exclusive 

 right to hunt thereon, does it follow that 

 he should extend that privilege to every 

 applicant? If such were the law, how 

 would the owner be remunerated for the 

 loss of stock? Could ten days in the 

 county jail for a stock-killer bring back 

 to this outraged owner one thoroughbred 

 animal ? 



Consider the position of the upland 

 farmer without the protection of the 

 trespass law. We will take, for exam- 

 ple, a hunter who goes out to one of 

 these upland ranches wherein stock is 

 pastured. Within an hour he bags the 

 limit of quail. He immediately returns 

 to town and spreads the good news. Can 

 you hazard a guess a.s to the number of 

 nimrods present upon that ranch the 

 next morning and can you estimate the 



