FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



201 



within a few years. Your letter is a good 

 argument against any law which allows the 

 sale of game. — Editor. 



WANTS LICENSED GAME DEALERS. 



Hannibal, Mo. 

 Editor Recreation: 



The vigorous campaign you are making 

 for the preservation of our wild animals, 

 birds and fishes has my hearty commenda- 

 tion. Every civilized country should enact 

 stringent laws for game and fish protection 

 and exert with energy every power it pos- 

 sesses for the enforcement of those laws. 



I notice, however, in this matter a tend- 

 ency to go from one extreme to the 

 other, from wasteful laxity to unreasonable 

 repression, which works injury to the large 

 proportion of our people who are least 

 able to bear the hardships resulting from 

 laws primarily intended for the good of 

 all. Our people are composed of many 

 classes: 



The rich, who have little else to occupy 

 their time than their own personal grati- 

 fication. 



The middle class who, while in active 

 business, find time for personal pleasures 

 and recreation. 



Those of the latter class who find, or 

 think they find, no time for recreation, but 

 are always slaves to the cares of business. 



The tradespeople, mechanics, artisans 

 and laborers — the most numerous class of 

 all — who find no time whatever to devote 

 to their personal enjoyment. 



Those of all the classes above named 

 who find no pleasure in absenting them- 

 selves from their every-day occupation. 



It is proposed by many that the selling 

 or even giving away of game and game 

 fishes shall be prohibited by law. This, 

 to my mind, is an unjust discrimination 

 against 99 per cent, of our people. It is 

 right to prohibit killing of game in certain 

 cases and under certain conditions. It is 

 right to limit killing of game to certain 

 months of the year and to confine hunting 

 and fishing to 3 or even 2 months in each 

 year. It is right to absolutely prohibit 

 what is called pot hunting by city pot 

 hunters through the entire year. It is 

 right, also, to limit the quantity of game 

 and fish each member of the L. A. S. and 

 all other sportsmen may take during the 

 hunting season. It is no hardship to pro- 

 hibit them from selling or giving away 

 game, nor to limit them to such quantity 

 of game as they and their families can con- 

 sume. 



All these restrictions are right, but they 

 apply to and profit only about 1 per cent, 

 of our population. What, therefore, must 

 the other 99 per cent., who never hunt, do? 



Must they, whether sick or well, be de- 

 barred from eating wild game, for all time? 

 When and how are they to procure their 

 share of the game so lavishly provided by 

 nature for man's use? Is it not clear 

 that these provisions of nature were not 

 intended solely for the benefit of the rich, 

 or of such other persons only as are able 

 to give their time to their own enjoyment? 



I have to suggest, for the benefit of this 

 99 per cent, of the people who do no hunt- 

 ing, a proviso be inserted in all game laws 

 that during the open season all farmers and 

 other persons who own 20 acres or more 

 of land shall have the right to take wild 

 game on their own lands and on lands 

 within 2 miles of their boundary lines, 

 unless prohibited by the owners of such 

 other lands; and to sell or give away game 

 so taken to any game dealer who shall 

 have been licensed by law, or to any other 

 person who may desire to purchase for his 

 own consumption. By this provision the 

 great body of the people, as well as the 

 rich and the gentlemen of leisure, may oc- 

 casionally enjoy venison, quail, and other 

 appetizing game. Besides, this privilege 

 extended to farmers and land owners, to 

 the exclusion of all other persons, is just, 

 for the reason that wild game largely feeds 

 on grain and other products of the land, 

 and this privilege of taking game will par- 

 tially reimburse land owners for the crops 

 they have supplied toward the maintenance 

 of this game. _ These farmers and land 

 owners might be required to take out a 

 license under the law, which would be a 

 protection to them as well as to the game 

 dealer. 



In making our laws let us do equal jus- 

 tice to all. We should not allow the 

 strong to dominate the weak, nor should 

 we enact laws to build up in this country 

 a privileged class, to have the whole coun- 

 try for their game preserve, to the utter 

 exclusion of the remaining classes. It will 

 11 qt do to reply that all persons have the 

 right to hunt and each may thus get his 

 own share of game. While theoretically 

 that is true, the fact is 99 out of every 100 

 persons are not able to act on those rights. 



I should like to see this subject discussed 

 in Recreation, for only through discus- 

 sion can your readers hope for a knowl- 

 edge of the subject. 



L. W. Boswell. 



You will find few advanced sportsmen 

 who will agree with you as to the justice 

 of allowing game to be sold at all. 

 Nearly all up-to-date sportsmen who have 

 given this matter a thought agree that the 

 time has come when the sale of game 

 must be stopped entirely, or we im^t 



