146 



T1IK NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



that had hunted previously applied for per- 

 mits, but it was noticed these applica- 

 tions kept on increasing- throughout the 

 season, until they totaled 652, far ex- 

 ceeding any previous year. 



From this it appeared the public got 

 the idea the State had awarded each of its 

 citizens five deer a year at a nominal cost 

 for those thrifty enough to act. 



NUMBER OE HUNTERS INCREASED BY 

 LICENSE SYSTEM 



The following season other influences 

 directly traceable to the license system 

 not only increased the number of hunt- 

 ers, but, to a disproportionate extent, the 

 number of deer killed ; for it was ob- 

 served that persons who theretofore were 

 content with a single deer, or when dis- 

 appointed on a hunt gave up at once in 

 disgust, now tried to kill their legal limit, 

 going to the woods again and again in 

 this endeavor, and were not above having 

 others supply the missing number if un- 

 successful. 



This situation was further influenced 

 by the newspapers containing many per- 

 sonal items to the effect that "John Doe 

 has filled his license during the first 

 week," or that "Richard Roe expects to 

 do so on the next hunt," and other sug- 

 gestive statements, making each licensee 

 feel he was on trial as a sportsman and 

 a possible subject of ridicule when re- 

 turning empty handed. Moreover, the 

 licenses, with their strips of coupons, 

 were conspicuously displayed in factories, 

 shops, and offices or on the street corners, 

 until hundreds who never had the slight- 

 est idea of hunting deer joined the crowds 

 on their way to the county clerk's office. 



An examination of the following fig- 

 ures ought to prove of interest, especially 

 in view of the fact that there was no in- 

 crease of population in this county, but 

 actually a small decline during the period 

 indicated. 



MARQUETTE COUNTY DEER LICENSES 



Year. 



Licensee 

 issued. 



1894 

 1895 

 1896. 

 1897 



. (estimated) 



300 

 640 

 813 



853 



1899 1,047 



1900 1,306 



1901 

 1902 



1( J03 

 1904 



J.532 

 1 749 

 [,942 



2,ono 



'919 ^7<) 



This extraordinary increase from about 



300 before licenses were issued to more 

 than 3,300 hunters in a single county 

 seems to have no other explanation than 

 the one given. The system has brought 

 about the destruction in the State of more 

 than two hundred thousand deer that 

 would otherwise have escaped and has 

 continued indefinitely a well-organized 

 band of hunters. 



However, the license system in vogue 

 throughout the most of the country has 

 been of greatest value, supplying each 

 State with ample funds for preserving 

 the game and in many other respects 

 proving of inestimable service. It just so 

 happened to have had the opposite effect 

 with Michigan's one big-game animal. 



TEN DOES WILX HAVE I,5lO DESCENDANTS 

 IN TEN YEARS 



The white-tail is the one big-game ani- 

 mal whose perpetuation means more to 

 the sportsmen of the entire country than 

 any other animal. 



The first and foremost necessity is a 

 buck law to protect the females and 

 fawns in every State containing any ant- 

 lered animal.* Just let it be understood 

 that when a buck is shot the number for 

 the following year is lessened by only 

 one, whereas he who kills a young doe 

 destroys, by a single shot, potentially 151 

 bucks and 151 does ! For it has been 

 shown, upon a strictly scientific basis 

 and by an accurate mathematical calcula- 

 tion, that a doe and her descendants in a 

 period of ten years, not counting out the 

 natural casualties, will produce a total of 

 302 deer, and by the death of this an- 

 cestral mother the link is broken, with 

 the irrevocable loss stated. 



The same proportion holds true with a 

 larger number, for ten does and their de- 

 scendants will produce 1,510 bucks and 

 1,510 does, showing that when the female 

 is protected more deer can be killed each 

 year, beside leaving an increased number 

 in the woods. 



Such a result is not, after all, so mys- 



* Twenty States have passed this law. 



