GAME AND WILD-FUR PRODUCTION AND UTILIZATION 9 



Cities, parks, railroad and highway rights-of-way, reservoirs, 

 and other special-use areas are restricted in the part they can play 

 in wildlife production. In addition, large tracts of Federal and 

 State lands are leased to private individuals for uses that often 

 conflict with wildlife production or use. Many species of game 

 and wild-fur animals must rely to a large extent upon agriculture 

 to provide suitable habitat. Public lands even though used for 

 agriculture are less likely to provide a cultivated habitat. The 

 uses made of this wildlife depend largely upon the wishes of pri- 

 vate landowners. The changes to private ownership of land, and 

 consequently of wildlife habitat, have been so pronounced that today 

 72 percent of the potentially huntable land of the United States is 

 privately owned and an additional 15 percent in public ownership 

 is leased for private use. On these lands, habitat conditions are 

 determined primarily by land use, the major objective of which 

 is entirely independent of wildlife production. In fact, much of 

 the privately owned land is so intensively used that game habitat 

 is often destroyed. On this land, wild birds and mammals can seldom 

 be the first consideration; their occurrence is generally incidental, 

 if not accidental, to other land use. 



It is logical to assume, therefore, that present habitat conditions 

 for wildlife are in general inferior to former conditions, although 

 certain exceptions to this generalization are well known. 



Production 



Since game and fur animals were essential to the existence of 

 the Indians, their production was not allowed to become entirely 

 a matter of change. The laws of certain tribes were designed to 

 protect and perpetuate certain species. The agricultural Indians 

 took only what they needed and limited the take to the adults and 

 frequently to the male of a species. This was a form of wildlife 

 management. The manipulation of cover, such as the burning of 

 forest and prairie to influence ecological succession, was practiced 

 by such means as the Indians had at their disposal. 



Many present laws and regulations are designed to control the 

 take of wildlife for the purpose of assuring the maintenance of 

 breeding stock and the perpetuation of species. Many game farms 

 and fur farms are operated by governmental departments and indi- 

 viduals throughout the country to supply public needs. Fur farms 

 do not directly affect the production of fur in the wild but they 

 influence demand. Animals produced on fur farms are bred and 

 reared in confinement. The animals have been carefully selected 

 and bred until they are of superior quality and are generally too 

 valuable to be used for hunting or trapping. There are some excep- 

 tions, for raccoons, red foxes, and others are occasionally liberated 

 for restocking and other purposes, but this has only a small influ- 

 ence on the wild supply. 



The game farms devoted to game birds have not yet produced 

 birds at a cost low enough to warrant their use for public shooting. 

 The present cost of these birds, raised to maturity, is estimated to 

 be between $1.50 and $2 each. As hunting licenses sell for $1 to 

 $3 and permit the holder to kill six or more birds annually, it is 



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