18 BULLETIN 1049, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



BAG LIMITS. 



Daily and seasonal bag limits are established primarily to restrict 

 the amount of game which an individual may legally kill under the 

 most favorable circumstances. While the object of such restriction 

 is to prevent undue destruction when game is abundant, it is not 

 often realized how liberal these limits are in the case of certain kinds 

 of game. In many States a resident is limited to one deer a season 

 and the fee for a license to hunt this deer is usually $1. Unless the 

 deer is a small doe or a fawn of the year (the killing of which in 

 some States is prohibited), it will dress at least 100 pounds, and for 

 his $1 license the hunter has authority to secure at least 100 pounds 

 of the best wild meat. Under the same license, or in a few States 

 under a similar bird license costing $1, the hunter is allowed to kill 

 a certain number of game birds. The limit for ducks is ordinarily 

 25 birds a day, and with fair success in hunting such of the larger 

 ducks as mallards, black mallards, canvas-backs, or broadbills. in 

 three or four days a hunter can obtain 100 pounds of birds, or the 

 equivalent in weight of a season's limit of big game, while if he 

 succeeds in getting limit bags he may secure this amount in even 

 less time. As only a few States have placed limits on the number 

 of rabbits which may be killed in one day, a fair amount of fresh 

 meat can be obtained by hunting rabbits under a $1 license, pro- 

 vided advantage is taken of favorable weather during the open sea- 

 son. In short, the quantity of wild meat, stated in pounds, which 

 a hunter can reasonably expect to obtain under favorable circum- 

 stances and at a nominal cost so far as the State license is concerned, 

 is very considerable. 



RECORDS OF GAME KILLED. 



It is rather remarkable that thus far so little progress has been 

 made in such a fundamental subject as making an enumeration of 

 the game or even in collecting estimates of the game annually killed. 

 Statistics are indispensable, for without a knowledge of the quantity 

 of game killed each year it is impossible to tell except in the most 

 general way whether the stock is increasing or decreasing. Lack 

 of data of this kind may perhaps be explained by the fact that until 

 recently it was impossible to tell how many hunters there were, but 

 since the adoption of the license system it has been possible to ap- 

 proximate the number of persons hunting and also to provide the 

 means of collecting much needed information concerning the effect 

 of hunting on the game. 



Several States have undertaken to ascertain the amount of game 

 actually killed, but very few have made more than a beginning, and 



