IThere is now a noticecble tendency to modify the principle of con- 

 servation laws. Administrators have discovered that if =».dequate areas are 

 set aside and managed as wildlife reservoirs they will nrodrice surplus 

 stocks of gan-e, which move outi^ard from the protected lands to occupy ad- 

 jacent regions. Such surpluses on open areas may oe saf-sly used '*7ithout 

 reducing the s.rmvBl supply from tnc productive sancturary zones« The 

 closed-area system of game protection greatly reduces lav/-enforcement 

 problems. It is much easier to prevent all shooting or trapping on a 

 n-um"ber of sanctuaries than it is to maintain supervision over the per- 

 sonal r^ctivities of a largo numter of gunners in such way as to compel 

 each of them to obey every requirement of a complex codo, Ths decision 

 to extend the open season on waterfowl from 30 days to 45 days in 1938 

 was "based partly upon evidence of an increasing number of birds and part- 

 ly upon the realization that there a,re now about 136 Fedcra-lly owned wa- 

 terfowl sanctuaries established at strategic points throughout the coun- 

 try to give security against the drngers of overshooting. 



It is not at all likely that this new method to govern utilization 

 of game birds and fur and other animals by means of closed or sanctuary 

 zones will repla,ce the established type of restricted seasons and bag 

 limits as prescribed by game and fur laws, but it should eventually per- 

 mit simplification of these codps and the repeal of many of the so-called 

 nuisance regulations. 



