Published by 
The Rural Publishing Co. 
333 W. 30th Street 
New York 
The Rural New-Yorker 
Weekly, One Dollar Per Year 
Postpaid 
Single Copies, Five Cents 
The Business Farmers Paper 
Yon. I.XXVI. 
NEW YORK. .TANILVRY 27. 1017. 
No. 4414. 
Game Laws and the Farmer 
What Rights Has the State ? 
Will you tell me what justifies the State of New 
York to impose obligations on the farmer to post his 
land in order to keep hunters off his land? Does not 
the State’s right cease with taking our taxes? I am 
very much interested in the movement to have the hunt¬ 
ing* law changed so a person can be safe on his own 
l)]ace. Three dilTerent times it happened to me that 
when I ordered them off they pointed their shot guns 
at me. ^ A. c. u. 
New Y'ork. 
HE STATE'S ATTITUDE.—Al)out a year ago 
I heard a lawyer give a talk to a group of 
business men. Of all he .said, only two things are 
remembered. He called attention to the tendency 
all men to call loudly for the repeal of any law 
which affects them unfavorably and ho mentioned 
the fact, Avhich Avill be recognized by all who stop 
to think, that all law is a comi)romise and that a 
just law gives the individual protection or .some 
other return for any liberty it may take away. Al¬ 
most everywhere laws forbid men to carry conceah'd 
weapons but the State assumes the responsibility of 
protecting the men who do not arm themselves. In 
the case of the game laws this rule seems not to hold 
true. The State says to the farmer: “We own cer¬ 
tain Avild creatures Avith fur, certain others bear¬ 
ing feathers and some others Avhich swim in the 
streams and i)ond.s. Some of the.se Ave shall pas¬ 
ture on your land and Ave forbid yori to interfere 
Avith them either for your protection or theirs un¬ 
less Ave especially grant you permission. At cer¬ 
tain seasons of the year Ave shall try to kill some of 
these creatures, and if Ave cau.se you any lo.ss by our 
attempts to do this killing you are at liberty to try 
to get us to pay for the damage. This i)ay. hoAv- 
ever, is not to come from the Avhole peoi)le (the 
State) but from the one of us doing the damage and 
AA-e .shall giA'e you no help in collecting the pay or 
in finding Avho is at fault.” 
This seems so unfair that many of us are Avonder- 
ing Avhether the game laAvs as noAV in operation are 
really just laAv.s. 
WHY ITIOTECT GAME?—There seem to be three 
reasons for protecting game. The scientist Avants 
to keep the various species of Avild creatures from 
getting AAii>ed out as many have in recent times, 
fi’he Avild piget)n, the great auk. and some of the 
ducks are noted cases. The farmer likes to have 
them around. No matter Avhat a farmer may .say 
Avhen he thinks of Avhat the last lot of sportsmen 
did to his stock and fences, if he is really a good 
farmer he likes to see the Avild creatures arouud. 
He may like to go out once in a Avhile for a good 
hunt the same as the city man but his annual bag 
is likely to be small. To be sure, there are farmers 
Avho kill for the sake of killing but these men are 
alAvays found beloAv normal in other Avay.s. Their 
fences are poor, their houses and cattle are dis¬ 
eased and poorly fed and their Avives are likely to 
be in the habit of going out Avith an axe daily to 
cut Avood enough to cook the dinner. FeAv of this 
class are farm laborers becau.se they do not like 
to get to Avork often enough to hold a job -or get a 
iieAA' one. The city sportsman Avants the game pre- 
.serA'ed so he can kill it. A fcAV of tin's class may 
really enjoy getting out into the Avoods Avithout any 
e.si)ecial reference to the amount of game they may 
be able to bring home but the vast majority ap¬ 
parently care only for the number of creatures they 
may be able to boast of having killed and Avould be 
about as Avell .satisfied if they could spend a day 
or tAvo shooting in a big flock of guinea hens as 
they Avould by any kind of Avild game .shooting that 
is legal in Ncav Y"ork noAV. These people are or¬ 
ganized in their rod and gun clubs and have been 
able to pretty nearly dictate the game Iuav policy 
of the State. 
IirSTOrtY OF GAME LAWS.—It may be inter¬ 
esting at this point to revioAV a little of the history 
of game hiAvs. At an early period, all the game 
Avas considered to belong to the State, that is. to 
tlie King. Indeed, all the land Avas the King’s. 
Later, parts of this land Avere given over to the 
charge of certain of the King’s friends or relatives 
AA’ho aftei’Avards gaA'e parts of it to their friends. 
The ownership of the game folloAved the OAvnership 
of the land. The common people had no part in 
this oAvnershij) and Avere not allOAved to hunt or kill 
any game under severe penaltie.s. In tho.se days 
human nature Avas much the same as Iioaa’’ and the 
fact that a thing Avas prohibited Avas enough to 
make it very desirable. Thus arose the great ha¬ 
tred of trespass notices. America Avas mostly set¬ 
tled by “common people.” They found here a coun¬ 
try full of many kinds of Avild game and Avith no 
Avealthy land-holding class to enforce trespass hiAvs. 
Naturally they felt free to kill any kind of game 
Avhen they could and to sell it for as much as they 
could get. r.eing iuA’cntive. they made great ad¬ 
vances in the art of killing those creatures for 
Avhich there Avas a ready sale and .soon there arose 
a busine.ss of market hunting. When it began to 
be noticed that there Avas le.ss game in the country, 
people started to look for a cause. It aa'us plain 
that market .shooting and e.specially night shooting 
Avas doing much damage. Later it AA’as found that 
Si)ring shooting, esi)ecially in the case of duck.s, 
seemed to be Avorse than Fall shooting. 
G.VME GETS SCARGE.— In a search for remedies 
for the decrease of game it Avas evident that tAvo 
courses AA'ere open, restriction of shooting or propa¬ 
gation of more game to shoot. In the minds of 
all. proi)agation Avas united Avith the English game- 
preserve idea and this Avould restrict the free hunt¬ 
ing of those Avho had most influence Avith the laAV- 
makers. Comsequentlj’, any bill intended to make it 
possible to rear game in captivity had a rough road 
to travel before it became a hiAV. Noav in this State 
the only game birds that can be legally raised in 
captivity, under such conditions that any sensible 
man Avill eA’en consider the matter seriously, are 
pheasant.s, mallard and black ducks, the three least 
needing such treatment of any Avild foAvl iiA North 
America. 
WHO OWNS THE GAME?— In restricting the 
killing of Avild creatures it Avas soon found that the 
English idea of the OAvnership of the game going 
Avith the land Avould not do, for it Avould be foolish 
to try to keep a man from killing his OAvn game on 
his oAvn land Avhen he plea.sed or to stop him from 
disposing of it as he saAA^ fit. Therefore the idea of 
State OAvnership of all the game Avas revived and 
The Packers at Work in a Virginia Apple Orchard. Fig. 42. 
