June 15, 1912 
FOREST AND STREAM 
i 00 
like the deer. lie could not reach his knife; in 
fact, could do nothing but call for help. 
There had recently been an argument in our 
neighborhood as to the voices of deer; whether 
or not they had voices. One disputant said deer 
never made any sounds whatever; another con¬ 
tended that both deer and their fawns had char¬ 
acteristic vocal calls. But nobody said a word 
about the death wail, or whether such a wail or 
vocalized snort is common or uncommon. By 
day or by night a sound of this sort is not to 
be forgotten. I am not opposed to hunting, and 
like to quote certain lines or phrases referring 
to the chase, but when it came to killing and 
butchering a helpless deer, the matter somehow 
seemed different and less attractive. 
But I am very clearly of the opinion that the 
common law does and that the statute law should 
in every case and in all cases warrant a land- 
owner in protecting his crops against trespass¬ 
ing. Also that it is clearly the duty of land- 
owners to destroy all trespassing animals. 
I have good reason to think that the tres¬ 
passers in my own neighborhood and elsewhere 
are few in numbers. The killing of one deer 
or two deer will usually end the trouble The 
doe heretofore mentioned (possibly visited now 
and then by a buck) apparently caused all the 
damage which my garden suffered during a term 
of three years. When she was shot by some 
hunters near my place the damage ceased en¬ 
tirely. Others will doubtless come to take her 
place, but as the garden is now protected by a 
high picket fence, 1 do not fear them. Indeed, 
there are deer sign within a short distance of the 
garden this year, but not a track has been made 
in the lower meadow since the death of that 
famous old trespasser that once imposed her¬ 
self upon me as a cow. 
It seems to me that it is time for some new 
and wiser legislation, all over the country, in re¬ 
gard to l)oth game and fish. Heretofore the 
laws have been framed to suit the views of 
hunters and fishermen, rather than the views 
of farmers and the consuming public; farmers 
who grow crops and working people in the towns 
who need food. 
'I'he States are not so jealous of each other as 
formerly and a good law of one is likely to be 
copied by others. We can have much better 
hunting and fishing for the asking. We need 
more legislation of an affirmative character; laws 
that will encourage the production of game, as 
well as affording protection to the natural sup¬ 
ply; laws making the State liable for damages 
caused by State-protected deer or birds; laws 
that will put game animals, birds and fishes on 
the stalls of the public markets; laws that will 
attract rather than repel visitors from other 
States; laws that will avert the dangers to 
human life resulting from congested seasons of 
hunting; laws that will give everybody some sort 
of interest in everybody’s propert}’—if the State’s 
game can be called property—in a word sane 
wholesome laws; safe hunting and fishing, with 
better bags and creels. 
CHAPTllR /■/. 
FINANCE AND FEAR. 
Would-be dwellers in the open air (and there 
are thousands of such people in the towns) are 
ever confronted by two important considerations 
when the matter of a country home is under 
discussion. These considerations, which amount 
to obstacles, are money and isolation, or finance 
and fear. Poverty and loneliness are almost 
equally to be dreaded, and neither can be ignored 
in the making of plans for the home of one’s, 
self or famil}-. 
There are people who go from town to coun¬ 
try to spend their money. They rightly e.xpect 
the land to yield them many luxuries and pleas¬ 
ures, but they do not demand profits. People 
of this class get a great deal of happiness out of 
life, but their way of living is not the one which 
folks of limited means should adopt. 
'I'he matter of how to safely e.xchaiige a salary- 
producing city occupation for a profit-earning 
country occupation is one involving the personal 
equation, dififering with each individual. 'Fhe 
general statement will stand, however, that a 
family in the country can live comfortably (and 
with many things besides necessities) on a much 
smaller amount of actual cash than in the city; 
possibly on half as much, or even less. 
THE ORC.INAL OWNERS. 
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