
TO 
A PAYING PRESERVE 
By WM. O. COON, NATURALIST 

one or more letters from our 
fighting men in some distant part 
of the world. Apparently one of the 
big problems that rest upon the minds 
of these young men is, what will I do 
to earn my livelihood after we win 
the war? 
Naturally every one of thtse young 
men wants to do something that he 
likes. He realizes that he can succeed 
if he enjoys his particular kind of 
occupation. 
Here is what an American soldier 
that is through fighting, writes from 
his hospital room: 
“JT am prompted to write to you be- 
cause I have seen your name in outdoor 
publications as long as I can recall 
reading them. The war is over as far 
as I am concerned. You see, a Jap 
bullet strayed into one of my lungs. 
“Oh, I am O. K. now, the doc fixed 
me up and I feel as chipper as a bird on 
the first day of spring. Before the war 
I worked in an office, but I was raised 
on a farm. ‘The doctors tell me that 
in the future I should work in the open 
air. 
“Well Sir, I have always envied the 
kind of a job you have, developing 
hunting and fishing grounds. What are 
the prospects of a young fellow making 
a living at hunting, fishing, and trap- 
ping? Please spare me the time and 
write a few lines giving your sugges- 
tions as an authority? 
“You see I have done my bit to make 
this a better world to live in, now you 
can do your bit hy helping me to make 
a lasting decision on this problem that 
J have turned over and over as I lay 
on my- bed recovering my health. 
“YT thank you in advance from the 
bottom of my heart.” 
The future of this young man was 
actually placed in my hands. The reply 
i): after day the author receives 
14 
Editor's Note: 
While Mr. Coon’s article offers 
real encouragement to men _ in- 
terested in making a pleasant liy- 
ing in the out-of-doors, it is only 
fair to point out two things: 
1. Preserve development requires 
the hardest kind of physical 
labor, and only those whose 
physical condition permits 
should attempt it. 
Few opportunities include so 
many favorable factors for the 
development of a successful 
commercial preserve as the one 
here described by Mr. Coon. 
However, to the man _ possess- 
ing the health and strength to 
work hard and long, a reasonable 
amount of capital, business acu- 
men and the necessary courage 
and ability to see the job through, 
a worthwhile opportunity for 
profitable and enjoyable work in 
this field is likely to present itself 
sooner or later. 
This is one of a number of 
articles containing suggestions for 
congenial outdoor jobs _ that 
Game Breeder and Sportsman 
will carry from time to time. 

that I wrote was lengthy but sincere, 
it was along these lines: 
The kind of work that you will be 
most successful in is the kind that you 
enjoy doing. I am pleased to have the 
privilege of being of assistance to you. 
Apparently you love the freedom of the 
great-out-of-doors, and I am sure that 
there is a wonderful future in store 
for you. 
Possibly the best way for me to 
advise you is to tell you about what 
someone else has actually done. Right 
here in Wisconsin, within a hundred 
miles of Chicago, lay a piece of worth- 
less marsh for many years. This marsh 
area was sort of triangular in shape, 
bordered on one side by a highway, on 
another by a hilly pasture and on the 
third side by a lake. It was impossible 
to drain the marsh and make pasture 
land, for the lake level could not be 
controlled. [he marsh was too low 
for pasture land and too high for trap- 
ping ground, therefore it was considered 
useless. 
This marsh had a couple of potholes, 
which a local plumber used for duck 
shooting. “Che potholes were small and 
quite deep and a few shots in the early 
morning would drive out the ducks. 
Then his day’s sport would be over, 
and back to his plumbing work he 
would go. 
However, this man liked the quiet 
of the marsh, broken only by the occa- 
sional call of a wild duck or a rice hen 
or splashing of the semi-webbed feet of 
a coot trying to make his way over the 
very shallow waters. 
One morning in late October, as 
he sat in his blind hoping to get a shot 
or two at some curious wild ducks that 
might swing over in search of food, 
the thought occured to him that he 
could build a dike across the lake side 
of this marsh and control the water 
level inside the marsh. An artesian 
well could be driven to flood the area 
or a water conveyor could be built to 
lift the lake water into the marsh. 
What a swell idea: He could have 
shooting all over the marsh then. 
First he had to buy the marsh. It 
covered two hundred acres. Upon 
talking to the farmer, he had little dif- 
ficulty in making a deal. As a matter 
of fact, the farmer thought he sure 
(Please turn to page 21) 
