In 1925, in an article in the Bulletin of the American Game Protection Association, Aldo Leopold proposed trading in the ancient principle of game keeping for the more fashionable notion of management. We have learned that game, to be successfully conserved, must be positively produced, rather than negatively protected. The growing use of the terms game management' and game administration' reflects this change of viewpoint. Yet for game to be productive, it must first be protected. After all, nesting hen mallards, quail, or wild turkeys killed by predators represent not just the loss of those particular birds but of their potential progeny for generations to come.
Trapping is the only feasible method for controlling overly abundant populations of predators.
In Leopold's day this was not much of an issue, because fur prices were high and wildlife sentimentality was not as widespread as it is at present. Game cannot be produced with assembly-line certainty. But such equal ranking is hogwash. As long as hunting remains a billion-dollar sport and the fur industry continues to decline, hen mallards are worth more than raccoons. Indeed, the only nongame that possess societal values approaching game are songbirds and certain rare or endangered species that ecotourists are willing to pay to see.