Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-11-19
The Poor Economy of Free Hunting in
Vermont

The game laws Of Vermont are very i'm
perfect and unjust 1t is very proper that
fish and game should be protected during
certain seasons aud they should be secured
to the owners of the land always. The law
passed last year protecting streams, etc,
when the owners engage in fish culture,
was step in the right direction. But it
did not 60 far enough. The fish and game
should be secured to the owner Of the
premises as sacredly as the timber, fruit trees
or crops in the fields. 1t would be no hard
ship to the sportsman or the poor, because
the free run given to them at present almost
results in the determination Of fish and game.
At the session Of the association recently
formed for the protection Of game DR. Gold
smith delivered an address full of good sense,
from which We make the following extract:
And now word as to the invasion Of the
poor mans pleasure by the operation Of q
game code. Did you ever estimate the cost
Of each pound OF game taken in Vermont,
reckoning labor at one dollar and a half q
day, even when there is no cost Of horse
hire 2 Is there day laborer who with
steady employment, with due regard to the
welfare Of his family, can prudently throw
away much time What does each wood
cock. snipe or partridge cost each member of
the club, reckoning his days labor at one
three .hundredth part Of his annual income
from that labor be it Of hand or head
Those of US who are rich, aud who have leis-
ure may still resort to the great West or
Canada for our sports. This the poor
man or the man Of moderate means cannot
do He must have his days or half-day's
sport near home, if he has it atall. So that
he is the man who above all others is inter-
ested in having game plenty at our doors.
The common experience Of all countries
whose game codes are in force is, that as .
general thing the sum for which a shooting
is rented is represented by the market value
of the game borne upon it--and not over.
shot, minus the cost. reckoned as common
labor-oi killing or harvesting it. know
very well there is prejudice against being
brought to pay landlord for that which all
our lives we have had for nothing, especially
when it has been always seized as a right
and not as privilege. Yet the most OF us
do the same thing,-that is, pay for our
privilege, to-day, though in another form
We pay it 10 livery stables. to the railroads
and to tavern keepers. l pay now five
Tins as much to reach the ground where
can make decent bag as l would have Il
pay for permission to shoot over GROUND
within mile of me. 1t costs me now, reck
oniDg my labor at ono dollar and half I
day, Just Eve days' work to kill ten partrid
ges on Billings hill or Bald mountain. If
had Billings hill or Bald mountain to my
self, l could kill ten partridges 10 one da.
when the game got thick. In the presen
condition Of things these patridges cost m
Just IS cents apiece. But if these ground
we're protected, l could so purchase the per
mission to shoot, that | could sell my bird
at their cost Of time and rent or in othe
J words, l could earn daily wages and hav
the sport besides, and this putting my labo
at tho lowest and the rental at the highes
Or would you rather kill but two birds
day and have the toll besides, than have on
days right royal sport In place Of them 0
{ rather would you prefer many days Of thi
A hne sport without loss Of time or wages, 9
have such days as you can i'll spare Of mis-
erable sport at loss of time and wages
When l hear a poor man whine in anticipa
: tion Of game law, 1t does seem to me thu
he don't know what hC is talking about.
But, says the mechanic or lAborer, ca
! have my day hunt on Sunday when ! coul
earn nothing, The answer is this the Law
Of Vermont charge you heavier rent f
= shoe ting than the owner of a game preserV
|. would think Of charging. She taxes ju
ten dollars a day by way Of hne, aud Il
costs Of court for transacting the bushes
So much for the game laws as RENTS Sunda
hunting to the Injuries possible, or rath'
produoable to the rich, we already have, al
a had for long time in New England, al
q the law if originally blue still lives gree
from frequent enactments. Sundi
" shooting is just the one secular OOcupatiC
ls which has been and will continue TO be lea
t. tolerated SO long as Christianity is the T
a ligion of our people. The law finds acoep
ance with all classes, whatever their diffG
ences Of moral senoe, and for the simple re
II son that the practice interdicts it as dstur
3 ance of other people.
" "But," says another citizen, III don't Ii
!. the idea of paying for the right to shoot"
may be. Doubtless there are to be fou
- some persons Of peculiar idiosynerasy, vi
g. object 10 paying Tor apples, or even mutt
y and "sieh like gear" have no doubt ma
or a eanny Scotsman has lived to bemoan
' "goOd old times" When haunch Of mutt
could be had for the starliught.lifting. d
y" tempora mutantur, aud, as Bill Box sa
u will continue 10 mutantur in the direction
!; security 10 personal and property Tigt