Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1876-01-03
FISH AND GAME.

recently delivered to the Vermont Asso-
citation for the protection of Fish and
Game, will be read with interest
.'Dr. Goldsmith having discussed. first.
the cause Of the extinction Of salmon
and trout which once abounded in Ver-
mont, proceeded to consider the protec-
tion of fish and game, and the punish
ment of offenders. As the matter now
stands, the offender is not commonly
supposed to violate any right of proper
ty, and it is no ones especial function
to bring him to punishment. We, the
members of this association, cannot form
ourselves into an ambulatory police to
watch woods and brooks, and the ex-
pense involved renders special police
impossible, so that all that remains to
US is corps of volunteer watchmen.
stirred to activity by their love of the
rod and the gunner by the sense Of own
ership. We cannot effect much by word
of mouth and use of pen Taking a
trout upon spawning bed is as mean
an act as slander, and the same mean
ness applies to any unreasonable taking
of fish or game. 1t is taking that which
is unfit for food, and also destroying fu-
ture opportunity for sport, and this no
gentleman will do.
People should learn, and it is our
province to teach them, that, though
technically there is no property In fish
or game, the farmer has the exclusive
right to kill it while on his premises,
or to rent that right to another. / ven
ture to assert, and that after careful ex-
animation and inquiry, that where good
trout brooks run through farms, the
fishing, thoroughly protected against
trespass, would rent for sums sufficient
to pay the taxes upon the entire farm
At least, 1 know of two farms in Rut-
land County for which am authorized
to give, on the conditions above named,
in one case. sum larger than the whole
annual product of the farm through
which it runs, and in the other more
than enough to pay the taxes. | know
of thousands of acres of mountain land
on which 1 would be glad, and so would
any sportsman with means to do it, to
pay the taxes, aye, and more in some
cases, for the game that grows upon it.
or would grow upon it That such
brook and mountain lands are not rent
ed to-day Is simply because farmers do
not know their right, or knowing them,
do not maintain them. The presump-
tion is that they do not know their
rights or the money value of them. The
game rents of Scotland are estimated at
S3,000,O0o annually. 1t is doubted if
Scotland can bear as much game as
Vermont, and it is not to be doubted
that if our farmers were satisfied that
they could get sl,0O0,00O annually in
game. they would, with fit laws to the
force, become keen-scented game keep
ers as were ever found beneath Scotch
plaid or English fustain. We can most
further the ends of this association by
educating the people of this State. in
regard to the matter, that land owners
may know their rights and defend
them.
The extinction of furred and feather
ed game in Vermont, with its causes.
was touched upon, with fine descrip-
ton of the genuine sportsman and his
creed in opposition to the '.pOt hunter, I"
to which nothing but verbatim report
could do justice. To foster, to keep
alive. to spread spOrtsmanship is to re-
deem the calling from pothunterdom.--
To show our people among whom there
fingers something of the ascetic spirit Of
Puritanism which looks askance on all
things not money making or church GO
ing, that the use Of the rod and gun is
q becoming recreation which all men
may gracefully pursue and be bettered
by pursuing this. gentlemen, is a part
of our mission. In regard to that 9TH
} er factor of the Righteousness of game
!
a sense Of the right of Property-we
have in Vermont almost all to do. The
/ number Of our citizens who feel that the
: right of shooting game belongs TO the
IandhoIder while it is on his land can
almost be counted on ones fingers. The
7 idea that you or have not the right.
: while on our neighbOrs lands. to shoot
| the game we find seldom gains lodg-
5 ment In Vermont head. We admit
the farmers right 70 order as of his
premises, aud if stout enough 70 drive
Us of if We refuse 70 20 when ordered
but we don't seem to understand that II
be don't order as of we have no more
right 70 shoot the partridges We hnd
there than We have ducks or chickens
= LET such is the fact. The landlord
right, however. stands IN the anoma.
l0us condition Of legal right the only
enforcement Of which Is BY persona
strength. That common pEecept Of ths
n
7 Law which IN 90 many cases. and s.
: wisely interdicts the personal enforce
q ment Of individual rights is here insert
7 ed and make personal violence necessary
" for the preservation Of the landlord
rights. 1t Is feature which does 10