The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-05-10
PRESERVATION or
GAME IN GERMANY.
Could The System Be Successfully Intro
duCGd Here?
An Arrangement by Which the Farmer Is
Protected and Remunerated and the
Proprietor Has His Sport.

The determination of the buffalo, the
wholesale slaughter of deer, the indiscrimi-
nate killing of game birds of every descrip-
ton, and, in fact, the total extirpation of
game OF all kinds is arousing a feeling
among the better class of people that is
prompting them to frame and execute laws
that will protect marketable game from the
onslaught Of the pot-hunter and the vicious
killing for sport only by those whose tastes
lead in that direction, and who never pause
for one moment to consider the evil they are
perpetrating. The liberty to kill appears to
be regarded by some persons as an inalien-
able right. Beyond the pleasure they re-
ceiye in the excitement Of hearing the crack
Of their guns and seeing the game fall they
have no object in view, and the result is
that the woods and fields are becoming as
bare of game as farmers house-yard. In
Europe they do things better. We can sur
pass them in fish culture and in the success
full breeding of many kinds OF domestic ami
mails, but when 1T comes down TO the bust
ness Of game preserves we have not yet, APP
parently, learned the first lesson. Consul
General Frank ii. Mason of Frankfort, Ger
many, contributes an able paper on this
subject, some ofwhose ideas and suggestions
it may be well for US on this side OF the wa
ter to consider.
In the first place he considers the German
system of game protection and management
from a purely economic standpoint, and says
that aside from all consideration of shooting
as a fascinating, healthful sport for men
who are ordinarily confined to the wear and
fatigue of city life, there is the practical
question whether the growth of wild game
may not. under proper conditions, be made
10 add IN America, as 1t does so largely in
Europe, to the annual cash product of fields
and woodlands, even in the most thckIy-
settled States and
IN THE VICINITY OF LARGE CITIES.
Referring to the peculiar habits of our
people, and the effect these habits have had
upon the depletion Of our forests and fields,
he says that it was but natural that people
busy with the task Of clearing and settling
country SO vast as ours should, until recent
years, have regarded game birds and AMI
mails as part of the spontaneous product of
the land, the property OF whoever might take
the trouble to pursue and Kill them. Not
within many centuries has any such
easy-going Indifference on that subject
prevailed in these older nations of
Europe. From thedays when the game be-
lunged TO the Crown and hunting was the
exclusive privilege of the King and the no
bility game birds and animals have been
recognized as property not less tangible and
defensible than domestic poultry or cattle.
With the imperial preserves of Germany
and the vast estates OF the weather. aTlstOc-
racy, where stays and pheasants are reared
and tended by liVeried game-keepers for
wholesale slaughter on princely days. Mr..
Mason'S report has no concern. 1t belongs
10 a social and political condition remote
from our own, and the imperial and grand
dueal preserves cover but small portion of
the German territory. The vast bulk of il
8, cd nv ind iVHnaI farutarG
mOners. and is leased, so far as shooting
privileges are concerned, 10 individuals or
small clubs of professional and business
men in the neighhoring towns and cities for
an annual rental which amounts in the ag-
gregate to many millions of marks. and con-
stituies one of the important revenues of
the agricultural class. The provincial Gov
or nts of Germany are very Jealous Of
Their game laws, and Prussia, Bavaria,
Hesse, Wurtemberg and Baden have each
separate code for the preservation OF game
and the regulation of shooting privileges
In Illustrating the system which regulates
all privileges in connection with game and
game preserves. the provisions OF the PruS-
sian code, which are as fair and intelli-
gently framed as any, may be used to DEM
Onstrate
THE METHODS
Successfully and advantageously in force
there. One of the important provisions of
the Prussian code permits any proprietor of
landed property to kill game at proper sea-
sons in any part of his premises that may be
inclosed by a fence or wall, but which de-
MES him this privilege on any piece of nm
inciosed land which is less than 200 acres in
extent. In such a case the game on the
farmers land reverts to the care of the COM
mune in which he lives, which rents the
shooting privileges OF all such territory
within its limits, crediting the farmer his
due share OF the aggregate rental. proper
tionate to the area of his land. As nearly
all these farming lands are held in small
tracts by the peasant farmers living in the
villages. they are rarely ineiOsed by either
hedge or fence, and the communal authori-
ties rent or lease the shooting privileges at
from 20 to rs cents an acre annually, the
leases running from six to twelve years.
The lease goes to the highest bidder, who
furnishes security for his responsibility.
The lessee becomes responsible for
the proper care of the game in
any damage the game may inflct
on growing crops. Should hares ioiure the
turnips or deer injure the wheat communal
assessors decide how much the lessee has to
pay. The lessee also employs local game
keeper at salary of from $500 to $500
year, whose business it is to kill foxes.
hawks and other carnivorous creatures and
prevent poaching. The peasant farmer is
satisfied with system which secures him a
full cash value for ali the game on his prem
IStS anu d1uldEc " HiuNinR ClUHS. mo man
can hunt without license, and to be found
outside Of ones own premises with a rifle or
fowling- piece involves the cOnfiScation of the
gun and accoutrements. The license costs
from IS cents to So year, and elm
mates the professional poacher or the small
boy with the shotgun who kills the singing
birds. as well as other game in other coun-
tries.
GAME BIRDS AND ANIMALS OF GERMANY,
These, for the most part, consist of the
stag, the fallow deer and roedeer, hares
and rabbits, the capercallZee, or cock of the
woods, species of the grouse, pheasants,
partrldges, snlpe, wOodcock, wild duck aud
swans and other varieties of birds, besides
fish offers, foxes, badgers, and other AMI
mails valuable for their fur or killed because
they destroy other game. The pheasant,
gray partridge, hare and roedeer live and
thrive in close proximity to man, and NAV
he easily transferred to any locality suit
able 10 their existence. The gray partridge
of Northern Europe is about midway in
size between the quail and the prairie
chicken of the United States, resembling the
former in appearance ana DISPOSITION. The
flesh is delicious. 1t lives in the open fields
and meadows of Germany, even close to viii
lagos and farm hOuses, and subsists on the
same kind OF food as does cur native quail
and prairie chicken. The female lays, in
May or early June, from sixteen to
twenty eggs. and If her brood is de-
stroyed she brings forth another Matching
In July. Partridge shooting in Prussia be-
gins September LIST. They sell in market
from 30 cents to rs cents EACH 1t is no un
common thing to kill from 200 to 800 birds
on farm of $50 acres in one season, and.
there are preserves along the Rhine where
the average annual score will exceed a
thousand. In England or America a sports
man would scorn to sell his game to the
game-dealer, but no such squeamishness ex-
lists in Germany. Until within few years
of INIT cd
hire a game-keeper. paying the expenses
ont Of the profits Of the game killed, but of
late the competition has become so great
that but few leases are self-supporting.
The German pheasant is the same as that
OF England. France and Austria. 1t was
intrcduppd ppnturiec ooo sfro,,, tbo Ill.,.