Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1895-06-21
GAME PRESERVES IN GERMANY,
The Systematic Way in which Hunting ID
Managed There.


than two hundred acres in extent
which is not enclosed may belong to
one according to law, but the shooting
privilege is owned by the commune in
which the land is located. The result
is that there is not free and indiscrim-
mate hunting. The sportsmen from
the towns or cities, however, for
mere nominal rent can find excellent
hunting by hiring from any of the
farmers along the line of the railroads.
The game is generally preserved and
fed by the farmer until the shooting
season, for the abundance of the game
determines largely the price he can OBJ
tain for the shooting privilege. 4
great deal of the shooting land is
owned by the farmers, who do not
enclose it, and the communal authori-
ties usually have the renting of the
shooting privileges. These renting
privileges amount to many millions of
marks every year, and they constitute
a very important revenue of the agri-
cultual class. The communal authori-
ties credit to each farmer his due share
of the aggregate rental in proportion
to the area of his land.
The leases of the shooting privileges
are usually from six to nine or twelve
years, and, by furnishing proper finan-
cial guarantee that the rent will be
paid, the privilege goes to the highest
bidder at public auction. The club
or individual leasing the land then as.
sumes all responsibility, both as to the
rearing and preservation of the game
and to the damage done to growing
crops. Two communal assessors de.
termine the amount of damage done to
farm crops by the hares, birds or deer,
and they levy the tax to be paid to the
farmers Generally local game.
keeper watches over the small preserve
to see that the game is not II olested.
The great principle which has been
inculcated by this system is that game
birds are just as much private prop
erty as the poultry or cattle of the
farmer, and that it is just as punisha.
BILE an offense to kill them without
power from the authorities as it is to
rob hen roost or kill a farmers COW
or pig A long course of public educa-
ton would be required in this country
before people could be induced to look
upon wild game in this light. Natur-
ally there is poaching in Germany, the
same as there is chicken stealing in
America, but it is doubtful il the
former is much more general than the
latter. Moreover, by this system the
farmers crops are protected from all
injury by irresponsible depredators in
search of game. The law forbids hunt
ing on the farms while the crops are
growing. The field shooting begins
late in the fall, when the crops are all
| harvested
No one is allowed to wander over the
fields with a shotgun and hunters ae-
coutrements without a license from
the local authorities, In order to Sc
cure license the applicant must be a
man in good standing and not under
eighteen years of age. These licenses
to shoot on certain fields cost from sew
enty -five cents to three dollars year.
| Any infraction of these rules is pun
| ishable by fines, confscation of the
gun and accoutrements, and by inn
prisonment. poaching is thus kept
down, and the professional bird and
animal killer is abolished.
Sportsmen who pay for shooting
privileges are not governed by any un-
written code such as prevails in Amer
lea, that it is not good form to sell
their game in the open market In
Germany they kill the game for the
sport, and then sell it to help pay for
the expenses of the preserves. On some
of the best preserves the returns from
the farms more than pay all the eX-
penses. Men of limited means can in
this way enjoy shooting to their hearts
content by using little business
shrewdness in conducting preserve.
Without this system many lovers of
the sport could not afford to indulge in
the chase at all The game is plenti.
full and very gentle when the shooting
season begins, and every owner feels
assured that the multiplication of the
|
interference from poachers.
The principal wild game in Germany
are the stag, the deer, hares and rab
bits, pheasants, partridges snipe, wood
cock, wild ducks, swans, foxes, badg
ers, fish-otters, and many others. The
hare is the great national game ami
NAL, hunted alike in every part of the
empire by the plain, average German
sportsman. 1t is a superior animal
both in size and quality, to the com
mon brown American rabbit. 1t does
not. burrow, but seeks shelter in cole
trees. The small animal is in grea
abundance, and it forms staple arti
Gle of food for the lower classes. They
are very prolific, one mother Otter
bringing out from fifteen to twenty
four young ones in one season. They
are preyed upon by hawks, foxes, ant
other enemies besides man, but they
multiply so rapidly under the fostering
care of the laws that in December
when the shooting begins, the hunter
find plenty of game. Paris is grea
market for hares, and it is not unusua
for game-keepers in one place to orde
special car each day during the shoot
ing season to send straight through t.
the French capital. In Prussia alon
as many as two million five hundred
thousand hares hav been killed in on
season, representing an income to tn
agricultural classes of nearly one mil
lion five hundred thousand dollars.
The gray partridge Of northern Eu
rope, found in considerable abundance
in Germany, greatly resembles on
|, quail, only it is larger. 1t is one o
the most gamy field birds, and its fesl
is highly priced by the epicures. s.