River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1895-09-05
GAME pRsssRvEsiN GERMANY.


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owner of every piece of land that is in
closed by fence or wall the right TO
shoot birds or animals on it or to rent
the privilege out to those from the
towns and cities All of the land less
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 indiserim-
mate hunting The sportsmen from
the towns or cities, however, for q
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. A
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 hnsn-
cial guarantee that the rent will be
paid, the privilege goes to the highest
bidder at a 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 a local game
keeper watches over the small preserve
to see that the game is not molested.
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 1t is to
rob hen roost or kill 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 if 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 shotgun and hunters ac-
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-fve cents to three dollars year.
Any infraction of these rules is pun
ishable by fines. confscation of the
gun and accoutrements. ana by i'm
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 I'M
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 ell the ex-
penses. Men of limited means can in
this way enjoy shooting TO their hearts
content by using a little business
shrewdness in conducting a 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
birds and animals will go on without
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 a shelter in cold
weather behind stones and roots of
trees. The small animal is in great
abundance, and it forms staple arti-
Gle of food for the lower classes. They
are very prolific, one mother often
bringing out from fifteen to twenty
four young ones in one season. They
are preyed upon by hawks, foxes, and
other enemies besides man, but they
multiply SO rapidly under the fostering
care of the laws that in December,
when the shooting begins. the hunters
find plenty of game. Paris is great
market for hares and it is not unusual
for game-keepers in one place to order
a special car each day during the shoot
ing season to send straight through to
the French capital. In Prussia alone
as many as two million five hundred
thousand hares have been killed in one
season, representing an income to the
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 our
quail, only it is larger. 1t is one of
the most gamy field birds, and it's flesh
is highly priced by the epicures. So
carefully are they protected that they
live upon the open fields and meadows
close to the farm-houses The hunting
begins in September. On most farms
of one hundred and fift- acres in ex-
tent, two hundred or three hundred
birds are killed in one season, and on
some very good ones, the average score
Animal Humbugs,
In military stables horses are known
to have pretended to be lame in or6er
to avoid going to d military exercise.
A chimpanzee had been fed on cake
when sick; after his recovery he often
feigned coughing in order to procure
dainties. The cuckoo, as is well
known, lays its eggs in another birds
nest. and to make the deception surer
il takes away one of the other birds
eggs. Animals are conscious of their
deceit, as shown by the fact that they