Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-11-26
ONE DEER FOR EACH HUNTER.
The Allowance I'm Maine Will Have to
BE Reduced.

The Allowance I'm Maine Will have To
BE Reduced.
From the Boston Herald.
1t is evident the time is near when sports
men in Maine will have to be satisfied with
one deer apiece per season. instead or Two,
as at present. In an interview at Bangor.
Warden Neal said to the Herald corre-
spondent:
..Just think of it! In 1894 there were
shipped. over the Bangor and Aroostook
rail, DAD LODI deer: in 1895 the number in
creased to .5S1; in 1896 the shipments were
2,245, and this year, in October alone. or in
one third Of the shooting season, over 1.2OO
deer have come down over that line.
Before any change can be made in the
law we shall have another season with the
legal allowance of two deer apiece. What
the number killed in 1898 will be you can
estimate for yourself. There was an in
crease of about 30 per cent from 1894 to
1895. and about the same increase from 1895
to 1896 From 1896 to 1897 the increase
will be, probably, 3S per cent, and, as the
number of sportsmen is becoming larger
every year. there is no doubt that 1898 will
show a kill of 200 deer. or 33 per cent
over the estimate for this year.
Now, these figures represent only the
deer that are actually sent out of the woods
by rail. A great many others are sent out
by other means of transportation, eaten
in sportsmen's camps. consumed by woods
men. or. what is worst of all. slaughtered
merely for the fun of it,, and the carcasses
left to rot i'm the forest. The total must be
nearly double what appears in the railroad
figures.
II am speaking now of the Bangor and
ArooStook country alone, and the region
close by. In the whole state, they say.
10. 900 deer will be killed this year. Even
allowing that the deer are increasing, how
long can the supply stand such draft?
Not long, you may depend. What Is the
remedy? Why. at the next session of the
legislature you will lind those who have
the best interests of the state at heart
asking for a law cutting down the allow
ance of deer to one for each man I'm a sea-
son. And one is enough. He gets his
sport, and also enough meat to supply all
his friends. What more can he want? No
sportsman of the right kind would ask for
more, and no other should be allowed to
have more.
You will find that as a rule, the men
who take two deer home with them to
Massachusetts generally find one enough
for their personal wants. and sell the other
in the Boston markets, getting thereby
enough money to pay, or partly pay, their
expenses. 1 tell you that IL something is
not done, and done at the first opportunity.
the day is not far away when deer will be
as scarce in Maine as moose are now
There are many people who agree with
Warden Neal. and II is altogether likely
tndt the next 1eSiSdtuTt Will De dskcQ 10
reduce the legal allowance of deer from
two to one. The present slaughter is, to a
large extent. senseless. Hundreds of small.
lean does are brought down that might bet
ter be left in the woods. and the local mar
ket has been, ever since the first of the
season, giutted with venison, which nobody
wants at any price. 1t is simply the desire
to kill, or the greed to get lot of meat,
that takes many men into the woods.
There is little sport in II, and certainly no
money In It for the state, which spends
so many thousands of dollars every year
for the protection and propagation OF game.