The record-union., 1897-07-26
VALUE OF THE WILD GAME.
REASONS WHY 1T SHOULD BE
PROTECTED.
Something Every County Should
Attend To-Source of Rev
enue to the State.

food for thought by county Supervisors
and good citizens generally:
Every county in the State that has
within its borders generous supply
Of game, has in that game a recourse
worth to it's people many thousands
of dollars every year The value of
this game supply and the surest meth
DDS for its maintenance should engross
the most careful attention of every
Board of Supervisors in the State. No
one will deny the important fact that
every pound of game which finds its
way onto the table of a resident of the
county Will allow just one pound more
of the products of that county to be
exported and bring back in return the
value thereof to add to the wealth OF
the county. This in itself is no small
consideration and means to many cOun-
ties Of the State thousands of dollars.
But the purpose of this article is to
treat Of another phase of the subject
of game preservation-that of the mon
ey spent in the county by the residents
of the larger cities and citizens of 9TH
er States, who visit the county on ac-
count of the pleasure to be had in its
pursuit.
The city of San Francisco sends out
| into other counties of the State during
the deer season not less than 100 men
each week, averaging at least three
days each, and many OF them put in
from one to six weeks on a single hunt.
This means an expenditure for hoard
and teams of fully $1,000 per week,
or for the twelve weeks of the open
season $14, 400 The dove hunters will
expend between the opening of the sea-
son on July 18th, until the quail and
duck season opens, fully as much more.
During the five months open season
for quail and ducks, a conservative es-
innate gives an average of 1,Oo0 men
two days a week, spending in the To-
| calities they visit a total of not less
| than $12J,G00, which. added to the
money spent by the dove and deer
hunters, makes a grand total of not less
than S154, 800 left by San Francisco
sportsmen alone in the localities where
they do their shooting.
But this amount must be at least
double, for the other large cities and
counties which contain but little game
will surely furnish as many more, MAX
ing upward of 100000 expended in the
best game counties by sportsmen who
are not citizens thereof, and which goes
directly into the pockets of the citi-
zens of these favored counties. The
transportation Of the men, the sale of
ammunition and repairing Of guns gives
employment to an army of men, when
are fed by the products of the counties.
which, We're it not for their game they
would not have to feed.
Next we have the expenditure of the
hundreds of sportsmen of each county
putting his money in circulation, MAX
ing business for the home gun stores
and home gunsmith and the livery sta
BILE and country hotels. But still we
are not through Add to all this the
money expended to enrich the State and
more especially the counties by the
thousands of sportsmen who come from
the East every year, many of them
bringing their families, and all on ac-
count of our game. staying from three
to five months each. There is to-day
stopping at the Occidental Hotel in this
city three sportsmen from New YORK
whom the writer first shot with six
years ago on their first visit to the
State, and they have returned nearly
every season since. From here they
go to Catalina to enjoy the fishing OF
that famous resort until the quail sea-
son opens. They are here only because
of our game and fish and they Will
return year after year.
During our late visit East we met
a gentleman with whom we enjoyed
few weeks shooting thirteen years ago
in the southern part of the State. He
was then making a tour of the world
which consumed four years. In con-
versation with him last December, he
said that he had shot n every country
that had game enough to make it inter
esting, but on account of the glorious
winters of California it was the grear>
est country for the sportsman on earth
In speaking of the value of our
game he estimated from his extensive
knowledge of the sportsmen Of the East
and the number he had met here dur
ing his several visits that it would be
very conservative to place the annual
visitors TO the various parts of the State
at 600. Many of these, he said, did
but little shooting but nevertheless it
was for the shooting that they select
ed this State to spend their winters in.
Most Of them brought their families,
and their average expenditures would
be about So. coo, or another source of
wealth for our State of $3,000,000 an
nually, and all on account of our game.
This gentleman (the President of an
Eastern railroad) came to California
lsat spring in his private car with five
companions, is spending the summer
at Catalina. and will remain a full year,
-
THE Game Warden Of the State of
Maine has recently estimated that Wis
iting sportsmen and anglers spend an
nually in that State upwards of ST..
COCO If the game and fish of Maine
are worth that amount. how much is
our game and fish worth to the great
state Of California, and how much more
can it be made to be worth if properly
preserved? And who will be the great
est beneficiaries of this vast amount?
There can be no question as to the
answer 1t must be those counties
which can offer greatest inducements
to the sportsman, by providing him
with the best opportunities for the en-
joyment of his sport. The game of
each county is under the control of the
Board of Supervisors. The maintenance
of the supply rests with them and by
judicious ordinances for the mainte-
nance of the supply they can secure
the expenditure of many thousands of
dollars in their counties each year by
the sportsmen which it's abundance will
attract
"A careful consideration of the sub
ject viii suggest but one plan by which
this much-to-b be desired end can be
reached. That plan is the passage of
an ordinance prohibiting the killing Of