Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-24
GAME IN ooRB1N PARK
REPORTS OF WHOLESALE KILL
ING OF DEER.
Mr.. Baynes Declares That Stories of
Slaughter on the New Hampshire
Preserve Are Wholly Untrue.
Written for The Star.

Written for The Star.
As one who lives within half a stones
throw of Corbin Park the writer has been
somewhat amused. but more disguised. at
the sensational stories which have recently
been published concerning the alleged
slaughter of deer, elk and buffalo on this
great New Hampshire preserve. THESE
widely circulated stories all agreed on the
main point. which was that the Corbins
we're killing off their game by wholesale. to
avoid the expense of winter feeding.
The accounts varied from pale green color
to bright yellow. to harmonize with the par
ticular papers in which they were published,
but in one particular they We're exactly
alike-they were all utterly false And what
is more. there was no excuse for these
faisehoods, as the truth was accessible to
any one who cared to print it. And tho
truth in a nutshell. is this: There was less
game killed in COrbin Park this winter .uan
has been killed there during any previous
winter for several years back The writer
knows all the professional hunters and
practically every man who has fired 4 gun
in the preserve this season; he knows exact
~ the number of deer, elk and wild boar
which have been shipped, and that fewer
were shipped this winter than last, for in
stance
The aforementioned stories would have
been trifie more Plausible had they been
circulated last year or the year before
This is the mildest winter New Hampshire
has known lor a long time. There was
practically no snow in Corbin Park until
the 9th of February, and consequently the
animals, with the exception Of the huffaloes,
have required much less feeding than has
been necessary n previous years. But even
had the winter been a severe one, the ex-
tensive operations in scientific numbering
now going on in the preserve insuTes the
elk and deer enormous amount OF
browse at no expense TO the owners.
Surplus Animals Removed.
OF course there has been a large amount
of game shipped from the park this winter,
as usual. Any one who gives any thought
TO the subject must realize that a given
area contains just so much grass and so
many trees and shrubs and no more, and
that, consequently. it will support just so
many deer or other animals which rely on
the grass and trees and shrubs for food
If greater number were allowed to re
main upon that area, the food would be
eaten faster than ii is produced, and the
final result of such folly would be starva-
ton for all the animals. This is as true of
24,00O thousand acres as of one, so every
year the surplus animals in Corbin Park
are removed to make room for those to
be born the following spring.
This thinning OUT is not done haphaz-
ard The superintendent, Mr.. Blaine S.
we'll informed as TO the amount of avail
able browse in the preserve each year. He
supplements his own knowledge with eX-
pert advice as 20 the number of animals
the park will support under existing con-
ditions, and then he goes ahead First of
all he makes arrangements to fill the nu-
merous orders which have been received
for live animals required for the stocking
of other parks and game preserves. Many
deer, elk and wild boar are driven or
coaxed from the main park into smaller
Enclosures where they are kept until they
are needed; then they are put into crates
and shipped to different parts OF the coun-
try.
But besides these there are always large
orders from the markets in Boston. New
York and elsewhere and such orders are
and bring In the game as it is needed. These
men are expert marksmen, Kill almost
everything they fire at, usually with
little or no pain to the animals themselves.
Expert Marksmen.
l sometimes accompany these men on
their hunting trips. and I can testify to
their skill with a rife; and in truth they
should be skillful since they get more prac-
tice on big game than almost any other
men in America. One of them has a record
of about two hundred deer in a season, be
sides the elk and boar which fell to his gun.
went out with this man one day, and
saw him shoot seven deer between day
break and dark. OF these only one had
any suffering to speak of: the others all
died within half minute of the time they
were hit and three of them We're dead 1T
orally lat the crack of the gun" | make
this statement here because l have had no
time to reply directly to little magazine
which recently made rude remarks con-
corning this thinning out process in
the name Of humanity and which met
dentally criticised me for being In favor
or shooting made necessary by the rapid
increase of animals on a game preserve
1t is hardly necessary / think to argue
IN favor of the desirability of game pro
lection In this country, or to state that
II is desirable that we have fenced game
reservations. Generally speaking, the
more successful the game preserve the
faster the animals increase and the more
they have to be thinned out. Corbin Park
is the largest game preserve In America
and the shooting of the surplus stock
which is not shipped alive is one of the
practices which tend to make 1T success
full. That 1T does cost money, and a lot
of II, to feed great numbers of boar and
buffalo in winter cannot be denied but
there is no connection between this ex-
pense and the killing OF the animals The
biggest expense. by long odds, Is entailed
by the maintenance of the great buffalo
herd, yet not a single buffalo has been
killed at Corbin Park this winter
A II