Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1906-03-22

BILE to anyone who cared to print It.
And the truth, in a nutshell, is this:
! There was less game killed in Corbin
Park this winter than has been killed
| there during any previous winter fol
several years back. The writer knows
all the professional hunters and prac-
tically every man who has fired a gun
in the preserve this season; he knows
exactly the number of deer, elk and
wild boar which have been shipped
and that fewer were shipped this win
ter than last, for instance.
The aforementioned stories woul |
have been a trine more plausible had
they been circulated last year or the
years before. This Is the mildest win
ter New Hampshire has known for y
long time. There was practically no
snow In CoTbin Park until the 9Th Of
February, and consequently the ami
mails, with the exception OF the but
falOes, have required much less feed
ing than has been necessary in pre-
vious years But even had the winter
been a severe one, the extensive Oper-
ations in scientific numbering now
elk and deer an enormous amount OF
browse at no expense to the owners
OF course there has been a large
amount of game shipped from the
park this winter, as usual. Anyone
who gives any thought to the subject
must realize that given area con
tains 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 when
rely on the grass and trees and shrubs
for food.
This thinning out" is not done hap
hazard. The superintendent, Mr.
Blaine S. Viles, is himself a profes-
sional forester, and well-informed as
to the amount of available browse in
the preserve each year He supple
ments his own knowledge with ex-
pert advice as to the number of ami
mails the park will support under exist
ing conditions, and then he goes ahead.
First of all. he makes arrangements
to fill the numerous 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 in
closures, where they are kept until
they are needed; then they are put
gv,kA oh 10
parts of the country,
But besides these there are always
large orders from the markets in Bos-
ton, New York and elsewhere, and
such orders are filled by professional
hunters, who shoot and bring in thu
game as 1t is needed. These men ara
expert marksmen, kill almost every.
thing they fire at, usually with little
or no pain to the animals themselves
/ sometimes accompany these men on
their hunting trips, and | can testify
to their skill with rifle; and in truth
they should be skillful since they get
more practice on big game than almos'
any other men in America.
Corbin Park is the largest game pre-.
serve in America. and the shooting Of
the surplus stock which is not shipped
alive is one of the practices which
tend to make It successful That /:
does cost money, and lot of it. to fee1
great numbers of boar and buffalo In
winter cannot be denied, but there is
no connection between this expense
and the killing OF the animals. The
biggest expense, by long odds, is en-
tailed by the maintenance of the great
buffalo herd, yet not single buffalo
has been killed at Corbin Park THU
winter Some newspapers cannot heir
lying, hut they might at least try to
tell reasonable lies.
ERNEST HAROLD BATNEs.