Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-03-19

sorts of ideas both pro and con- A
large section of the people think that
residents of the State should not be
placed on a par with city sportsmen
from other states and object to a tax
for hunting even though it be small.
Thus far this class have seemed to be
in the majority and their objections
have been growing louder.
1t is always fair to hear both sides
of an argument and the Journal has
asked Chairman j. S. p. FL. Wilson of
the Fish and Game Commission to
state the reasons in favor of such
license. To this request that gentleman
replied:
Yes, / believe in a small resident
hunting license and the reasons for
this are to my mind absolutely con-
elusive.
Let me first say that when | at
tended the annual convention of the
American Fish and Game Association
III Ottawa last November / found the
delegates from all over the United
States, Canada and the British Pro-
vinces were all willing and anxious to
take off their hats to Maine. 1t was
universally conceded that this State
led every section of the American con-
tinent in the variety and abundance
of its wild game and fish.
"That set me to thinking and l asked
myself whether We wanted it kept so
or not Other states have been as
well supplied as we but they have
foolishly permitted their wild game to
be exterminated. Shall we in Maine
do the same2 We have already made
n eta in, nd
moose are fast disappearing while the
caribou are gone.
Now, how shall this great public
asset of our State be conserved and
preserved? If we had small resi-
dent license the money derived from
this source would allow the wardens
to better enforce the present law. Let
me illustrate. The nonresident license
fee is s25 The man from New York
or Philadelphia comes here and goes
into the woods with his rifle. He is
met By game warden and asked to
show his license. To this demand he
replies that he is resident of Maine
and lives in an adjoining town. He is
a stranger and the warden has no
means of proving that he is not telling
the truth. He is helpless. and the
hunter proceeds to shoot his deer or
moose.
Now. if there was a resident fee
of only one dollar that hunter would be
forced to show his license and that
would stop that form of poaehing at
once. l do not say that all non-resi-
dent sportsmen do this by any means
but / know that many do so and there
is no way to prevent them as long as
the resident is not obliged to prove his
identity.
Again, a resident license would be
the best possible thing for all the
formers living in the vicinity of the
cities. Trolley cars now run in every
direction and every Sunday morn
ing they are loaded with men and
boys going out into the country to
hunt. Unfortunately these people are
mostly unnaturalized foreigners and
they shoot everything in sight. Robins,
bobolinks. blue birds and all other
song birds fall before them. They tear
down the fences and trample down
the grass. They are not citizens and
have no interest in anything but to
kill everything that they see. If there
was resident license, even though
small, this thing could be stopped as
the wardens would then control them
which they cannot now do.
incidentally / will say that out of
the As states in this country SO of
them have adopted a resident license.
They have been forced to do this or
have their game and song birds COM
pletely exterminated. This of itself
is sufficient proof of the wisdom of
law Wild 1ifa cnnrrld he
served but it cannot be as long as
every man and boy can shoot down
everything in sight.
Fault has been found in some
quarters over the nonresident license
fee of s25. This class of critics say
that it is too high but they forget that
Canada and all its provinces have a
$50 hunters license fee and many of
our states the same. Maine is vastly
better as a game state and yet only
charges half those figures.
Still another point. Maine is ex
pending 100000 per year to protect
its fish and game and receives from
fines, license fees and all other
sources only about $4,000. Much is
being said about encouraging peo-
pie to come here to hunt and fish.
Nonsense. They need no special en-
coura cement as they will come any
way. In fact, they have practically
no other place to go. The danger is
that they will come too fast and ex-
terminate cur game in spite of all
that we can do. 1t is our duty to
conserve and preserve our wild life
and not to exterminate all we have
Here is another danger point. An
agitation is now going on to allow
only buck deer to be shot. Do you
know what that means? Such prac-
tice would soon eliminate all the
strong and vigorous bucks and the
entire species would become inferior
and degenerate. When you destroy
the proper balance of sexes you prac-
tically destroy the breed. This would
finally mean extinction as few weak
bucks would not produce a healthy
progeny.
The time is fast coming when we
must have q close time on moose for
five years, or we shall lose them en-
tirely. In the meantime we should
shoot does as well as bucks and when
the time comes to restrict killing deer
we should restrict the number. Two is
now the limit, but it should be re-