Bisbee daily review., 1915-01-02
GAME WARDEN SAYS ARIZONA FARMERS
 NEED PROTECTING
Annual Loss of Life and Proper ty Is Great Because of ReCk- !eSSdeSs Of Hunters 0perat- ing i7 SaIt River Valley.

PHOENIX, Jan That reckless hunters are responsible for am am
 nual loss of life aud property that in tle Salt River valley alone reaches inwcnse Proportions is the statement
 Of State Game Warden Willard in his | annual report to the governor. The
 report to the governor was issued yes
 terday.
 "Iu the Salt River valley" says the report this department finds a larg-
 or and more important work in pro
 tcting the lives and property of the l farmers than in protecting the game The next legislature will be furnished by this office. with statistics of the
 loss of fife and livetock and barnyard
 fowls. suffered by the farmers or this valley. with a view to the strengthen ing of existing laws, and putting a ! stnn to tne reckless, Irresponsible hootin2, that has for years been in- | puged in upon the public highways and bvways of the agricultural sec lions of the state, and the resultant
 l1ss of human lie, to say nothing of
 the property loss, which, in the aggre- gate must reach immense proportions. Few of the farmers of the Salt Riv-
 CT valley out have suffered some loss of property. while many of them, or members of their families, are fam uisr With the sensation of being | prirklcd ,lth shot in their very door yards. or while in their fields, while occasionally a human life is saCri- feed to the carelessuess of the hunt er As the laws stand this depart ont can only prosecute in cases where the shooting takes place upon pub lie highway which the statutes de- fine as being a road laid out and maintained by the county, or to which the county holds a deed. This gives the hunter absolute freedom of the numerous lanes and by-ways cf the valley and the damage he in- nicts upon the farmers property is eldom discovered until hours after wards. and usually the farmer can,
 at best only guess which one or
 ones of a large number of hunters, Imight be the offending party But it
 the policy of this department to double its efforts to suppress this class of offenders, and give every pos l ibIe security within its needless and ! -ggrayatiug form of danger" The report recommends closng the season on turkey and deer, which are rapidly becoming extinct and recom- mends the establishment of a state game farm for the purpose of propa- patjna such imported birds as are
 found to be adapted to the natural conditions of the state. Relative to me protection of big game Warden ] Willard says:
 Our wild turkey, deer, antelope | and mountain sheep have already been extermmated or driven out of
 a vast area of our once good game
 country, and at the present rate at
 which the work of destruction is go- ing one, largely through the conyeu- tent an deficient medium of the auto lmobie our twenty thousand or so, jicensed hunters. will finish the work
 of extermination before the general
 public awakens to a realization of
 the situation, and demands a sudden
 and abrupt halt in order to give our ! few remnants of game a chance to ] replenish
 In view of the present deplorable
 condition of all our big game and the
 imminent danger Of its utter and com plete eXtermination l would strong ly recommend a closed season on an
 varieties until such time as in the
 wisdom of our legislature they are sufficiently re-established as to war
 rant the season being opened again.
 Such am enactment would ] am sure
 meet little or no opposition, except
 from a few game hogs such as
 can be found in every state and in
 every community, and a few thappily
 a very few) sporting goods dealers who would improyidently sacridcC
 their business future to the profits oi today"
 The report states that the herd
 of elk introduced into the northern part of the state is in excellent con f diuon. There are now between 90 and 100 head in the herd at present. An other herd will be brought from th' ! Yellowstone Park and liberated ir { the Graham mountains in the neal
 future