The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1922-08-03
MOOSE NOT INCREASING
DEER HOLDING OWN
Commissioner willis Z. Perschs
Speaks In Relations to Value of
Bear as Game Animal

Bear rs d Game Animal
; Commissioner of Inland Fisheries
and Game Willis E. Parsons stated
Wednesday that divers opinions are
expressed in public and private
through the press and by letter in
game animal
I'm many states of the union, es-
pecially great game states trying to
rival Maine. the bear is considered
the best. of big game and stands at
the head of protected animals, and
Maine is ridiculed for not allowing
Bruin, to be slain in the summer sea
son but actually paying a bounty for
having him killed." continued Com
missioner Parsons.
Some claim that the State can
well afford to pay for a few sheep
killed, just as it does now. but in
stead of paying a bounty, bears
should not be slaughtered, unless do
ing damage, until fall when their fur
is valuable and the whole animal
more of an asset to the State.
"A young man last season showed
me check for $4l.84, received from
Boston firm, which fixed it's own
price, for one bear that he had shot
in his fall hunting. In the summer
season 1t would have been worth S.
to be received out of the State treas
ury at the expense of Maine taxpay-
ers. Some bears, driven by hunger
no doubt learn to kill sheep the same
as dogs. In the northern part of Ok
ford county, noted for its bears,
was calling on farmer, with flock
Of 100 sheep grazing in the pasture
nearby, when | asked the farmer how
he could keep sheep up there among
the Oxford bears, He replied Il new
er lost sheep by bears in my life
and IL people take care of their dogs,
my sheep are all right" and he kept
his rife loaded not for bears, but for
dogs.
1T is for the Legislature to say
whether the bounty on bears shall be
retained. Bears do more damage in
some sections than in others. No one
wants to injure the farmer or retard
the sheep raising industry that al
MANY believe that removing the
bounty would make no difference,
and that Bruin would be hunted at {
season of the year when he would be
of much more value than in the sum
mer months. AS we'll, they say, might
you hunt the fox, trap the beaver OF
any other animal. In the summer
months, when of no particular value.
that might do more or less danger te
the farmer, and, further, that all pro
tected animals except beaver can BE-
slain If doing actual damage. al
though protected by closed season.
DEER HOLDING OWN
Deer are reported as holding tdeir
own except in localities where thu
bob cats and Canada Lynx are work
ing havoc among them. large nun.
Der of the latter animals have been
killed and there was paid from thu
fish and game appropriation last yea
the sum of S12,340 in bounties or
these enemies of the Maine deer. The
next legislature will have to provide
larger appropriation if the bob cat
Is kept in check which is the only
way II the deer are to be saved.
1T may become necessary to limit
the number of deer to one that may
be taken in one season within the
State, although it is believed that the
present law, if properly observed, VIII
prove sufficient. 1t gives the hunter
one deer and then if he can get
buck with antlers, the second deer.
1t was claimed at first that many deer
would be left in the woods IN trying
to get buck with antlers. 1t does
not seem to work that way, but II one
deer only was allowed, the same rule
would apply, as a hunter would want
4 good one and some would be mean
enough to leave small deer IN the
woods. Such cases would be rare
however, as true sportsmen do not
believe in the waste of either fish or
game. Prohibition of the use of deel
in lumber camps or shipping them
from the State by residents, is say
ing thousands every year.
MOOSE NOT INCREASING
Quite a number of moose have been
reported in their usual haunts but
they are not increasing rapidly
enough to warrant an open season on
this big game animal Tor many
wears to come. 1t now seems that If
this monarch of the Maine Woods is
70 he preserved as an attraction to
tourists as well as our own people,
that in the future he should be shot
only with the camera. and this re-
ouires much more skill than it does
With a long distance rife.