Evening star., 1924-11-27
TOLLSOF HUNTERS
MAKE HEAVY. LISTS
Casualties of Sport Read
) Like Death Rolls in War
or Epidemic.
Ry Consolidated pross

NEW YORK, Move niber 27.-The
eternal quest of SPORT has taken
fits toll Of life and limb among Amer
lean homes in the past months of
the hunting season. Battles, grave
and desperate. and disease, fought in
organized campaigns many of them,
have been no more disastrous in the
cost they charged. --..,
Almost zoo killed and, three times
as. many wounded-that is the ap-
Proclamation of the toll the hunting
season thus far. has taken in this
country as gathered from-incomplete
Statistics in the States And that IL
hut a small per cent of the usual cost
hf life and limb-becau forest fires
have prevented hunting this year on
Ns usual large scale
- Guns accidentally discharged as
fhey leaned against a tree trunk or
against fence, as they were cleaned
or, dropped by the hunter who was
not careful; and guns aimed at
ssomething moving in the trees"
Which was no beast or bird, but was
R man shielded from sight by over
hanging leaves and boughs-these
hre the two chief causes of casual
Hes. Men have shot themselves
Iphey have shot their friends and men
they never saw before in numbers
unbelievable.
q. Casualties Exceed Battle Toll.
,,One hundred and forty-nine wears
RSo, when the Americans and British
mened fire at the battle Of Bunker
ttill, the first pitched battle of the
war which gave us independence, only
800 Americans were either killed or
wounded. That is hundreds less than
the annual cost in human lives and
limbs through hunting.
The sinking of the battleship Maine
on February Is, 1898, which plunged
this country into the Spanish-Ameri-
chn War, considered one of the most
Horrible disasters of modern times,
took a toll of 26O lives.
Yet in 1923, 20 hunters were killed
and II wounded in New York State.
In Wisconsin three persons have
already been killed during the pres
ent hunting season and many in
3Gred. Other casualties SO far listed
fTe: Michigan, % accidents resulting
IN 10 deaths and Is injuries; Mime
sofa, three killed and many injured.
incomplete reports for Ohio indicate
mat within the past few days alone
IN three counties only, seven persons
have been injured.
-. Spectators Victims.
:: Hunting casualties have been par
ticularly tragic in that hunters are
not the only ones to be victimiZed
Frequently spectators have been pep
pered with shot
!. Aside from the casualties hunting
mas caused, 1t is an expensive sport
and involves the expenditure OF mil
lions of dollars annually. With guns
ransing from $25 10 $50 and car
trfdges about ) cents apiece, with
from 100000 to 100000 annually
in the field, hunting causes tre-
nendous financial output.
= Six hundred thousand men and
women in New York State have
Sought to kill the deer, moose, rab-
pits, squirrels, pheasants, quail and
grouse of the open country this year
--in the name of sport. While the
s1re of the hunt keeps some of them
al 1t for weeks, they spend an aver
age of four hours each in the field.
ft has been nated-which- means
2. loss Of 100000 business hours. or
100000 days of business to the State.
:, Forest Fires Preserve Game.
sHunting has cost the lives of so
many representatives of wild animal
life that certain species are fast dy-
ing out. New York hunters alone
killed 5000 deer in 1922 and 10000 in d.
n1ountain regions and permitting only
Q; day of deer hunting this year, saved !
the lives of 1900 to $4,000 of the
animals.
-rrEach year sees the death of 100000
ptleasants at the hands of hunters,
end that the sport may be perpetu-
ated three game farms are maintain
Cd to liberate $1,000 birds annually
and distribute 10000 eggs among
farmers and clubs who will see that
they are hatched. The cost accord
Ing to Commissioner Llewelyn Legge,
New York commissioner of the forest,
fish and game commission, runs into
the high thousands of dollars mark.
Similar conditions existing through
cut other States in the country COM
pine to make hunting the most costly
Of all spprts-in life and time and
naoney-more costly than the cam
paigns being waged by many organi-
3ations to check the spread of dread
diseases that take tolls in human
life, more costly than pitched battles.