Page 305 - Our Vanishing Wild Life

CHAPTER XXX
NEW LAWS NEEDED IN THE STATES (Continued)
Maine:
There are reasons for the beHef that Maine is conserving her large
gamebetterthananyotherstateorprovinceinNorthAmerica. One glance over her laws is sufficient to convince anyone that instead of study- ing the clamor of her shooting population, Maine has actually been studyingtheneedsofhergame,andprovidingforthoseneeds. Ifall other states were doing equally well, the task of writing a book of ad- monitionwouldhavebeenunnecessary. TheproofofMaine'salertness is to be found in the number of her extra short, or entirely closed, seasons
ongame. Forexample:
Cow and calf moose are permanently protected.
Only bull moose, with at least two 3-inch prongs on its horns, may be killed. Caribou have had a close season since 1899.
On gray and black squirrels, doves and quail, there is no open season.
The open season for deer varies from ten weeks to four weeks, and in parts of three
counties there is no open season at all.
Silencers are prohibited, and firearms in forests may be prohibited by the Governor
during droughts.
Nearly all wild-fowl shooting ends January 1, but in two places, on December 1.
People who have not learned the facts habitually think of Maine as a vast killing-ground for deer; and it is well for it to be known that the hunting-grounds have been carefully designated, according to the abundance or scarcity of game.
Maine has wisely chosen to regard her hunting-grounds and her deer asavaluableasset,andshemanagesthemaccordingly. Tobeaguide in that state is to be a good citizen, and a protector of game from illegal slaughter. No non-resident may hunt without a licensed guide. The licenses for the thousands of deer killed in Maine each year, and the expenses of the visiting sportsmen who hunt them, annually bring into the state and leave there a huge sum of money, variously estimated at from$2,000,000to$3,000,000. Onecanonlyguessattheamountfrom the number of non-resident licenses i.ssued; but certainly the total can not be less than $1,000,000.
Although Mr. L. T. Carleton is no longer chairman of the Commission of Inland Fisheries and Game, the splendid services that he rendered the state of Maine during his thirteen years of service, especially in the creation of a good code of game laws, constitute an imperishable monu- ment to his name and fame.