Page 392 - Our Vanishing Wild Life

370 OUR VANISHING WILD LIFE
provide for the sale, under tags, of those species which we know can be bred in captivity in large numbers.
When the Bayne law was drafted, its authors considered with the utmost care the possibilities in the breeding of game in the United States on a commercial basis. It was found that as yet only two wild native species have been, and can be, reared in captivity on a large scale. These arethewhite-taileddeerandmallardduck. Offoreignspecieswecan breed successfully for market the fallow deer, red deer of Europe and some ofthepheasantsoftheoldworld. Fortherearing,killingandmarketing of all these, the Bayne law provides the simplest processes of state super- vision that the best game protectors and game breeders of New York could devise. The tagging system is expeditious, cheap and effective. Practically the only real concession that is required of the game-breeder concerns the killing, which must be done in a systematic way, whereby a state game warden can visit the breeder's premises and affix the tags without any serious sacrifice of time or convenience on either side. The tags cost the breeder five cents each, and they pay the cost of the services rendered by the state.
By this admirable system, which is very plainly set forth in the New York Conservation Commission's book of game laws, all the wild game of New York, and of every other state, is absolutely protected at all times against illegal killing and illegal importation for the New York market. Now, is it not the duty of Connecticut, Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas and every other state to return our compliment by passing similar laws ? Massachusetts came up to public expectations at the next session of her legislatureafterthepassageofourBaynelaw. In1913,Californiawill try to secure a similar act; and we know full well that her ducks, geese, quail,grouseandband-tailedpigeonneeditverymuch. IftheCalifornia protectors of wild life succeed in arousing the great quiet inass of people in that state, their Bayne bill will be swept through their legislature on a tidal wave of popular sentiment.
Elk.—For people who own wild woodlands near large cities there are goodprofitstobemadeinrearingwhite-taileddeerforthemarket. I would also mention elk, but for the fact that every man who rears a fine herd of elk quickly becomes so proud of the animals, and so much at- tached to them, that he can not bear to have them shot and butchered for market! Elk are just as easy to breed and rear as domestic cattle, except that in the fall breeding season, the fighting of rival bulls demands careful and intelligent management. Concerning the possibilities of feeding elk on hay at $25 per ton and declaring an annual profit, I am notinformed. Iftheelkrequiretobefedalltheyearround,thehigh price of hay and grain might easily render it impossible to Droduce market- able three-year-old animals at a profit.
White-tailed Deer.—Any one who owns from one hundred to one thousand acres of wild, brushy or forest-covered land can raise white- tailed (or Virginia) deer at a profit. With smaller areas of land, free range becomes impossible, and the prospects of commercial profits