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MAINE DEER SHOW DECREASE law Violations Responsible for the Falling Off in Number. Bajr Law Limit Broken and Jack-lteht Shooting Is Quite Prevalent. The deer of Maine are "going." That is my confident belief. Hunters, guides and wardens report in increasing numbers the scarcity of deer in the old accustomed places, writes G. C. .Orr, president of the Maine Association, in the New York Sun. The time has arrived when more stringent measures should be taken before depletion gets into more rapid strides, for the coining seasons are to bring more hunters and fishermen than we have ever seen before, and our deer are not going to be - able to stand the strain. Other states have become well shot up as regards deer, and Maine is threatened. What is to be done? 3Iy personal opinion is that we should shorten the deer season on bolh ends and limit the bag to one deer Of either sex. It will sound harsh in the ears of the Maine man who had accepted without question that we are to be always a game state, but we must wake up to the fact that extinction is the natural result of intensive hunting of those species of game that are impossible to propagate. The only resource, then, is protection. I would advise it at this time and to be enacted at this session of the legislature an open season from October l.r to November 31, and one deer only. In 1921, when the legislature meets again, I think we will have realized the importance of shortening the season still more. I fear if something is not done at tins time we will have many regrets nnd our children will have reason to doubt the loyalty and sportsmanship of their fathers. GAME CONSIDERATION IS NEEDED. But all this law-making is of no avail if this element of good sportsmanship is lost sight of. There is an appalling amount of shooting by the aid of jacklights, there is too1 much ovcrstcppuig the bag limit, and there is too little of generous fair dealing in the taking of game, where love of the chase and true sporting instincts should prevail. The law that allows two deer to the logging camps should be repealed. We have reached that stage where deer sliould.be considered solely in the light of game, and not meat. The reports from wardens and guides lead me to believe that moose should be still further protected by extending close time after the expiration of the present term. In certain sections the moose are increasing, but not to an extent that warrants the beginning of shooting again. I believe that when the time comes that we can with safety begin moose hunting again it should le only for one year and the shooting of both bulls and cows be allowed so as not to upset the balance of nature which I think worked, near to disaster before we finally got protection for the species. I believe that Maine should remove the law that provides a bounty on the black bear. The bear is not nearly the menace that some attribute to him. He is a game animal far more than a depredator of the sheepfold, and all sportsmen after getting their deer aspire fondly to bagging a bear. My view and that of the well-informed woodmen is that the bounty on the bear should bere-moved. trapping of this animal be prohibited or limited and that an increased bounty be placed upon the bobcat and lynx. The wildcat family are mak,ing sad inroads upon our supply of deer and backwoodsmen should be encouraged to trap these animals for the good of the game that we wish to keep with us.
