SUNDAY, MAY 3. 1959
HERALD AND NEWS. KLAMATH FALLS. OREGON
PAGE THIRTEEN
Game Laws Reach Back Into Antiquity: Pioneers Strict In Wildlife Views
By JAMES R. NORRIS
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
USGMA
One of the practices used in
game management to help produce
sustained annual crops of wildlife
is that 01 regulations controlling
the harvest of the resource. Regu
lations or game laws are by no
means a new practice exercised
by man, as controlling measures of
taking wildlife date back many,
many decades.
It is in the Bible that we find
what is probably the first written
restriction on the taking oi game.
The restriction is one of the stat
utes and judgments composing the
Mosaic Law, and decrees that:
"If a bird's nest chance to be
before thee in the way, in any
tree, or on the ground, whether
they be young ones, or eggs, thou
Shalt not take the dam with the
young: But thou Shalt in any wise
let the dam go, and take the young
to thee: That it may be well with
thee, and that thou mayest prolong
thy days." fDeuteronomy 22: 6, 7).
Conservation of the "dam" or hen
as breeding stock being the intent
of the phraseology.
A record of game management
for conservation purposes is found
to have occurred in the Mongol
Empire, and Marco Polo in de
scribing his travels across Asia,
tells or the game laws of Kublai,
The Great Khan.
"There is an order which pro
hibits every person throughout all
countries subject to the Great
Khan, from daring to kill hares,
roebucks, fallow deer, stags, or
oMier animals of that kind, or any
large birds, between the months of
March and October. This is that
they may increase and multiply:
and as the breach of this order is
attended with punishment, game of
every description increases prodi
giously." Hunting controls in Europe be
gan as customs rather than laws.
One of these customs was given
by Edward, second Duke of York.
Master of Game, to his cousin.
Henry IV, during the early years
of the 14th Century. This custom
was that the hart or red-deer
season opened at St. John's tide
(June 24i and ended on Holvrood
Day (September 14). This was the
period when an animal was be
lieved to be fattest and best fit
for meat.
Henry VIII. ruled that waterfowl
and their eggs would be protected
from Iuy 31 to August 31. and
later James I, afforded this pro
tection to the pheasants and par
tridges. It is believed that some
species of non-game birds in Eur
ope were protected about 1831.
Another hunting custom during
Edward's time was one somewhat
equivalent to our buck law. It
stated that "warrantable hart
Soybeans Now
Cash Crop
ST. PAUL. Minn. (UPII Min
nesota farmers have found a new
staple crop in soybeans, to pace
a nationwide agricultural trend.
In 1935, Minnesota farmers plant
ed only 100.000 acres of soybeans
annually. Last year, the figure
was three million acres.
In these 24 years, soybeans have
become the fourth largest crop in
an agricultural state long depend
ent on corn, oats and hay. Min
nesota now ranks third in total
soybean production behind Illinois
and Iowa.
The importance of soybeans is
indicated by national figures. In
1936. there were 449 bushels of
soybeans produced in the United
States: in 1957 the figure rose to
480 million and the estimated 1958
crop -was 561 million bushels..
MIX-S-BAKE IDEA
NEW YORK (UPII Petit fours
ore easy lo make at home from
a 10'i-ounce package of pound
cake mix. Mix and bake cake ac-
cording to package directions. Cool,
cut into small squares and frost
with 1 cup confectioners' sugar
mixed to spreading consistency
with maraschino cherry juice. Gar
nish each tiny cake with maras
chino cherry halves or slices.
was defined as a "hart of ten"
(points). Lesser stags (staggards),
yearlings (bullocks), fawns
(calves), and does (hinds), were
either not killed at all, or only dur
ing the great jdrives where the
King participated.
Edward further pointed out that
"beyond the sea" (France), deer
were taken, "with hounds, with
grey hounds, and with nets, and
with cords, and other harness, wilh
pits, and wilh .shot (bows) and
other gins (traps). . . . But in
England, they are not slain ex
.cept with hounds or with shot."
In the far north early hunting
laws were practiced by the exer
cising of taboos. Among the Eski
mos almost every detail of hunt
ing and of utilizing the catch was
regulaled .-by these taboos. The
basis of the taboos was that land
animals, like the caribou, and wa
ter animals, like seal, walrus and
whale, would be kept separate. It.
was the practice of these people
not to eat caribou and seal pn the
same day. The Eskimos also had
seasonal restrictions of preserving
one specie of game when another
was more conveniently at hand.
The use of fuel gathered from the
ground, such as faggots and moss,
was prohibited when a whale was
captured, for the whale oil was
used as fuel.
In America the first of the game
laws is usually recognized to be
that passed by Connecticut in 1677.
It regulated seasons and prohibited
(he export of game, hides and
skins. By 1700 all of the original
colonies, except Georgia, had es
tablished closed seasons to pro
tect deer. William III, through the
Act of the Virginia Assembly in
1G99, prohibited the killing of
deer from January to July, the
fine for violation being 500 pounds
of tobacco. In 1730 Maryland fol
lowed suit, the fine being 400
pounds of tobacco. It was also
ruled that the hunting of deer by
firelight was unlawful. The doe
was protected by Virginia in 1738.
and running of deer with hounds
was prohibited by New York in
1788.
Closed seasons on birds were
first set by New Y'ork, and in
1708 that state protected the heath
hen (now extinct), ruffed grouse,
quail, and wild turkey: in 1'V1 it
added the woodcock. Some of the
colonists thought furbearers were
also threatened and Vermont in
1797 placed a closed season on
muskrats. although it was lifted
lour rears later and reestablished
in 1812.
Of course, laws are of no value
without enforcement and in Mas
sachusetts there were deer war
dens as early as 1739. This was
Irue of New Hampshire two years
later.
The enactment of state game
laws followed close on the heels of
the retreating frontier, reaching
(he Pacific in California in 1B52.
By 1880 all of the stales had game
laws. The first bag limit (25
prairie chickens per day) appeared
in Iowa in 1R78.
Market hunting was first tabooed
by Arkansas in 1875.
A hunting license was first re
quired by New York in 1864: a
non-resident license by New Jer
sey in 1864.
Federal supervision of interstate
game began with the Lacy Act,
which in 1900 prohibited interslatc
commerce in illegal game. This
was followed by our present migra
tory bird bills, which were intro
duce in 1904 and 1908. but not
passed until 1913 and they were
finally anchored to the Constitution
by the Canadian treaty of 1916.
In the state of Oregon, the first
game law was believed lo have
been established in 1872. but II
was not until 1893 that the first
(ish and game protector was ap
pointed. This man, a Mr. Hollister
McGuirc. was to enlorce ine game
laws throughout the entire state.
In 1895. Oregon established the
first closure on beaver and placed
the first limit on upland game
birds. In 1899. a L. V. W. Qiiim
bly was appointed as the state
game and toresiry proiecior.
Quimbly was altoted a sum of
$2,200 lo carry on his activities
and from this money he nad pun
lished 5.000 copies of the game
laws of the state of distribution to
the oublic.
During this year the first bag
limit of five deer per season was
established, the season running
from Julv 15 to October 31. Also
in HMO Oregon established its first
duck season and closed the, season
on elk, the elk season did not re
open until 1933. During this year 15
game law violators were appre
hended and the total fines for the
violations amounted to $780.
The first bag limit on trout (125
per day) was established in 1901
and during this year the bag lim
it on ducks was 50 per day or
100 per week. Oregon's'first hunt
ing license was required in 1901
and a non-resident license sold for
M0. Commercial hunting of pheas
ants was allowed during the last
!4
K3ftft " W?J&?n ; I. ''HAitk
DOUGLAS SMELCER, selected "Fa rmor of the Year - 1958" by the supervisors of Lan
gell Valley Soil Conservation District, is sho.vn here with part of his herd of cattle turned
into one of his improved pastures. The development of this fine pasture is the result of
applying several conservation practices; land leveling to improve the irrigation and drain
age; subsoiling to improve the penetration of water and plant roots in the soil; seeding
to adapt species of grasses and legumes; a well located drain ditch to remove the ex
cess water; and last but not least using good management practices to maintain the
stand. PU k crc.
13 days of the season, which ran
from October 1 to June 3L, how
ever, commercial or market hunt
ing was brought to a close in Ore
gon in 1905. During 1901, doer hides
were required to be lagged beloru
(hey could be sold, 500 of these
t.igs were made arid 250 were is
sued. In 1902, a new game officer was
appointed, this was a man by
the name of J. W. Baker.
Angling licenses were required
in 1!H9 and sold for $1. Resident
hunting license cost was the same.
The first buck law was also passed
during this year.
In 1917. Hie state of Oregon had
a working force of two game offi
cers. The Oregon Stale Police were
given the responsibility of enforc
ing game laws in 1931 and at Ihe
end ol Ihc fiscal year of 1958 the
game law enforcement divison ot
Ihe Oregon State Police was com
iwsed of 68 men. Also stationed
in Oregon are four Federal Game
Management agents, members of
Ihe U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
whose duty it is lo enforce the
Federal laws as they pertain to
fish and game.
Space Rates
Apply Here
BOULDER. Colo. (UP!) Sci
entists at Colorado University's
High Altitude Observatory were
long puzzled because an observa
tory in Czechoslovakia continual
ly reported more solar flares sun
spots than any other observatory
in the world.
When Colorado's Harold Zirin
embarked recently on a 13.000
mile tour 'of the Soviet Union and
eastern Europe, he was asked to
check up on the situation. He came
back with this explanation:
"One scientist who observes sol
ar flares much as we do is paid
on the basis of the number and
size of the flares he observes."
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