Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Second part - VIII. Shooting and Fishing - 1. Shooting and Shooting Legislation. By A. N. H. Wahlgren, Master of forest, Uppsala
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SHOOTING AND SHOOTING LEGISLATION.
671
where every one who has the right of shooting takes what he can get
at, without any thought of the preservation of the game-stock, partly
and finally in an abundance of injurious animals which eat the young
and eggs of the useful game. Larger game, such as elk and deer, seem,
under the protection of the law, rather to increase than to decrease.
What greatly contributes to this is doubtless the fact that the worst
enemies of these animals, among large beasts of prey particularly the
wolf, the lynx and the glutton, are diligently hunted wherever they
show themselves, thanks to ample reward paid out by the public
treasury for their killing, and are gradually compelled to retire more
and more to the wood and mountain wildernesses in the northwestern
parts of the country. To encourage the extermination of smaller
injurious animals, as fox, hawk, great-owl and crow, etc., premiums are
paid in most parts of the country by County Councils, by Agricultural
Societies, associations for preservation of game, or by communities,
but the number of these injurious beasts and birds is nevertheless still
considerable, and certain kinds, such as the fox, seem to be on the
increase. To illustrate the effect that the aforesaid reward for
shooting beasts of prey can have, it may be mentioned that, according
to official statistics, there were killed throughout the country in 1900,
11 bears, 55 wolves, 32 lynxes, 111 gluttons, 23,649 foxes, 572 martens,
21 otters, 855 seals, 259 eagles, 1,010 great-owls, 11,930 hawks, and 115,396
crows, for whose killing there was paid out in reward 5,161 kronor by the
public treasury and 65,410 kronor by the aforesaid corporations and others.
For the sake of comparison it may be mentioned concerning the larger beasts
of prey that while, during the decennium 1851/60, there were annually killed
on an average: 124 bears, 180 wolves, and 156 lynxes, during the period
1896/1900, there have been killed on an average only 10 bears, 86 wolves, and
43 lynxes (see Table 93), which kinds of animals are thus obviously on the
decrease, although the wolf has of låte years shown a tendency to increase in
the mountain districts. — With regard to useful game there are no statistics to
be had. Only concerning the elk informations have, through the organ of the
Swedish Hunters’ Association, been collected during a series of years from the
State foresters, from which is seen that 1,500 to 1,600 elks are annually killed
in the country during the lawful shooting-season.
Table 93. Number of Beasts of prey killed.1
Years. Bears. Wolves. Lynxes. [-Gluttons.-] {+Glut- tons.+}
1866/60..... 635 868 868 611
1861/65..... 532 556 679 546
1866/70..... 494 236 525 695
1871/75..... 259 229 536 506
1876/80..... 899 183 334 646
1881/85..... 160 171 128 594
1886/90..... 163 143 99 447
1891/95..... 124 359 175 544
1896,00..... 51 429 216 922
i i
1 Totala for the quinquenninms, not averages per year. The number of foxes killed
daring the same periods amounts to resp. 52,327, 69,599, 63,206, 40,965, 58,749, 76,552,
76,710, 92,683, and 106,965.
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