thousand persons entered within their borders; in the summer of 1903 this number was estimated at no less than ten thousand in excess of the previous year.  In these two reserves the number of permits for rifles and revolvers issued between June 1 and December 31, increased from 1,900 in the year 1902, to 3,483 in 1903, and as, in some cases, these were issued for two or more persons, the supervisor estimates that at least 4,500 rifles were carried last summer into these two reserves.  He was of the opinion that two-thirds of these were borne by hunters, the remainder as protection against bears and other ferocious wild beasts, which exist only in imagination.[12]

[Footnote 12:  “Relative to the figures for game permits, and the reason for the larger number issued for 1903 over 1902, I cannot myself altogether explain the large increase.  One reason, however, was that our rainfall for the winter of 1902-3 was very large compared with that of the five previous winters.  As a result grass and feed were plentiful, and attracted many more travelers and hunters, who figured that game would be much more plentiful owing to the abundance of feed.  I believe that this was the principal reason why so many obtained permits.  The abundant rain made camping more pleasant, as it started up springs which had been dry for several years.  I believe that this very thing, however, also tended to protect the game as it permitted them to scatter more than for several years before, as water was more abundant.  With all the increase in guns and hunters I do not think that any more deer were killed than during the summer of 1902.” (Letter from Forest Supervisor, Mr. Everett B. Thomas, Los Angeles, Feb. 13, 1904.) It is to be noted that in the southern California reserves, on the ground of precaution against forest fires, no shotguns may be carried into the reserves.  As a result quail have greatly increased in numbers.]

It is to be borne in mind that all through this California country there exists a race of hunters—­active, determined men, who passionately love this diversion.  The people there have not been so long graduated as we of the Atlantic Coast from the conditions of the frontier.  The ozone of a new country stirs more quickly the predatory instinct, never quite dead in any virile race.  The rifle slips easily from its scabbard, and there in plain sight before them are the forest-clad mountains, a mile above their heads, in the cool and vital air, ever beckoning the hunter to be up and away.  These people feel in their blood the call of the wild.  With a very considerable proportion of the people upon farms, and still more in villages and small towns, the Fall hunt is the commanding interest of the year.  This is the one athletic contest into which they enter heart and soul; it is foot-ball and yachting and polo and horse racing combined.  For a young man to go into the forest after deer and to come back empty-handed, is to lose prestige to a certain extent among his fellows.  Oftentimes, when a beginner returns in this way unsuccessful, he is so unmercifully chaffed by his companions that he mentally records a vow not to be beaten a second time, and, when he finds himself again in the forest for his annual hunt, with the enthusiasm of youth, he would almost rather die than be defeated.