ich they shall not be used, as for the killing, capture or pursuit
of specified kinds of game. Generally, any private owner may forbid,
upon his own land, any act that he chooses, although the act may be
lawful in itself; and certainly Congress, invested also with legislative
power, may do the same thing, just as it may prohibit the sale of
intoxicating liquors, though such sale is otherwise lawful.

"After considerable attention to the whole subject, I have no hesitation
in expressing my opinion that Congress has ample power to forbid and
punish any and all kinds of trespass, upon or injury to, the forest
reserves, including the trespass of entering upon or using them for the
killing, capture or pursuit of game.

"The exercise of these powers would not conflict with any State
authority. Most of the States have laws forbidding the killing, capture
or pursuit of different kinds of game during specified portions of the
year. This makes such killing, etc., lawful at other times, but only
lawful because not made unlawful. And it is lawful only when the State
has power to make it lawful, by either implication or direct enactment.
But, except in those cases already referred to, such as eminent domain,
service of process, etc., no State has power to authorize or make lawful
a trespass upon private property. So that, though Congress should
prohibit such killing, etc., upon its own lands, at all seasons of the
year, this would not conflict with any State authority or control. That
the preservation of game is part of the public policy of those States,
and for the benefit of their own people, is shown by their own
legislation, and they cannot complain if Congress upon its own lands
goes even further in that direction than the State, so long as the open
season of the State law is not interfered with in any place where such
law is paramount.

[Illustration: MOUNTAIN SHEEP AT REST]

"It has always been the policy of the Government to invite and induce
the purchase and settlement of its public lands; and as the existence of
game thereon and in their localities adds to the desirability of the
lands, and is a well-known inducement to their purchase, it may well be
considered whether, for this purpose alone, and without reference to the
protection of the lands from trespass, Congress may not, on its own
lands, prohibit the killing of such game."

In this opinion the Attorney-General further calls attention to the
difficulties of enf