Because of his wanderings and explorations throughout the whole of the Dominion of Canada, Jim developed what he chose to call a “Creed of the Wild!”
“To hunt and fish is the first great law of nature. Everything ‘hunts and fishes,’ from man to the weakest of the creatures and things which he destroys. It is ordained that the ashes of destruction shall give birth to life, and that in killing, if it is within the immutable bounds prescribed by nature, there is rejuvenation; but to adventure beyond those limitations, until killing becomes a lust, is to invite destruction of the balance of those laws of nature which makes existence possible.
“I believe that many generations, if not centuries, will pass before man arrives at a point where he will view all manifestations of life as so nearly akin to his own that he will cease to slaughter for pleasure.”
This alone was Jim Curwood’s “Creed of the Wild,” as well as his creed of life. He loved everything and hated nothing save the “game hogs.”
When Jim Curwood assumed his position on the conservation commission on January 1, 1927, he immediately set to work to make adjustments. For one thing he immediately began clamping down on the capturing of certain species of birds. In some cases he closed the season long before it was to have officially closed, or else set the bag limit very low. Many people objected to this as they did not understand the real purpose behind it.
Jim took several trips around the state, entirely on his own initiative, and issued “official communiques” with great abandon regarding the closing of seasons on certain types of wildlife. The conservation commission felt that he was not justified in these actions and believed that he was causing the commission undue trouble. As a matter of fact one of the members of the original commission had this to say of Jim:
“He took a trip around the state, entirely on his own, issuing official communiques with great abandon, and getting the department into hot water. I recall particularly the decidedly vexing problem of an open season on birds (perhaps deer, but I’m pretty sure it was birds). Curwood said that his survey had shown beyond the shadow of a doubt that the birds were scarce and therefore the season should be closed. I believe he gave newspaper interviews declaring the season closed in certain sections.”
Jim Curwood’s policy of riding roughshod over the statutes and his fellow commissioners, plus the fact that he had his great reputation as an out-of-doors expert to live up to, was becoming very serious and embarrassing, or so certain members of the conservation commission felt, for what he believed in he fought for, regardless of how the rest of the commission felt or thought. So intent was he upon his ideas of conservation that he had to have his way in everything which was undertaken. And as another fellow commissioner once said of Jim:
“If I were to write a chapter on Curwood’s activities as a member of the commission it would be in the section of the book devoted to wild life, sub-classification, ‘stormy petrel.’ I recall that he simply had to have his own way, and so perhaps if one were to look him up in the index it would be in the list of fauna, under lone wolf.”
Despite the fact that some so-called conservation experts felt that Jim Curwood was radical in his ideas, and beliefs concerning conservation movements, he proved conclusively that he was right in most of his ideas at some time or other.