286 FIFTY YEARS A HUNTER AND TRAPPER. 



unable to endure and was compelled to give up the greater part 

 of the trip, which was a sad disappointment. But comrades, you 

 know that there are but few trappers but what meet with dis- 

 appointments at times. 



The game laws of Georgia are a little hard on the trapper 

 and fisherman. The non-resident trapper has to pay a license of 

 fifteen dollars and the local trapper a license of three dollars. 

 (This alludes to the laws of 1912.) That is not the worst part of it. 

 In fact, the license fund, if justly used in the protection of game 

 and game birds and the propagation of game and birds, I would 

 not object to the license. 



The hard part of the game law of Georgia is the trespass 

 part of it. The trapper must have a written permission from the 

 land owner to trap or fish on any man's land and where the river is 

 the dividing line between different parties owning the land, the 

 trapper or fisherman mus*t have the written permit from both 

 land owners, even though he does not leave his boat to set a trap 

 or place a trot line. Now it is a very difficult thing for a stranger 

 to learn who owns the land and often the owner of the land 

 lives in some city of the North, or elsewhere. Now here is 

 where the shoe pinches the hardest. The fine for trespassing 

 on a man's land is $40.00 and it is the duty of the game warden 

 to arrest any one he finds hunting, trapping or fishing on any 

 man's land without a written permit. Here is the worst of all. 

 The game warden must make the arrest without any notice from 

 the land owner and if the game warden fails 'to make the arrest, 

 he is liable to the same fine as the one who is doing the tres- 

 passing. This is a law that the average land owner never asked 

 for. 



I had men come to me every day and offer me the privilege 

 of trapping or hunting on their land without any request on 

 my part. I found the majority of the people of Georgia very 

 kind in regard to this trespass matter as well as other matters. 

 It was only a few sporting "Nabobs" that concocted this stringent 

 part in the trespass law, contained in the game laws of Georgia 



Most other states of the south have as trespass laws, that the 

 land owner must order the arrest. The laws of Alabama allow or 



