28 SECOND BIENNIAL REPORT [W. VA. 



Amendments Recommended. 



Abolishing the resident hunters license was, in my judgment, a long step 

 backward. I most earnestly recommend its re-enactment, along similar lines 

 as found in the Acts of 1909. 



Section 44 of the present law provides that, ''It shall be lawful to catch 

 fish of the sucker variety, known as sucker, carp, mullet, and red horse, by 

 gig, spear, looping or in any other way at any time." This provision of 

 Section 44 should be repealed. Many people construe this to mean that such 

 fish may be killed on Sunday or by dynamiting, seining, or in fact in any way 

 at any time. This could not be true for the reason that the same section of law 

 provides specifically that such things cannot be done. Believing that fish 

 should only be caught by hook and line I think that this part of section 44 

 should be repealed. 



There should be a limit on the number of trout taken in a day, by any 

 person, which limit should be about twenty-five. I also favor raising the 

 minimum length to be taken from five to six inches. 



The open season on quail seems to be unsatisfactory in many of the counties 

 of the State, it being claimed that, as a rule, the birds are not fully matured 

 on the first of November. This is certainly true in the southern counties of 

 the state. Possibly there should be a division made in the state and the open 

 season made later in the southern part. Many s'uggest that the season should 

 not open until November 15th, and close December 25th. 



There should be a bag limit on squirrels. Fifteen or twenty of these animals 

 should satisfy even a ' ' game hog ' ' for a day ; s limit. Reports have been received 

 where thirty and even forty of these animals have been killed in a single day 

 by one person. 



Our present law provides that snipe cannot be killed between the first day 

 of March and the fifteenth day of October, following. This was probably an 

 inadvertant mistake, as the law "prior to 1909 made this period the open season. 



Considerable trouble has been experienced by some of the County Courts 

 not fixing a per diem price to be paid parties who are summoned to ex- 

 tinguish forest fiies. Section 52 fixes the price to be paid deputies at $2.00 

 per day, but leaves the matter in the hands of the County Court as to the per 

 diem wages to be paid to those summoned for this purpose. Twenty cents per 

 hour is small compensation for fighting fire and the price should be fixed, which 

 would save much dissatisfaction and make the service better. 



The "Dog Law." 



Chapter 62 of the Code of West Virginia, which relates to fish and game, 

 has embodied therein the provisions of the Statute commonly known as the 

 "dog law," which has no relation whatever to the forest, game and fish law. 

 The intermingling of these laws often leads to the impression that the 

 "dog law" and the "game law'' are one and the same, and it has 

 taken much time to explain to a number of people that it is not the duty of a 

 forest, game and fish warden to look after the various offenses arising under 

 this part of the Statute. 



Whether the dog law be a good or bad thing, it is certainly true that legis- 

 lators who have enacted laws for the proper control of this quadruped, and 



