﻿22 BULLETIN 22, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTUKE. 



OPEN SEASONS. 



All the general open seasons for game prescribed by the various 

 States and by the Provinces of Canada are here brought together in 

 one table. For the sake of simplicity a uniform method is used in 

 both the arrangement of species and statement of seasons. In each 

 case deer and other big game are first considered; then rabbits and 

 squirrels; then upland game birds, such as quail, grouse, pheasants, 

 turkeys, and doves; then shore birds; and finally waterfowl, such as 

 ducks, geese, and swans. In stating the seasons the plan of the Ver- 

 mont law, to include the first date but not the last, has been followed 

 consistently. 1 The Vermont scheme has the advantage of showing 

 readily both the open and close seasons, since either may be obtained 

 by reversing the dates of the other. 



In some States certain days of the week constitute close seasons 

 throughout the time in which killing is permitted. Hunting on Sun- 

 day is prohibited in all of the States and Provinces east of the one 

 hundred and fifth meridian except Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, 

 Texas, Wisconsin, and Quebec. Mondays constitute a close season 

 for waterfowl in Ohio, and locally in Maryland and North Carolina; 

 and other week days for wild fowl in several favorite ducking grounds 

 in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. Hunting is 

 prohibited on election day in Allegany, Baltimore, Cecil, Frederick, 

 and Harford Counties, Md. ; and when snow is on the ground in New 

 Jersey, Delaware, Virginia, and Maryland. The county laws of 

 Maryland and North Carolina, which are too numerous to be included 

 satisfactorily, are not incorporated in the following table, 2 which 

 otherwise may be regarded as a practically complete resume of 

 the regulations now in force. The difficulty of securing absolute 

 accuracy in a table of this kind is very great, and the absence in the 

 laws of many States of express legislation as to the inclusion or 

 exclusion of the date upon which seasons open and close makes 

 exactness almost an impossibility. 



In the following table all dates in black-faced type are in accordance 

 with the proposed regulations for the protection of migratory birds, 

 v/hich do not take effect until October 1 or on approval by the 

 President. As these regulations have not yet been approved, the 

 opening date of the season for 1913 under State laws has been indi- 

 cated. Names of birds in black-faced type indicate in most cases that 

 these species are protected only by the Federal law. Species like the 

 curlew, upland plover, swan, the smaller shore birds, and the wood 

 duck in Zone No. 1, which will be protected for five years under the 

 proposed regulations are not included in the table unless mentioned 

 in the State law. 



All seasons for migratory birds are necessarily 'provisional and subject 

 to change when the regulations take effect. 



. 1 See discussion of this question in Circular No. 43 of the Biological Survey, U. S. Department of Agricul- 

 ture, 1904, entitled "Definitions of the open and close seasons for game." 



2 The county laws of Maryland are shown in Poster No. 28, and those of North Carolina in Poster No. 30, 

 copies of which may be had free on application to the Biological Survey, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



