SECOND BIENNIAL STATEMENT 151 



the quail laws of any state provide for a season of immunity 

 after a season of winter-killing? Show me one. 



But there are sportsmen with cheeks of brass who will 

 look you squarely in the eye, and tell you that "since the 

 hard winters kill more quail than the sportsmen do, five- 

 year close seasons are unfair, because the quail can't live 

 here anyhow, and they might as well be shot as left to 

 freeze, or starve to death." 



If anyone can find more decayed ethics than those, we 

 would like to know whence they come, and what they look 

 like. 



The measures that are taken for the prolongation of 

 game shooting, — let us not insult helpless wild animals by 

 saying "protection" of game, — are as follows: 



For game quadrupeds: A limit to the number that may 

 may be killed ("bag limit") ; a restriction to adult male 

 specimens ; observance of close season limits, excluding the 

 birth-and-rearing period; and prohibition of the sale of 

 game. 



For game birds: Shooting only in the non-breeding sea- 

 son ; bag limits ; in two states, no automatic shotguns to be 

 used; in various states, no motor or sail boats are usuable 

 against wild-fowl, nor swivel guns, nor gang shotguns, nor 

 big-bore guns; nor baiting of the birds; nor shooting be- 

 fore sunrise nor after sunset ; nor sale of game. 



In the hunting and killing of mammals, the only limit on 

 weapons is what gamblers call "the blue sky." No other 

 states than Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Massachusetts 

 have any restriction whatsoever upon the weapons with 

 which deer are killed. Pennsylvania and New Jersey bar 

 all automatic rifles; and Massachusetts permits her deer 

 to be killed with shotguns only, — to conserve human life. 



In each and every one of the other 46 states you can hunt 

 big game with anything from a .22 caliber rifle up to a 

 howitzer on wheels. You can use telescope sights, smoke- 

 less powder, cordite, Maxim silencers, — whatever you 

 choose. You are not required by law, or by state codes of 



