88 



THE GAME BREEDER 



protection is more effective. We enjoy 

 going to North Carolina and shooting and 

 eating partridges and we are glad to see 

 the places where the shooting keeps the 

 partridges abundant. We would much 

 regret to see any "effective protection" 

 in North Carolina if it were so planned 

 as to put an end to the shooting and eat- 

 ing of game. 



As a sample of the variety of enact- 

 ments, Mr. Parker says : 



"We have thirty-six different open seasons 

 on deer, eleven counties having no closed 

 season at all; twenty-seven different open sea- 

 sons on squirrels, forty-eight counties having 

 no closed seasons ; thirty-three different open 

 seasons on quail, one county having no closed 

 season ; twenty-six different open seasons on 

 wild turkey, three counties having no closed 

 seasons, and two no open seasons. Many 

 of these different seasons prevail in counties 

 adjacent to each other, too !" 



Mr. Parker might have added that 

 these laws are often changed and that no 

 one, not even the lawyersy, seems to 

 know or to care what they are. They ap- 

 pear to be a harmless amusement in so 

 far as the game is concerned. The ef- 

 fect of the laws seems to be very good. 

 There is much game. It is significant 

 that the game is more abundant and the 

 shooting is far better than it is in States 

 which for years had more "effective pro- 

 tection" and big appropriations, hundreds 

 of thousands of dollars in fact, to see 

 that the protection be sufficiently effec- 

 tive to put an end to the shooting as well 

 as the eating of game. 



In New York State the protection of 

 quail is very effective. Shooting and 

 eating of quail is prohibited, excepting 

 on Long Island, where fortunately the 

 people are permitted to have the birds in 

 the same way they have them in North 

 Carolina without too much protection. 



Our Ideas of Propriety. 



We observed that possibly we might 

 differ with Mr. Parker as to what would 

 be proper legislation. We believe the 

 laws are excellent in so far as they enable 

 the farmers to get the amount of their 

 taxes on lands and buildings paid by 

 those who wish to take some of the game 

 which they keep very plentiful. That 

 is, of course, if the farmers want the 

 money. We believe it would be improper 



legislation for the State to protect the 

 game so effectively that no one could 

 shoot or eat a bird, because no one would 

 look after the game or pay any taxes for 

 the farmers. No one certainly would 

 visit the State on account of the game. 

 If Mr. Parker wants "proper game legis- 

 lation" of the kind recently put over in 

 Ohio, we certainly differ with him and 

 feel sure his people will regret it if they 

 try it. We helped in getting some of 

 this old style "proper legislation" in Ohio 

 some years ago before we knew better. 

 There were wild turkeys in the State at 

 the time. They became extinct after we 

 secured the "proper legislation" prohibit- 

 ing turkey shooting. Of course it was 

 useless to keep the law prohibiting any 

 one from shooting wild turkeys after the 

 birds vanished. The law was repealed. 

 Recently we had a letter from an Ohio 

 farmer in which he says there are 200 

 wild turkeys on his place and, he adds, 

 "your paper opened my eyes." 



We really think the harmless legisla- 

 tion in North Carolina which does not 

 appear to interfere too much with the 

 people having game if they want to, is 

 better than the kind of laws which the 

 eminent naturalist. Dr. Shufeld, well said 

 tend to "protect the game off the face 

 of the earth." 



North Carolina is a fine State. It has 

 an intelligent and hospitable people. We 

 like to go there, and we are sure the 

 State is far better off than it would be 

 if it had an overdose of "proper legisla- 

 tion." 



A New Shoot. 



One of our Ohio readers who began as 

 a commercial breeder and has this season 

 about 4,000 pheasants and 200 wild tur- 

 keys, writes that he has converted his 

 plant intO' a "shoot" and will discontinue 

 rearing for commercial purposes. 



We are glad to hear this. The prices 

 for live game are so attractive that com- 

 mercial game farms have increased in 

 number even more rapidly than the noisy 

 sanctuaries or shooting preserves. The 

 last named are fully as important and 

 from our point of view far more inter- 

 '^stinsT than the game farms where there 

 is no shooting. The shoots may be relied 



