THE GAME^BREE^ER 



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sympathetic with all economic and wel- 

 fare problems. He possessed a rare vein 

 of wit arid humor, which fairly sparkled 

 at times in his conversation and writings. 

 He formed and maintained warm friend- 

 ships with a large circle of acquaintances. 

 Members of the Game Conservation 

 Society who attended the last annual 

 meeting and game dinner will remem- 

 ber Mr. Hill as the presiding officer. 

 The cause of practical game conserva- 

 tion has suffered a great loss in the 

 death of Arthur A. Hill. He lived to 

 see the triumph of the movement in which 

 we all are interested and said that only 

 the details remained to be worked out. 



CLOSED SEASONS. 



The recent disaster in Ohio, when the 

 quail was placed on the song bird list 

 and shooting was prohibited forever, 

 should be a warning to game protective 

 associations that if they put in most of 

 their time seeking new laws every sea- 

 son field sports are likely to come to an 

 end. 



Quail shooting and grouse shooting 

 will go first, since the lands where these 

 birds should be produced are owned by 

 farmers, to a large extent, and the far- 

 mers seem willing to aid those who wish 

 to prohibit shooting. 



In Ohio, where the' claim is made that 

 the intention was only to prohibit quail 

 shooting for an additional term of five 

 years, the fact remains that the best 

 shooting in the state has been ended 

 forever, unless the Game Conservation 

 Society shall succeed in having the law 

 repealed or at least to have quail breed- 

 ing for sport and for food made legal. 



In some states quail shooting has been 

 prohibited for many years. In many 

 states grouse shooting is prohibited and, 

 since the grouse are vanishing this sport 

 also has ended. In Pennsylvania some 

 sportsmen wish to try a closed season on 

 woodcock which, no doubt, can be ex- 

 tended for periods of five and ten years 

 or until the present race of bird dogs 

 becomes extinct and it will not be worth 

 while to own setters or pointers. 



The local Game Protective Associa- 

 tion which will reorganize as a game- 



shooting club with small dues and which 

 will rent the shooting on a large ;num- 

 ber of farms where there is little or 

 no game and which, for the most part, 

 are posted against trespassers soon. will 

 produce splendid sport for its members, 

 and since the boundai^ will be large and 

 game overflows the quail and grouse soon 

 will be. found in stubbles where for very 

 good and scientific reasons no birds are 

 seen today. 



The quail clubs of Long Island, N. 

 Y., quite near the large city which con- 

 tains about one-twentieth of the entire 

 population of the United States, recently 

 defeated the mischief makers who at- 

 tempted to close quail shooting. With 

 very small dues the clubs keep up some 

 very good shooting, not only for them- 

 selves but also for the people who do 

 nothing to preserve game. 



Coming to New York from the west, 

 some years ago, we were surprised to 

 find we could go out and shoot within 

 a few miles of the city. The shooting be- 

 ing fair near the clubs, where the dues 

 are $15 or $20, and better, of course, 

 within the areas where the birds are 

 properly looked after. Since many pre- 

 fer the exciting sport of procuring new 

 game laws every season and contrib- 

 ute liberally to this, there is an abun- 

 dance of land suitable for game and good 

 shooting for all those who prefer shoot- 

 ing. The game protective associations 

 can count safely on the prohibition of 

 quail and grouse shooting or they can 

 reorganize and provide for excellent sport 

 for all hands. The turning down of a 

 few tame pheasants by state game depart- 

 ments most of which, as all naturalists 

 know, are easy marks for hawks and 

 other vermin is not a satisfactory sub- 

 stitute (even when we are permitted to 

 take three cock birds in a season) for 

 the shooting of scores of quail and grouse 

 in a day. We observe the activities 

 of the new protective organizations in 

 the west which can only hope to do what 

 has been done in other states and we re- 

 gret to see the necessity for the prac- 

 tical prohibition of shooting of native 

 game and the substitution of a very lim- 

 ited number of tame political pheasants. 



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