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RECREATION. 



the sport enjoyed, the obstacles and incon- 

 veniences met with, the successful means 

 resorted to for obtaining fish and game, 

 who your comrades were and whether or 

 not they proved of the right metal. There 

 may have been one or 2 of that class who 

 are always ready with suggestions of all 

 sorts, but hardly ever attend to their share 

 of the work. Such are a drawback to a 

 harmonious and jolly circle; they would 

 better be left at home. 



SOME SOUTHERN NEEDS. 



The people of the Southern States seem 

 to lack true sporting instincts. This is a 

 hard thing for a Southerner to say, but I 

 can show the justice of it. I am Southern, 

 almost to' a prejudice, so when I say the 

 South needs true sportsmen, I am lament- 

 ing, not scolding. 



To begin with the scattered gun clubs, 

 have they any positive laws ? Do they de- 

 fend the game? Do they try to induce bet- 

 ter legislation? Not often. I know of 

 cases in which clubs paid for an option on 

 land, baited the land, and then permitted the 

 members to slaughter migratory birds. This 

 is as bad as trapping. To systematically 

 feed doves and then take advantage of their 

 natural gentleness and trust is little short 

 of murder. Doves are out of the list of 

 game birds any way. 



Another proof the lack of interest among 

 Southern sportsmen is the lack of unity. 

 Let the clubs send delegates to the meet- 

 ings of the L. A. S. This will give them 

 ideas of how to control the situation. It 

 will show how deplorable the actual condi- 

 tion is. The various clubs are at odds with 

 one another ; only a select few members be- 

 long to each, and thus we have no power to 

 influence our legislators. We have good 

 laws, but they are not enforced. We need 

 unity to induce our lawmakers to give bet- 

 ter laws, to supersede the antebellum laws 

 that are nearly forgotten. The L. A. S. 

 has this unity. It is an American associa- 

 tion, and the South can enter into it as 

 freely as her men enter American markets. 

 The South is as truly American as the 

 North. Why should we see our game go 

 unprotected, while our Northern brothers 

 nre doing so much? 



I am not a sportsman myself, but I have 

 spent 15 years in observing conditions. I 

 am a devoted lover of nature, and have had 

 opportunities of seeing what exists. Game 

 is rapidly decreasing, fishes are harder to 

 find. As long as pot' hunters and men who 

 dynamite fishes go unpunished diminution 

 will continue. Action is required at once. 



We need some new laws, but still more 

 we need enforcement of the laws. Most of 

 the Southern States have excellent laws, 

 made by our fathers, but they are not en- 

 forced. The negroes know that it is illegal 



to trap quails or to dynamite fishes, but 

 they realize the indifference of the authori- 

 ties and seldom hesitate to break the laws. 

 Our Legislatures claim that more impor- 

 tant matters come first ; our business men 

 claim that their cotton, corn or mercantile 

 business comes first in their consideration ; 

 but no excuse can cover this inaction. 

 Sheriffs are expected to arrest felons ; offi- 

 cers are required to enforce the laws. If 

 the laws say not to kill certain animals in 

 certain seasons, he who does it is a fe 1 on, 

 and punishable under the law. The officer 

 who winks at this is inefficient. Remove him. 



Not important ! Can any man look him- 

 self in the face and say this ? Our natural- 

 ists tells us how birds and animals act as 

 scavengers on filth and on injurious in- 

 sects. Have our Southern men and women 

 forgotten that refinement which once char- 

 acterized them ? No country is complete 

 without its birds, animals and fishes. When 

 we see 'only tame fowls, cattle and sheep, 

 pet fishes or those raised like stock, we have 

 indeed lost the spice and beauty that once 

 made America famous. Give us laws ; pro- 

 tect our game birds, animals and fishes. 

 Do not say "tomorrow," but act today. 



Who is to awaken the interest of the 

 South ? Our master minds are eager to de- 

 velop the country in a financial way; are 

 too busy to look down and see the game 

 being destroyed. Our lumbermen are heed- 

 less, our farmers careless, our merchants 

 indifferent, our mechanics too busy build- 

 ing towns, and everything seems to say, 

 "Business today, game laws tomorrow." 

 Tomorrow will be too late. 



T. H. W., Kyle, W. Va. 



Your statement of the situation in the 

 South regarding game protection is most 

 interesting. I am surprised to find, on ex- 

 amining our records, that you are not a 

 member of the L. A. S. It is strange that 

 so many friends of game protection all over 

 the country urge this League to protect 

 their game, and yet decline to put up $1 

 a year each to aid in its work. A man who 

 feels the interest you evidently do in the 

 cause of game protection, should not only 

 be a member of the League himself, but he 

 should be working diligently among his 

 friends and neighbors to get them to join. 

 I am always glad to use my influence and 

 that of the League in bringing about needed 

 reforms, and we have accomplished more 

 in this line than any other organization ever 

 did. We could, however, have done 10 

 times as much in the time we have been at 

 work if all the sportsmen in the country 

 had done their duty toward us. We should 

 have had 100,000 members now, instead of 

 9,000 as we have. Are you not willing to do 

 some missionary work among your neigh- 

 bors ? — Editor, 



