182 



RECREATION. 



age of game, allowing none to be kept when 

 it is unlawful to kill. 



Some of the States allow only short open 

 seasons for killing, but permit game to be 

 kept in storage out of season, provided it 

 was not killed in that State. In other words 

 bring in all you can, but do not kill ours. 

 This is a queer proposition. 



In May last, we succeeded in securing the 

 passage of a bill, by the Legislature, which 

 remodeled the game laws in Virginia, and 

 gave us a satisfactory statute. The pas- 

 sage of a bill making such radical changes, 

 fixing uniform seasons,' providing for game 

 wardens, non-resident hunting licenses and 

 anti-shipping features, as well as other im- 

 portant provisions, when heretofore these 

 restrictions were unknown, was found to be 

 a tough proposition, but energy and persis- 

 tence succeeded. 



The season for quails, turkeys and ruffed 

 grouse was made uniform, from November 

 ist to December 31st, West of the Blue 

 Ridge mountains. East of the Blue Ridge, 

 from November ist to February ist. The 

 deer season for the State was fixed from 

 October ist to January ist, with closed 

 seasons on other game, as well as prohibit- 

 ing all hunting on Sunday, or the shoot- 

 ing of any game later than a half hour 

 after sunset, or earlier than a half hour 

 before sunrise, thus protecting the wild 

 turkey on his roost and waterfowl at night. 

 The non-resident license tax is $10. The 

 non-resident is prohibited from shipping 

 game from the State, but may carry 50 

 quails or 30 waterfowl out with him if 

 exposed to view. 



The fees collected from non-resident li- 

 censes are divided among the several war- 

 dens in the county in which they are taken 

 out. Formerly there were no wardens in 

 the State, consequently no one to enforce 

 even such laws as we had. 



There is a spirit of unrest in some sec- 

 tions, chiefly the result of prosecutions. The 

 market hunter is the most noisy. Not being 

 able to ship game out of the State, he ex- 

 periences difficulty in disposing of his kill 

 at the local markets. 



There is general satisfaction among 

 sportsmen with this one season's experience. 

 It takes a little time, you know, to har- 

 monize differences, and to get the machin- 

 ery in good working order, especially where 

 everything is new. Only after experience 

 shall we realize the wisdom of our laws, 

 and to do this, we must educate all classes. 

 While this is a slow process we shall surely 

 succeed. 



Dogs are objects of special attention at 

 this time and a head tax has rid the coun- 

 try of a great number of worthless curs. 



A bill is now pending in the Legislature 

 to prevent dogs running at large during 

 closed season, unaccompanied, I #n &•» 



formed this bill is gaining favor daily. You 

 readily understand the great advantage 

 such a law would be to game protection, as 

 thousands of birds and eggs, as well as ani- 

 mals, are now destroyed, not only by the 

 worthless cur, but by good hunting dogs 

 which are allowed to run at large in the 

 breeding season. 



The impression among some of the coun- 

 try people is that the League is behind all 

 game legislation, therefore the farmers are 

 prejudiced against the town man with a 

 gun. There is good cause for this in some 

 cases, but the farmer realizes that he has 

 a source of revenue in the hunting privi- 

 leges on his lands. Large tracts are being 

 rented or bought for game preserves, and 

 the man who roamed at will, now has to 

 pick his path. Who can blame the farmer? 

 R. G. Bickford, Chief Warden. 



TEXAS DIVISION. 



The present wholesome laws for the pro- 

 tection of game in this State are largely 

 the result of the vigorous crusade of the 

 official organ of the League against game 

 destruction. Without this and the mem- 

 bers of the League in the State we could 

 not have made such great progress. 



We now have one of the best laws yet 

 enacted in any State. The sale of game is 

 absolutely prohibited. As a result there 

 has not been much shooting the past open 

 season. Instead of 60,000 ducks and geese 

 being killed at Corpus Christi, as hereto- 

 fore, only 5, 000 or 6,000 were killed. This 

 is only one-tenth of the usual number. Few 

 deer have been killed during the past sea- 

 son. This is also due to our having stopped 

 the sale of game. 



I glory in your championship of the cause 

 of game. You have conferred lasting bene- 

 fit upon every State in the Union, and es- 

 pecially on this State. 



S. W. Stanrield, Chief Warden, 



CONNECTICUT DIVISION. 

 The Connecticut Division has had a suc- 

 cessful year in that it has been the means 

 of continuing on the statute books the 2 

 most important laws in respect to the pro- 

 tection of our upland game birds, namely, 

 prohibition of the snaring of grouse and of 

 the sale of grouse, woodcock and quail at 

 all times. We took a step backward when 

 we added one month to our spring duck 

 shooting season, but the sentiment in favor 

 of our proposed change was too strong for 

 us this year, and rather than imperil the 2 

 foregoing provisions we had to yield that 

 point. The upland birds being in greater 

 need of protection, we. are satisfied with 

 our laws at present. At the next session 

 we hope to re-enact the short season on 

 ducks and other water fowl. 



F. P. Sherwood, Chief Warden. 



