Harrisburg, Fa., December 1, 1921. 
To Tlie Members of the Board of Game Commissioners, 
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 
Gentlemen:—I beg to submit the following Annual Report 
covering the work of the Department during the past fiscal year, 
and in order that important material may be made available for the 
use of the sportsmen of the Commonwealth, some of the data given 
10 you in the mid-summer report is herein incorporated. 
1 am very much pleased to report that the sportsmen of the 
Commonwealth, and in fact thousands of our citizens who are not 
at all interested in hunting, have taken a far greater interest in 
the work of the Commission during the past year than ever before. 
Through the splendid co-operation of the public press we have been 
able to disseminate a vast amount of useful information on changes 
in the game laws, the necessity for prompt action on the part of 
our people in various matters, such as feeding game, destroying 
vermin,, protecting song and insectivorous birds, etc., and this 
educational propaganda supplementing the work of our held force 
is largely responsible for the greatly improved conditions and ad¬ 
ditional interest taken by our people. While we were seriously 
handicapped in the dissemination of information on game law 
changes because of the printers’ strike, the public press came to our 
rescue and devoted more space to our work than any time previously, 
with the result that Pennsylvanians were generally well informed and 
governed themselves accordingly. 
Through the co-ordination of our held force, the co-operation of 
police officers of other Departments, and above all the increased 
i merest taken by the sportsmen themselves, the laws protecting 
game and wild birds were better observed in Pennsylvania this year 
than ever before. In meeting with sportsmen from all parts of the 
Srate one of the comments universallv heard is that our laws have 
never been so well obeyed as this season. 
NEW LEGISLATION 
As usual, the number of bills introduced in the last Legislature 
affecting sportsmen was quite large. A total of twenty-four (24) 
bills applying to some phase of hunting were introduced in the 
House and three (3) in the Senate. Had it not been for the recom¬ 
mendations sent to the Members of the Legislature and Sportsmen’s 
Organizations by the Game Commission early in January, the num¬ 
ber of bills introduced would have been very much larger. Only 
nine (9) of the House Bills passed finally and were approved by 
the Governor. 
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As a matter of record and information to those who have not 
previously received same, below is given a resume of the laws, af- 
fe, ting sportsmen passed by the 1921 Legislature. By comparing 
the list of new laws with the recommendations of the sportsmen 
endorsed by the Game Commission in the last annual report, it is 
gratifying to note that these recommendations were enacted almost 
verbatim as approved in a compilation sent to the sportsmen of the 
State under date of January 19th, 1921. The changes made by the 
1921 Legislature are: 
1. A uniform season for all small game during the month of 
November only, except woodcock and rabbits. While the great ma¬ 
jority of sportsmen desired the season for woodcock and rabbits 
included with other small game for the month of November only, 
the Legislature, as a compromise, refrained from changing the season 
as it previously applied to woodcock and rabbits. The season on 
raccoons was changed to open October 1st instead of September 1st, 
and close January 31st instead of Hecernber 31st. 
2. Reduced the bag limit on rabbits from ten to five per day, 
and left the season limit at forty; reduced the bag limit on ruffed 
grouse to three per day and fifteen for the season, instead of four 
per day and twenty-four for the season as heretofore; and reduced 
the bag limit on ring-neck pheasants to three per day and six for 
the season, instead of four per day and ten for the season as 
previously. 
3. Changed the law on deer to protect all male deer until they 
have antlers at least four inches long from the top of the skull 
instead of “two inches above the hair” as previously. 
4. Clarified the provisions of Section 21 of the general game 
law fixing the number of large game animals for camps and hunting- 
parties, made proper disposition of animals killed unintentionally 
in excess of the legal limit stipulated, provided for the tagging of 
large game within six hours after killing, and provided that each 
hunting party or camp must keep a roster to show the name, address 
and license numbers of all persons hunting with that party. 
5. Section 22 of the general game law relative to the killing of 
game when destroying crops was re-written to include all provisions 
of the old law relative to killing game when destroying crops and 
clarified same to avoid misunderstanding. 
6. Other changes in the general game law include some stringent 
regulations on the possession of ferrets and their delivery by common 
carriers; changing the propagating license law to permit shipping 
game propagated under license to other States under certain condi¬ 
tions ; extending the protection on elk until 1923; requiring the use of 
single bullets only in killing bears as game the same as previously ap¬ 
plied to deer; and changing the law on dogs chasing game during the 
the close season so that the owners may be prosecuted without first 
giving a written notice, also prohibiting the carrying of certain 
firearms while training dogs during the close season. 
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