14 
deemed advisable to provide for the appointment of a maximum of 
eighty Game Protectors, and a bill prepared accordingly was passed 
and approved. This appointive power covers such employees as may 
be appointed Game Protectors and detailed to office duty, officers 
detailed to supervisory positions, and officers in charge of county 
district. Good results will undoubtedly follow this increase of of¬ 
ficers, since we must if possible expend more energy in taking care 
of our native game instead of depending upon restocking with im¬ 
ported birds and animals. 
NEW BOUNTIES AND SYSTEM OF PAYMENT. 
The ^system for the payment of bounties provided for by the Act 
ol 1915 was a very decided improvement, but the delay occasioned 
through the routine necessary before claimants received settlement 
tor their bounty claims resulted in much dissatisfaction. A new 
™ tj bill was prepared and introduced providing for the payment 
of all claims direct from our office, which bill prior to its final passage 
was amended increasing the bounty on the wild cat from six dollars 
to eight dollars, and on the \veasel from one dollar to two dollars. 
Ihis bill as passed and approved provides a very satisfactory system 
and I believe is less susceptible to fraud than any system for the 
payment of bounties in use in America. 
CHANGE OF SEASONS. 
While a number of bills affecting the game seasons were introduced, 
but few minor changes were made. The blackbird season was opened 
one month earlier, on August 1st instead of September 1st; the wood¬ 
cock season was changed to open October 1st instead of October 20th; 
and the red squirrel was taken from the list of game animals en- 
tirely, thus permitting the killing of these squirrels at any time of 
the year. The open season as now provided for woodcock removes a 
heretofore very serious barrier to a synchronous season for small 
upland game, such as ruffed grouse, ring-neck pheasants, quail, squir- 
lels, rabbits, etc., so much desired by fully eighty-five per cent, of the 
small game hunters, and if these sportsmen continue their demands 
oi such season the next Legislature will no doubt provide a season 
tor these birds and animals for the month of November only. Many 
sportsmen in the wild turkey sections of the State believe that the 
turkey season should also be made for the same period, and if our 
turkeys continue increasing as they have during the past four years 
ley could no doubt stand a season of this length and everybody 
would have an equal chance. " 
KILLING DEER OR ELK BY MISTAKE. 
. Under our law as it heretofore prevailed the man who actually 
killed a large game animal by mistake had no incentive other than 
good sportsmanship to impel him to dress and hang up the carcass 
and come in and acknowledge the wrong done and pay his penaltv. 
s a lesult of several cases during the 1918 season considerable senti- 
luent crystallized in favor of returning to a man who made a mistake 
of this kind a portion of the penalty, and the result was the in¬ 
15 
troduction and passage of an act providing that where a man makes 
a mistake and kills an illegal deer or elk, not intentionally or care¬ 
lessly shooting at such animal regardless of its legality, such person 
may come forward within twenty-four hours and acknowledge the 
error made, see to it that the carcass is dressed and hung up, make 
an affidavit giving the details surrounding same, and pay to the De¬ 
partment direct or through officials designated the full penalty. We 
then have an investigation made and if the statement made is found 
correct one-fourth of the penalty will be returned. While a number 
of men who make mistakes will take advantage of this act this season, 
I am confident that when the provisions of the act become generally 
known many honest sportsmen will annually take advantage of same 
to the benefit of themselves as well as the Commonwealth through 
the recovery of the carcasses of many animals that were heretofore 
unfit for food when found. 
ALIENS TO PRESENT NATURALIZATION PAPERS WHEN 
APPLYING FOR LICENSES. 
Since the passage of the Resident Hunter’s License Law in 1913 
unnaturalized foreign-born residents were continuously getting into 
trouble through a belief that if they were issued a license they would 
be entitled to hunt. To safeguard these people in every way possible 
as well as to prevent violations of the Alien Firearms Law those in¬ 
terested had introduced an amendment to the Resident Hunter’s Li¬ 
cense Act requiring officials issuing licenses to give certain specified 
data on the license of all naturalized foreign-born persons. During the 
present hunting season I am pleased to say but few cases have been 
reported where aliens secured licenses, indicating that the officials 
issuing the Hunters’ Licenses were making an effort to comply with 
this Act, to the provisions of which we called their special attention 
immediately after the licenses were distributed. 
* 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
Among the bills of lesser importance affecting our work passed by 
the last Legislature may be mentioned the act denying a division of 
penalties collected from aliens under either the Alien Dog Law or 
the Alien Firearms Law, thus taking away the incentive for the per¬ 
secution rather than the prosecution of these people by unscrupulous 
persons; the act protecting the skunk and the muskrat and provid¬ 
ing an open season from November 16th to the end of February and 
the act extending protection to foxes in Chester and Montgomery 
Counties. This office, however, has nothing to do with the enforce¬ 
ment of the latter two acts mentioned, although information relative 
to same is supplied whenever desired. 
Several meritorious bills affecting sportsmen failed of passage, 
among them being a bill attempting to throw open to the use of the 
sportsmen of the State all wild, unfenced, unimproved land for the 
purpose of hunting and fishing, but apparently the import of a bill 
of this sort was not generally understood and same failed to pass. 
Organized sportsmen are now taking this matter up in the hope of 
educating the people of the State to the necessity for legislation along 
this line in order that the system prevalent in European countries, 
