20 
is now the case. In view of the ever increasing number of hunters in 
the State, at least eighty-five per cent, of whom are rabbit hunters, 
I do not hesitate to predict that rabbits would not become super¬ 
abundant with a smaller daily bag and a season for November only. 
Should the rabbits not be killed off closely enough during such season 
we could make excellent use of the surplus for stocking purposes. 
In some sections the sportsmen now claim there are sufficient rabbits 
to permit good hunting throughout a season of two or three months, 
but the moment one of our representatives begins making arrange¬ 
ments to trap some rabbits in that section for stocking purposes in 
other parts of the State where badly needed, all kinds of protests 
reach us forthwith. 
Varying hares, commonly known as snow-shoe or jack rabbits, are 
apparently increasing in those portions of the State where they are 
usually found, and many sportsmen annually derive a lot of pleasure 
out of hunting these vari-colored fleet-footed denizens of the forest. 
SQUIRRELS. 
In many sections of the State these animals were more plentiful 
this year than for some time past. In a number of cases they de¬ 
stroyed considerable corn and incited numerous complaints relative 
to the damage they were committing. In sections where we have been 
stocking fox squirrels these animals are apparently doing very well. 
Reports reaching me recently indicate that we have a goodly supply 
of squirrels left over for stocking purposes and with proper feeding 
in sections where natural food is scarce we should have excellent 
squirrel hunting next year. 
WILD TURKEYS. 
We had more wild turkeys when the squirrel season opened this 
year than found in Pennsylvania for at least twenty-five to thirty 
years past, and a number of old turkey hunters informed me person¬ 
ally that they were positive we had more turkeys in the better turkey 
portions of the State than we have had for fifty years. While these 
latter statements may be somewhat exaggerated, I do know of my 
own knowledge that the turkeys have increased wonderfully. In 
many places where we have been stocking wild turkeys I find the 
birds are becoming established and prospects for turkey hunting in 
those sections in future years are very encouraging. In some sections 
the turkeys destroyed considerable buckwheat for nearby farmers 
and to avoid this as well as supply food we have been paying persons 
in position to do so for the sowing of buckwheat and other grains to 
be left for feed for the turkeys and other game birds. We have in 
this way secured very good results. Unfortunately for the law-abid¬ 
ing sportsmen who enjoy wild turkey hunting some unscrupulous 
hunters killed a number of these noble game birds during the squirrel 
season, and while upwards of fifty of these pre-season turkey hunters 
have been successfully prosecuted and compelled to pay a penalty of 
$25.00 each and costs, still many of our best sportsmen are of the 
opinion that but few more, if any, additional turkeys would be 
killed if all small game as well as turkeys were to come in November 
1st and close November 30th, thus giving everybody an equal chance. 
21 
At the time the turkey season was fixed for the last fifteen days of 
November the turkeys needed this additional protection badly be¬ 
cause the season for small game then extended over a period of 
forty-five days throughout. 
RUFFED GROUSE. 
The rest of one season given this, the kind of American game birds, 
was very beneficial in many sections of the State where they had not 
previously been too closely killed off, buff in a number of sections 
where they had been almost exterminated from over-shooting, etc., 
no perceptible increase has been noted. From recent reports, how¬ 
ever, I am confident that because of weather and food conditions 
during the first half of the open season the birds were very much 
scattered, while men who covered the same territory later in the 
season report finding more birds than on their first trip over the 
same ground. From reports covering practically every part of the 
Commonwealth I am satisfied that with a good hatching season next 
year our grouse will again be sufficiently plentiful to supply good 
shooting, although in some sections the sportsmen feel the season 
should again be closed. Whether petitions to this end will be filed 
I am as yet unable to say, but I have been hoping that this periodical 
scarcity of grouse will soon have passed so that the birds may be 
better able to withstand the increased demands upon them because 
of the continuously growing army of wing-shots, good roads, the use 
of automobiles, etc. 
RING-NECK PHEASANTS. 
While' these imported birds can never be expected to take the 
place of the ruffed grouse, commonly called pheasant, still the re¬ 
ports relative to their increase in most sections of the State are 
quite encouraging, and many men who have heretofore hunted ex¬ 
clusively for grouse now spend their time hunting for ring-necks, 
thus relieving the drain on the grouse. I am satisfied that the re¬ 
leasing of the mature birds is far preferable to supplying eggs insofar 
as increasing the number of birds for a given outlay is concerned. I 
do find, however, that through attempting to hatch and rear the 
ring-necks we frequently get persons actively interested in the work 
of the Department that would otherwise take but little or no interest, 
so that the purchase and distribution of eggs in my opinion is a 
judicious expenditure of a portion of the sportsmen’s funds. In the 
latter part of this report you will find a tabulated statement cover¬ 
ing the results from pheasant eggs this year, and next year we will 
be in position to give more complete data on this subject, as blanks 
have been prepared upon which to collect same so we can tell defi¬ 
nitely during what period after hatching most of the chicks are 
lost, etc. From data now in hand it is evident that most of the 
losses occur during the first and second weeks after hatching. One 
of the men who reared the largest percentage of birds hatched took 
the eggs out of a guinea hen’s nest and substituted the ring-neck 
eggs, leaving the guinea fowl rear the birds just as guineas are usually 
reared, with excellent results. Persons attempting to hatch eggs in 
incubators have not met with any worthwhile degree of success. 
