Aug. io, 1912 
FOREST AND STREAM 
173 
The Florida Situation 
By JOHN H. WALLACE, JR., Commissioner Dept, of Game and Fish, Alabama 
T HE enactment of a model and modern game 
law for the State of Florida is absolutely 
imperative in order to save many of the 
most valuable species of birds and game of that 
State from certain depletion and threatened ex¬ 
tinction. The question of the protection of the 
birds and game in Florida is not a local one, 
but is national in its scope. Birds know no 
State lines, and while practically all the States 
lying to the north of Florida protect migratory 
birds and waterfowl, yet these are recklessly 
slaughtered in that State to such an extent as 
to be appalling to all sportsmen and bird lovers. 
Birds and game are not the property of the 
people of any particular section, but belong to 
the race. They are ours to use, and in doing 
so to take no more than our needs require in 
order that future generations may have trans¬ 
mitted to them the same blessings we are per¬ 
mitted to enjoy as their rightful heritage and 
legitimate benefaction. 
The worst enemy of wild life is the pot¬ 
hunter and game hog. These wholesale slaugh¬ 
terers of game resort to any device and prac¬ 
tice, matter not how murderous, to accomplish 
the pernicious ends of their nefarious campaign 
of relentless extermination of fur and feather. 
They cannot be controlled by local laws, for 
these after having been tried for several genera¬ 
tions have proven consummate failures for the 
reason that local authorities will not enforce the 
provisions of game and bird protective statutes. 
Experience has demonstrated the fact that 
no one desires to inform voluntarily on his 
neighbors, and since breaking the game law is 
not construed to involve moral turpitude, even 
to any infinitessimal degree, by many of our 
citizens, the plunderers of nature’s storehouse 
thus go free, matter not how great the damage 
done to the people as a whole. 
No game law can be a success that is not 
State-wide in its operation. In order to secure 
the best results, a plan should be adopted by 
Florida similar to that in force in practically 
all of the other States, viz.: 
First—The creation of a department of 
game and fish presided over by a State game 
and fish commissioner. 
Second—A game and fish warden for every 
county, to be appointed by the State game and 
fish commissioner, and subject to removal for 
cause or non-performance of duty by the com¬ 
missioner appointing said warden. 
Third—A hunters’ license tax as follows: 
Non-resident, $15; those who hunt outside of 
the voting beat or precinct of residence and on 
lands other than they own or rent, $1; those 
who hunt outside of the county of residence 
and hunt on lands other than they own or rent, 
$3; the said money to be covered into a game 
and fish protection fund to be used for defray¬ 
ing the expenses incident to enforcing the pro¬ 
visions of the game and fish laws. 
Fourth—A closed season on all game birds 
and animals. The killing of wild turkey hens 
and doe (female deer) should at all times be 
prohibited. 
Fifth—It should be unlawful to use any pit- 
fall, deadfall, scaffold, cage, snare, trap, net, 
salt lick, baited hook or baited field, or any other 
similar device or any drug, poisonous chemical 
or explosive for the purpose of injuring, cap¬ 
turing or killing any protected birds or animals. 
Sixth—-A reasonable bag limit for each day 
and season should be prescribed. The sale of 
game should be prohibited. The shipping or 
carrying of game, except openly and in the pos¬ 
session of those who have hunters’ licenses as 
required by law, should be prohibited. 
Seventh — Judges charging grand juries 
should be required to give especially in charge 
the provisions of the game and fish laws, and 
urge diligent inquiry into infractions thereof. 
Under the scheme above outlined, the bur¬ 
den of supporting the department of game and 
fish will fall exclusively upon the hunters, and 
if the Florida sportsmen are like their brothers 
in other portions of the nation, they will gladly 
contribute toward the maintenance of a system 
that will in reality and not in name merely pro¬ 
tect the wild life of their State. 
The farming class, those who reside in 
rural districts, will not be called upon to pay 
a hunters’ license tax unless they hunt outside 
of the limits of their voting precinct, which is 
rarely the case. The hunters residing in towns 
and cities, who own no land, who do not fur¬ 
nish the hunting domain over which game is 
pursued, who do not supply the provender for 
the subsistence of game, must in the very nature 
of things secure a hunters’ license before they 
can legally participate in the sport they enjoy. 
The vast and economic value of birds, game 
and fish to the people is incalculable. Not only 
is sport and recreation furnished by them, but 
they are esteemed everywhere as an elegant 
article of food. So alarming has become the 
decrease of the birds and game of Florida that 
unless a halt is called on the campaign of reck¬ 
less annihilation that has been ceaselessly waged 
in that State, the sport and recreation enjoyed 
by primeval nimrods will linger only in history 
and tradition. 
It is the sincerest hope of all lovers of wild 
life of the American continent that a strong 
and invincible sentiment, relative to the impera¬ 
tive necessity of real conservation legislation, be 
crystallized in the minds of the members elect 
of the Florida Legislature, to the end that the 
next Legislature will spread upon the statute 
hooks of the State of Florida a model and 
modern law for the preservation and protection 
of the birds and game of that State,, which 
when put into practical operation will elicit the 
thanks of all good citizens, and likewise the 
gratitude of future generations. 
Two Hours’ Quail Shootings 
BY JOHN SANDERS. 
On the second day of November, 1909, I 
got the shooting fever so strong that I was com¬ 
pelled to leave until to-morrow something that 
should have been done to-day, get my pup and 
gun and go out and reduce my temperature. 
Tom, as I named him, was only six months 
old when I introduced him to the field and he had 
the misfortune, when four months old, to jump 
into the blades of a mowing machine and have 
his right front foot nearly cut off. Consequently 
he was entirely unbroken when he went afield 
and that on three legs. 
It was 3 p. m. when I left the house and 
started to a point on the river where a covey 
of quail could always be found. Sure enough 
they were right there. The pup made his first 
stand splendidly. I flushed them myself, as I 
always do, and held my fire, as I did not wish 
to excite the dog. They pitched beautifully in 
a narrow strip of sedge on the shore. I patted 
the pup and he thought he was some dog. He 
started in an almost opposite direction, for a 
short distance, before swinging toward the covey. 
I do not like dogs to go directly after birds in 
their training, as they will sometimes chase, if 
allowed to do so. What was my surprise, when 
I stepped almost into the middle of another 
large covey which flushed and went among 
first covey, making about thirty birds in the 
most ideal ground. I waited a few moments 
longer to allow them to settle and then went 
carefully to where I had marked the first birds 
down. Pup stood like a thing of steel, rigid, 
intent and at the same time perfectly steady. 
The next stand was a pair; both flushed at 
once. Well, to make a long story short, when 
I got to the end of the line I had sixteen fine 
birds out of seventeen shots. My ninth bird was 
a cripple, requiring the second barrel to down 
him. Two hours from the time I left the house 
I was back with as many birds as we could use 
and a memory that will never die. I have killed 
many more birds than that in a day’s hunt, to 
my shame, but have never enjoyed a day as 
much as I enjoyed those two hours. 
National Sportsmen’s Show, Kansas City 
Kansas City has been selected for the sec¬ 
ond National Sportsmen’s Show, to be held dur¬ 
ing 1912, the first having been held in Madison 
Square Garden, New York city. 
The Kansas City Show is scheduled for 
Sept. 23 to 29 and the indications are that the 
exhibition will equal any show of this kind ever 
held in the United States. 
Kansas City enjoys the reputation of being 
one of the best show towns in the United States, 
which is ascribed to its central geographical loca¬ 
tion, its large floating population and the enthu¬ 
siasm of its citizens in supporting any enterprise 
the success of which will redound to the credit 
of Kansas City. The show will be held in Con¬ 
vention Hall. 
Entries for exhibits are scheduled to close 
Aug. 25, at which time the program of special 
events and features will be made public. 
All communications or requests for infor¬ 
mation should be addressed to Secretary Na¬ 
tional Sportsmen’s Show, 514 East Fifteenth 
street, Kansas City, Mo. 
