Aug. 26, 1911.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
333 
The Situation in Virginia 
By G. B. BUCHANAN 
D URING the past two years I have com¬ 
pleted some long jaunts along the water¬ 
courses of Virginia. The main reason for 
the tramps was an investigation of farm drain¬ 
age systems, but incidentally some fishing was in¬ 
dulged in, and also, being largely interested in 
game and fur, some time was expended in ac¬ 
quiring insight into the wild life conditions in 
the section. Conversations were held at every 
opportunity with all who displayed the slightest 
interest. In this way much interesting and more 
Hunting and trapping are two delightful sports. 
We have no fault to find with them as sports, 
and when the trapper follows his pursuit with 
due care for a future supply of animals. But it 
stands to reason that with human nature driv¬ 
ing a large portion of the hunters and fur col¬ 
lectors toward a selfish grasping for every mam¬ 
mal and bird and piece of fur which can be 
procured, the sporting side of the process some¬ 
times gets misplaced in the heat of the hunt, 
and in the furore of the trapping expedition 
that animal. It was to find out as nearly 
as possible the personal opinion of a number of 
game and fur men that I taiked to all showing 
the slightest interest in the question. 
Conditions may be different in other regions, 
but in this section of Virginia the grossest dis¬ 
respect for game laws is shown. No one, ex¬ 
cept in very isolated instances, expressed the 
slightest regard for the game commission and 
its supposedly effective laws. Neither have I 
been able to unearth much sentiment in regard 
to the destruction of the increase of female-ani¬ 
mals and birds when same are killed in the 
spring or early summer. It is even said that 
men boast of having killed turkeys and quail on 
the nest, and they brag of the game their loose 
dogs kill when running at large over the fields 
MAKING CAMP ON A NEWFOUNDLAND RIVER. 
From a photograph by Thomas Travis. 
or less valuable knowledge of the popular opin¬ 
ion on this question was obtained. 
There is no problem before the American hun¬ 
ter and trapper to-day more vital than the steady 
and sure depletion of the animal and bird sup¬ 
ply. It is natural that, as the country settles up, 
the timber is cut away and marshes are drained 
to make way for cultivated crops that the wild 
life will be destroyed, or driven further and fur¬ 
ther toward the wilder mountains and more ex¬ 
tensive swamps. This is an indisputable fact. 
But to the minds of those who look to any depth 
in the matter it seems that were this alone the 
annihilatory Nemesis of the game and fur, this 
present country-wide scarcity of wild life would 
not be nearly so pronounced. There would still 
be ample game in those sections which are but 
sparsely settled, or in which there is a good deal 
of waste land which affords harbor for the ani¬ 
mals and birds. 
What then is the reason why our game and 
fur are becoming so scarce? There is only one 
answer—the army of gunners and trappers who 
shoot the game and trap the fur. 
some trappers are prone to forget all about a 
future supply. It is then that the law must step 
in, and in the interests of justice to all put a 
stop to the self-benefiting practices of those 
whose ambitions have been fired by petty self¬ 
partisanship. 
That all laws are frequently broken our im¬ 
mense police and judicial system will easily dis¬ 
close. Naturally, the game laws come in for a 
share of infringement. Perhaps, too, because of 
lax wardens or an ill-formed public opinion in 
many sections this legislative systemi is more 
frequently considered lightly than is the code 
which governs the treatment of what, to the 
average mind, constitutes more grievous offenses 
—criminal acts and those of felonious intent. 
Law, however, is law, and theoretically at 
least the breaker of a game law is equally crimi¬ 
nal with the sneak thief and others whose iniqui¬ 
tous forays result in a loss to society; for that 
is precisely what infringements of the game laws 
lead to—a loss of game to the community, be¬ 
cause every animal killed out of season means 
the destruction of the prospective offspring of 
and woods. When one suggests that this latter 
course in respect to hunting dogs is very much 
out of place, owing to the fact that doubtless 
much game is killed in this way while young 
and defenseless, one is politely advised that 
otherwise the owner would have to spend more 
for dog food. And if the bird-on-nest killing 
rite is condemned, with additional suggestion 
that a game warden might appear, one gets 
laughed at. Our benevolent game officials seem 
to have a known reputation for inefficiency. 
We have some game laws here. It is not a 
perfect system, yet it is still something to stand 
between the destruction of game and greedy 
shooters. Except in certain counties where pure¬ 
ly local regulations are in force, we have no fur 
laws. But the game laws we have are looked 
upon by the populace as merely so much mis¬ 
placed energy. Guns are carried openly by sum¬ 
mer time fishermen and many others, whose per¬ 
ambulations to and from their daily labors lead 
them through farm roads and other byways 
where game may be seen throughout the sum¬ 
mer—and game is killed on sight. 
