334 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Aug. 26, 1911. 
The arm usually carried by these parties is 
a rifle of some sort, although now and then one 
sees a twelve or sixteen-gauge shotgun. The 
.22 is used largely, and of course shooting done 
may not be fatal in some instances. But it 
should be remembered that it is summer when 
such shooting is prosecuted, and all animals and 
birds at this time are very much less wary and 
fearless of man’s approach than they are in 
winter. Rabbits will sit motionless till one gets 
within ten or fifteen feet of them, and quail and 
turkeys will run along the ground in plain sight, 
apparently showing very little fright. At last 
they will stop, and even mediocre marksmen can 
score readily with a .22 ball. Squirrels are also 
shot in this way, though until the last year or 
two we have had no law protecting this animal. 
We have one now, however, the open season 
corresponding with the rabbit season. So it is 
equally unlawful at the present time to shoot 
squirrels. Yet the sport goes merrily on and 
the game protectors sit tight in easy chairs some¬ 
where in the shade, and mayhap talk horse races 
with the neighbors. 
There are several stories going the rounds 
which tend to prove that friends of the war¬ 
dens bask in no dread of official displeasure. It 
is said that game in pretty large lots has been 
shipped illegally out of this county by men 
known to be on friendly terms with our county 
officials. 
Another story is said to relate to a man who 
killed a swan and shot at a deer. This was 
done with one of the aforementioned .22 
rifles, and in each case the shooting was un¬ 
lawful, although the deer was not killed. It was 
largely discussed in this section when the swan 
was killed, yet nothing official came of it. 
Again, it is said that one county official him¬ 
self operates a gill net in the Mattaponi River, 
unlawfully of course, as our fish laws are very 
pronounced in forbidding fishing with nets with¬ 
out licenses. 
Trailing turkeys and deer in the snow is a 
popular sport in this section. This is unlawful, 
and were the game wardens interested in doing 
their duty thoroughly, it should be very easy to 
stop this work. One or two arrests of snow¬ 
hunting turkey shooters would check this abuse 
effectually. And turkey hunting in the snow is 
a process which an officer of the law can prove in 
court with ease. He has simply to walk in the 
woods when snow is on the ground, and if human 
tracks are found following the trail of a bird, 
the warden can follow this until he catches up 
with the hunter. The offender can thus be 
caught literally “with the goods on,” as the law 
forbids the tracking of turkeys in the snow; it 
is not necessary to kill the turkey tracked to 
break the law. 
But tramping around in the snow after illegal 
turkey hunters is work, and it is said that our 
wardens do not enjoy this. If our game com¬ 
missioners anticipate any continued conservation 
of our game, it is time that some concerted ac¬ 
tion leading toward the breeding of respect for 
game laws is undertaken by our force of game 
protectors. If the present number of officia's 
is insufficient successfully to cover the ground, 
additional officers should be recruited, and a 
license assessed upon all shooters to defray the 
expense of protecting the game. 
Though game is not now as plentiful in East¬ 
ern Virginia as it should be, and can be with 
proper protection, there is sufficient now to stock 
all available territory. With only a few sea¬ 
sons of rigorous enforcement of our present 
laws, even if these are entirely inadequate, as 
has been said, Virginia would come again into 
its own as a State affording good shooting. 
There was a time when this State was con¬ 
sidered second to none in the East for fine sport 
with all game from deer to squirrels. Trapping, 
too, has been in the past as good here as in any 
State in the Union. Five years ago* a trapper 
operating eighty traps could catch each winter 
from forty to fifty mink, fifty to sixty raccoon, 
200 to 300 muskrat, five to ten otters, and as 
many skunks and opossums as he cared to 
handle. Game, such as deer, turkeys, pheasants, 
ducks, etc., were also extraordinarily plentiful, 
and anyone with a predilection for outdoor sport 
had an abundance of it right to hand. 
And this country can be made as great a game 
section again. There is just as much waste land, 
marshes, scrubby growth, slashings and old fields 
for the game to inhabit now as there was at 
that time. There is nothing save continued and 
ceaseless slaughter of the animals, to blame for 
this condition of scarcity of wild life. Our 
pheasants and turkeys have been reduced from 
the great flocks which used to roam our hills 
and river valleys to a few scattered individuals 
which luck has aided to elude the entire gamut 
of unlawful as well as lawful modes of hunt¬ 
ing—baiting, snow tracking, shooting off the 
roosts, all have collected their recondite toll of 
turkey deaths, and all of these modes are now 
illegal. Yet they are still used by men who do 
not fear the law, simply because the law has 
proved itself unworthy of gunners’ respect. 
Our deer, too, are gone from their former 
haunts, victims of unlawful hunting—salt licks, 
jacklights, and shooting at every season; aye, 
even does have been shot while nursing fawns. 
It is such things as these which kill off a sec¬ 
tion’s game. It is such things as these, too, 
which game wardens are paid to prevent. But 
do they? Experience has proved that many of 
our game wardens are ceaseless in but one 
thing, and that is a failure to get out and guard 
the things it is their duty to protect. 
We are supposed to have a warden somewhere 
in this vicinity. I have never seen him, how¬ 
ever, and have never heard of his existence 
save once nearly two years ago when several 
negroes were arrested for killing rabbits out of 
season. It is said the offenders were fined $20 
per rabbit. 
For a time thereafter the halo surrounding 
the official heads visibly brightened. A little re¬ 
spect for the game laws began to sprout. Fish¬ 
ermen no longer carried guns on their fishing 
trips and travelers along the highways ceased 
to remind one of an army of invasion. But soon 
the glamour faded. This burst of activity seem¬ 
ingly was merely the terminating display of form 
before the final let-down. To-day as an official 
the game warden is looked upon as a creator 
of amusement. 
So much for our game. The condition of our 
fur supply is even yet more pitiful. As hereto¬ 
fore stated, except in certain counties, we have 
no fur laws. There is no State-wide measure 
dealing with this class of our wild life. In all 
my journeyings along Virginia streams the lack 
of fur signs was most evident. Everywhere, as 
by a scourge of plague, the fur-bearers have 
been swept away. As late as July and as early 
as September I have seen traps setting for mink, 
’coons, otters and muskrats. And one man I 
talked to boasted that he had taken many opos¬ 
sums which had young ones fastened to the teats 
in their pouches. Can we not imagine how 
many young minks, ’coons, muskrats were de¬ 
stroyed by this same party by his taking away 
their mothers at a time when they needed ma¬ 
ternal sustenance? Really, I fail to find in the 
dictionary an adequate name for trappers of this 
stripe. 
And the dens ! All through the low grounds 
one sees legions of trees lying rotting in the 
moss. All of these were once the residences 
of raccoons. Skunks, too, have fared badly at 
the hands of den diggers, even though this sec¬ 
tion has never been a great skunk-producing re¬ 
gion. But with all this destruction of dens our 
fur would have suffered but little had it not 
been for summer trapping. Of course these 
trappers were all working within the law, as we 
unfortunately have no fur law as yet. But 
would it have availed the fur-bearers any if we 
had had laws for their protection, inasmuch as 
our game wardens are seemingly so negligent? 
No, it probably would not have altered mat¬ 
ters. Law is an illusive term. It is a will-’o- 
the-wisp. Respect for law is what we want. Let 
the State Legislature enact uniform game and 
fur laws for the entire State. Then if the pres¬ 
ent force of wardens is insufficient to cover the 
ground allotted, put a license on everybody who 
carries a gun or sets a trap on other property 
but his own, or what he may have rented or 
leased. This fee need not be large. One or two 
dollars per head, with fifteen or twenty dollars 
for out-of-State sportsmen will be enough. This 
would result in the addition of at least $300,000 
to the annual State revenue, as about every man 
and boy in rural Virginia hunts or traps or does 
both. With this sum the State game commis¬ 
sioners could put into the field an army of war¬ 
dens—enough to bring about a rigorous enforce¬ 
ment of the law. And this is all we need. 
Nature, with the fur and game stock now re¬ 
maining, even after all this illegal and distress¬ 
ing killing, would in a few years bring about a 
healthy growth of wild life. 
No, that is not quite all. The above statement 
needs one qualification. We need and must have 
before our game will have a fair chance, a law 
prohibiting the running loose of hunting dogs 
during closed season for any game. 
But unless something of this kind is done, 
unless Virginia experiences some circumstance 
which will cultivate greater respect for our game 
laws, and which will aid the fur-bearers to hold 
their own against the trappers’ inroads, this State 
will soon follow into the gameless condition of 
those States in which there is little or no game 
at all. 
Will Virginia wait until the stolen horse has 
been driven to death before locking the stable 
door? Or will she act at the next session of 
her State Legislature, and thus add a new lease 
of life to her supply of natural wild life? The 
question is important. Virginian, think it over. 
Then get busy with your State Assemblyman. 
Propound your case succinctly but firmly, and 
request him to support any measure meeting 
with your requirements. And tell him that if 
no such bill is introduced, you would like for 
him to prepare and offer one himself. 
