April 20, 1912 
FOREST AND STREAM 
499 
New York Fish and Game Law. 
Albany, N. Y., April 15 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: Governor Dix to-day signed the new 
fish and game law, prepared by a commission 
named by the State Conservation Commission. 
It creates “uniform” seasons throughout the 
State and indirectly transfers from the Legis¬ 
lature to the commission the power to make any 
changes that may be desired in the law in the 
future. It was stated during the hearings on 
the bill that the uniform seasons were secured 
by averaging the various seasons prevailing in 
the sixty-one counties of the State, and so far 
as the fishing seasons are concerned, this has 
been done without any regard for the tempera¬ 
ture of the water or the spawning habits of the 
fish. Vigorous objections were 
made to the bill on the ground 
that it opened to commercial fish¬ 
ing the smaller inland lakes of 
the State, commonly known as 
“summer resort lakes.” 
The new law provides that any 
citizen who is dissatisfied with 
its provisions may file with the 
commission a petition requesting 
that additional protection be given 
to any species of fish or game. 
Within twenty days thereafter 
the commission must give a pub¬ 
lic hearing in the locality or 
county affected, and due notice 
of this must be given in a news¬ 
paper published in the county at 
least ten days before the hearing 
and a copy mailed to the peti¬ 
tioner. This notice must give 
the name and address of the pe¬ 
titioner and a brief statement of 
the grounds on which the appli¬ 
cation is made. If, after such 
hearing, the commission decides 
that the additional protection is 
needed, it may prohibit or regu¬ 
late during the open season there¬ 
for the taking of such species of 
fish or game, either throughout 
the state or in a particular part 
or district. At least thirty days before such 
regulation takes effect, copies of the order must 
be filed in the office of the clerk issuing hunting 
or trapping licenses for the district to which it 
applies, who shall issue a copy to each person 
having such a license, and post a copy in a con¬ 
spicuous place in his office. The commission 
must also publish the order in a newspaper in 
the county to which it applies at least thirty days 
before it shall take effect. Violators of such an 
order are liable to a fine of $100 or thirty days’ 
imprisonment, or both, for each offense, in addi¬ 
tion to the penalties provided for violating the 
close season regulations. 
Open seasons and regulations for fishing and 
hunting are as follows, each date being inclusive: 
fishing. 
Bait minnows for personal use may be taken 
without a license, but must not be taken from 
trout waters. 
Black bass (including Oswego bass)—^June 16 
to Nov. 30. Legal length, 10 inches; catch limit, 
15 a day to one person, or not more than 25 to 
two or more persons angling from the same boat. 
Trout (including speckled, brown, rainbow, 
red throat and brook trout)—May i to Aug. 31. 
Legal length, 6 inches; catch limit, 10 pounds 
a day to one person. Exception: Long Island 
waters, where the open season is April i to 
Aug. 31 for brook trout, and April 16 to Sept. 
30 for rainbow trout. 
Lake trout (including landlocked salmon or 
ouananiche) and whitefish—April i to Sept. 
30. Legal length, trout, 15 inches, whitefish, 12 
inches; Otsego whitefish (known as Otsego 
bass) Jan. i to Oct. 31; catch limit, lake trout, 
ten a day to one person, fifteen to two or more 
persons angling from the boat. There is no 
limit as to the number or quantity of white- 
fish that may be taken. Both species may be 
sold, and in lakes Erie and Ontario they may 
'IF HE S GOING FISHING I WANT TO GO ALONG.” 
Photograph by Miss Carita Lemmon. 
be taken in any number or quantity at any time. 
Pike perch (including wall-eyed pike, called 
also pike and yellow pike)—May i to March i. 
Legal length, 12 inches; no limit as to number 
or quantity, and they may be bought and sold. 
Pickerel and pike (including great Northern 
pike, called also pickerel, pond, chain, grass and 
banded pickerel)—May i to March i. No legal 
length specified; may be taken in any number 
and quantity and bought and sold. Exception: 
St. Lawrence River; legal length, 20 inches; 
only twelve to be taken in a day. 
Sturgeon (including short-nosed, lake and sea) 
—July I to April 30. Legal length, short-nosed, 
20 inches; lake, 30 inches; sea, 4 feet; may be 
taken in any number and quantity and bought 
and sold. 
Mascalonge—June 16 to Dec. 31. Legal length, 
24 inches; may be taken in any number and 
quantity and bought and sold. Fishing through 
the ice prohibited. 
Striped bass—Legal length, 12 inches. May 
be taken at any time in any quantity with line 
or net and bought and sold. 
Smelt (ice fish)—Legal length, 6 inches. May 
be taken in any number or quantity and bought 
or sold. 
Frogs (including bull, green and spring frogs) 
—June I to March 31. May be taken in any 
manner and quantity and bought and sold. 
Regulations—Fishing through the ice in trout 
waters is forbidden. In angling from a boat, but 
■two lines can be used by each person. Private 
hatcheries may sell trout all the year round 
under a permit issued by the commission. Li¬ 
censes may also be issued to breed for market 
purposes elk, deer, pheasants and ducks under 
certain restrictions as to killing and sale. Im¬ 
porters may bring in at any time unplucked 
pheasants of all species, Scotch grouse, Euro¬ 
pean black game, European black plover, Euro¬ 
pean red-legged partridge, Egyptian quail and 
the carcasses of European red 
deer, fallow deer and roebuck, 
under restrictions imposed by the 
commission. 
HUNTING, OPEN SEASON, DATES 
BOTH INCLUSIVE. 
The hunting license is retained 
and a trapping license added for 
non-residents at $1050 a season. 
Deer (wild deer having horns 
not less than three inches long) — 
Oct. I to Nov. I, in Clinton, Es¬ 
sex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, 
Herkimer, J e ff e r s o n, Lewis, 
Oneida, Oswego, Saratoga, St. 
Lawrence, Warren and Washing¬ 
ton counties. Exception: All that 
part of Oneida, Lewis and Jeffer¬ 
son counties lying west of the 
Utica and Black River railroad 
from Utica to Ogdensburg. Only 
two may be taken in a season and 
one transported by the actual 
owner. Further exceptions: 
Ulster county, Sullivan county 
(towns of Neversink, Cochecton, 
Tusten, Highland, Lumberland, 
Forestburg and Bethel, and all 
that section of the towns . of 
Namakating and Thompson lying 
south of the Newburgh and 
Cochecton turnpike). Orange county (town of 
Deerpike)—Nov. i to Nov. 15. 
Wild moose, elk, caribou—No open season. 
Squirrels (black and gray)—Sept. 16 to Oct. 
31. Exception: Long Island, Nov. i to Dec. 
31. Bag limit, five a day. Must not be killed 
in cities or villages. 
Hares and rabbits—Varying hares, Nov. i to 
Jan. 31; cottontails, Oct. i to Dec. 31; bag limit, 
six a day. They may be bought and sold. Fer¬ 
rets must not be used except where the animals 
are injuring property. 
Beaver—No open season.* 
Mink, raccoon, sable—Nov. i to March i. ?vlay 
be taken in any manner. 
Skunk—Nov. i to Jan. 31. May be taken in 
any manner except by digging out, and at other 
times if injuring property. A license to propa¬ 
gate for sale may be issued by the commission. 
Muskrat—Nov. 10 to April i. May be taken 
in any manner. 
*Sec. 158 authorizes the Commission, in case any species 
of bird or quadruped, at any time or in any locality, be¬ 
comes destructive of private or public property, to give a 
four months’ oermit to any citizen or protector to take 
and dispose of the same as the Commission may direct. 
