858 
FOREST AND STREAM 
[Nov. 28, 1908. 
Alabama Game and Fish. 
Montgomery, Ala., Nov. 14 .—Editor Forest 
and Stream: I am inclosing you herewith a 
very much abridged copy of the first biennial 
report of the Department of Game and Fish of 
the State of Alabama. 
Permit me to state that under our splendid 
statutes for the preservation and protection of 
the game and fish, most excellent results have 
been achieved and that everything that wears fin, 
fur or feather is rapidly increasing in Alabama. 
The enactment of the statute that made the 
department of game and fish a State depart¬ 
ment, and provided ample laws for the preser¬ 
vation and protection of the game and fish in 
Alabama, was the direct result of a most earnest 
desire on the part of the far-seeing people to 
save from obliteration this valuable asset of our 
fields, forests and streams. 
In the past our people sought to extend some 
degree of protection to their game and fish by 
the enactment of local laws; these statutes dif¬ 
fering in every county as to the open season 
on game birds were never respected and were 
openly and notoriously violated. The cause of 
persistent infractions of the local game laws 
was that there was no specially constituted ser¬ 
vice to enforce these statutes. No one felt 
called upon to prosecute his neighbor, and while 
all agreed that the game and fish should be 
protected, yet these laws were constantly vio¬ 
lated by prominent persons. The people, after 
witnessing the most pronounced failure of these 
statutes, demanded adequate legislation that 
would in reality operate as a protection for their 
game and fish. The resultant effect of this senti¬ 
ment was the enactment of a law that, for com¬ 
pleteness in every detail, has elicited the com¬ 
mendation of the game law experts of the conti¬ 
nent. 
During the year of 1907 a total of 9,297 
hunters’ licenses were issued, specified as fol¬ 
lows: Nonresident, 43; county, 7,540; State, 
1,714. Winston county was the only one of 
Alabama’s sixty-seven counties to issue abso¬ 
lutely no licenses, while Randolph county issued 
only five licenses. 
Jefferson county led as follows: Nonresident 
licenses, o; State, 427; county, 828; total, 1,255. 
Mobile, county came next with a total of 1,061 
licenses, there being issued no nonresident 
licenses, 353 State licenses and 708 county 
licenses. Montgomery county gave a total of 
411 licenses, two being nonresident, 235 State 
and 174 county licenses. 
During the year there were 176 convictions for 
violation of the game laws, while during 1908 
there were 109 convictions, the two furnishing 
a grand total of 285 convictions. 
These convictions are itemized as follows: 
1907—Hunting on the lands of another with¬ 
out permission, 81; trapping wild turkeys, I; 
killing bull bats, 17; hunting without license, 26; 
hunting quail out of season, 9;- shooting ducks 
out of season, 7; killing non-game birds, 11; 
killing squirrels out of season, 3; killing insec¬ 
tivorous birds, 1; killing wild turkey out of 
season, 2; having game birds in possession out 
of season, 2; selling game birds, 2; killing doves 
out of season, 9; robbing quails’ nests, 1; kill¬ 
ing mockingbird, 1; having mockingbird in pos¬ 
session, 1; seining in creek, 2. Total—176. 
1908—Hunting on lands of another without 
written permission, 36; killing mocking bird, 1; 
caging mocking bird, 1; seining, 5; killing wild 
turkey out of season, 5; shooting doves out of 
season, 5; shooting quail out of season, 3; ex¬ 
ceeding bag limit, 1; shooting fish, 2; killing 
ducks out of season, 4; selling game, 5; killing 
robins, 1; fishing on lands of another without 
written permission, 22; hunting without license, 
3; having game in possession out of season, 1; 
poisoning stream, 1; killing insectivorous birds, 
1; dynamiting for fish, 1; killing doe, 2; using 
nets in river, 2; killing deer out of season, 2; 
carrying game on train without permission, 1. 
Grand total, 109. 
Total number of convictions for the years 
1907 and 1908, 285. 
On Sept. 30, 1907, there was a balance on 
hand of $14,440.63. The total expenditures dur¬ 
ing the year of October, 1907, to Sept. 30, 1908, 
were $5,713.01. 
Since the State in its sovereign capacity oc¬ 
cupies the attitude of guardian and custodian 
of the people’s welfare, it is therefore the duty 
of the State by enactment of appropriate legis¬ 
lation. to endeavor to extend adequate protec¬ 
tion to those resources in which the people 
have collectively a natural right. Wise and 
discreet individuals who feel no inclination to 
make assaults on nature’s store-house should 
have their rights protected by the enactment of 
strong laws to restrain the hands of the wanton 
and reckless, whose vandalism would annihilate 
every visible thing of fin, fur or feather, to 
gratify their savage instincts. 
The work of saving the forests of Alabama 
from complete obliteration, which has been 
begun so favorably, should be vigorously 
pushed, even into the remotest section of the 
State, for the happiness, the well-being of the 
people. The destruction of the forests will 
bring floods and likewise drouths; scarcity of 
timber and lumber for building purposes will 
impose hardships unrivaled in their direful 
effects; even now wood for fuel in some sec¬ 
tions of Alabama is becoming alarmingly 
scarce. While we ourselves and our contempo¬ 
raries may never fully realize and appreciate 
the look ahead embraced in the work of this 
commission to save the forests of the State, 
yet future generations will cherish sentiments 
of the profoundest gratitude for our labors to 
guard protect and transmit to them at least a 
share of their birthright. 
Experience has demonstrated the fact that 
deputy game wardens, that is to say, those who 
reside in the various beats, who are by law 
designated ex-officio deputy game and fish 
wardens, fail to take the active interest in en¬ 
forcing the game and fish laws that they should, 
d he county game and fish wardens should be 
given the right to designate a deputy game 
warden in each of the various voting precincts 
in the county, and should receive one-half of all 
fines in the cases of convictions, the other half 
to go to the county game and fish warden. 
Jurisdiction should be conferred on all 
justices of the peace to try and convict under 
the game and fish laws. A person guilty of the 
act of violating this statute, who might live in 
a distant county, would be subjected to a great 
hardship if he were required to return to 
answer the charge of which he should be ac¬ 
cused, at some subsequent term <?f the circuit 
or county court. Justices of the peace will take 
a more active interest in enforcing the game 
and fish laws should they be given a final juris¬ 
diction of offenses under these statutes. 
The improvements suggested would unques¬ 
tionably strengthen the efficiency of the law, 
and its enforcement would be made much 
easier. 
John H. Wallace, Jr., Commissioner. 
My Only Partridge. 
Berlin, N. Y., Nov. 21 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: The year 1905 was a memorable one 
in my life. I passed the fiftieth year mile¬ 
stone, “went back to the soil,” purchased my 
first gun and shot my first partridge. The soil 
I went back to was three-fourths of an acre 
in the valley of the Little Hoosac. The house, 
barn and hen houses covered a considerable 
portion of the plot and one-fourth of it' went 
skyward at such an angle that it was not an 
easy climb to reach a few stunted apple trees 
that were clinging to the slope. 
Oct. 1 found me on the hills with my gun. 
In my youth I had shot squirrels with a bor¬ 
rowed gun, but I had never ventured a shot at 
a flying mark, more than once or twice, when 
I had scared a duck over Lake Ne-ah-tah-wanta, 
in Oswego county. 
Ten minutes’ walk up the hill back of my 
house brought me to a spruce wood, and as I 
entered it, whirr, boom and away went a par¬ 
tridge which was out of sight before I recovered 
from the shock. Other birds rose in the same 
way and each time I was so startled that I could 
not get my gun to my shoulder. 
It was not until the second week that I fired 
my gun—not at a bird, but in the same .county 
with it. I had decided that I would certainly 
pull the trigger when a bird rose. My gun, 
however, was pointing to the ground and the 
charge of shot simply blew away the leaves 
within a few feet of me. 
On the 28th of November I made my first kill. 
I had been told that there were a number of 
partridges in Munson’s Hollow, some of them 
having sought shelter and food in a cow barn. 
It was a bitter cold day, but Tartarin, the hun¬ 
ter, conquered, and I sallied forth. Shortly after 
reaching the hollow I saw a squirrel run into 
an old stub on a hillside and I stood watching 
for him to reappear. Suddenly a partridge rose, 
and open mouthed I watched him disappear. 
Then a second rose and I recovered conscious¬ 
ness. I heard a third scrambling under the 
brush and raised my gun to my shoulder. When 
he rose he flew in the direction taken by the 
others and I fired just as he was disappearing 
behind a spruce tree. I did not see him fall 
and did not intend to climb the hillside, being 
confident that I had made a miss. Soon I heard 
a sound of flapping wings behind the bushes, 
and Hastily scrambling up the bluff, found that 
at last I had been successful. 
Did I try for more? No, indeed. I took the 
bird and started for home as pleased as a boy 
with a new jack-knife. R. S. 
Indian Summer. 
The scarlet leaves lie languid on the hills; 
Stirred from a wondrous dream the wild bees wake; 
The mellow sunlight woos the haze-wrapped rills, 
And mem’ry breathes of spring’s dead sake. 
S. A. White. 
