Feb. n, 1911.] 
Prohibiting the sale of all protected game, 
including water fowl, or the export of the same 
from the State all the year, excepting in the 
case of non-resident licensees. 
Amending Section 24, Act of 1903, by striking 
out provision contained therein in reference to 
dogs and deer. 
Fixing the salary of the wardens at $75 per 
month, and the salary of the protector at $1,800 
per annum, and providing for an assistant pro¬ 
tector at $1,200 per annum. 
Permitting battery shooting on Tuesdays and 
Fridays, the owner of each battery paying a 
license fee of $10 each year, from January 1 to 
December 31. 
Prohibiting the use of any gun. over ten-gauge 
under penalty of $100. 
Fixing the cost of non-resident license at five 
dollars to residents of States where the non¬ 
resident license is five dollars. 
1 he Audubon Law. Providing that no person 
shall kill or catch or have in his or her pos¬ 
session, living or dead, any wild bird other than 
a game bird, or purchase, offer or expose for 
sale any such wild bird after it has been killed 
or caught, and no part of the plumage, skin 
or body of such wild birds that are protected by 
law and not game birds, shall be sold or had in 
possession for sale. 
Fixing a bag limit of twenty-five a day on 
trout. 
Prohibiting the taking of bluefish under 
twelve inches in length. 
Providing that striped bass shall be regarded 
as game fish, and for a period of five years 
shall be taken only with hook and line. 
Fixing the season for crappie, calico bass, 
black bass, pike, white and yellow perch, white 
bass and pickerel from June 15 to Nov. 30, in 
fresh waters, and for white perch in salt waters. 
Abolish netting fish under ice in salt waters. 
Stop all netting in salt waters during May 
and June, excepting fykes. 
Providing for a fish hatchery for trout, black 
bass, etc. 
Providing that fines in fish and game cases 
shall be paid to the Fish and Game Commis¬ 
sion for the use of the Commission. 
Providing for a rod license in fresh waters 
for non-residents. 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
Vermont Fish and Game. 
217 
Canadian Non-Enforcement of Law. 
Milton, Ont., Jan. 30.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: On account of the continued scarcity 
of ruffed grouse and black and gray squirrels in 
this (Halton) county, a number of sportsmen 
petitioned the county council last year to me¬ 
morialize the Government of the Province of 
Ontario to issue an order-in-council prohibiting 
the killing of birds and squirrels for three years. 
1 he council took action and the order-in-council 
was issued. 
It is possible that on account of it a few birds 
and squirrels have been spared, but it is certain 
that many were killed, and there was not a single 
prosecution. There are salaried game inspec¬ 
tors in the county appointed by the Government, 
but evidently they have neglected their duties! 
O. T. 
All the game laws of the United States and 
Canada, revised to date and now in force, are 
given in the Game Laws in Brief. See adv. 
Bennington, Vt, Feb. 6 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: The Vermont Legislature has ad¬ 
journed at last after one of the longest and 
most protracted -sessions in the history of 
the State. We may now look complacently 
over the battlefield and see what has been won 
and lost. The real fighting advocates of fish 
and game protection are well satisfied with the 
general results, for, whereas, not many general 
measures of protection have been enacted, 
nevertheless no backward step has been taken. 
The new trout law seems to attract the most 
interest and the deer problem seems to have 
been wisely solved. 1 he open season for trout 
has now been fixed from April 15 to August 1 
in streams and brooks, and from May 1 to Sep¬ 
tember 1 in ponds and lakes. 
1 he open season for deer is from November 
T 5 to November 25, both dates inclusive, Sun¬ 
days excepted. The does are protected, and 
only bucks with horns at least three inches 
long may be taken by legitimate still-hunting. 
Hounds are not permitted to be taken in the 
forests during the open season for deer. Under 
the provisions of another measure, landowners 
who have been damaged by deer are permitted 
to kill the same, but are not allowed to retain 
the carcasses. 
All the fur-bearing animals of the State are 
now protected until they are prime. Marten, 
mink, raccoon and fisher are protected from 
March 15 to October 15; muskrat from April 1 
to October 15; fox and skunk from September 
15 to October 15. 
Rabbits and hares are protected from March 
1 to September 15. A bag limit of not more 
than six rabbits to a single hunter in one day 
has been established, while the use or posses¬ 
sion of ferrets has been forbidden. Also, it has 
been made unlawful to set, prepare or expose 
any salt-lick or other bait for the purpose of 
enticing deer or other protected game. 
The warden system has been greatly strength¬ 
ened by allowing the commissioner to appoint 
fourteen county wardens who will serve on a 
salary of not more than $75 per month, thus 
doing away with the per diem plan for county 
wardens. Besides this, quite a number of other 
measures have passed to give the commissioner 
more power to systematize the warden service 
and get better results in enforcing the laws. 
Two acts have gone through paying bounties 
of $10 on black bears and thirty cents on porcu¬ 
pines, or hedgehogs,' as they are called here. 
Seining is to be allowed in Lake Champlain 
by residents of the State from Oct. 15 to Dec. 
1, under licenses granted by the commissioner. 
Absolute protection has been removed on 
otter and these animals may now be taken from 
November 1 to March 1. The non-resident fee 
for hunting licenses has been reduced from $15 
to $10. Various local laws have been passed 
protecting muskrats, and preventing the pollu¬ 
tion of different streams and ponds. Persons 
who post their land against hunting deer are 
not to be allowed any reimbursement for dam¬ 
age to their crops by deer. As to game birds, 
upland plover are protected until 1915, wood- 
duck until 1916, and quail until 1911. 
The above, I believe, sums up in brief all 
the changes which were made in our fish and 
game laws, but as for the bills introduced, it 
would require several columns to report them. 
Our laws needed very little changing at this 
time and the principal fight of the real protec¬ 
tionists consisted in, preventing measures of ex¬ 
termination from getting on our statute books. 
One watching the work of the Legislature was 
forcibly reminded from time to time of the de¬ 
sire of numerous members to “let down the 
bars. ’ ^ An enthusiastic member remarked to 
me: Why don’t these men who are intro¬ 
ducing insidious measures to destroy the fish 
and game come out in the open and put in a 
bill to repeal all the game laws and be done 
with it, instead of claiming to be protectionists 
and introducing bills to exterminate every¬ 
thing.” To which we answer: “Amea” 
All of the members of the joint standing 
committee on fish and game seemed to have the 
best interests of protection and preservation in 
mind and worked for that result, but it is no 
disparagement to other members to call especial 
attention to the efforts of the chairman of the 
house committee. This place was filled by Col. 
Franklin S. Billings, the member from Wood- 
stock. Col. Billings is a member of the Boone 
and Crockett Club, of New York, and was well 
grounded in the principles of fish and game 
protection before he came to the Legislature. 
He was fighting for good laws all the time and 
his efforts are indefatigable. He kept the fun¬ 
damental principles of preservation constantly 
m vie w and consistently fought and defeated 
every measure of extermination. Enacting laws 
to please selfish constituents had no part in his 
plans. He was the mainstay and hope of all 
the true believers in the cause and never once 
did he fail us or compromise with the enemy. 
He is a public-spirited man in every sense of 
the word, and his whole course during the pres¬ 
ent session has been one of which he may well 
be proud. The State at large, and especially 
the fish and game advocates, owe him a debt 
of gratitude which will be difficult to pay. Cer¬ 
tainly he will not be forgotten and you are sure 
to hear of him in public life. Col. Billings is 
the type of man the country is looking forward 
to at this time. He is progressive and aggress¬ 
ive. If he thought a measure was not for the 
best interests of the State, he would say so at 
once and fight it hard. Not only has he made 
a fine record in fish and game legislation, but 
he was equally energetic for other measures 
tending to the good of the whole State. 
lo sum up then, we may say Vermont has 
taken another step forward in the matter of 
conservation of our supply of fish and game 
and we may now be well recognized as one of 
the advanced States in this cause. We are 
gradually going forward in spite of efforts made 
to the contrary, and if the advocates will only 
present a united front and work in harmony 
nothing can prevent us from taking the lead. 
Harry Chase. 
Midwinter Vipers. 
The singular mildness of the last month was 
strikingly illustrated in the killing of a large 
viper at Christmas on a Dartmoor farm, a 
thousand feet above the sea, by a lady. 
The reptile was copper colored, and some 
naturalists contend that there is more than one 
variety of British viper, a reddish kind being 
peculiarly venomous.—Westminster Gazette. 
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