CHAPTER XXXI
NEW LAWS NEEDED IN THE STATES (Concluded)
NORTH CAROLINA:
The game laws of North Carolina form a droll crazy-quilt of local and state measures, effective and ineffective. In 1909, a total of 77 local game laws were enacted, and only two of state-wide application. During the ten years ending in 1910, a total of 316 game laws were enacted! She sedulously endeavors to protect her quail, which do not migrate, but in Currituck County she persistently maintains the bloodiest slaughter-pen for waterfowl that exists anywhere on the Atlantic Coast. There is no bag limit on waterfowl, and unlimited spring shooting. So far as waterfowl are concerned, conditions could hardly be worse, except by the use of punt guns. Doves, _larks_ and _robins_ are shot and eaten as "game" from November 1 to March 1! Twenty-one counties have local restrictions on the sale of game, but the state at large has only one,--on quail.
The market gunners of Currituck Sound are a scourge and a pest to the wild-fowl life of the Atlantic Coast. For their own money profit, they slaughter by wholesale the birds that annually fly through twenty-two states. It is quite useless to suggest anything to North Carolina in modern game laws. As long as a killable bird remains, she will not stop the slaughter. Her standing reply is "It brings a lot of money into Currituck County; and the people want the money." Even the members of the sportsmen's clubs can shoot wild fowl in Currituck County, quite without limit; and I am told that the privilege often is abused. Quite recently I heard of a member of one of the clubs who shot 164 ducks and geese in two days!
Apparently any suggestions made to North Carolina would not be treated seriously, especially if they would tend really to elevate the sport of game shooting, or better protect the game. There is, however, a melancholy interest attached to the framing of good game laws, whether they ever are likely to be adopted or not. Here is the duty of North Carolina:
Stop the killing of robins, doves and larks for food, absolutely and forever. This measure is necessary to agriculture and to the good name of the state.
Stop the shooting of any game for sale, prohibit the possession of game for sale, and the sale of wild native game.
Establish bag limits on all waterfowl, and on all other game birds and mammals.
Prepare to protect, at an early date, the wild turkey and quail; for soon they will need it. Moreover, enact a law prohibiting the use of automatic and pump guns in hunting, covering the entire state.
Provide a resident-license system and thereby make the game department self-sustaining, and render it possible to employ a salaried State Game Commissioner.
It is quite wrong for the people of North Carolina to hold grudges against northern members of the ducking clubs of Currituck for the passage of the Bayne law. They had nothing whatever to do with it, and I can say this because I was in a position which enabled me to know.
NORTH DAKOTA:
In 1911, this sovereign state enacted a law _prohibiting the use of automobiles_ in hunting wild-fowl; also rifles. North Dakota was the first state to recognize officially the fact that the use of automobiles in hunting is a serious menace to some forms of wild life. Beyond all question, the machines do indeed bring an extra number of birds within reach of the gun! They increase the annual slaughter; and it is right and necessary to prohibit by law their use in hunting game of any kind.
In Putman County, New York, I have seen them in action. A load of three or four gunners is whirled up to a likely mountain-side for ruffed grouse, and presently the banging begins. After an hour or so spent in combing out the birds, the hunters jump in, whirl away in a dust-cloud to another spot two miles away, and "bang-bang-bang" again. After that, a third locality; and so on, covering six or eight times the territory that a man in a buggy, or on foot, could possibly shoot over in the same time!
North Dakota has done well, in the passage of that act. On certain other matters, she is not so sound.
For instance:
The killing of pinnated grouse should be stopped for ten years; and it should be done immediately.
The killing of cranes as "game" should stop, instantly and forever. It is barbarous.
Fifty dead birds in possession at one time is fully thirty too many. The game cannot stand such slaughter!
All shore birds (_Order Limicolae_) should have at least a five-year close season, before they are exterminated.
The use of machine guns in hunting should be stopped, forever.
It is to the credit of the state that antelope are absolutely protected until 1920, and an unlimited close season has been accorded the quail, dove and swan.
OHIO:
I think that Ohio comes the nearest of all the states to being gameless. With but slight exceptions her laws are about as correct as those of most other states, but the desire to "kill" is so strong, and the majority of her gunners are so thoroughly selfish about their "rights" that the game has ruthlessly been swept away _according to law!_ Ohio is a striking example of the deplorable results of _legalized_ slaughter. The spirit of Ohio is like that of North Carolina. Her "sportsmen" will not have an automatic gun law! Oh, no! "Limit the bag, shorten the season, and the gun won't matter!"
To-day, the visible game supply of Ohio does not amount to anything; and when the last game bird of that state falls before the greediest shooter, we shall say, "A gameless state is just what you deserve!"
It is useless to make any suggestions to Ohio. Her shooting Shylocks want the last pound of flesh from wild life, and I think they will get it very soon. Ohio is in the area of barren states. The seed stock has been too thoroughly destroyed to be recuperated. I think that Ohio's last noteworthy exploit in lawmaking for the preservation (!) of her game was in 1904, when she put all her shore birds into the list of killable game, and bravely prohibited the shooting of doves _on the ground!_ Great is Ohio in game conservation!
OKLAHOMA:
For a state so young, the wild-life laws of Oklahoma are in admirable shape; but it is reasonably certain that there, as elsewhere, the game is being killed much faster than it is breeding. The new commonwealth must arouse, and screw up the brakes much tighter.
Recently, an observing friend told me that on a trip of 250 miles westward from Lawton and back again, watching sharply for game all the way, he saw only five pinnated grouse! And this in a good season for "prairie chickens."
Oklahoma must stop all spring shooting.
The prairie chicken must have a ten-year close season, immediately.
Next time, her legislature will pass the automatic gun bill that failed last year only because the session closed too soon for its consideration.
Oklahoma is wise in giving long protection to her quail, and "wild pigeon," and such protection should be made equally effective in the case of the dove. She is wise in rigidly enforcing her law against the exportation of game.
The Wichita National Bison herd, near Cache, now contains forty head of bison, all in good condition. The nucleus herd consisted of fifteen head presented by the New York Zoological Society in 1907.
OREGON:
The results of the efforts that have been made by Oregon to provide special laws for each individual shooter are painful to contemplate. Like North Carolina, Oregon has attempted the impossible task of pleasing everybody, and at the same time protecting her wild life. The two propositions can be blended together about as easily as asphalt and water. The individual shooter desires laws that will permit him to shoot--_when_ he pleases, _where_ he pleases, and _what_ he pleases! If you meet those conditions all over a great state, then it is time to bid farewell to the game; for it surely is doomed.
No, decidedly no! Do not attempt to pass game laws that will "please everybody." The more the game-hogs are _displeased_, the better for the game! The game-hogs form a very small and very insignificant minority of the whole People. Why please one man at the expense of ninety-nine others? The game of a state belongs to The People as a whole, not to the gunners alone. The great, patient,--and sometimes sleepy,--majority has vested rights in it, and it is for it to say how it shall and shall not be killed. Heretofore the gunning minority has been dictating the game laws of America, and the result is--progressive extermination.
First of all, Oregon should bury the pernicious idea of individual and local laws.
She should enact a concise, clearly cut, and thoroughly effective code of wild life laws, just as New York did last winter.
Her game seasons should be uniform in application, all over the state.
Every species of bird, mammal or fish that is threatened with extermination should be given a close season of from five to ten years.
It is now time to protect the white goose and brant. Squirrels, band-tailed pigeons and doves should be perpetually protected.
The State Game Commission should have power to close the shooting seasons on any species of game in any locality, whenever a species is threatened with extinction.
The sale of native wild game, from all sources, should be permanently stopped, by a Bayne law.
The use of automatic, "autoloading" and pump shot guns in hunting should be perpetually barred.
PENNSYLVANIA:
As a game protecting state, Pennsylvania is a close second to New York and Massachusetts. She protects all native game from sale; _she has the courage to prohibit aliens from owning guns; she bars out automatic shot-guns in hunting_; she makes refuges for deer, and feeds her quail in winter, and she permits the killing of no female deer, or fawns with horns less than three inches in length. Her splendid State Game Commission is fighting hard for a hunter's license law, and will win the fight for it at the next session of the legislature (1913).
But there are certain things that Pennsylvania should do:
She should stop all spring shooting. She must stop killing doves, blackbirds, wild turkeys, sandpipers, and all the squirrels save the red squirrel.
She should give all her shore birds a rest of at least five years, for recuperation.
She should enact a comprehensive Dutcher plumage law, stopping the sale of aigrettes.
She should provide a resident license to furnish her Game Commission with adequate funds to carry on its work and exterminate game-killing vermin.
RHODE ISLAND:
Little Rhody needs some good, small bag limits; for now (1912) she has none!
She should enact a Bayne law, a Pennsylvania law against aliens, and a New Jersey law against the automatic and pump guns.
She should stop killing the beautiful wood-duck, and gray squirrel.
She should stop all spring shooting of waterfowl.
SOUTH CAROLINA:
She should save her game while she still has some to save.
First of all, stop spring shooting; secondly, enact a Bayne law.
In the name of mystery, who is there in South Carolina who desires to kill grackles? And why?
And where is the gentleman sportsman who has come down to killing foolish and tame little doves for "sport?" Stop it at once, for the credit of the state.
Enact a dollar resident license law and thus provide adequate funds for game protection.
South Carolina bag limits are all 50 per cent too high; and they should be reduced.
It is strange to see one of the oldest of the states lagging in game protection, far behind such new states as New Mexico and Oklahoma; but South Carolina does lag. It is time for her to consider her position, and reform.
SOUTH DAKOTA:
South Dakota should stop all spring shooting.
Her game-bag limits are really no limits at all! They should be reduced about 66 per cent without a moment's unnecessary delay.
The two year term of the State Warden is too short for effective work. It should be extended to four years.
Unless South Dakota wishes to repeat the folly of such states as Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri and Ohio, she needs to be up and doing. If her people want a gameless state, except for migratory waterfowl, all they need do is to slumber on, and they surely will have it. Why wait until greedy sportsmen have killed the last game bird of the state before seriously taking the matter in hand? In one act, all the shortcomings of the present laws can be corrected.
South Dakota needs no Bayne law, because she prohibits at all times the sale or exportation of all wild game.
TENNESSEE:
In wild life protection, Tennessee has much to do. She made her start late in life, and what she needs to do is to draft with care and enact with cheerful alacrity certain necessary amendments.
We notice that there are open seasons for _blackbirds, robins, doves and squirrels_! It seems incredible; but it is true.
Behold the blackbird as a "game" bird, with a lawful open season from September 1 to January 1. Consider its stately carriage, its rapid flight on the wing, its running and hiding powers when attacked. As a test of marksmanship, as the real thing for the expert wing shot, is it not great? Will not any self-respecting dog be proud to point or retrieve them? And what flesh for the table!
Fancy an able-bodied sportsman going out in a fifty-dollar hunting suit, carrying a fifteen-dollar gun behind a seven-dollar dog, and returning with a glorious bag of twenty-five blackbirds! Or robins! Or doves! Proud indeed, would we be to belong (which we don't) to a club of "sportsmen" who go out shooting blackbirds, and robins, and foolish little doves, as "game!" "Game" indeed, are those birds,--for little lads of seven who do not know better; but not for boys of twelve who have in their veins any inheritance of sporting blood. (I am proud of the fact that at twelve years of age,--and ever so keen to "go hunting,"--I knew without being told that squirrels and doves were not _real_ "game" for real boys.)
The killers of doves, squirrels, blackbirds and robins belong in the same class as the sparrow-and-linnet-killing Italians of Venice, Milan and Turin, and in that company we will leave them.
Tennessee needs:
A resident license system to provide funds for game protection.
A salaried warden force.
A law prohibiting spring shooting of shore birds and waterfowl.
A law protecting robins, doves and other non-game birds not covered by the present statute.
TEXAS:
I remember well when the great battle was fought in Texas by the gallant men and women of the State Audubon Society, to compel the people of Texas to learn the economic value to agriculture and cotton of the insectivorous birds. The name of the splendid Brigadier-General who led the Army of the Defense was Capt. M.B. Davis. That was in 1903.
Since that great fight was won, Texas has been a partly reformed state, at times quite jealous of her bird life; but still she tolerates spring shooting and has not made adequate close seasons for her waterfowl; which is wrong. To-day, the people of Texas do not need to be told that forty-three species of birds feed on the cotton boll weevil; for they know it.
On the whole, and for a southern state, the wild-life laws of Texas are in fairly good shape. On account of the absence of game-scourge markets, a Bayne law is not so imperatively necessary there as in certain other states. All the game of the state is protected from sale.
We do assert, however, that if robins are slaughtered as F.L. Crow, the former Atlantan asserts, all robin shooting should be forever stopped; that the pinnated grouse should be given a seven-year close season, and that doves should be taken off the list of game birds and perpetually protected, both for economic and sentimental reasons, and also because the too weak and confiding dove is not a "game" bird for red-blooded men.
Texas should enact without delay a law providing close seasons for ducks, geese and other waterfowl;
A law prohibiting spring shooting, and
A provision reducing the limit on deer to two bucks a season.
UTAH:
The laws of Utah are far from being up to the requirements of the present hour. One strange thing has happened in Utah.
When I spent a week in Salt Lake City in 1888, and devoted some time to inquiring into game conditions, the laws of the state were very bad. At the mouth of Bear River, ducks were being slaughtered for the markets by the tens of thousands. The cold-blooded, wide open and utterly shameless way in which it was being done, right at the doors of Salt Lake City, was appalling.
At the same time, the law permitted the slaughter of _spotted fawns_. I saw a huge drygoods box filled to the top with the flat skins of slaughtered innocents, _260 in number_, that a rascal had collected and was offering at fifty cents each. In reply to a question as to their use, he said: "I tink de sportsmen like 'em for to make vests oud of." He lived at Rawlins, Wyo.
After a long and somnolent period, during which hundreds of thousands of ducks, geese, brant and other birds had been slaughtered for market at the Bear River shambles and elsewhere, the state awoke sufficiently to abate a portion of the disgrace by passing a bag-limit law (1897).
And then came Nature's punishment upon Utah for that duck slaughter. The ducks of Great Salt Lake became afflicted with a terrible epidemic disease (intestinal coccidiosis) which swept off thousands, and stopped the use of Utah ducks as food! It was a "duck plague," no less. It has prevailed for three years, and has not yet by any means been stamped out. It seems to be due to the fact that countless thousands of ducks have been feeding on the exposed alluvial flats at the mouth of the creek that drains off the _sewage of Salt Lake City_. The conditions are said to be terrible.
To-day, Utah is so nearly destitute of big game that the subject is hardly worthy of mention. Of her upland game birds, only a fraction remains, and as her laws stand to-day, she is destined to become in the near future a gameless state. In a dry region like this, the wild life always hangs on by a slender thread, and it is easy to exterminate it!
Utah should instantly stop the sale of game that she now legally provides for,--twenty-five shore birds and waterfowl per day to private parties!
Deer should be given a ten-year close season, at once. All bag limits should instantly be reduced one-half. The sage grouse, quail, swans, woodcock, dove, and all shore birds should be given a ten-year close season,--and rigidly protected,--before the stock is all gone.
The model law for the protection of non-game birds should be enacted at once.
The absolute protection of elk, antelope and sheep (until 1913) should be extended for twenty years.
Utah should create a big-game preserve, at once.
If Utah proposes to save even a remnant of her wild life for posterity, she must be up and doing.
VERMONT:
In view of all conditions, it must be stated that the game laws of Vermont are, with but slight exceptions, in good condition. It is a pleasure to see that there is no spring shooting; that there is no "open" season of slaughter for the moose, caribou, wood-duck, swan, upland plover, dove or rail; that no buck deer with antlers less than three inches long may be killed; and that there is a law under which damages by deer to growing crops may be assessed and paid for by the county in which they occur. Moreover, if there is to be any killing of game, her bag limits are not extravagant. All the game protected by the state is immune from sale for food purposes, but preserve-reared game may legally be sold. We recommend the following new measures:
Absolute close seasons of five-years' duration for ruffed grouse, quail, woodcock, snipe and all shore birds without a single exception.
The gray squirrel should be perpetually protected,--because he is too beautiful, too companionable and too unfit for food to be killed. Even the hungry savages of the East Indies do not eat squirrels.
Pass an automatic pump-gun law.
Extend the term of the Fish and Game Commissioner to four years.
Vermont's great success in introducing and colonizing deer is both interesting and valuable. Fifty years ago, she had no wild deer, because the species had been practically exterminated. In 1875, thirteen deer were imported from the Adirondacks and set free in the mountains. The increase has been enormous. In 1909 the number of deer killed for the year was about 5,311, which was possible without adversely affecting the herds. It is a striking object-lesson in restoring the white-tailed deer to its own, and it will be found more fully described in