Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-08-11
The Game Law.

EDITORS CHRONICLE: In a late
issue of your paper appeared an ar
ticle on the game law which gives
an erroneous impression, at least for
this county and some others ada
cent. The close season for game
birds is not from Feb. LIST to Nov.
1st, as there stated, but from Feb.
1st to Sept. LIST, as will be seen by
the clause below, which we copy
from the digest for 1873. No act of
assembly aOas passed at the last session
altering the Act of 1878 in the par
ticulars mentioned. The clause of
the Act is as follows:
"No person shall hunt, kill or capture in
said counties montgomery, Robertson, Da-
wilson and Maury) from lst of February to
lst of September, any song bird, as the mock
ing bird, thrush, robin and oriole, or any
game bird, as the wild turkey, partridge,
quail, grouse, pheasant, woodcock, Snipe
and lark, or any bird that feeds on insects
which destroy fruit trees, as the sparrow,
cat bird, blue bird and woodpecker. No
person shall at any time destroy the nests
or eggs of any of these birds in the counties
OF Montgomery, &c"
We made an effort at the last ses-
sion Of the Legislature to change
this law in certain particulars, but
for some reason or other it did not
succeed. We wished the open season
for cartridges or quail to extend
from Oct. 1st to March LIST, since it
ic, a ,.oVo fbiDor 70 And no v.4,.; Clcroe, e.
grown before Oct. 1st, and many
covies are too small to shoot as late
as Nov. LIST. No one should be al
lowed to slaughter whole brood of
half grown "cheepers" that are not
fit to eat. Again, we wished the
open season for snipe to extend to
May LIST. The snipe is migra-
tory bird and never breeds here,
hence we should be allowed to shoot
them whenever they pass through !;
this occurs here only in March and
April (and sometimes a few days in
February. AS the law now stands,
we can never bag a snipe law
fully.
All true sportsman, as well as the
owners of the land, are anxious to
have our game birds protected from
indiscriminate slaughter and ex-
termination, and we hope it will
not be long before both of these
classes will unite to put a stop to the
depletion of game now going on.
In every direction traps are used
which destroy whole covies, and in
Vulnerable nests are robbed every
year. Shooting never destroys all
the stock in a country, but it some
times disappears under the attacks
of foxes, traps and field hands. If
the farmers would insist on conform
ity with the game law, prevent their
wOrkmen from trapping and robbing
nests, and require those who shoot
upon their places to leave enough
seed for the next year, there would
soon be a plenty of game for all.
Being myself disciple of Crank
Forester" l can suggest to others the
propriety of leaving portion of the
game killed with the owners of the
land who allow the privilege of
hunting thereon. This is too often
neglected, and when 1 consider the
many inconvenience and dangers
to which people are subjected by
the rowing bands of reckless MINI
rods (some scarcely half grown, l
wonder at the kindness and courtesy
of the landowners.
w. w. L.
P. S.-Dog laws are readily sug-
gested by game laws, so we take
this opportunity to congratulate the
town upon the absence of the usual
attack of hydrophobia, which seizes
upon town councils about thisseason.
Notwithstanding the fact so long de-
monstrated that more dogs go mad
in the Spring and Fall than in Sum-
mer, our city fathers, just to keep
their hands and satisfy their con-
stituents of the necessity for their
existence, get very much heated
during the so-called "dog days" and
go to muzzling or poisoning Zone is
about as fatal as the other) mans
most faithful servant. We hope no
sick dog will put in an appearance
on the street until cold weather, for
the mere sight of such an object is
sufficient to cause this annual fever
to break out with hydrophObic vio-
lence.
GAINESVILLE, August I'd, 1877.