Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1894-05-17
Protect our Fish and Game.

There seems to be disposition ON the
part of many people to wink at any viola
ton Of the fish and game laws of Vermont,
and to regard the matter one of trivial
Importance. 1t seems to us that this is
very short-sightcd policy, and one that indi-
Gates want of thought as well as lack of
public spirit and a Just consideration of the
public welfare.
The present fish and game laws were en-
acted for the purpose Of allowing the vari
Gus species Of fish ard game to be found in
Vermont to increase until our forests and
streams should be populated with something
of their primitive abundance, as well as to
provide for the propagation Of new varieties
which have been found desirable Our game
in particular has become so depleted that a
few assiduous sportsmen could in a COM
paratvely short time clean our. hills and
dales of the last vestige of this sort of at
traction.
Some INSCRIPTIONS game hunters may
feel that their rights are infringed upon by
the enforcement of the fish and game laws
but it is simply a repetition of the old story,
Of killing the goose that laid the golden egg.
To make the killing of deer legal for in
stance would be simply to allow half n
dozen men or so to secure game now and
deprive hundreds from the privilege of en-
gaglng in the same kind of hunting later on
when these beautiful denizens of the forest
would have multiplied sufficiently so that
there would be no danger of the species be
coming extinct The same thing is true of
other gamo as well as of fish.
The closed season for various kinds Of fish
was changed 10y the last Legislature, and
various concessions were made to fishermen
it is now unlawful to catch black bass be
tween January 1 and June II in any veal
or to catch wall-eyed pike or pike-perch
white perch or muscalonge in any of tn,
waters of this State except Lake Champlain
between April 10 and June Is. 1t is alsc
unlawful to catch trout, land-locked salmon
salmon trout or longe in any waters of tn,
State between September and May fol
lowing, the penalty being so for each fist
caught or possessed
But even fish above the lengths prescribed
by the law as the limit, can not be saugh
tered by the wholesale during the open sea
son. According to section 26, Of No 50
the codi.ed fish and game laws of 1892: ~
person found on any Of the waters of thi
State, or the shores thereof in the possession
Of n net, flsh-trap, spear. jack light, gun o
other instrument, or device, with the iuten
to use the same contrary to law, for the cap
ture Of FISH, shall be punished 10y a jim
not cerccdmy one h,adret doHary, or h
Imprisonment not 10 ercccd Hirty days, o
6oih.n
Turning to the subject of game the close
season for quail, wild ducks Of all kinds
plover and wild geese, begins January an,
closes September /, and the season whe
partridge and woodcock can not be legal
taken, begins January - and closes Septem
tcr -. Tho trapping, sharing and nettin
of these birds is prohibited at all times, an
insectivorous and song birds are not to b
killed at any time or their eggs destroyed
Under penalty of fine Of ten dollars.
Tho law also prohibits the killing Of dee
at any time before 1900 and the penalty fu
the violation % this provision is "a fine Z
800. The most severe penalty prescribe
by tho fish and game law, however. is tina
for using gunpowder, dynamite on other eS
plosives for killing fish which is puulshatl
by n Tine Of s 90 and Imprisonment not I
exceed ninety days.
In view of the efforts which the genera
iud State governments are making second