The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-04-02
CHANGES IN GAME LAWS
Alterations Made By
the Last Legislature.

lOpeCldl 70 Int JERSEY lily News.
TRENTON, April 2, 1S9S.-It will be of
interest to sportsmen who gun in this
State to know that the new game law
passed by the late Legislature differs in
few respects from the law of last year.
The season for quail and rabbits has not
been changed. and it is liked as before,
from November 10 to January 1, inclusive.
This open season gives general satisfac-
ton. An effort was made to nave the
season opened at an earlier date, but the
proposition met with a vigorous kick
from the sportsmen in the southern Sec
ton of the State. When the season
opened at an earlier date in years gone
by pot hunters slaughtered rabbits and
quail regardless of size and condition.
Rabbits not larger han rats and quail
with pin feathers were put on the mar
ket.
One defect in the game law which it
was hoped the Legislature would remedy
is the difference between the open season
for pheasant or ruffled grouse and that
for rabbit and quail. The pheasant sea-
son comes in on October 10, with thai OF
squirrel and woodcock. AS pheasants are
shot over the same ground as rabbits and
quail the pot hunters are gwen an excuse
for carrying their guns over these grounds
for nearly a month before the open sea-
son for the latter game, and they do not
hesitate to shoot into a covey of quail
or drop a rabbit if they come across
them. It was hoped by Jersey sports
men that their vigorous protest would re-
suit in a remedy for this early slaughter
of quail and rabbits, but the law in this
respect was not changed.
The summer woodcock season is knock
ed out again. This arouses the ire of The
Jersey gunners and all sportsmen who
know the habits of this migrating bird.
For years a woodcock season came in on
the Fourth of July and lasted during the
month. Then woodcock are plentiful On
the marshes of South Jersey. Three
years ago the summer woodcock shooting
was knocked out. and the strong protest
that arose induced the next Legislature
to legalize shooting in July again. Now
the Legislature has again m~onkeyed with
the woodcock season, with consequent dis
gust among the knights of the fowling
piece. The autumn woodcock season is
of little account in South Jersey in COM
parison with the summer season.
Old deer shooters do not like the close
season for the bounding duck. The new
law prohibits the shooting Of deer for
d L plCIty III Qtcl III
the woods of Atlantic, Cape May and
Cumberland counties. They nave in
creased since the short open season was
~inaugurated four years ago. The open
season was from October 25 to November
5, ten days, and fewer deer have been
shot
The August and September open season
for doves and upland plover meets with
general approval, and the change in the
reed and rail bird and marsh hen season
from August 1 to August %, with the
limit of January ], is commended by the
sportsmen. Last year when the reed
and rail bird season came in on Septem-
Der l the birds which had been on the
South Jersey marshes in abundance for
several days began to migrate.
The reeds ripened early and the birds
had almost entirely Invested the marshes
of reed seed when the season came in.
Many old sportsmen think there ought to
be no fixed season for reed and rail bird,
as they are migratory, they come and dis
appear at certain times and should be
shot while here.
There is some dissatisfaction among
Jersey gunners over the fact that the
Legislature made no restrictions against
foreign shooters. Last year there was
no license and people from other States
shot at will over the New Jersey shoot
ing grounds. The seasons in some adjoin-
ing States closed earlier last year than
the season in New Jersey. AS a result,
shooters from these States flocked to the
New jersey woods and slaughtered game
in abundance.
The permission to farmers to trap rab-
bits on their farms, where the rabbits de-
stroy their crops, is not meeting. with the
approval of the sportsmen, but it pleases
the farmers. The sportsmen think that
advantage viii be taken Of this privilege,
but as a majority of the big farmers are
enthusiastic gunners. they will use every
endeavor to protect the game rather than
exterminate it. The trouble with the
making of game laws in New Jersey is
the fact that the game in the mountains
of the upper part of the State develops
more rapidly than that in the fiat
southern section. The two sections clash.
and there Is a compromise, which is gem
orally not satisfactory to either section of
the State.