The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1903-08-27
Game Warden issues Address.


Tennessee. 1t is as follows:
The general game law passed by the
las General Assembly is not an expert
ment in other States, hut it is now on
trial for the first time in Tennessee
The law was drafted not only to pro-
tect your property and game, but to
enable you to derive considerable reve-
nue. from shooting privileges, which
you may grant to sportsmen If you
choose.
The law establishes a game warden
system for every county of the state,
without which, experience has shown,
game law is dead letter" The
beneficial results of this present game
law rest almost exclusively in your
hands. Unless you actively cooper
ate with the game wardens of your re-
spective counties the objects sought to
be obtained, viz: protection Of both
property and game must necessarily
fail.
You cannot in reason expect the
county game wardens and their depu-
ties to give their time and labor to the
protection of your property from tres
pass and the game thereon from de-
struction, without some compensation.
This compensation can come to these
wardens only in two ways
First, from fines imposed upon vio-
lators of the law. These offenders they
cannot successfully prosecute unless
you give the required information and
evidence, and as violations Of the law
will soon become by reason of its rigid
enforcement, very rare, compensation
from this source will soon be reduced
to practically nothing. Second, from
a division between you and these war
dens of the amounts realized from
shooting privileges accorded by you
on your property.
Under existing law no person has the
right to shoot, or enter upon your
property for the purpose Of shooting,
without your written permission. You
are now requested to authorize your
county game warden to grant to sports
men the written permission required
under the law to shoot on your prem
ises. You naturally ask why you
should do this. The answer is, for
your own protection and, if you wish
it, also for your profit. This, how
ever, requires some explanation. This
department will furnish you free of
charge paper, at the top of which is
printed authority to the county warden
to grant written permit to sportsmen
to shoot on your premises on such days
only as may be indicated on said paper
by you. Below this is printed the open
or shooting season (Nov. to March y
in calendar form, each date, however,
having a line for name. You can
then exercise your own good pleasure
as to what days during the season you
will permit sportsmen to shoot, reserv-
ing for yourself all the remainder, or
you can reserve to yourself the whole
season if you wish, which is in effect
a statement that you wish no shooting
on your property during that season.
Now, when you have thus placed the
shooting privileges on your property
in the hands of the game warden, with
such reservations as you wish, you
have accomplished two things first,
you are entirely freed from importuni-
ties of acquaintances for permission to
shoot or your premises, because you
can refer all applicants to the game
warden, and, second, you can receive
through this game warden compensa-
tion for the right to shoot on your
property on such days as you have in
dicated, and which he will charge
sportsmen and for which, perhaps, you
would not care to directly and person.
ally charge.
At the close of the season the County
Warden's Permit book will show
just what has been paid for shooting
priviledges on your property, and you
get your check for half thereof. This
system, if you cooperate with the war
dens, will in three years from now pay
annually one-fourth of the taxes upoI
your property. This is not a mere
opinion, it is fact we'll established by
the working of the warden system else
where, If prosecutions of tresprsser'
upon your property take place yor
have nothing to do with them, that is
one of the v ardens duties. You thus
avoid making enemies who might 9th
i erwise in revenge burn your barns
All sportsmen favor the Warden sys
tenn because it in effect establishes {
bureau of information where they cal
+ learn both where to go, and obtain a
=; the same time the necessary permission
required by law. Many business mel
would like few days shooting durins
the season and are willing to pay TO
the privilege, but they have neither tn
time nor inclination to travel aroun,
the country inquiring where they cal
find game, and then take the chance o
getting permission to shoot it.
The clerks of the county courts of tn
counties and state have been offlciall
notified of the name of the Count
Game Warden for thatrespective count