The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-10-19
ARE
READY FOR
NOV. 10.
Good Shooting Promised.
Plan Game Preservation.
New legislation.

he possession of a shooting iron, and
who is able to shoulder one, is look
ing forward to the opening day, Mo-
gember 10, when he will forget that ne
aver had a home or friend and hike to
he tall timbers and marshy bottoms in
quest of partridge, quail, pheasant, rab-
bit and squirrel, which the law will
then allow him to take, capture and
sill.
II is not amiss at this time to call
The attention of the sportsmen who
win take advantage of his privilege
% suggest that he curb his appetite for
game to the extent of allowing some
seed to remain for next years growing,
and to remember that a pheasant or
two three or four rabbits and as many
quail OF partridge will make a pretty
good bag, and if the hunter who pos
sesses such a bag, really makes his
own kill. he need not be afraid to tell
mis- friends of the success of his days
outing, for they will call him mighty
and free from the faint of a game
hog.
Much has been written about the
passing of the native game animals of
New Jersey, and there is much to be
done toward their preservation n
oropagation for future sport, if sports
men are to lave any. A movement be-
gun at the Montclair Club a week ago
by the members of the Montclair Gun
Club, and representatives from many
other gun clubs throughout the State,
Is expected to bring forth results for
which many true sportsmen have la
bored for years.
Is Protection can only be given through
the enactment of new laws, n TO this
end the majority of men interested
will lend their help. The coming Legis-
1ature will be asked to pass laws to
prohibit the shooting of any game bird
or animal in the spring, against the
shooting of woodcock in the month of
July, and also to stop the sale of game
at all seasons of the year
In regard to the spring shooting it
might be we'll to give a reason why
1t should end. When wild fowl, for in
stance, reach our shores as early as
February they are mated, and on their
way, north to their natural breeding
grounds, and from this it can be seen
that it is actually brutal and inhuman
, TO destroy a mated pair. The writer
has had real knowledge as to the truth
of this statement, for in January, 1900,
while near Swainton. in Cape May
County, a pair of blue-winged teal
were sighted, and at the first shot the
drake fell dead. The mate circled two
or three times and lit within one foot
of its dead mate and only twenty yards
from the muzzle of the gun, also to be
killed.
The occurrence seemed so strange
that upon returning home the duck was
examined and found to contain egg
developed to about the size of a pea.
thus proving conclusively that the teal
had mated. If allowed to proceed on
their way north they would have
brought a brood of ten or a dozen
young back with them in the fall. This
event converted the writer to the ranks
Of those who wish to prevent spring
shooting.
A similar case occurred on the Han
over Neck meadows in Morris County
last March, while the Legislature was
in session, when a pair of wild geese
were killed and the female was found
to contain fourteen eggs larger h an
isoldtime dough-bag. These facts alone
should be sufficient reason to prohibit
the shooting of wild fowl in spring.
Now as to the shooting of woodcock
in the month of July, from personal
observation and study of these birds
1t is an absolute fact that the young
of these birds are not full-feathered in
that month, and are only able to ny
from twenty to thirty yards without
lighting, and a whole brood may be
followed and killed in an hours hunt
ing. In the latter end of the month
the old birds begin to moult, and they
have been seen by skies n dozens on
H. IL ls1le ,,4for1xr una hlP m HW and
q almost nude.
The essential reason for stopping the
e sale of game throughout the year is
to eliminate a vast army of pot-hunt-
ers, who begin to shoot a month before
the law is off and place their game in
cold storage.
The game laws of New Jersey have
beer grossly violated for years, owing
10 the lack of vigilance on the part OF
y wardens who failed of their duties. In
this respect there is much TO be done
t by the new Fish and Game Commits
sion in the matter of the appointment
of wardens. The system of appointing
wardens under the retiring commission
was entirely wrong, because a warden
in many cases was afraid to make ar
arrest for violations, fearing political
death or the enmity of his neighbors
with whom he would be on friendly
terms.
To avoid this in future, wardens
should be appointed and given a better
compensation, and be compelled to pa
troll a remote section of the STATE
from their own. homes. SO that neigh
borIy or other reason would not be al
incentive to give immunity. For in
stance the warden or deputy appointed