The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-02-04

1 wish the legislature would enact law making 1t a misdemeanor to use six shooters on quail. They are all wel | enough for trap shooting and rabbi, ! hunting, but for quail, God save the mark.
 As has been said the desire to increase ones skill is the very salt and savor of real sport Now skill in this connection does't mean the ability to bring dowu every bird one shoots at. I know a sportsman who with a good double barrel gun, No. 12 guage, one barrel cylinder. the other modified can kill all day nine shots in ten. But that gentleman, prompted by the true instinct of sport, has discovered the 12-gilage as too mur- derous, and now uses a 20-guage, making a target about half as large as a No. ?. This man would much rather kill dog 9n birds by the employment of his uttermost skill than fifty where 1t is almost "a sure thing and dead easy" If I were the equal in craftsmanship of John F. Fletcher, for instance, l believe l should scorn anything larger than a No. A, or smaller If they make 'em any smaller.
 A great many bird hunters are too much welded to a preference for what Is called "open shooting'i-that is to say, ground so free from ''brush' and under growth as to give the marksman an uu- obstructed view of the flying birds, and so make killing easy. It should be TO membered that the very "openness" of the ground has resulted in the practical ex- termination of the quail in many sec tions where few decades ago they were very plentiful. It was this that caus d tine passing of the prairie chicken from our western hunting grounds--the ease with which the mark was found. Hunts men who care only for the shooting where it is easy are not true sportsmen.
 The element of difficulty and superior skill In bagging the game cannot oe eliminated without destroying the sport. If is easy to go in ones backyard and shoot chickens, but to call that sort of shooting sport" would be laughably ab- surd. 1t is In fact a matter for congrat- ulation that in Alabama there is so little 'open' ground, since the brush aud priers which make 1t hard to bag large percentage of the birds that rise, like wise make 1t more certain that enough birds will escape to propagate the species and keep up the supply. Remember there are other years besides this year to be considered.
 And speaking of protection against man brings to mind the havoc that the hawk works wherever there Is quail If 1t were not for the natural hiding places which render shooting difficult, hawks would devour all the birds in the best quail grounds of this state before the sportsman could get a single one. There fore alike for the benefit of the birds and the farmers chickens, there should be a premium paid on the carcass of every hawk. The legislature ought to provide at least part of this and sportsman's clubs should supplement 1t until 1t would set to hawk-hunting thousands of boys all through the state
 With the hawk put out of business and with good game law with an enlight- ened public sentiment behind 1t, natural conditions in Alabama are so favorable to continuous quail propagation that there would be birds enough to provide this wholesome and ennobling recreation for our children and childrens children from generation to generation.