Los Angeles herald., 1908-03-05
QUAIL HUNTERS
DODGE GAME LAW
OVER $4,000 BIRDS TAKEN DURING
PAST SEASON
In Spite Of vlgllant Wardens, Thou
sands Are Struggled Into Game
Markets of Large East
ern Cities

While the game laws of Oklahoma
have been enforced more strictly than
usual during the season just closed, 1t
also seems that the wouldbe violators
have been more daring than ever In
their attempts to evade it,
Oklahoma is paradise for hunters,
and its broad plains and deep forests
abound in wild game. This offers a
temptation to the man who hopes 20
make a fortune with his gun that can
hardly be resisted. Dressed quail find
ready market in Chicago at Sc
dozen. They can be killed in Okla
homa and shipped out. IL the game
Wardens can be avoided, at cost or
$3.50 a dozen, leaving handsome profit
to the violator of the law.
Quail abound in all parts of Okla
homa, owing to the strict game laws,
which make the killing of such birds
unlawful for nine and half months
of the year. The open season begins
october 15 and ends February 1. Dur
ing this short period quail hunters have
free hand, but they must not sell the
birds or ship them over the railroads.
They may shoot them for their own
use or to give away to neighbors, but
not for profit, or transportation to
other points, within or without the
state.
An ordinary good shot may go out
into the country almost any day in
Oklahoma and bring back two dozen
quail, which would bring $12 for his
days work If dressed and shipped to
Chicago In western Oklahoma, es-
pecially in Custer, Blaine, Dewey.
Beckham and other counties, quail are
found in such abundance that a hunter
may shoot all he can carry home in a
big grain sack in one days hunting.
Carload of 10000 Confiscated
plot to ship a carload of quail to
Chicago and realize therefrom the snug
sum of $4,000 was unearthed at Enid re-
Gently. 1t is probably the biggest IL
legal quail deal ever unearthed in Okla
homa or any other state. The quail
were packed in cases and stored in
cold storage house as eggs. Officers
confiscated the proposed shipment just
as it was being loaded into a car for
transportation to Chicago There were
10000 birds, dressed and ready for the
market.
The capture was made by Sheriff
Campbell of Garfield county and
search was Immediately instituted for
the guilty persons. Several arrests
were finally made. involving two or
three prominent citizens of the city,
and the cases are now pending. The
officers suspect that most of these
birds were killed in adjoining counties
and shipped in a few cases at time
and placed in cold storage at Enid.
awaiting the time when enough could
be procured for a carload. Immediately
following the capture the court ordered
that the associated charities be fur
nished with as many of the birds as 1t.
could use for free distribution in the
city, and that the rest be sold to defray
the expenses of the distribution.
Where vioIators Flourish
Custer county seems to be paradise
for violators of the game laws. This Is
due to the fact that the prairies of the
county abound in such game. One of
the biggest catches was by Deputy
Game Warden Avant of that county,
who confiscated seven barrels and
number of boxes of dressed quail,
which were about to be shipped to
Chicago.
Another contraband shipment of
quail from Custer county was captured
at Oklahoma City by Deputy Wardens
Baker and Meyer. Two heavy drum
mer trunks, consigned to Oklahoma
City from Clinton, aroused the sus-
picions of the officers and they set
twenty-four-hour watch upon them.
After few hours watch a porter ar
rived at the depot from hotel with
checks for the trunks and requested the
agent TO forward LneIn 10 CIlCdSO, ".
o. d. The officers then opened the
trunks and found 1900 quail, which, at
the market price, would have brought
$3.50. The porter stated that a travel
ing salesman gave him the checks just
before he took a train for El Reno.
Another big capture of quail was
made at Clinton, in Custer county,
when shipment of 1900 birds was in
tercepted.
State Game Warden Askew says that
within thirty days his deputies cap
tured So, 900 quail which We're about to
be shipped illegally out of the state.
Many of these birds were caught by
expert meters, who set nets of various
kinds, in which they catch the birds by
the dozen. Mr.. Askew has already cap
tured about nineteen netters and he has
instructed his deputies in each county
to keep a close watch for such violatorS
during the closed season.
The best story told in connection with
the capture of contraband quail is by
w. e. Brown of Hydro. He was stand
ing on the station platform at Hydro
when he noticed that the agents bird
dog was waiting anxiously in front of
the baggage room door with every
muscle drawn. Finally the agent
opened the door and the dog rushed in
and with all the grace of the field
"stood" an unprepossessing old trur k in
a far corner of the baggage room. The
trunk was opened and a tempting mass
of fat quail was revealed. The game
warden was notified.