Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-01-07
GAME PROTECTIVE LAWS.

GAME PROTECTIVE LAWS.
Almost every legislative assembly III
\ the states of the middle west attempts
to pass some kind of 4 codicil TO The
existing game laws. Iowa mas not
D missed out on trying all meas
4 ures of chat class. 1t has mad its
|A fiji share. and as long as the people
n feel that they have got to Lave enough
| provisions in the game law 20 make
it fill good sized pamphlet. il is prob
able. that Iowa will not have q much
better arrangement lor ell concerned
than it has now.
The only game law thai any state
needs, if it will enforce it, can be
expressed in very few words, and they
are: 1.-The sale of any game taken or
kj,,kt in this state is alb ,rlutely pln-
Mb;,ed.' Tha1 kind OF !, provision
,icidly enforced, and the da-es between
winch game can be killed IS about ali
TIA. is nee essai in the game law, in
Il addition to specifying what constitutes
game.
The legislature of South Dakota hiss
n lassed a measure that prohibits The
sir ot;ng of nrsi in that state tor
foar years. L seems ssral.%e that i
s legislature should get the idea that
1t can make quail by law. There are
{, me things that are svan jeyond
4 the power Of South Dakota legis!a-
lure. There is another thing that will
y be hard for that legislature to regulate
4 and that is the kind of winters they
(have up there, and until it does make
Il q change in them it can rest assured
y that it won't have any quail very many
4 seasons In succession.
4 1t is not the shooters but the severe
weather conditions that kill Off the
\ quail crop. Some of the best quail
a shooting in this country is in the south
s. ern states, where quails have been
" shot every year for probably the last
4 two hundred years.
"a Quite awhile ago Iowa tried a sew
q eral years closed season, and quail
i were plenty when it went into effect,
q but during the. time the season was
IN closed the winters were severe, and
"a there were not anything like as many
n quail at the end Of the closed season
las there were at the beginning OF it.
The recent mild winters in this part
q Of the country have allowed the quail
Il 10 live through the winters, and there
q were more quail in Southern Iowa
4 this last fall than there has been for
81 many years before
At the end of the open season, the
81 fifteenth of last month, there were
8 lots of quail left, and if We don't have
Il big SHOWS, that lie on the ground fos
several weeks at a time, or sleet
storms, there will be lots of quail next
4 fall. Sleet is the greatest enemy the
n quail have, because that keeps theru
from getting to the ground where they
get the gravel and little hard sub
stances that aid them in the digestion
of the grain and seeds that they live
"A on.
A heavy snow storm may come, and
S1stilI it will leave the banks Of the
4 creeks, and the steep places in the
y fields and the woods bare. but the
i sleet puts a coating over these, and
4 makes the quails' chances of getting
through the winter less than even a
deep snow does When the quail can
not get to the ground they soon be-
come poor in flesh, and are not able
10 withstand the severe cold, and often
whole coveys are found frozen in Il
huddle.
During periods like these referred TO
above the only quail that live through
the winter are those that happen 70
be near some sheltered spot or get in
some barn yard or feed lot.
If the South Dakota legislature can
make winters in that state mild, then
the quail can live and multiply, bnt
until they can do that they will never
4 have many quail in that part OF the
country.
Oklahoma and Indian Territory have
n1yriads of quail, and always will be
cause the winters there do not Kill
them off, and the sportsman does not
want to. In states where the sale OF
game is prohibited, the market hunter
cannot do business, and the sports
man who goes hunting three or foni
times year does not kill enough
quail to interfere with there being
plenty for sport the next year, and tn
legislature in states this far, and fa:'
Their north, are simply wasting tbs
time that they put in figuring on &
three or four years closed season fol-
quail.
Game shooting in season is a legiti
mate sport. Trap shooting is a pas
time that ought to be encouraged The
United States should always be ma
ton of shooters. President Roosevelt