Los Angeles herald., 1909-10-04
LATE NEWS OF THE

shots fired? Dove are not shot along
the edge of brushy hills. Even the
celebrated rabbit grounds of the An
telope valley would not justify the fir
ing of the shells found in the Verdugo
district A game warden with a good,
powerful pair of field glasses would
have found much to interest him in
this country about a week before the
opening of the season, but evidently
no game warden had been in this dis
trict for years.
Licenses Not Shown
The whole system of patrolling-or
making a bluff at patrolling the game
shooting districts-is a rank farce at
the present time. Never in the three
years of the license laws existence has
the writer had any one ask to see MS
license. Three out of four hunters
reading this article will agree in this
experience. This indicates but one
thing-that the dollar for the license is
the one thing desired, the enforcement
of the law and the patrOling OF the
grounds in return for the money pald
into the treasury of the game protec-
tive outfit of the state being joke.
Practically speaking, there is no game
protection in Southern California. A
man shooting deer out of season may
bring a ranger on to him from the re-
port of his rine-or he may not. A
man shooting quail out of season-pro-
vides he keeps his eyes omen and has
no enemies to inform on him is as safe
as though he were shooting with the
calendar in his favor. But two weeks
ago a friend of the writer's, hunting
doves along the San Gabriel wash,
| stood and watched a man and woman
with an automobile, shoot quail for an
| hour-or until they had so split up a
covey that it was not worth while to
| follow them farther. EXasperated, he
started over toward the couple but
they saw him coming, jumped into the
auto, waved him goodby and went
| spinning up the road.
| This is but one of ten thousand eX-
amples. The law-as far as quail arc
concerned-is a huge joke excepting to
the man unluckN enough to get caught,
usually through the information of
some one who has it in for him.
Game Wardens Scarce
! Even if a man is approached by
warden-he might as well fear being
struck by lightning, both occurrences
are so rare-he is of course hunting rab-
bits-hs quail being conveniently hid
den on the approach of the stranger.
! Rabbit hunting is responsible for
more infractions of the game laws than
any other one thing. 1t would be an
| extremely wise step to forbid rabbit
shooting during the closed season ON
| quail and dove. Then the man firing
shotgun during the closed season would
| be a Just subject for investigation by
| the nearest warden. The common CAL
| ifornia cottontail rabbit at the present
! time often runs in coveys, wears blue
| feathers-or sometimes gray ones, If
the dove shooting be good in the vi
cinity. The hunter going afield in the
| opening of the season looks with cold
and doubling eye on the evidence of
| rabbit shooting presented by piles
of fresh shells in one place. 1t is rare
ly necessary to fire more than one shot
or at the most three in one place at
rabbit. Quail however, often flush
when they arrive at a certain place,
and are being driVen-for instance in
an open spot or high bank. The man
! standing there can shoot a dozen shots
as the birds flush, and as they arrive
at the end of cover, before the approach
of some other member of the party.
Some of the worst game-law break
ers are the people who have absolutely
no right to shoot at any time of the
! year-Japanese and Italians. One Jap
| anese with a cheap shotgun, missing
warden and a coVey of confiding quail
| in the early summer or just after the
birds begin to flock together in the
] fall, can do more damage than half a
dozen hunters after October 1. OF
course they are after rabbits, if in
| quiry is made.
Rabbit Shooting Should Be Stopped
For the protection of the birds-both
dove and quail, the shooting of rabbits
should be stopped. They are not fit to
eat with their grubworms and boils
and other troubles, before the fall, any
bow, and the fact they are fair game
gives a plausible explanation for the
presence in the field of the man with
the shotgun before the game season is
! open.
What we need and need urgently is
a vigorous enforcement of the game
laws, not the present half-hearted at
tempt by a handful of wardens. With
this enforcement would come change
in public opinion that at present Winks
at infractions of the laws.
In the old days smuggling was re-
garded as some people regard game
! laws infractions-the only disgrace was
in being caught With the vigorous
| campaign carried out against snug
Cling, public opinion changed, and at
present the professional smuggler is
regarded in the same light as the pro-
change would be worked by the en-
forcement of our game lawcs, which at
| present seem made to be broken.
Let the state quit its importing tame
wild turkeys" from the ranch of some
enterprising Mexican down in the
southern country, quit handing out
trout fry to private parties for the use
of themselves and friends-for instance,
Lucky Baldwin, and the trout fry
dumped into his private lake on his
ranch last year-and get busy protect
| ing what game we have left. 1t is well
and good to hatch fish and to restock
streams-providing the streams are
where they can be reached by the ord
| inafy fisherman; but the public money
| is not intended to be spent for fish to be
used in restocking the stream of some
summer resort owner or the lakes of
this, that or the other nabob who
wishes the fish for the use of himself
and friends.
Want Efficient Wardens
What we do need is a heavy bounty
on vermin-human and otherWise-and
an efficient game warden force. Enough
money is paid into the state treasury
each year from the sale of licenses to
nay a bounty of $5 on coyotes. $40 on
wildcats, $50 ON mountain lions, and in
cidentally 81 on rattlesnakes. A lion
will kill one deer a week.
| Some experienced mountaineerS and