Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-12-03
MAY AMEND LAWS
ON FISH and GAME
POSSIBILITY is THAT NEXT
STATE LEGISLATURE WILL
TAKE ACTION ON MATTER.
STUDIES QUESTION
Waterloo Newspaperman Has Made a
Definite and Thorough Investi-
cation Of Plan and Answers
Some Inquiries.

Will the state legislature which con-
venes in Des Moines in January, 1915,
take any action in regard to the Iowa
fish and game laws? That is a timely
question now and the Waterloo Cour
Ter and Reporter which has been con-
sidering the subject for some time an
swers> it in the following manner:
During several recent sessions eff
forts made in behalf of measure to
prohibit spring shooting of wild fowl
and to create closed season of sew
eral years for the prairie chicken, a
bird once plentiful all over the state
but now extinct in many sections,
have come to naught The foes OF
wild life seem able to secure the effec-
tual demise of every protective bill in
the committee room and two years
ago slipped one over" by securing the
enactment OF law allowing the spear
ing of soft fish. The laws already per-
mitted the taking of bass, pike, catfish
or any game fish six inches in length,
The former fine bass streams of Iowa
are chiefly "Reminiscences now so far
as real sport with the>rod goes. The
market fisherman with his set lines
works them necessarily from May Is,
a month to six weeks before bass
spawn, until December l and thou
sands of six to ten inch fish are taken
annually by this class. Robbing the
waters of immature fish prevents re-
production and represents IAN econ
omic waste, the value of which can
hardly be estimated The yearling
catfish, bass or pike weighs not to ex-
coed half pound. With ten inch
bass limit and twelve inch pike and
catfish limit the food value could be
doubled. And why is market fisher
man in supposedly enlightened
state like Iowa?
Iowa is one of the few states in the
union that permit the killing of wild
fowl during the spring migration to
the breeding grounds. Opponents Of
the federal migratory bird law say
that the number Of ducks, geese and
snipe shot in this state in the spring
doesn't cut much of figure. How
about this? There are in Iowa, APP
proximately 100000 licensed and about
$4,000 additional hunters privileged to
shoot as land owners and tenants. Of
these forty per cent refrain from
spring shooting because they believe it
to be bad practice, 20 per cent live
so far from ponds or water courses
that they have no wild fowl shooting;
the remaining 40 per cent or $4,000
gunners need kill but two birds each
to bring the annual spring toll up to
100000. When the wild fowl are driv
en- back by billiards., as they were
three times during March, 1913, pro-
badly not less than 100000 are killed
by gunners in Iowa. If these were al
lowed to pass on unmolested wouldn't
the natural increase be much greater?
A meeting of sportsmen was held in
Des Moines August % last. 1t was not
largely attended, if we may judge from
the newspaper accounts, but what
transpired is vital, as legislative
committee was appointed. In report
of this gathering Des Moines news
paper said:
Oppose Spring Shooting.
"The hunters went on record as be-
ing unanimously opposed to spring
shooting, providing the different states
would adopt laws forbidding it also.
The sportsmen argued for two hours
before dropping the national migratory
bird law An effort was made to pass
resolution providing that the Iowa
laws be changed so as to conform with
the federal law. George Tracey of
Burlington, succeeded in preventing
this action on the ground that the
sportsmen should wait until the SUI
preme court has passed upon the con-
stitutionality of the federal law before
with the Iowa law
A Burlington newspaper of Septem-
Der 1, in referring to the meeting,
said:
"Burlingtonian stops Iowa hunters
from taking a misstep."
A Sioux City paper, in reporting the