Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1914-12-27
|RCES State commission
FOR | PROTECTION OF CAME
PRESIDENT Of Audubon Society Talks
Interestingly OF Situation
49, I'm Virginia.
ANDs SHOULD BE POSTED
lard for Quail to Live Under Pres
emit COMPLEMENTARY Hunters Fail
to See WHY Society Is Urging That
All Lands In State BE Posted.

All Lands In State BE Posted.
Virginia needs a State Game Com
lission vested with authority to en-
prce game protective laws now on tho
tatute books. and to see that such leg
slation Is made rs effective in Virginia
8 In other States. according to NJ. D.
Tart, president OF tho Audubon Society
Virginia.
''Twenty-f or thirty years ago."
aid Mr.. Hart last night. you could
tart twenty to thirty covies OF quail in
days hunt; this yenr If you averaged
TX covies a day In a weeks hunt you
you'd be lucky. In the good old days
ne dog would BIO nll you would need.
ow you need three or four. Then. II
covey flew In a swamp or thicket
GU seldom followed them. now all the
1hooting you are apt TO get will be
|shere the cover Is th!ckest.
Then, tho quail flew only short
istance on first flight, now often they
o fully quarter Of mile. Then. you
ould find only one or two people In n
cighborhood who, owned bird dogs and
hot quail, now every neighborhood
eonsts Of having many good birdshots.
Then, the worm rail- fence was used
Rffording good nesting places for the
quail. and enabling them to eludo
hawks. Now you seldom see a rail
ence. and tho wire fence does not stop
hawk. nor does IT offor nesting places
or the quail.
Kew METHODS OF FARMING
49, LEAVE LITTLE FOR BIRDS
Then n largo acreage OF wheat WAS
|aised on every farm. which was har-
POSTED with wheat cradles and much of
ID was left on the fields for the birds
o feed on. Now the wheat crop acre
Ege is smaller and the up-to-date
Reaper and binder leaves nothing Tor
The quail Then hunters used muZzlc-
loading. guns and percussion caps
low work. Now they use improved
breech leaders and repeating shotguns
1Efast work.
These arc undoubtedly some Of tho
easons why our quail supply seems
DO abort. No one regrets the progress
pc civilization. or would try to stop 1t,
md; SO far as our game~is concerned
ve would meet condition as they pre-
lent themselves by adjusting our
elves to them. There Is no reason why by
in Intelligent handling we should not
nave and continue TO have fair quail
shooting In Virginia for many years
o come. When there were many birds
md few hunters there was no reason TO
irnw the lines hard and fast, while
O day when there are many hunters
md few birds. there Is.
rOur present game laws have net
olffordcd the relief they were expected
o give, and aside from the protection
pr the landowners who are keeping OFF
gangs of free hunters. little or no real
protection exists in this state.
"a large landowner and progressive
farmer told me some time ago that
he was ~dlsgusted with Virginia game
laws. because instead OF the state CIV.
&ng him protection In handling the
hunters who invaded his land he said
hat he was put to the trouble and
Expense OF doing so himself.
d'ostrlNt: OF LAND THE
SALVATION OF GAME
There are to be found among the
cminentiy respectable hunters men
vho 40 not realize changed conditions.
land they deplore the action OF the
landowners in posting their lands.
kThey seem to think this posting has
been caused by tho agitation of game
Sprotection by the Audubon Society, and
THAT IL we had not stirred up the Ques-
'tion that they would be able to do as
Ithey have done MI their lives. hunt
anywhere they choose. Some OF them
have discontinued paying their dues
lin the society because they think we
7are opposed to hunting, when. rs n
working In the interest OF the hunters
1all tho time when we advise and ad-
3vocato posting OF lands, for this Is the
1only way now open to stop just that
kind Of hunters who regard no game
[lawr, and who hunt year in and year
Iout Ten or nfteen years ago there
| was little or no posted land In Virginia,
land but for the interest now taken
lin game protection by our farmers who
II. posting their land, game would DO
scarcer than 1t is.
IT have hunted this season on posted
land unposted land. and In nearly every
Instance l have found more game on
posted lands than those over which
everybody was constantly hunting. II
posting lands, thus keeping off bands
Of rowing hunters. black and white, Is
saving game. why any real game pro-
tectionist should object am at loss
to understand, and since Auduoonists
sincerely desire the preservation and
conservation of our wild life We favor
this restriction.
Mr.. Hart strongly advocated Game
Commission, and said that there are
only four States in tho Union without
game departments Since the time
Columbus discovered America down to
the present time" declared Mr.. Hart,
I've have handled our natural Wild
which questions our real intelligence"
Mr.. Hart stated that every posted farm
on which no hunting is allowed serves
as n sanctuary for the entire COM
inunfty, for after tho mating season
the, birds scatter from their home to
every part Of the country.