Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-03-16
Enr,1tt1p Glrat

The new state dog license laws
which was enacted primarily to pro-
| tect sheep and encourage raising od
such animals for wool and meat and
/ by regulating ownership and control
of animals eliminate the ownerless
and worthless ours, is making all,
kinds of trouble. More questions
have arisen under 1t and the State
! Department of Agriculture has be-
come u regular inquirer at the office
of the Attorney General for rulings.
Farmers. hunters and plain folks
| have been having their troubles,
while the authority, or liability, as
the case may be, of officers to shoot
ownerless animals has been called
| into dispute, to say nothing of the
manner in which country treasurer /
must issue the licenses. County ,
commissioners appear reluctant to
| enforce the act in many counties.
| The chief source of trouble appears
to be the farmers themselves, and
next the residents of cities who live
near limits and whose dogs stray into
townships. The farmers are requir-
| ed to pen dogs up at night and not
! allow them to run at large off their
own properties. This is where the
. sheep are to be protected, but the
farmers dogs are as much given to
| roaming as those of the city dwell
ers. and conflicts of authority have
| arisen. Hunters have raised the
question whether in training dogs.
they must have them always in leash
and also what effect the acts strict
requirements as to control is going
to have next fall when the bird sea-
son is on. The situation appears to
be that no one wants to have the
dogs running around at large and
no one wants the obligation to kill
them.
The movement to close Pennsyl-
vania to hunting of the ruffed grouse
for two years is going to be success d.
full, it was predicted here to-day. In
all but two counties petitions are in
circulation to the Game Commits
sion to close the counties to such
hunting, so that the birds may be
saved from determination, and in
those twc counties the project will be
started soon. The campaign is
backed by many representative men
and while somesobjection is expected
to be made, it is considered that
popular sentiment will be so strong
that there will be little doing. The
experience of the state with wild
turkeys few years ago, when the
number increased materially under
a two-year closed season by legisla-
tive enactment and the example of
New York and other states in clos
ing shooting to ruffed grouse are eX-
pected to have great weight. 1t is
an interesting fact that ruffed grouse
Il cannot be bought for propagation.
a More trap shooting is going to be
. done in Pennsylvania this year than
ever before. The sport has had a
}, notable revival and the number of
shot gun owners has grown so rap
!dly that some people say 1t has
t doubled in Pennsylvania in a couple
\ of years. Fred A. Godcharles, dep
uty Secretary of the Commonwealth,
who is crack shot and officer OF
5 the state association, says that trap
:, shooting is going to be popular in
r every county this year, and that he
;, has heard of numerous matches.
= "One of the things which has i'm
IL pressed me is the number of persons
Q who have been asking experienced
trap shooters. to show them how to
handle their guns and to demon
8 strate the 81 eateSt sport of ALL" said
= Mr.. Godcharles. Because when you
come down to 1t, trap shooting not
j only teaches important elements of
: defense, which everyone ought 10
n know now. but steadiness. L look
k for great year in trap shooting, in
e PennsylN ania. The early matches
e have been attended by more sports
G men than have known and the in
h terest generally has run high"
e T -
In Just another month trout fish
ing is going to be under way in
Pennsylvania and while Nathan r.
Butler, the State Commissioner of
u . Fisheries, says that it is q little early
e to make representations, as many
reports on condition of streams have
T not come in, he looks for a great sea-
+ son. Spring has come in nicely and
the reports show that the severe
|. winter did not hurt our fish. In
fact, the reports have gotten have
l been favorable" said he. I'VE are
| now having things looked over, get
ting reports on the fish conditions,
checking up pollution and arranging
for distribution of young fish. Last
year we broke records in putting out
trout, that is trout able to take care
d of themselves, and If we can get the
Q cars we will do some things this year.
We have large numbers of adult
" brook and brown trout to send out,
and the sportsmen are writing in for
them. / have been going about the
8 spring work. Owing to the war we
q lost some of our experienced men
and have had to readjust the force,
y but that is working out and when the
time comes we will be ready to send
out plenty of fish. State Policemen,
game and forest wardens are going
to help us enforce the fish laws"
The unusual fact that most of the
big passenger wrecks that have oc-
4 CURED near Harrisburg have taken
place between 1 and 3 o'clock in the
Il morning was much commented up
4 on yesterday. The only exception
4 appears to have been the Dock street
wreck, which occurred shortly before
a midnight. The Lochiel, Trimmer's
4 Rock, Docklow and Glen Rock
II wrecks all occurred after l O'Clock,
II while the train which figured in the
Loehiel and Elizabethtown wrecks
4 had two mishaps west of Harris
burg in the early morning. ~