Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1921-12-21
"a HUNTER" MAKES AN APPEAL,
TO Landowners for Privilege Of an
Occasional Trip for Birds.

Editor Keowee Courier:
a good many landlords in this
county are posting their lands ana
giving trespaSs notices in your paper
forbidding :he hunting or killing of
partridgcs. viii you permit ME 10
say few words on the other side Of
this question?
will admit that if partridgeS cat
boil wcevis they should not be killed
to any large extent. But do they ea.
the wcevils? My contention is that
| the partridges eat no more weevils
than chickens eat potato bugs.
have heard Of one or two chickens
eating potato bugs. Then why no:
get together and prevent the killing
Of chickens if one has been known
to eat potato bug. Partridges do
not feed on bugs. They feed on seed
and grain. One kind Of seed they
are particularly fond Of is what some
of us call 'begger lice" Go bird
| hunting now and see if you find any
partridges in the cotton fields. No.
| You will find them in briar patches,
on creek banks and in stubble-hc!d.i
! have killed Il go,l many birds in
my life, and always find seeds AMI
grain in their craws. 4 bird could
not digest Il tough boil weevil any
| way.
Any true sportsman will tell yo"
| that if hunters are allowed to kill
| partridgcs down to about four or five
! TO covcy there will be more birds
| there the next year than if none at
all had been killed Leave large
covcy untouched, and the next year
you will find smaller covey there
and no new-brcd birds. TO leave
a large covey the roosters figh;.
| break up nests and prevent the
hens from Matching. say any true
| sportsman will tell you that. Most
any man who hunts partridges is Il
true sportsman because he is gencr-
ally as good a citizen as we have.
| Take those who have bird dogs and
! hunt birds in Oconee, aren't they all
| good, truthful fellowsa You know
they are as good citizens as we have
in the county. Not long ago this
writer was hunting birds, and some
| tenants came to me and said, "What
are you hunting-birds? told him
| was, and he replied, "rhe owner Of
; This place don't mind you killing the
rabbits, but he don't want the birds
killed."
Now, is that right? Most any ne
gro you find hunts rabbits and runs
!. over your land in wet weather and
! damages your land, while the white
citizens Of our county who hunt are
forbidden TO 60 on the same land be-
, cause they kill few birds. WHY
! should our farmers get so alarmed
about this matter? Only about two
dozen men hunt birds in Oconec
county, and what birds they kill,
am sure. you can find more in tne::.
places next year, because, as said
; above, kill the covey down to about
four or five and you will have moro
birds next year.
BE. fdes, birds can only be killed
from Thanksgiving until March st
and we have to pay license to do
that, and are not allowed to kill ov r
Is in any one day. | am a kunt..r,
and | ask the landowners not to be
100 hard on us. Let us go ahead and
kill few birds. What we kill can't
hurt your cotton output one bit.
noticed in the Columbia State Of
to-day (Dec. 14th) where a land
owner OF Marion county wrote to
the State and inquired II it is true
that partridges eat boil weevils. The
State sent the letter to DR.. w. w
Long OF Clemson College. Dr.. Long
communicated with l.. o. Howard.
chief OF the Bureau OF Entomology,
washington, ID. c. Both Mr. Howard
and DR.. Long stated that the mart
ridge was "negligibe factor in
boil wecvil control" They further
stated that what amount of weevil3,
If any, the partridges ate would be
so small as not to be worth their IT
tention. Our own County Demonstra-
ton Agent, Mr. Briggs, won't tell
you mat partridges will eat the boil
WeeVllS. or other weevils.
Inc Doh wcevil is a mighty bad
thing. admit that he should be
eradlcated, bu; it looks like a hard