Watauga Democrat. [volume] (Boone, Watauga County, N.C.) 1888-current, 1929-10-24
SAYS WILD GAME IS
SHOWING INCREASE
Assistant State Warden Says En-
forcement of Game Laws Has
Greatly Conserved Wild Life of
this Section. Calls Attention of
Fur Dealers to Law.

J. P. Stepp, Assistant State Game
Warden, visited Boone and Watauga
County last week and is much
pleased with the manner in which the
game laws have been enforced in the
major part of the counties in his dis
trict and the resultant increase in
wild life. Mr.. Stepp says that more
squirrels and birds are in evidence
this season than have been noted for
a number of years and attributes the
increase generally to the cooperation
the wardens are receiving in the en-
forcement of the conservation laws.
The license sales have been CORE
spondingly gratifying, he says, those
counties which have thus far tabu-
lated having totaled more than two
thirds of the entire sales of last
year.
Mr.. Stepp called especial attention
to the law as regards fur dealers and
emphasized the fact that every firm
or corporation buying raw furs, pelts
or skins of fur-bearing animals, shall
procure license for the privilege. A
resident Statewide license sells for
$75 and privileges the buyer to deal
in furs in any North Carolina coun-
ty. A resident county license costing
$40 allows dealer to operate within
the borders of the county designated
For each addition county, $40 is COL
lected. A nonresident of the State
must pay a license of $40. in this
connection. For the benefit of mer-
chants who buy a few pelts and pay
for them in trade, arrangement has
been made for a permit, selling for
81, and emitting a merchant to buy
furs not in excess of $50O-inside
the county. Trappers must have IL
censes before catching any fur-bear-
ing animals. A resident county IL
cense sells for 1925 and State at
1925.
Mr.. Stepp says considerable mis-
understanding is abroad as regards
the laws for the protection of pleas
ants, and explains that in Watauga
County, beginning with September /,
these birds are protected without
open season for a period of two
years. The open season for quail is
from November 20 to February 15,
with bag limit of ten in any one
day. The open season for opossum is
October 5 to February Is, while
other fur-bearers are unprotected
from November 1 to February Is.
Strict orders from the Department
of Conservation set out the fact that
a warden is not permitted to carry
licenses for any of these privileges
on his person, or to sell permits to
hunters in the field. Mr.. Stepp is
very anxious that Wataugans COOP
crate with the warden in his efforts
to make this region mecca for the
sportsman.
Progress on Game Refuge
The conservation official tells The
Democrat that satisfactory progress
is being made in stocking the Daniel
Boone Game Refuge, in the vicinity
of Edgemont. Fourteen thousand
acres have been leased from the Fed
eral Government. This boundary ex-
tends up on Grandfather Mountain
and reaches nearly to Blowing Rock.
A full-time warden has been en-
ployed and the work of stocking the |
refuge is now going forward. Sew
en- head of deer and sixteen wild tur-
keys have already been freed on the |
preserve, while thirty head of deer
will soon be moved in from the Bur-
Lesson park in Mitchell County. Other
forms of wild life will be added from
time to time. Auxiliary refugees have
been established in Ashe County, |
on Niger Mountain; in Allegheny
at Roaring Gap, and in the Saura-
town Mountains of Stokes County. |
These auxiliary refugees are designed
to take care of the overflow of game |
from the main refuge, and while a |
home will be provided for the deer
and other animals, there will be no |
barriers erected, and the game may
wander out at will throughout the
surrounding country. The Conserva-
ton Departments plans call for the
establishment of one of these auxil-
iaries in each county in the State.
The boundary lines of the princi- !
pal refuge are indicated by one
strand of wire, carrying a poster
each fifty feet. No hunters or fish
ermen will be allowed on the land un-
der any condition.