Page 112 - Our Vanishing Wild Life

90 OUR VANISHING WILD LIFE
THE NEW YORK CLOSE-SEASON LAW.
152. Petition for additional protection; notice of hearings; power to grant additional protection; notice of prohibition or regtuation; penalties.
1. Petition for additional protection. Any citizen of the state may file with the commission a petition in writing requesting it to give any species of hsh, other than migratory food fish of the sea, or game protected by law, additional or other protection than that afforded by the provisions of this article. Such petition shall state the grounds upon which such protection is considered necessary, and shall be signed by the petitioner with his address.
2. Notice of hearings. The commission shall hold a public hearing in the locality or county to be affected upon the allegations of such petition within twenty days from the filing thereof. At least ten days prior to such hearing notice thereof, stating the time and place at which such hearing shall be held, shall be advertised in a newspaper publishedinthecountytobeaffectedbysuchadditionalorotherprotection. Such notice shall state the name and the address of the petitioner, together with a brief state- ment of the grounds upon which such application is made, and a copy thereof shall be mailed to the petitioner at the address given in such petition at least ten days before such hearing.
J. Power to grant additional protection. If upon such hearing the commission shall determine that such species of fish or game, by reason of disease, danger of extermina- tion, or from any other cause or reason, requires such additional or other protection, in any locality or throughout the state, the commission shall have power to prohibit or regulate, during the open season therefor, the taking of such species of fish or game. Such prohibition or regulation may be made general throughout the state or confined to a particular part or district thereof.
4. Notice of prohibition or regulation. Any order made by the commission under the provisions of this section shall be signed by it, and entered in its minute book. At least thirty days before such prohibition or regulation shall take effect, copies of the same shall be filed in the office of the clerk issuing hunting and trapping licenses for the district to which the prohibition or regulation applies. It shall be the duty of said clerks to issue a copy of said prohibition or regulation to each person to whom a hunting or trapping license is issued by them ; to mail a copy of such prohibition or regulation to each holder of a hunting and trapping license theretofore issued by them and at that time in effect, and to post a copy thereof in a conspicuous place in their office. At least thirty days before such prohibition or regulation shall take effect the com- mission shall cause a notice thereof to be advertised in a newspaper published in the county wherein such prohibition or regulation shall take effect.
5. Penalties. Any person violating the provisions of such prohibition, rule or regu- lation shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall, upon conviction, be subject to a fine of not to exceed one hundred dollars, or shall be imprisoned for not more than thirty days, or both, for each offense, in addition to the penalties hereinafter provided for taking fish, birds or quadrupeds in the close season.
I want all sensible, honest sportsmen to stop citing the killing of game birds by severe winters as a reason why long close seasons are not necessary,andwhyautomaticguns"don'tmatter." AndIwantsports- men to consider their duty, and not go out hunting any game species that has been slaughtered by a hard winter, until it has had at least five yearsinwhichtorecover. Anyothercourseiscruel,selfish,andshort- sighted; and a word to the humane should be sufficient.
The worst exhibitions ever made of the wolfish instinct to slay that springseternalinsomehuman(!) breastsarethosebroughtaboutthrough thedistressorerrorsofwildanimals. Bywayofillustration,consider the slaughter of half-starved elk that took place in the edge of Idaho in the winter of 1909 and 1910, when about seven hundred elk that were