Page 314 - Our Vanishing Wild Life

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CHAPTER XXXI
NEW LAWS NEEDED IN THE STATES (Concluded)
North Carolina:
The game laws of North Carolina form a droll crazy-quilt of local and state measures, effective and ineffective. In 1909, a total of 77 local game laws were enacted, and only tvv'o of state-wide application. During thetenyearsendingin1910,atotalof316gamelawswereenacted! She sedulously endeavors to protect her quail, which do not migrate, but in Currituck County she persistently maintains the bloodiest slaughter- penforwaterfowlthatexistsanywhereontheAtlanticCoast. Thereis no bag limit on waterfowl, and unlimited spring shooting. So far as waterfowl are concerned, conditions could hardly be worse, except by the useofpuntguns. Doves,larksandrobinsareshotandeatenas"game" from November 1 to March 1 ! Twenty-one counties have local re- strictions on the sale of game, but the state at large has only one,—on quail.
The market gunners of Currituck Sound are a scourge and a pest to the wild-fowl life of the Atlantic Coast. For their own money profit, they slaughter by wholesale the birds that annually fly through twenty- two states. It is quite useless to suggest anything to North Carolina in moderngamelaws. Aslongasakillablebirdremains,shewillnotstop
CurrituckCounty; andthepeoplewantthemoney" Eventhemembers of the sportsmen's clubs can shoot wild fowl in Currituck County, quite without limit; and I am told that the privilege often is abused. Quite recently I heard of a member of one of the clubs who shot 164 ducks and geese in two days
Apparently any suggestions made to North Carolina would not be treated seriously, especially if they would tend really to elevate the sport of game shooting, or better protect the game. There is, however, a melancholy interest attached to the framing of good game laws, whether they ever are likely to be adopted or not. Here is the duty of North Carolina
Stopthekillingofrobins,dovesandlarksforfood,absolutelyandforever. This measure is necessary to agriculture and to the good name of the state.
Stop the shooting of any game for sale, prohibit the possession of game for sale, and the sale of wild native game.
the slaughter. Her standing reply is "It brings a lot of money into .
Establish bag limits on all waterfowl, and on all other game birds and mammals.