Page 321 - Our Vanishing Wild Life

Vermont :
:
NEW LAWS NEEDED IN THE STATES 29&'
In view of all conditions, it must be stated that the game laws of Vermont are, with but slight exceptions, in good condition. It is a pleasure to see that there is no spring shooting; that there is no "open" season of slaughter for the moose, caribou, wood-duck, swan, upland plover, dove or rail ; that no buck deer with antlers less than three inches long inay be killed ; and that there is a law under which damages by deer to growing crops inay be assessed and paid for by the county in which they occur. Moreover, if there is to be any killing of game, her bag limitsarenotextravagant. Allthegameprotectedbythestateisim- mune from sale for food purposes, but preserve-reared game inay legally be sold. We recommend the following new measures:
Absolute close seasons of five-years' duration for ruffed grouse, quail, woodcock, snipe and all shore birds without a single exception.
The gray squirrel should be perpetually protected,—because he is too beautiful, too companionable and too unfit for food to be killefl. Even the hungry savages of the East Indies do not eat squirrels.
Pass an automatic pump-gun law.
Extend the term of the Fish and Game Commissioner to four years.
Vermont's great success in introducing and colonizing deer is both interestingandvaluable. Fiftyyearsago,shehadnowilddeer,because the species had been practically exterminated. In 1875, thirteen deer wereimportedfromtheAdirondacksandsetfreeinthemountains. The increasehasbeenenormous. In1909thenumberofdeerkilledforthe year was about 5,311, which was possible without adversely affecting the herds. Itisastrikingobject-lessoninrestoringthewhite-taileddeerto- its own, and it will be found more fully described in chapter XXIV.
Virginia:
Virginia is far below the position that she should occupy in wild-life conservation. Tosetherhouseinorder,andcomeuptothelevelofthe states that have been born during the past twenty years, she must bestir herself in these ways
She must provide for a resident hunting license, a State Game Commissioner and a force of salaried wardens.
She must prohibit spring shooting.
She must impose small bag limits on game-slaughter.
She must resolutely stop the sale of all wild game.
She must stop the killing of female deer, and of bucks with horns under three inches long.
She must stop killing gray squirrels and doves as "game."
She .should not permit the beautiful wood-duck to be killed as "game."
She should accord a five-year close season to grouse, and all shore birds.
She should rule out the machine shot-guns which gentlemen can no longer use in hunting.
She should adopt at once a comprehensive code of game laws, and