Forest and Stream, October 21, 1911
Virginia Game Prospects.
Natural resources -- Conservation - GameSea -- Market huntingWeather -- DroughtsTourists and sportsmen -- Field sports - Hunting : BirdTourists and sportsmen -- Field sports - Hunting : Waterfowl and shorebird
NEW YORK CITY, Oct. 16 -- Editor Forest and Stream: During the last days of September I visited the southeastern corner of Virginia to observe the chances of sport during the coming season. The country had suffered from the extreme drouth that was so general this past summer. There were no sora to speak of; the large swamps of wild grain where heretofore I have shot many sora were dry. The drouth seemed to be beneficial to upland birds and I saw many more quail than usual and many in unexpected places. The only pheasants are those reared in preserves, and they have done remarkably well. The keeper of one preserve told me he had not lost a bird except one taken by a hawk. He has the hawk. And by the way, he said he had taken sixteen hawks on a single pole trap. The supervisors do not permit quail shooting till December, but the present prospect for good sport is encouraging.
The prospect for wildfowl shooting is also good. The grasses in the various waters were very fine, with an abundance of wild celery, and I saw a great deal of "smart grass" on the marshes. There were a good many woodducks in evidence, and on one preserve I saw in a single pond a large number of woodducks, quite a number of widgeon and several small rafts of mallards and blackducks -- quite an unusual sight for so early in the season.
There is much hard feeling against Northern sportsmen, as some of the natives think the stoppage of the sale of game in New York was brought about by the few sportsmen who own or rent shooting preserves in this portion of Virginia, and they counsel the market gunner to avenge themselves by destroying the property of non-resident sportsmen. This advice is given by hoodlums or those seeking popularity either for power or votes, and not by good citizens or those who have the welfare of the people really at heart. The humor of the situation is that they overlook the fact that the laws of Virginia prohibit the export of game from the State and permit non-residents to take with them as their personal baggage only a limited quantity.
XPER.