The Situation in Virginia
DURING the past two years I have completed some long jaunts along the water courses of Virginia. The main reason for the tramps was an investigation of farm drainage systems, but incidentally some fishing was indulged in, and also, being largely interest in game and fur, some time was expended in acquiring insight into the wild life conditions in the section. Conversations were held at every opportunity with all who displayed the slightest interest. In this way much interesting and more or less valuable knowledge of the popular opinion on this question was obtained.
There is no problem before the American hunter and trapper to-day more vital than the steady and sure depletion of the animal and bird supply. It is natural that, as the country settles up, the timber is cut away and marshes are drained to make way for cultivated crops that the wild life will be destroyed, or driven further and further toward the wilder mountains and more extensive swamps. This is an indisputable fact. But to the minds of those who look to any depth in the matter it seems that were this alone the annihilatory Nemesis of the game and fur, this present country-wide scarcity of wild life would not be nearly so pronounced. There would still be ample game in those sections which are but sparsely settled, or in which there is a good deal of waste land which affords harbor for the animals and birds.
What then is the reason why our game and fur are becoming so scarce? There is only one answer -- the army of gunners and trappers who shoot the game and trap the fur.
Hunting and trapping are two delightful sports. We have no fault to find with them as sports, and when the trapper follows his pursuit with due care for a future supply of animals. But it stands to reason that with human nature driving a large portion of the hunters and fur collectors toward a selfish grasping for every mammal and bird and piece of fur which can be procured, the sporting side of the process sometimes gets misplaced in the heat of the hunt, and in the furore of the trapping expedition some trappers are prone to forget all about a future supply. It is then that the law must step in, and in the interest of justice to all put a stop to the self-benefiting practices of those whose ambitions have been fired by petty self partisanship.
That all laws are frequently broken our immense police and judicial system will easily disclose. Naturally, the game laws come in for a share of infringement. Perhaps, too, because of lax wardens or an ill-formed public opinion in many sections this legislative system is more frequently considered lightly than is the code which governs the treatment of what, to the average mind, constitutes more grievous offenses -- criminal acts and those of felonious intent.
Law, however, is law, and theoretically at least the breaker of a game law is equally criminal with the sneak thief and others whose iniquitous forays result in a loss to society; for that is precisely what infringement of the game laws lead to -- a loss of game to the community, because every animal killed out of season means the destruction of the prospective offspring of that animal. It was to find out as nearly as possible the personal opinion of a number of game and fur men that I talked to all showing the slightest interest in the question.
Conditions may be different in other regions, but in this section of Virginia the grossest disrespect for game laws is shown. No one, except in very isolated instances, expressed the slightest regard for the game commission and its supposedly effective laws. Neither have I been able to unearth much sentiment in regard to the destruction of the increase of female animals and birds when same are killed in the spring or early summer. It is even said that men boast of having killed turkeys and quail on the nest, and they brag of the game their loose dogs kill when running at large over the fields and woods. When one suggests that this latter course in respect to hunting dogs is very much out of place, owing to the fact that doubtless much game is killed in this way while young and defenseless, one is politely advised that otherwise the owner would have to spend more for dog food. And if the bird-on-nest killing rite is condemned, with additional suggestion that a game warden might appear, one gets laughed at. Our benevolent game officials seem to have a known reputation for inefficiency.
We have some game laws here. It is not a perfect system, yet it is still something to stand between the destruction of game and greedy shooters. Except in certain counties where purely local regulations are in force, we have no fur laws. But the game laws we have are looked upon by the populace as merely so much misplaced energy. Guns are carried openly by summer time fishermen and many others, whose perambulations to and from their daily labors lead them through farm roads and other byways where game may be seen through the summer -- and game is killed on sight.
The arm usually carried by these parties is a rifle of some sort, although now and then one sees a twelve or sixteen-gauge shotgun. The .22 is used largely, and of course shooting done may not be fatal in some instances. But it should be remembered that it is summer when such shooting is prosecuted, and all animals and birds at this time are very much less wary and fearless of man's approach than they are in winter. Rabbits will sit motionless till one gets within ten or fifteen feet of them, and quail and turkeys will run along the ground in plain sight, apparently showing very little fright. At last they will stop, and even mediocre marksmen can score readily with a .22 ball. Squirrels are also shot in this way, though until the last year or two we have had no law protecting this animal. We have one now, however, the open season corresponding with the rabbit season. So it is equally unlawful at the present time to shoot squirrels. Yet the sport goes merrily on and the game protectors sit tight in easy chairs somewhere in the shade, and mayhap talk horse races with the neighbors.
There are several stories going the rounds which tend to prove that friends of the wardens bask in no dread of official displeasure. It is said that game in pretty large lots has been shipped illegally out of this county by men known to be on friendly terms with our county officials.
Another story is said to relate to a man who killed a swan and shot at a deer. This was done with one of the aforementioned .22 rifles, and in each case the shooting was unlawful, although the deer was not killed. It was largely discussed in this section when the swan was killed, yet nothing official came of it.
Again, it is said that one county official himself operates a gill net in the Mattaponi River, unlawfully of course, as our fish laws are very pronounced in forbidding fishing with nets without licenses.
Trailing turkeys and deer in the snow is a popular sport in this section. This is unlawful and were the game wardens interested in doing their duty thoroughly, it should be very easy to stop this work. One or two arrest of snowhunting turkey shooters would check this abuse effectually. And turkey hunting in the snow is a process which an officer of the law can prove in court with ease. He has simply to walk in the woods when snow is on the ground, and if human tracks are found following the trail of a bird, the warden can follow this until he catches up with the hunter. The offender can thus be caught literally "with the goods on," as the law forbids the tracking of turkeys in the snow; it is not necessary to kill the turkey tracked to break the law.
But tramping around in the snow after illegal turkey hunters is work, and it is said that our wardens do not enjoy this. If our game commissioners anticipate any continued conservation of our game, it is time that some concerted action leading toward the breeding of respect for game laws is undertaken by our force of game protectors. If the present number of officials is insufficient successfully to cover the ground, additional officers should be recruited, and a license assessed upon all shooters to defray the expense of protecting the game.
Though game is not now as plentiful in Eastern Virginia as it should be, and can be with proper protection, there is sufficient now to stock all available territory. With only a few seasons of rigorous enforcement of our present laws, even if these are entirely inadequate, as has been said, Virginia would come again into its own as a State affording good shooting. There was a time when this State was considered second to none in the East for fine sport with all game from deer to squirrels. Trapping, too, has been in the past as good here as in any State in the Union. Five years ago a trapper operating eighty traps could catch each winter from forty to fifty mink, fifty to sixty raccoon, 200 to 300 muskrat, five to ten otters, and as many skunks and opossums as he cared to handle. Game, such as deer, turkeys, pheasants, ducks, etc., were also extraordinarily plentiful, and anyone with a predilection for outdoor sport had an abundance of it right to hand.
And this country can be made as great a game section again. There is just as much waste land, marshes, scrubby growth, slashings and old fields for the game to inhabit now as there was at that time. There is nothing save continued and ceaseless slaughter of the animals, to blame for this condition of scarcity of wild life. Our pheasants and turkeys have been reduced from the great flocks which used to roam our hills and river valleys to a few scattered individuals which luck has aided to elude the entire gamut of unlawful as well as lawful modes of hunting -- baiting, snow tracking, shooting off the roosts, all have collected their recondite toll of turkey deaths, and all of these modes are now illegal. Yet they are still used by men who do not fear the law, simply because the law has proved itself unworthy of gunners' respect.
Our deer, too, are gone from their former haunts, victims of unlawful hunting -- salt licks, jacklights, and shooting at every season; aye, even does have been shot while nursing fawns. It is such things as these which kill off a section's game. It is such things as these, too, which game wardens are ceaseless in but one thing, and that is a failure to get out and guard the things it is their duty to protect.
We are supposed to have a warden somewhere in this vicinity. I have never seen him, however, and have never heard of his existence save once nearly two years ago when several negroes were arrested for killing rabbits out of season. It is said the offenders were fined $20 per rabbit.
For a time thereafter the halo surrounding the official heads visibly brightened. A little respect for the game laws began to sprout. Fishermen no longer carried guns on their fishing trips and travelers along the highways ceased to remind one of an army of invasion. But soon the glamor faded. This burst of activity seemingly was merely the terminating display of form before the final let-down. To-day as an official the game warden is looked upon as a creator of amusement.
So much for our game. The condition of our fur supply is even yet more pitiful. As heretofore stated, except in certain counties, we have no fur laws. There is no State-wide measure dealing with this class of our wild life. In all my journeyings along Virginia streams the lack of fur signs was most evident. Everywhere, as by a scourge of plague, the fur-bearers have been swept away. As late as July and as early as September I have seen traps setting for mink, 'coons, otters and muskrats. And one man I talked to boasted that he had taken many opossums which had young ones fastened to the teats in their pouches. Can we not imagine how many young minks, 'coons, muskrats were destroyed by this same party by his taking away their mothers at a time when they needed maternal sustenance? Really, I fail to find in the dictionary an adequate name for trappers of this stripe.
And the dens! All through the low grounds one sees legions of trees lying rotting in the moss. All of these were once the residences of raccoons. Skunks, too, have fared badly at the hands of den diggers, even though this section has never been a great skunk-producing region. But with all this destruction of dens our fur would have suffered but little had it not been for summer trapping. Of course these trappers were all working within the law, as we unfortunately have no fur law as yet. But would it have availed the fur-bearers any if we had laws for their protection, inasmuch as our game wardens are seemingly so negligent?
No, it probably would not have altered matters. Law is an illusive term. It is a will-o-the-wisp. Respect for the law is what we want. Let the State Legislature enact uniform game and fur laws for the entire State. Then if the present force of wardens is insufficient to cover the ground allotted, put a license on everybody who carries a gun or sets a trap on other property but his own, or what he may have rented or leased. This fee need not be large. One or two dollars per head, with fifteen or twenty dollars for out-of-State sportsmen will be enough. This would result in the addition of at least $300,000 to the annual State revenue, as about every man and boy in rural Virginia hunts or traps or does both. With this sum the State game commissioners could put into the field an army of wardens -- enough to bring about a rigorous enforcement of the law. And this is all we need. Nature, with the fur and game stock now remaining, even after all this illegal and distressing killing, would in a few years bring about a healthy growth of wild life.
No, that is not quite all. The above statement needs one qualification. We need and must have before our game will have a fair chance, a law prohibiting the running loose of hunting dogs during closed season for any game.
But unless something of this kind is done, unless Virginia experiences some circumstance which will cultivate greater respect for our game laws, and which will aid the fur-bearers to hold their own against the trappers' inroads, this State will soon follow into the gameless condition of those States in which there is little or no game at all.
Will Virginia wait until the stolen horse has been driven to death before locking the stable door? Or will she act at the next session of her State Legislature, and thus add a new lease of life to her supply of natural wild life? The question is important. Virginian, think it over. Then get busy with your State Assemblyman. Propound your case succinctly but firmly, and request him to support any measure meeting with your requirements. And tell him that if no such bill is introduced, you would like for him to prepare and offer one himself.