Our Quail Seem
to be Doomed
If wo eont imio i lie* massaiTo ail
the proNonf ratio, il will lio only
ai oonipairailivc'ly sliorl I imo w lion
I lioro w ill bo no
того
birds lo bo
found in .\orlh Carolina.
Kij J. \\ li lt! It Bl\\
ISN’T it strange that no one mines
to the rescue of our most |»o|iulnr
game bird — the quail, or bob-
white?
I have been a lover of quail shoot¬
ing since I was a boy of fourteen
years, and I first used a little white
setter that my brother had left at
home and a hammer shot gun. Any
afternoon I would take the setter, go
out into the fields, and easily find
from six to ten covies of birds. The
covies usually had from eighteen to
thirty quail. We would seldom get
out of sight of the house, and if we
got from three to six birds, the two
of us considered that we had had a big
afternoon.
In that same territory and on that
same plantation today, there is scarce¬
ly a bird to be found, despite the fact
that the feed is more abundant today
than it was when 1 was a hoy.
Л
Gradual Reduction
I
и
Inter years, after I moved to
Raleigh, 1 did a great deal of quail
hunting in Eastern North Carolina
with Charles M. Johnson and other
friends who live in that part of our
state. That is the natural territory
for quail and it affords the finest
shooting-ground I have ever seen. It
wasn't many years, however, before
the covie» got smaller and smaller,
and farther and farther apart. Five
01 ten years ago, where you Would find
from eight to twelve covics of birds,
ranging from eight to fifteen birds,
you now find one or two covies, rang¬
ing from three to six birds. More
often you don't find any at all.
It isn't difficult to analyze the sit¬
uation and figure out what has hap¬
pened. Thirty-five years ago n bird
dog was a real curiosity, especially
in the rural districts. 1 recall that
sometimes when I started out hunting
with a dog and would stop at a neigh¬
bor's house, the whole family would
go along, just to see the dog in action.
Then the breeding of bird dogs be¬
came more general, and as the num¬
ber of dogs increased, ,*o did the num¬
ber of hunters.
The birds held up pretty well, how¬
ever, due to the fact that various sec¬
tions of our state afforded such won¬
derful range and fine feeding grounds.
Then good roads were built into every
comer of North Carolina, and a man
living in Raleigh could hunt in Pen¬
der, Dupliu, Columbus or any of the
other eastern counties with about ns
much convenience and ease as local
residents.
Bird dogs? Well, practically every
fellow in town, in the country and at
the cross roads who hasn’t one dog has
either two or three. Almost the en¬
tire population goes out to shoot with
invited guests and sportsmen from
other states. Wo hang away, day in
and day out, and it doesn’t take any
great amount of thought to figure on.
what has happened.
Just About Gone
As we enter the new year, 1938,
our quail are just about gone, gener¬
ally speaking. We haven't any seed
left. There is no such thing any more
as having a nice hunt and finding any
birds, unless you happen to lie hunt¬
ing on protected ground.
I have talked to many sportsmen
from different parts of the state and
all of them, without a single dissent¬
ing voice, agree with mo that by all
means we should save the seed, if pos¬
sible. Let’s have a closed season for
at least two years. You realize, of
course, that the complete passing of
game fowls from different parts of
Not only North Carolinians, but
hunters from many other states arc
helping to bring about complete de¬
struction of quail in our hunting
grounds.
our country occurred because they
had no protection and were all killed
—I should say “murdered”— without
u voice being raised in their behalf.
If our people who arc in authority
are ignorant of these facts, then they
should advise themselves if they wish
to do honor and credit to the positions
they fill.
“Well,” you may say, “why isn’t
there something done about it?”
I'll answer that question by saying
that I have appealed to the head of
the State Gome Department of our
state time and time again during the
past year, and every time I get this
reply: “Wo have an abundance of
quail, more than in past years. The
weather has boon bad and the quail
are in the swamps.”
In the meantime, our state is being
advertised as a paradise for quail
shooting, and non-residents are filling
the hotels in Eastern Carolina towns.
Hunters are in agreement that the
birds are harder to locate today than
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