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SOUTHERN OUTDOORS, July 1, 1946
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Where Friends and the Outdoors Meet
Phone MAin 7137 • Pryor at Auburn, Atlanta 3, Ga.
JOHN MARTIN Editor and Publisher
ASSOCIATE EDITORS
CHARLES ELLIOTT EDDIE FINLAY DEAN HUNTER
LOU WILLIAMS B. M. ATKINSON, JR. PARSON S. GUNN
HENRY P. DAVIS GENE WIKE JACK PICKEREL
Southern Outdoors is a trade and technical newspaper, publishing trade and technical news
for sportsmen, sporting goods dealers and the industry. Issued semi-monthly by Southern
Outdoors, Pryor at Auburn, Atlanta 3, Ga.
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responsible for advance payments to representatives or agents. All publications are entitled
to use for republication all news credited to Southern Outdoors. Entered at the Atlanta post
office in May, 1940, as second class matter under Act of March 3, 1879.
Time To Choose
The time is coming when we must make a choice between
industry and game, fish and recreation. From all corners we
hear of the South’s mad fight to lure increased industry.
We are not opposed to any section’s efforts to improve busi
ness and the economic wealth of its citizens.
But wherever industry goes wildlife decreases. Pollution
of waters and excessive demands on forests and the game
crop follow industrialization. The game populations have
vanished and the waters have become virtually barren of
fish life in the wake of industry.
Good hunting is a by-product of good agriculture. Good
fishing is a by-product of rich soil and forests that have not
been over-timbered. The increased and centralized popula
tions that accompany industry create an increased pressure
on game and fish supplies.
Growth of the cattle industry in several Southern states
is a major threat to the survival of bob white quail as a game
bird. Normal grazing reduces the bird supply. Overgrazing
destroys it. Cattle and birds use the same grasses and plants
for food.
The South’s bid for industry and tourists in the same
breath fails to make common sense. A towering smokestack
is not a lure that will attract visitors.
Practically every state in the South can offer attractions
to industry. All of them could offer something to the tourist
and the sportsman. But we doubt that they can work both
ends successfully.
If they get industry they’ll miss the spending fun-seekers.
And they’ll reduce hunting and fishing opportunities for
their native citizens and for non-residents.
The South can have one, or part of each, but not all of
both.
We believe that this is worth more study before the drum-
beaters get too far out of step.
What About the Supply?
The swing to sports and outdoor recreation gives no sign
of abatement. Record consumer savings, good prospects for
the continuance of high incomes and substantial employment,
and a shorter working week allowing more time for the en
joyment of life, will increase the pressure on all available
facilities for play.
That the shooting sports will enjoy their full share of
this patronage is indicated in every current study of sports
preferences. An example is the tremendous vote of confidence
they received in a poll of 5,000 veterans of the present war
conducted by the American Legion Magazine. A listing „qf
outdoor sports was given with the request that the favorite
activities be checked. Topping the whole list was “hunting”
which was checked by 69 per cent of the G. I.’s with “fishing”
in second place with 61 per cent.
Another G.I. poll was taken by the Conservation Depart
ment of the State of New York at the National Sportsman’s
Show in New York City. Some 1,500 servicemen were asked
a number of questions on wildlife and conservation. Over 53
per cent stated that they will hunt for the first time after
the war. Another 29 per cent signified that they will hunt
more after the war, which left only 18 per cent who will
hunt less or will not hunt at all.
It has been freely predicted by competent observers that
we can expect at least as large a step up in the number of
licensed hunters as occurred shortly after World War I,
when the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported an increase
of 30 per cent. The surveys support such a belief.
What we would like to know is how our game and fish
supplies can hold up under the pressure.
JAMES G. WILCOX INSURANCE COMPANY
GENERAL INSURANCE
301 Ten Pryor Street Building
ATLANTA 3, GEORGIA Phone WAInut 4410
The
VARSITY
FRESH FOODS CURB SERVICE
ATLANTA, GA. ATHENS, GA.
Tarheel
Tales
By GENE WIKE
The run of the rockfish (striped
bass) is over in the Roanoke Riv
er, but that doesn’t mean you
should stop fishing for them in the
coastal waters. Starting around
the first of May, the rockfish pour
up the river, the females richly
laden with roe, and sportsmen
have a heyday for a few weeks.
Then the fish move back down
stream where the best rockfishing
will now be found in fresh-water
sounds, and in October and No
vember they school up the mouths
of Alligator, Scuppernong, other
coastal rivers, and in the Croatan
Sound.
MOREHEAD CITY, a coastal
town acclaimed for its sporting
activities, is operating full blast.
This big deep sea fishing center
is sending out parties aboard the
Sea Raven, Little Sister, and
Shearwater clear to the Gulf-
stream, and the parties are re
turning with dolphin, amberjack,
cero, bonito, tuna, and Spanish
mackerel. They’re still waiting
for the sailfish.
Skippers of these party boats
have found Barden Inlet at Cape
Lookout to their advantage. When
a squall sprang up while several
of them were outside, they found
safe anchorage close to the fish
ing areas.
IT SEEMS that fishing is al
ways better on the other side.
First, Geeorgia sportsmen fishing
in Lake Chatuge complained about
having to obtain non-resident li
cense when anchored on the Caro
lina side, and now South Carolin
ians claim North Carolina’s inva
sion of their waters is unfair.
A Charleston writer reports that
Little River and Georgetown fish
ermen protest that it is unfair for
a Tarheel commercial fishermen
to be allowed to buy South
lina licenses at the same rate
natives while excluding South Car
olinians from North Carolina wa
ters. Furthermore, the North
Carolina fishing and shrimping
craft; generally are larger and bet
ter equipped, he says.
Large Louisiana-type trawlers,
continued the complainant, com
plete with refrigeration, are op
erated by non-residents in South
Carolina water. These craft can
lay off-shore for days, constantly
working the shrimping and fish
ing grounds and then can move out
of state ports, depriving South
Carolina of all revenue, he con
cluded.
FISHING the parks near Cullo-
whee, C. F. Dodson writes from
Sylva that he and fellow sports
men have been taking their creel
limits in streams of the national
parks systems of western North
Carolina. He also has a kind word
for the rangers, too, saying that
“the public should know the rang
ers better, for knowing them bet
ter helps us to appreciate the
great responsibility and the work
that they are doing.”
BILL SHARPE’S BOOK, TAR
ON MY HEELS, is about many
things in North Carolina, but what
makes it interesting to sportsmen
is the conversation among the
fishes that Sharpe conjured up
from his various experiences by
the sea. If you hang on to one
that hollers “you all,” you can
know it’s home talent, but if you
reel in one protesting against
“youse guys,” you can bet it’s a
species touring the southern wa
ters. Of course, his book has sto
ries about people, scenery and tra-
I ditions too. You ought to read it.
DEBUT OF A DUCK—A. L. Belle Isle, Atlanta sportsman,
claims to be the first fisherman in the South to catch a bass from
an amphibian duck, whose maiden voyage was made on Lake Hia-
wassee, N. C. These photos, top to bottom, show: Belle Isle, left,
popping a top water plug, while Partner Bob Crenshaw trolls; Tom
Hodges trolling from the stern; Hodges, left, and J. L. Franklin
fishing in the moonlight, with Belle Isle under the wheel; full
speed ahead after deciding to “give the poor fish a rest.”