Newspaper Page Text
Where Friends and the Outdoors Meet
Single Copies ... 10 Cents
SEVENTH YEAR —NUMBER 17 ATLANTA, GA., MAY 1, 1947 Yearly subscription $i.so
Restore and Protect
Lost i Game Pockets’
Boys’ Program
Sponsored by
'Nooga League
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — The
Sportsman’s League of Chatta
nooga, the largest organization of
sportsmen in Tennessee, headed by
E. T. Bales, has embarked on
worthwhile youth program. The
League has arranged with a bus
line to furnish transportation for
35 youngsters every week. The
organization will pay all cost in
connection with these trips and
furnish the fishing gear, as well as
adult guides, and see that the kids
meet with r.c
trips. Swimming, fishing, boating,
etc., will be sponsored every week.
The boys will be chosen from the
various organizations in Hamilton
county.
The League is now carrying on
a county-wide membership cam
paign which is expected to bring
the membership up to a total of
5,000.
By RALPH C. ERSKINE
TRYON, N. C.—Where are the quail? Among a number of
contributing causes for the steady decline of quail and grouse during
the last 20 years is the easy access by automobile to game pockets
which were formerly rarely invaded by the hunter.
Game Pockets is a good name 1
for the inaccessible havens of
nesting which in the horse and
buggy days were practically un
visited and unknown by anyone
except the owner of the land.
Often even the owner never hunt
ed these pockets and the quail and
grouse in them were never molest
ed by man. From them adven
turous birds went out and popu
lated the surrounding territories.
Good roads and the automobile
have put these game pockets in a
matter of hours and minutes with
in the reach of every man who
owns a gun and dog. Town dwell
ers who would formerly have had
to travel by horse and wagon for
a week to hunt them can now
dash out of an afternoon and if
the game isn’t in one place, in
a few minutes they can cover
another 15 mil°e away if need be.
FUN IS CONTAGIOUS
In my Village I know a dozen
active hunters, not one of whom
even owned a bird dog 12 years
ago. The fun of lifting the trunk
lid for a dog to hop in and taking
off for a few hours is contagious.
Each hunter knows the exact
spots where each covey “uses.”
The fire gets in the blood. He
zips from game pocket to game
pocket and before the day is over
every covey within 30 miles has
been pounded to a frazzle. And
that’s the story all over the
Carolinas.
Here’s a typical day. Henry
Bartol and I (members of the
Polk County Wildlife Club) heard
there was good grouse shooting
90 miles away on the side of
Roan Mountain. After a not too
early breakfast we met a gang
of sportsmen who knew the
corners out beyond Burnsville and
three-quarters of an hour later
we were in the heart of the best
grouse pocket.
Not a bird! But plenty of
empty shells and foot prints along
the streams! We had missed out.
Well, they all knew where we
could get in a few hours of quail
shooting along the river. The fact
that it was 30 miles away meant
nothing. I remembered the place
from former years and knew it
was good. But it was the same
story. We worked the territory
as thoroughly as though life de
pended on it. A few years ago
we would have found at least a
dozen coveys. This time it was
one!
REGISTER AND POST
What’s the answer? We must
restore the game pockets — not
great areas, but nooks and cor
ners, here and there throughout
our counties in which the birds
are never molested except for
scientific trapping for planting
throughout the counties. Every
pocket should be registered and
Continued on Page 4
Light Tackle Lands
52-Pound Drum
WALTERBORO, S. C. — Bob
Dantzler, local sportsman and
fishing enthusiast, landed a 52-
pound (black) drum on fresh
water tackle, testing 30 pounds,
while fishing from the old wreck
off Hunting Island, near Beau
fort.
"Six points . . . and that's
the fender I got him with!"
FAVORITE SOUTHERN SPORT—Bass fishing in the cypress-covered lakes of the Deep South
is a top sport for bait casters. Here on this South Georgia lake a big bass is nearing the finish of
a hard and losing fight. The angler has played the fish to the surface and soon will have him in
the boat.
Fishing License Sale
To Break All Records
Sales of fishing licenses during the first four months indi
cate that a record number of fishermen will visit the streams |
and lakes of the South during 1947.
Records were set in several
Southern states last year, the first
post-war season, but all these are
expected to fall before the returns
are in for the first three-quarters
of the year.
Fish and Game Departments, for
many years short on funds for
protection and restoration, are
viewing the increasing sales as % a
good sign for conservation. They
believe the trend will extend into
and through the hunting season.
More revenue from licenses
means better signs for fishing in
the future. These funds are ex
pected to be put to work for in
creasing fish populations in both
open waters and private lakes.
Meantime, in Washington, Con
gress is considering a bill that
would give further aid to fish and
Notice to Subscribers
Southern Outdoors is in the process of reorganization. With
this issue publication of the paper will be temporarily suspended.
We expect to resume publication in the near future. If you wish
to cancel your subscription and re-subscribe when Southern
Outdoors appears again, please notify this office immediately
so that proper refund may be made.
fishing. The Dingell bill provides
for federal aid in fish manage
ment and restoration similar to
the Pittman-Robertson plan for as
sistance in game.
The Dingell bill would have the
program work through state de
partments on a 75-25 federal aid
basis. Funds would come from the
10 per cent excise tax now im
posed on fishing tackle. The Fish
and Wildlife Service would coop
erate.
The bill requires enabling acts
by state legislatures for partici
pation in the program, with pro
vision that no state could use fish
ing license receipts for any pur
pose other than fish and game ad
ministration. The proposed fish
eries aid work thus would be paid
for by fishermen, inasmuch as
funds would come from equipment
tax. Pittman-Robertson aid, also
given to eligible states on a 75-25
basis, is paid for by the 11 per
cent tax on arms and ammuni
tion.
All Southern states are now
participating in the federal aid to
wildlife program. Passage of the
Dingell measure would provide a
boost to fishing all over the
country.
WORLD’S RECORD
BREAM CAUGHT
IN ALABAMA
KETONA LAKE, Ala.—A blue-
gill bream weighing four pounds,
eight ounces, was caught here dur
ing the first week in May by Coke
McKenzie, of Birmingham.
This is believed to be an all-
time world’s record for this spe
cies of sunfish. The listed record
for bream is two pounds, 10
ounces. McKenzie’s catch exceeded
this mark by a pound and 14
ounces.
Witnesses to the catch said Mc
Kenzie’s bream was 1514 inches
long, eight inches wide and three
inches thick. The girth was not
reported.
2,400 Georgians
Arrested in Year
Georgia’s annual report on ac
tivities of wildlife rangers for the
12 months ending April 30 shows
that 2,400 persons were arrested
on charges of violating the game
laws.
Of these, 1,411 have been con
victed, and others remain to be
tried. Several hundred were no-
billed or acquitted. Ranger Wil
liam Roddenberry led the ranger
staff for the- year with a total of
48,885 points.
