SHIPMENT OF WILD GAME.
Mr. Fancher's bill [H. R. 19] to repeal Section 12 of an act for the protection of wild game, defining the time and manner within the same may be taken, killed, sold or otherwise disposed of, prohibiting the shipment from the State of Indiana, and also providing for the protection of certain birds in this act named; and prohibiting the destruction of their nests or eggs; and also making it unlawful to go upon lands for the purpose of hunting without permission of the owner, and prescribing penalties for injuring the property of any such owner; and also prescribing penalties for the offenses and misdemeanors defined in this act, and repealing all acts inconsistent with this act, was read the third time. [The section, as it has heretofore stood, had not allowed railroads to transport game out of the State at any time, a law that was practically inoperative. Railroads will, if this bill passes the Senate, be allowed to transport game out of the State during the months when the law permits the game to be killed.]
Mr. JOHNSON opposed the proposed repeal because he thought the time had come when the State should protect wild game.
Mr. BUSKIRK thought the bill was unconstitutional. The idea of saying that it is unlawful for a man to kill game on his individual property, and that railroads shall not carry game out of the State, is an absurdity.
page: 206[View Page 206]Mr. FANCHER--I think Section 12 as it now stands is inoperative. It allows you to kill game but prohibits you making any use of it after it is killed. It is certainly very wrong and unconstitutional. Our market is Chicago--the only one we have. It being out of the State, we should have the right to ship our game to that point. As the statute now stands the people of Chicago come in and kill the game at night and early in the morning; while the citizens living in our County, if they kill game, when they return home with it are prosecuted for it. This game is migratory in its nature and it matters little how much of it is killed off; the next year there will appear about the same quantity of game; therefore, I think it nothing more than justice to the people of our County that they be allowed to kill game and ship it out of the State.
The bill passed--yeas, 62; nays, 13.
