ily and on
some of the rivers, boats do not make more than one or two trips a
week. It was the intention of the writer when going to Georgia, to
work the trap line all winter, going nearly the entire length of the
Alabama River, to the Mississippi line, but met with unexpected
conditions that I was unable to endure and was compelled to give up
the greater part of the trip, which was a sad disappointment. But
comrades, you know that there are but few trappers but what meet with
disappointments at times.

The game laws of Georgia are a little hard on the trapper and
fisherman. The non-resident trapper has to pay a license of fifteen
dollars and the local trapper a license of three dollars. (This
alludes to the laws of 1912.) That is not the worst part of it. In
fact, the license fund, if justly used in the protection of game and
game birds and the propagation of game and birds, I would not object
to the license.

The hard part of the game law of Georgia is the trespass part of it.
The trapper must have a written permission from the land owner to
trap or fish on any man's land and where the river is the dividing
line between different parties owning the land, the trapper or
fisherman must have the written permit from both land owners, even
though he does not leave his boat to set a trap or place a trot line.
Now it is a very difficult thing for a stranger to learn who owns the
land and often the owner of the land lives in some city of the North,
or elsewhere. Now here is where the shoe pinches the hardest. The
fine for trespassing on a man's land is $40.00 and it is the duty of
the game warden to arrest any one he finds hunting, trapping or
fishing on any man's land without a written permit. Here is the worst
of all. The game warden must make the arrest without any notice from
the land owner and if the game warden fails to make the arrest, he is
liable to the same fine as the one who is doing the trespassing. This
is a law that the average land owner never asked for.

I had men come to me every day and offer me the privilege of trapping
or hunting on their land without any request on my part. I found the
majority of the people of Georgia very kind in regard to this
trespass matter as well as other matters. It was only a few sporting
"Nabobs" that concocted this stringent part in the trespass law,
contained in the game laws of Georgia.

Most other states of the south have as trespass laws, that the land
owner must ord