There is a tang of Autumn in the air, And the breath of an early Fall, A breeze that blows away all care, As you listen to Bob Whites call.

CODE OF OUTDOOR ETHICS

The following code of outdoor ethics was compiled by Seth E. Gordon, conservation director of the Izaak Walton League of America, and an outstanding authority on sportsmanship and conservation:

1. Your outdoor manners tell the world what you are when at home. 2. What belongs to the public isn't your own—play fair. 3. Respect the property of rural residents:—ask before using it. 4. Save fences, close gates and bars, go around planted fields. 5. People, livestock, trees and birds were never meant to be target practice backstops. 6. Respect the law—catch enough legal fish to eat, then quit. 7. Protect public health—keep springs and streams clean. 8. Clean up your camp and don't litter the highways with trash. 9. Finish what you start—carelessness with fires is cussedness. 10. Leave flowers and shrubs for others to enjoy. Do your share.

OUTDOOR NEBRASKA

Official Bulletin Nebraska Bureau Game and Fish Vol. Ill OCTOBER, 1928 No. 4

Ten-Day Open Season On Pheasants In Nine Counties

THE second annual open season on pheasants in J. Nebraska will be held from October 22 to October 31, inclusive.

The counties where hunting may be done are as follows: Hall, Buffalo, Howard, Sherman, Merrick, Valley, Greeley, Garfield and Wheeler.

The bag will be five birds, and the daily limit is five birds.

From surveys made in the several counties which are.being opened, it would seem that there will be fine hunting as the birds are numerous. The law allows only male birds to be killed. If a hen pheasant is killed accidently, it will be picked up by the person killing same and turned over to game wardens who will be on duty at each county seat (County clerk's office at Court House) or in the field. The game warden will give the hunter a receipt for such birds and they will be turned over to charitable institutions or state hospitals. Any person killing a hen pheasant and leaving it in the field will be prosecuted. Or any person willfully killing hen pheasants will be prosecuted.

All hunters should be very careful to get their birds tagged when taking them from the county in which they were killed. Game Wardens are instructed to prosecute any person found with birds in counties that are closed where such birds are not tagged. Only one tag is required on the bag. Such tags will be available at places where hunting licenses are sold and at the office of the several county clerks in counties which are open to hunting. A fee of ten cents will be charged for the tag and the labor involved in filling out the same. It is not necessary to tag such birds as may be eaten in the county where they are killed, nor is it necessary for a resident of a county that is open to tag his birds unless he should carry them outside of his county.

Pheasants cannot be shipped unless accompanied by the person killing the same, even though they may be tagged. They may be checked as baggage on trains or carried by persons in automobiles, but under all circumstances, they must be accompanied by the person killing them. This is the state law and it will not be deviated from under any circumstances or conditions whatsoever, so do not request game wardens for such permissions. You will only waste your time and embarass them. Such rigid enforcement is necessary to control market hunting and abuse of bag limits.

All sportsmen are asked to be very careful in observing the rights of property owners. The success of the pheasant open seasons will depend much on the behavior of the hunters. Do not hunt on farms where the owner or renter on same does not give you permission. Many farmers want to keep all the birds now on their farms because of the insects they destroy. Always make yourself known and be a gentlemen. Where this is done, gates closed, fire danger observed, and damages, if any, made good, it is not difficult to find a place to hunt.

In the past some parties have rode along highways and shot pheasants from such vehicles. This is unlawful and such persons will be prosecuted.

The season this year was made later in order to make it easier to distinguish young hens. Last year a number of young hens were killed. If birds are young, and you are not certain of the sex, do not shoot. Usually it is possible to tell a male bird by his tail which is longer than that of the hen. However, where birds are young, it is not easy to distinguish them.

A game warden will be on duty at the county clerk's office in each county open and he will be in touch with other wardens in the field. In case of violations of any

(Continued on page 16)

WHERE AND WHEN TO HUNT PHEASANTS

Open Season: October 22 to 31, inclusive.

Counties open: Hall, Buffalo, Howard, Sherman, Merrick, Valley, Greeley, Garfield and Wheeler.

Hours for hunting: From one half hour prior to sunrise to sunset each day.

Birds each day: Not more than five male birds may be taken in any day.

Birds in possession: No more than f'.ve male birds may be in possession at any time.

Taking birds from county where killed:.. All birds taken from the county where killed MUST be tagged. Special tags are available wherever licenses are sold. A fee of 10 cents will be charged for each tag. One tag is for the bag. A tag is not needed for each bird, but for the bag.

Permits for hunting: All persons over sixteen years must have the regular hunting permits issued by the state. Non-residents (persons living outside of Nebraska) must have a non-resident permit.

Where to Hunt: When hunting on private land is necessary to have the permission of the owner or the party in control. Person hunting on posted lancl where hunting is not desired by the owner will be prosecuted.

4 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA

The Izaak Walton League and The State

Address of Frank B. O'Connell, State Game Warden at Izaak Walton League Convention, Hastings, September 10, 1928.

{TT HE time is here when scientific methods of propamgati: .-• game and fish and intelligent conservation must be practised if we hope to be able to furnish the angler and hunter enough sport to cause him to buy a license.

How are we going to be able to propagate game and fish and practise conservation?

As I see the problem, the Izaak Walton League and the State of Nebraska can do the job if they get started off right and work together.

First, let us consider the part the state must play.

What we need in Nebraska, as they do in a number of other nearby states, is a better machine with which to work. The automobile and call of the great outdoors has increased the number of fishermen and hunters greatly. Hundreds are going fishing and hunting where comparatively few went before. But we are working today too much like we worked in the old days when small funds were available and the need of providing game and fish was less. The Bureau of Game and Fish of the State of Nebraska has grown greatly. New problems are coming up. We must enlarge our machine to take on this new work.

I think all sportsmen here will agree" with me that we are headed in the right direction and that much has been done in the last three years. We have been able to increase our working force greatly and we have purchased considerable equipment and enlarged our facilities. But we still have much to do to put us in a position where we can scientifically and efficiently propagate game and fish and protect and conserve our natural resources.

We have ample funds today with which to work and now is the time we must get things done. Unless we can furnish anglers with fish and hunters with birds, they are not going to buy permits. And if they don't buy permits we will have no funds with which to work.

Allow me briefly to outline some of the major accomplishments during the past three years. In the fish department we have built a new hatchery that will rank among the best and largest in the middle west. It is located at Rock Creek in Dundy County and if you ever have the opportunity I hope you will inspect it. We greatly enlarged the Valentine Hatchery, but as you know, a flood recently destroyed the major part of the work. I am glad to advise you that construction work has already started again at Valentine and some $30,000 worth of work will be done there this fall. Please understand that this money is not going to be spent blindly and ponds constructed where they will be subject to loss again. The best engineering service procurable in Nebraska has been engaged and a complete and detailed survey of conditions there made. An entirely new system of ponds are shortly to be constructed, the majority of which will not be subject to flood danger. I believe that when the Valentine plant is finished around the first of the year you will be surprised and pleased with it. And I believe we will be able to produce more fish there than in the past. Just as soon as it is practicable I would like to see a bass sub-station established in the lake country of Cherry county. This can be handled with the equipment and personnel of the Valentine plant at a low overhead. Then I want to see another substation on the Fort grounds of Valentine where there is great possibilities for trout. With this plant fully developed, I believe we will be able to produce an immense lot of fish there.

Our fish nursery program is progressing nicely. We are getting nurseries in all parts of Nebraska. We must depend greatly on local chapters of the League in handling these nurseries and if you fellows will keep up your enthusiasm and work with us I am sure these nurseries will help very materially to solve the fish problem.

The hunting problem I feel is working out nicely. The prairie chicken increased nicely this year after a disastrous season last year and if the season can be closed for several years I believe these birds can be propagated in considerable numbers again.

The pheasant is making splendid gains. You know of the thousands that were trapped and shipped to eastern counties for breeding stock. These birds are increasing nicely and I venture to say that in five years thousands of dollars in non-resident permit money will be coming into our state. An open season on these birds will be had this fall for a period of ten days in six or seven counties. There is no question in my mind but that the hunting ground for these birds will increase each year from now on and that the farmers will have less and less cause of complaint as the birds are thinned out, especially the males.

The duck hatch this year was good and according to information received from Washington the federal survey of waterfowl is going to show that the migratory bird is holding its own under the closed spring seasons in Canada and the United States.

We are not making as good headway with the partridge as I would like. Owing to the high cost of these birds we have not ordered as many perhaps as we might have been able to secure. We felt that we should feel our way along with them in order to make certain that large sums of money was not spent needlessly. However, the concensus of opinion throughout the middle western states seem to be now that the partridge will stand our climate and increase to a degree to justify stocking these birds quite generally. A movement is now on foot for a group of middle western states to go in together, send an experienced game man abroad and purchase these birds direct from the trappers. It is my opinion that such an arrangement will save this state hundreds of dollars and give us better stock.

Our recreation grounds are being developed as rapidly as consistent with funds available. The Fremont project should be pretty well completed in another year.

Our finances are good. At the present time there is about $180,000 in the game fund in the state treasury. If the present plans are carried out, I estimate that this

(Continued on page 13)

OUTDOOR NEBRASKA 5

Rating of The Pheasant

By O.H Johnson Director of Game and Fish for South Dakota

THE SOUTH DAKOTA pheasant has been the subject of much discussion, both pro and con. Most of you are familiar with the origin of the species and its introduction, so little need be said along these lines. I shall attempt to explain how he rates in South Dakota.

As a game bird, he is not held in highest esteem by what is termed the "dyed-in-the-wool" sportsman. The old-timers who have enjoyed bird shooting over a "big going" dog may miss the thrill that comes only when a covey of prairie chickens or a bevy of quail is flushed. The pheasant does fail to provide that thrill. On the other hand, it has been found that the pheasant is about the only upland game bird that can be successfully propagated in a thickly populated and highly developed agricultural section under the climatic conditions of the Northwest.

The Hungarian partridge is being introduced in this region, but the endeavor has only begun, and it has yet to prove itself.

The pheasant has proved an attraction to a countless number of men and women to whom the hunting of game birds would not be an attraction. To hunt the pheasant requires no special equipment or paraphernalia. The individual needs only a shotgun and the ability to tramp. The foregoing conclusions have been arrived at in our state, where pheasant hunting has increased the sale of licenses to such an extent that it is safe to assume that 60 per cent of all hunting licenses issued can be credited to the pheasant.

In the early stages of our pheasant hunting, when small daily bag limits prevailed, a hunter now and then conceived the idea of purchasing a license for his "better half." She would accompany him on his hunting trips and act as his chauffeur. If he were successful, he might bag the number of birds permitted under the two licenses —a practice not exactly in accord with the law, nor with sportsmanship ethics. But nowadays the women have tired of doing all the driving. They realize that bringing down a pheasant isn't a phenomenal feat. They have tried their hand at it, and the result is that it will be only a matter of a few years until the men will be doing all the "chauffeuring."

Wrongfully Accused

The pheasant has been wrongfully accused of many things. It is true that he can be guilty of some of the depredations with which he is charged, but in most instances these faults are the result of improper regulations governing the bird. Too many pheasants in a given area result in a just protest from the farmer; also this condition is detrimental to the welfare of other varieties of game birds. The pheasant is a big, vigorous and hardy bird, a good forager, and rather than endure the pangs of hunger, he will readily adapt himself to any diet. He will pull up newly-sprouted corn, raise havoc with a patch of melons or tomatoes, and in some instances has been known to scratch out and peck holes in potatoes.

Charged with all these faults, he must be credited with destroying vast numbers of destructive bugs, worms, and noxious weed seeds, and the matter of placing accounts so that the balance will be in his favor is merely that of keeping him reduced to proper proportions. This is more easily said than done, as it has been our experience that the first attempt to permit pheasant shooting in a community results in a very vigorous protest from the sportsmen

But when once a community becomes reasonablly well-stocked with pheasants, the danger of extermination is exceedingly remote. To illustrate this, I give you the following proof:. From October 15, 1926, to January 4, 1928 (a period of 444 days) Beadle county (of which Huron is the county seat and is in the heart of a section in which the pheasant has thrived best), has had 166 days of open season. During 71 days of this open season, seven birds could be taken each day; during 40 days there was a bag limit of four, and during 55 days three birds could be taken in a day. Yet, we still have in some sections of that country more birds than necessary to provide reasonably good shooting, and an ample supply for breeding purposes.

Must Keep Males Down

The question is often raised: Does the pheasant molest the prairie chicken, quail, Hungarian partridge or other ground-nesting birds? To this, I say, no; not unless the male birds become too numerous. And for the welfare of the pheasants themselves, open seasons should be prescribed to keep the cocks reduced so that a ratio of approximately one cock to six hens prevails. A surplus of males results in the disturbance of nests among the pheasants as well as among other varieties of game birds. A cock pheasant has a complex nature, and we nave found that it is the fault of the individual rather than the species that makes his unpopular. I can best illustrate this by relating the experience of turkey breeders.

One farmer reports that the pheasants are molesting his turkeys during nesting season. Another farmer, living in the same locality and raising turkeys under identically the same conditions, contends that the pheasants do him no harm, although they might be among his turkeys in great numbers. In cases of this kind we find, upon investigation, that two or three old cocks are the disturbing element; one or more of them engaging a turkey hen in battle and during such battle either the eggs are destroyed or the young are killed. By killing off the intrud

(Continued on page 16)

Admitting that certain qualities characteristic of native game birds, now seriously depleted, are not to be found in the ringnecked pheasant, that species is responsible for a revival of interest in field sports in South Dakota, Oscar H. Johnson, Director of Game and Fish for that state, said at the recent winter meeting of the Minnesota Game Protective League in St. Paul. The merits of the species, he said, outweigh the faults sometimes charged against it.

SAVE THE CHICKEN

Unfortunately the open season on prairie chicken and grouse cannot be closed except by action of the State Legislature. Otherwise, the season on these birds would be closed this fall.

It is likely that the State Legislature will close the season when they meet this winter. Public opinion is almost unanimous for such action. Hundreds of farms and ranches throughout the state have been posted against hunting for these birds.

Here is a time when all sportsmen who want to conserve can do their part. Do not hunt prairie chicken or grouse this year and discourage others from doing it. These birds are still extremely short from a disastrous hatching season last year. If they are heavily hunted this year, much breeding stock for future years will be lost. There is scarcely enough breeding stock left in the state without any hunting this fall.

SCIENTIFIC PERMITS

A reader has requested information regarding the issuing of scientific permits.

The state law provides that scientific permits for the taking of game, birds, spawn, eggs etc., may be issued when such are taken for strictly scientific purposes.

The present regulations further provide that the holder of such permits must represent a college, high school, accredited organization or the like.

Those permits issued during 1928 are as follows:

J. E. Stipsky, Hooper, Nebraska. Kenneth D. Phillips, Station B., Route No. 1, Omaha, Nebraska. Russell B. Smith, 802 South 30th street, Omaha, Nebraska. Dr. Irvin H. Blake, 1605 North 33rd street, Lincoln, Nebraska. t John Howe, Stockville, Nebraska. Mrs. C. E. Wilton, Bostwick, Nebraska. Myron H. Swenk, 1410 North 37th Street, Lincoln, Nebraska. J. W. Gealy, Gordon, Nebraska. George H. Davis, Glenvil, Nebraska. Wilbur A. Chambers, Hastings, Nebraska. C. E. McCafferty, Alliance, Nebraska. A. M. Booking, Hastings, Nebraska. Robert Graham, York, Nebraska. M. James Kopac, 618 South 27th street, Lincoln, Nebraska. Wilson Tout, North Platte, Nebraska. Cyrus A. Black, Kearney, Nebraska. Dr. E. E. Scott, Falls City, Nebraska. W. E. Beed, Crookston, Nebraska. Harry Proffitt, Hastings, Nebraska. Harvey T. Nickel, Saronville, Nebraska. T. J. E. Pinson, Platte Center, Nebraska. J. W. Elwood, Omaha, Nebraska. Robt. H. Wolcott, 2100, B street, Lincoln, Nebraska. George A. Herzog, Lincoln, Nebraska. C. B. Collins, 4410 St. Paul Avenue, Lincoln, Nebraska. W. A. Dowding, Seward, Nebraska. Randal McCain, Ann Arbor, Michigan. L. M. Gates, 5342 Madison Avenue, Lincoln, Nebraska. R. A. Bunney, West Point, Nebraska.

BIRD-BANDING WORK INCREASES

Bird-banding activity, under the supervision of the Bureau of Biological Survey, is constantly increasing. Appications for banding permits are received in greater number than can be accepted. There are now more than 1,300 eooperators in the work, all whom are entirely voluntary. Every possible care is used in selecting cooperators. It is not enough for ;\ person merely to indicate an interest in the work. Each applicant for a banding permit must be at least 18 years of age and must satisfy the bureau that he will operate a trapping station and that he has sufficient knowledge of birds to identify accurately those that he may trap for banding. This knowledge must be vouched for by an ornithologist or an instructor in zoology. During the present fical year the bureau has purchased and issued about 140,000 bands. Co-operators have banded 93,000 birds during this time. About 2,400 return records have been received. These returns show how far the birds have traveled since they were banded, and furnish other valuable ornithological data.

CATS

There are two kinds of good cats: those kept strictly on the owner's premises, and dead cats.

This is the opinion of W. B. Grange, Superintendent of game for the state conservation commission of Wisconsin, who reports that cats have been the greatest menace of all predatory animals to the propagation of game birds in Wisconsin this year.

"The common house-cat is one of the worst menaces to the increase of birds and small animals in Wisconsin," continues Mr. Grange. "Far too many people in the state, who are too kind-hearted to drown an unwanted litter of kittens, will turn them loose in the woods. These cats develop into the worst kind of predatory animals as far as birds and small game are concerned."

OUTFOOR NEBRASKA 7

The Vermin Problem

BY GENE M. SIMPSON Superintendent Oregon State Game Farms

IN getting along with State Game Commissions and State Game Wardens I find that the first 20 years are the hardest. I cannot recall but two instances when I tried to tell the State Game Commission how to run their business. The first time was about 16 years ago when I suggested to the State Game Warden the idea of deputy game wardens devoting their spare time, not otherwise taken up, to the killing and trapping of predatory birds and animals, as is done in England. I was told that it would not be practical, for the reason that a man could not be found who could or would do both. This state had one deputy game warden about ten or twelve years ago, J. Mi. Thomas of Coos County, who took it upon himself to kill every stray cat he saw. Whenever a logging camp moved to a new location a bunch of cats was sure to be left behind to multiply, go wild, and infest the entire country.

I had another brilliant idea. After many years' experience in trapping house cats, both tame and otherwise, and having their skins tanned for commercial use, I suggested to the State Game Commission at that time the possibility of offering a small bounty on stray house cats, have the skins prepared and sold to the fur trade, thereby deriving a fund equal to the bounty paid. 1 was again told it could not be done without incurring the displeasure of the Humane Society.

Paul G. Redington, Chief of the Bureau of Biological Survey, has become alarmed at the decrease in the number of fur-bearing animals taken by trappers. He says: "For the past two seasons of trapping the fur catch in this country has declined at an alarming rate. The 1925-26 catch was 20 per cent less than in the previous year, and in the 1926-27 season the decline was even greater."

It is a simple and inexpensive operation to tan a cat skin. The salt-acid process used in tanning these cat skins, calls for a solution made up of 1 pound common salt, 1 ounce commercial sulphuric acid to each gallon of water. The United States produces less than 2 per cent of the rabbit skins used in the fur trade in this country. Rabbit skins to the value of approximately 25 million dollars are imported annually from Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, France, and other foreign countries. Cat skins are more valuable, and by far more durable, than rabbit skins.

This small robe was only basted together, and is the least attractive of several automobile robes made from the skins of eat:-; killed at the State Game Farms. Several years ago a larger robe was made with a white tabby in the center, and placed in the show window of Ray Babb's hardware store in Eugene, and sold within a few days for $40. There is no reason why the cat bounty idea could not be made self-supporting, but there is no use denying the fact that it would prove a very unpopular idea. But whatever you do, get rid of the silly superstition that to kill a cat means a bunch of bad luck, and educate the people against the practice of dumping a mess of kittens out on the highway, instead of in the river.

The prowling semi-domestic cat is the greatest destroyer of upland game birds. In Oregon, perhaps the greatest Chinese pheasant country in the United States, the house cat kills more pheasants than all the illegal hunters. He is afield three hundred and sixtyfive days in the year. Having been raised in domestication, perhaps on your own premises, he knows your habits and takes advantage of you only under cover of darkness. He takes not only young birds during the breeding season, but full-grown Chinese pheasant hens as well. Pheasants are more numerous in Malheur county than in any other part of the state. This may, or may not be due to the fact that it is farther between torn cats in Malheur county.

As a protection to nesting game birds in the state of Washington it is unlawful for any bird dog, or any dog used for hunting of upland game birds, to run at large during the months of April, May and June, but the house cat is permitted to hunt unmolested the year round. Some well meaning people advocate a license system for cats, and requiring them to wear bells, and the sobsisters say "catch the poor stray kitties and we will find a home for them." A California correspondent writing to the Rod and Gun editor of the San Francisco Examiner has about the right idea when he says, "Being the owner of a pack of varmint dogs and out at least twice each week, I would like to make a statement, which I can prove by many of the hound men in this section as well as other parts of the state where I have hunted.

"The fact is I believe that over three-fourths of the small game such as rabbits, quail and song birds are killed and eaten by wild house cats. Cats that have been allowed to be Billy's little playmates until they howl for feed at the doorstep and are then sacked up and taken to some other section only to be released on some other fellow's ranch holdings.

"We find these cats in the swamps after snipe, in the hills after rabbits and around the lakes after young ducks and crippled birds. They are vicious and wild and are more dangerous to the hunter, when climbing in the tree to them, than the real wild bob-cats.

"As long as the family Tabby and the old night prowling Tom are allowed to visit on back fences, just so long will we have the woods full of wild stray cats. If there was a license of one dollar placed on the head of each Tabby six months old and each Tom of that age there would be more small game for sport shooting and the table. A collar with a small bell would save the cat whether at home or in the field. The cat would be more respected by everyone and the ranchers would not be visited so many times each year by the family of half-starved, half-grown kittens."

When it comes to destroying both game and song birds' nests the common crow heads the list, but the United States Bureau of Biological Survey specialists say we are just jumping at conclusions from individual observations, when we proclaim the crow an undesir

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8 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA

The Canada Goose

BY T. GILBERT PEARSON

FEW sights in the bird-world are so calculated to stir the imagination of the bird-lover or the hunter as that of a flock of Canada Geese passing overhead. In V-shaped formation the great grey-and-white birds move through the upper air in what seems to be a most leisurely an deliberate manner. As a matter of fact they are probably traveling at a rate of more than fifty miles an hour. This fleeting view of a flock passing high above the buildings and tree-tops is about all the average man or woman ever sees of the famous Wild Goose. If the air be free from distracting noises, the observer may even catch the musical "honk, ah honk" that falls clear as a bugle-note from the sky above. On quiet mornings about lakes or over extensive marshes I have known the sound of this cry to carry to the ear from a distance of a mile or more.

When thus observed, Wild Geese are usually on a long journey. If it be autumn, they are probably moving southward to their winter home. Immense numbers of them pass the cold months along the coasts of the middle and South Atlantic States, being especially abundant from Long Island to South Carolina. The center of their winter abundance in this region is Chesapeake Bay, "Virginia, and the sounds of North Carolina. In Currituck Sound, Canada Geese at times are seen in numbers almost beyond belief. I have watched one wave of flying Geese follow another hours' duration, probably 40,000 being in sight during the time they were under observation.

This species is not a common bird on the great salt marshes of the Louisiana Coast, but many are found in the bayous along the Mississippi River from northern Louisiana to Missouri. Here they feed, especially among the stubbles of the grain-fields, and resort to the river at evening, where on the moonlit bars they may be heard chattering among themselves as the night closes down. Many go down the Pacific Coast and pass the winter months in the great irrigated valleys of central and southern California. During their autumn migration, and after reaching their winter home, Canada Gzese are persistently sought by gunners, and many are the devices that have been invented for outwitting these most wise for a period of more than two and wary of water-fowl.

Except on their breeding-grounds Canada Geese are always found in flocks, and when feeding in stubble fields, on the marsh, or perhaps standing in shoal water in the wide expanse of some sound or estuary, it is folly for the hunter to think of approaching the birds by stealth. The vision of the Wild Goose is marvelous, and its power to detect danger is developed to an extent that is positively uncanny. When resting or feeding, some of the birds always have their heads elevated and are scanning the horizon for danger.

One successful method of hunting these birds in autumn is to dig a pit in a cornfield and cover it with corn-stalks. The hunter conceals himself and shoots the Geese when they come into the field to feed on the corn, which for some time has been daily scattered over the ground as a lure. Along the South Atlantic Coast many are shot from "blinds" erected on points of marsh or shallow shoals where the Geese come to feed or rest. These "blinds" are constructed of four strong stakes driven into the mud, forming a square three feet or more across. These, in turn, support the blind which consists of a boarded floor and sides made of long grasses or reeds cut from neighboring marshes. In this the hunter crouches, and shoots the Wild Geese as they approach the wooden or live-Goose decoys anchored nearby. A modification of the blind-shooting is battery-shooting. Here the hunter lies on his back in a box shaped like a coffin, and protected from the waves by wings of boards and canvas. Around him on the water are the bobbing wooden dummies of Geese. Live decoys, too, are always used when available. These are of great help for they will honk and call to the gunner any of their kind that chance to be passing within half a mile.

Until the passage of the recent Federal laws which made it a misdemeanor to sell the bodies of. wild fowl, Canada Geese were annually killed in large numbers and sold in the markets. When properly prepared this bird makes a most acceptable addition to the menu. Adult Canada Geese weigh from eight to fourteen pounds, hence one is indeed a prize for the game-bag.

(Continued on page 14)

OUTDOOR NEBRASKA 9

Fish Distribution Spring of 1928

Where Planted Kind of Fish Number Where Planted Kind of Fish Number ADAMS COUNTY BUFFALO COUNTY—Continued Little Blue River Catfish 600 Loup Sloughs Bullheads 2000 Little Blue River Bullheads 500 Loup River Bullheads 2000 Little Blue River Croppies 200 Wood River Bullheads 200 Sand Pit Lake Bullheads 150 Loup Sloughs Bullheads 2000 Sand Pit Lake Croppies 50 Harmon Lake Bullheads 2000 Sand Pit Lake Perch 100 Harmon Lake Perch 500 Park Ponds Gold Fish 30 Harmon Lake Croppies 300 ANTELOPE COUNTY Colton Mill Lake Bullheads 3000 Gosches Lake Bass Fry 5000 Colton Mill Lake Bullheads 2200 Gosches Lake Bullheads 500 Kearney Lake Bullheads 1000 Circle Slough Bass Fry 5000 Muddy Creek Bullheads 6000 Circle Slough Bullheads 500 Burlington Pond Bullheads 800 BLAINE COUNTY Muddy Creek Bullheads 1000 Loup River Bullheads BOONE COUNTY 2600 BURT COUNTY Beaver Creek Bass 400 Quinnebaugh Lake Bullheads 4000 Beaver Creek Croppies 400 BUTLER COUNTY Beaver Creek Perch 400 Abbott Lake Catfish 600 Beaver Creek Bullheads 300 Abbott Lake Bullheads 800 Mill Pond Bullheads 2000 Park Lake Bullheads 600 Mill Pond Catfish 1000 Abbott Lake Catfish 600 Bower Creek Bullheads 3000 Abbott Lake Bullheads 500 Beaver Creek Catfish 500 Abbott Lake Bullheads 1000 Home Pool Gold Fish 12 Sand Pit Lake Bullheads 3000 BOX BUTTE COUNTY Sand Pit Lake Bullheads 3000 Elmore Dam Catfish 200 Behuke Pond Bullheads 200 Elmore Dam Croppies 400 CASS COUNTY Elmore Dam Perch 400 Sand Pit Lakes Sunfish 800 Elmore Dam Sunfish 400 Sand Pit Lakes Bullheads 200 Dnows Lake Bass 1000 Sand Pit Lakes Bullheads 5000 Hicks Lake Bullheads 500 Sand Pit Lakes Bullheads 4000 Graham Lake Bullheads 500 Sand Pit Lakes Catfish 500 Graham Lake Bullheads 500 Pawnee Creek Bullheads 500 Skalla Lake BuTheads 1000 Sand Pit Lakes Bullheads 2000 Sand Beach Lake Bullheads 1000 Sand Pit Lakes Croppies 50 Kilpatmick Lake Bullheads 2500 Pawnee Creek Bullheads 500 BROWN COUNTY Schewe Pond Bullheads 500 Walton Nursery- Brook Trout 15000 Meadow Lakes Bullheads 4000 Walton Nursery- Rainbow Trout 40000 Meadow Lakes Perch 1200 Walton Nursery Rainbow Trout 20000 Meadow Lakes Bullheads 1500 Nursery Bass Fry 8000 Sand Pit Lakes Bullheads 1500 Nursery Bass Fry 5000 1 CHERRY COUNTY ] BUFFALO COUNTY Mill Pond Catfish 800 Beaver Creek Catfish 600 Highway Lake Sunfish 200 Loup Sloughs Croppies 400 CHEYENNE COUNTY Loup Sloughs Perch 400 Lodge Pole Creek Bass Fry 2000 Loup Sloughs Catfish 600 Lodge Pole Creek Perch 200 Burlington Pond Bullheads 1500 Lodge Pole Creek Perch 100 Muddy Creek Bullheads 1500 Lodge Pole Creek Croppies 200 Muddy Creek Bullheads 3000 Lodge Pole Creek Sunfish 100 Colton Mill Lake Bullheads 3000 Lodge Pole Creek Bass Fry 2000 Veterans Lake Croppie Adults 50 Reservoirs Bass Fry 2000 Veterans Lake Bullheads 1000 Reservoirs Perch 100 Cottonwood Lake Bullheads 3000 Reservoirs Croppies 200 Boy Scouts Pond Bullheads 500 Reservoirs Sunfish 200 Loup Sloughs Bullheads 1000 Reservoirs Bullheads 300 Loup Sloughs Bullheads 3000 Reservoirs Bass Fry 1000 Colton Mill Lake Bullheads 2500 Reservoirs Bullheads 300 Veterans Lake Bullheads 3000 Reservoirs Perch 100 Veterans Lake Croppie* 40 Reservoirs Croppies 100   10 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA Where Planted Kind of Fish Number Where Planted Kind of Fish Number CHEYENNE COUNTY—Continued DAWES COUNTY—Continued Reservoirs Suniish 100 Whitney Lake Croppies 500 Reservoirs Croppies 100 Whitney Lake Rock Bass 400 Reservoirs Perch 100 Whitney Lake Perch 600 Reservoirs Bullheads 300 Whitney Lake Bullheads 400 Reservoirs Bullheads soo DAWSON COUNTY Reservoirs Perch 200 Sand Pit Lake Bass Fry 2000 Reservoirs Sunfish 200 Sand Pit Lake Bass Adults 20 Reservoirs Croppies 100 Sand Pit Lake Croppies 200 CLAY COUNTY Sand Pit Lake Croppies . 200 Little Blue River Catfish 800 Sand Pit Lake Bass Fry 2000 Little Blue River Catfish 400 Sand Pit Lake Bass Adults 20 Home Pool Gold Fish 12 Spring Lake Rainbow Trout 1000 Walton Lake Bullheads 1000 DODGE COUNTY COLFAX COUNTY State Ponds Bullheads 400 McAllister Lake Croppies 40 Nursery Creek Bass Adults 30 McAllister Lake Bullheads 500 Nursery Creek Croppie Adults 30 Nursery- Croppies 30 Sand Pit Lake Bullheads 3000 Sand Pit Lakes Bullheads 1000 Sand Pit Lake Catfish 1000 McAllister Lake Bullheads 1000 Hromas Lake Bullheads 1000 Sand Pit Lakes Bullheads 3000 CUMING COUNTY State Ponds Croppies 200 Kane Lake Bullheads 600 State Ponds Bullheads 4000 Kane Lake Bass 400 Nursery Bass Adults 40 Kane Lake Perch 400 Nursery Bass Fry 20,000 Kane Lake Bullheads 1200 Nursery Pond Bass Fry 8000 Kane Lake Bass Fry 5000 Reservoirs Croppies 20 Home Pool Gold Fish 12 Nursery Bass Fry 8000 Court House Fool Gold Fish 20 DOUGLAS COUNTY Kane Lake Perch 800 Riviera Theatre Aquarium 50 CUSTER COUNTY Carter Lake Bass 1000 Muddy Creek Catfish 300 Carter Lake Croppies 2000 McGinn Creek Catfish 100 Carter Lake Perch 3000 Loup Sloughs Bullheads 1000 Carter Lake Bullheads 2000 Park Pond Catfish 300 Carter Lake Sunfish 2000 Park Pond Bullheads 500 Carter Lake Rock Bass 2000 Park Pond Perch 400 Carter Lake Frogs 2000 Ash Creek Bullheads 500 Aquarium Trout Adults 12 Ash Creek Bullheads 1000 Hofeldts Lake Bullheads 100 Ash Creek Catfish 100 Hofeldts Lake Perch 100 Ash Creek Croppie Adults 50 Hofeldts Lake Croppies 100 Municipal Pond Bullheads 2000 Hofeldts Lake Catfish 100 Ash Creek Bullheads 1000 Pond Bass Adult 20 Muddy Creek Bullheads 2000 Kountze Park Bullheads 2000 Loup Sloughs Bullheads 1000 Nursery Bass Adults 60 Loup Sloughs Bullheads 2500 Nursery Croppie Adults 200 Muddy Creek Bullheads 3700 Quinnebaugh Lake Bullheads 400 Muddy Creek Bullheads 4500 Quinnebaugh Lake Catfish 400 Muddy Creek Bullheads 2500 Quinnebaugh Lake Perch 300 Muddy Creek Bullheads 2500 Quinnebaugh Lake Sunfish 300 Muddy Creek Bullheads 1000 Quinnebaugh Lake Bass 500 Muddy Creek Bullheads 1000 Quinnebaugh Lake Rock Bass 200 Muddy Creek Bullheads 1000 Spring Swamp Bullfrogs 1000 Muddy Creek Bullheads 600 Home Pool Goldfish 20 Muddy Creek Bullheads 1000 Home Pool Goldfish 10 DAWES COUNTY Nursery Pond Bass Fry 10,000 McDowell Lake Catfish 200 Nursery Pond Bass Adults 30 Water Works Lake Croppies 500 Sand Pit Lake Perch 2000 Water Works Lake Perch 500 Sand Pit Lake Bullheads 500 Walcott Lake Croppies 400 Home Pool Goldfish 20 Walcott Lake Rock Bass 400 Carter Lake Perch 2000 Walcott Lake Black Bass 500 Carter Lake Bullfrogs 2000 Whitney Lake Black Baaa 800 Quinnebaugh Lake Perch 6000   OUTDOOR NEBRASKA 11 Where Planted Kind of Fish DUNDY COUNTY Number Where Planted Kind of Fish HOLT COUNTY Number State Ponds Bullheads 500 Walton Nursery Brook Trout 15,000 State Ponds Bass Adults 30 Walton Nursery Rainbow Trout 15,000 FILLMORE COUNTY Walton Nursery Rainbow Trout 15,000 Blue River Catfish 400 Walton Nursery Rainbow Trout 10,000 GAGE COUNTY Emmett Lake Croppies 400 Blue River Catfish 800 Emmett Lake Sunfish 500 Blue River Croppies 100 Spring Creek Rainbow Trout 10,000 Blue River Catfish 800 Spring Creek Frogs 2,000 Blue River Catfish 800 Nursery Bass Fry 5,000 Blue River Croppies 100 Home Pool Goldfish 12 Blue River Bullheads 100 Nursery Bass Fry 5,000 Spring Lake Bullheads 1000 Verdigre Ponds Bullheads 500 Spring Lake Catfish 500 Wolfe Lake Bass 100 Pothast Lake Catfish 300 Wolfe Lake Croppies 200 Pothast Lake Bullheads 500 Verdigre Creek Rainbow Trout 500 Blue River Pike Pry 40,000 Nursery Pond Trout Fry 8,000 Yard Pool Goldfish 6 HOOKER COUNTY GARFIELD COUNTY Buchfinch Lake Bass 300 Gracie Creek Rainbow Trout 28,000 Buchfinch Lake Croppies 100 Loup Sloughs Bullheads 3000 JEFFERSON COUNTY Loup River Catfish 200 Mill Pond Catfish 1,000 Loup River Perch 200 Mill Pond Bullheads 2,000 GRANT COUNTY Boy Scouts Camp Aquarium Fish 30 Middle Loup River Bullheads 4000 i KEARNEY COUNTY Middle Loup River Bullheads 2000 Sand Pit Lake Rainbow Trout 1000 Middle Loup River Bullheads 3000 Sand Pit Lake Croppies 300 Middle Loup River Bullheads 2000 Sand Pit Lake Perch 300 Middle Loup River Bullheads 2800 Sand Pit Lake Bass Pry 3000 Loup River Bullheads 2100 Sand Pit Lake Bass Fry 1000 Loup River Bullheads 5000 Sand Pit Lake Bass Adults 10 Loup River Bullheads 71,000 Sand Pit Lake Bass Fry 1000 Loup River Bullheads 11,000 Sand Pit Lake Bass Fry 5000 Loup River Bullheads 4000 Sand Pit Lake Perch 100 Loup River Bullheads 6000 Sand Pit Lake Sunfish 100 Loup River Bullheads 3000 Sand Pit Lake Bass Fry 1000 Loup River Bullheads 5250 KNOX COUNTY Loup River Bullheads 3800 Royal Nursery Rainbow Trout Fry 20,000 GREELEY COUNTY Verdigre Creek Trout Fingerlings 1000 Home Pool Goldfish 12 LANCASTER COUNTY Blue River Catfish 600 HALL COUNTY Cornhusker Pool Trout Adults 12 Schimmer's Lake Catfish 800 Upper Salt Creek Bullheads 5000 Sand Pit Lake Croppies 150 Park Ponds Bullheads 5000 Schimmer's Lake Catfish 600 Park Ponds Bullheads 2000 Schimmer's Lake Bullheads 4000 State Pond Bullheads 2000 Schimmer's Lake Bullheads 3000 Gunbo Pit Lakes Bullheads 2000 Schimmer's Lake Bullheads 1200 Home Pool Goldfish 30 St. Michael Slough Bullheads 2000 Home Pool Goldfish 30 St. Michael Slough Bullheads 300 Home Pool Goldfish 30 St. Michael Slough Croppies 60 Home Pool Goldfish 30 Home Pool Goldfish 40 Home Pool Goldfish 10 Spring Slough Bullfrogs 2000 Home Pool Goldfish 15 Schimmer's Lake Bullheads 600 Edgren Pond Bullheads 500 Warm Slough Rainbow Trout 1500 LINCOLN COUNTY Schimmer's Lake Bullheads 8000 Baker Lake Bullheads 300 R. R. Pool Goldfish 30 Baker Lake Perch 300 Schimmer's Park Goldfish 30 Baker Lake Sunfish 100 St Michael's Slough Bullheads 1200 Sand Pit Lake Croppies 200 HAMILTON COUNTY Sand Pit Lake Perch 200 Lincoln Creek Bullheads 800 Walton Nursery Bullheads 300   12 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA Where Planted Kind of Fish Number Where Planted Kind of Fish Number LINCOLN COUNTY—Continued SALINE COUNTY—Continued Maxwell Ponds Bullheads 400 Turkey Creek Catfish 600 Maxwell Ponds Croppies 100 Spring Pond Bullheads 500 Maxwell Ponds Perch 200 Blue River Catfish 600 Country Club Lake Perch 200 Blue River Bullheads 4000 Country Club Lake Bullheads 100 Blue River Pike Fry 30,000 Country Club Lake Sunfish 100 Spring Sloughs Bullfrogs 1000 Park Pool Goldfish 25 Blue River Bullheads 4000 McPHERSON COUNTY SARPY COUNTS Reid's Lake Bullheads 2000 Sand Pit Lakes , Bullheads 5000 MADISON COUNTY Sand Pit Lakes Bullheads 3000 North Fork Elkhorn Bullheads 3000 West Sand Pit Bullheads 2000 Home Pool Goldfish 40 West Sand Pit Croppie Adults 50 Spring Lakes Bullfrogs 2000 Allington Lake Bullheads 300 Pofuhls Lake Perch 1500 Allington Lake Croppies 30 Lehman's Lake Perch 1500 SAUNDERS COUNTY North Fork Elkhorn Wendts Lake Bullheads Perch 500 1500 Spring Creek Brook Trout 100 Union Creek Bullheads 1000 Oak Creek Catfish 400 Oak Creek Bullheads 1000 MERRICK COUNTY Sand Pit Pond Bullheads 1000 Burlington Sand Pit Bullheads 20C0 Rock Creek Bullheads 500 Sand Pit Lake Bullheads 600 Oak Creek Bullheads 1200 Sand Pit Lake Bullheads 1000 Swifts Lake Bullheads 1000 Sand Pit Lake Perch 500 Rifle Range Ponds Bullheads 1000 Sand Pit Lake Sunfish 300 Linoma Lakes Bullheads 1000 Nursery Pond Bass Fry 10,000 Oak River Bullheads 2000 Nursery Pond Trout Fry 10,000 Home Pool Goldfish 18 MORRILL COUNTY Rock Creek Bullheads 600 Spring Lake Bullheads 2,500 Boy Scouts Pond Bullheads 1000 OTOE COUNTY SCOTTS BLUFF COUNTY Young's Lake Catfish 200 Gering Ponds Bullheads 8000 PLATTE COUNTY Winter Creek Lake Bullheads 2000 Shell Creek Catfish 600 North Platte Lake Pike Fry 20,000 Shell Creek Bullheads 2000 North Platte River Pike Fry 10,000 Shell Creek Bullheads 2000 Huffman Lake Bullheads 1000 Shell Creek Catfish 600 Sand Pit Lake Bullheads 2000 Barnum Creek Bullheads 1000 Spotted Tail Lake Bullheads 2000 Barnum Creek Catfish 500 Winter Creek Lake Bullheads 200C Scouts Stream Catfish 500 University Lake Bullheads 2000 Scouts Stream Bullheads 2000 Rice Lake Bullheads 1000 Sand Pit Lake Bass Fry 1000 Lewis Lake Bullheads 1000 Sand Pit Lake Croppies 100 Nursery Trout Fry 20,000 Sand Pit Lake Sunfish 100 Nursery Rainbow Trout Fry 10,000 Sand Pit Lake Perch 100 Tub Springs Pond Bullheads 1000 Burlington Pond Perch 500 Rice Lake Bullheads 1000 Burlington Pond Bullheads 500 Highway Ponds Bullheads 1000 Burlington Pond Bass Fry 2000 Winter Creek Lake Bullheads 1200 POLK COUNTY Bridge Ponds Bullheads 2000 Huffman Lake Goldfish 150 Blue River Bullheads 600 Sand Pit Lake Bullheads 1000 Blue River Catfish 400 Tub Creek Ponds Bullheads 1000 Blue River Bullheads 2000 Winter Creek Lake Bullheads 3000 ROCK COUNTY Parks Ponds Bullheads 2000 Coon Creek Brook Trout 8000 SEWARD COUNTY Oak Creek Brook Trout 8000 Mill Pond Catfish 800 Smith Lake Croppies 600 Lincoln Creek Catfish 300 Smith Lake Perch 600 Lincoln Creek Bullheads 500 SALINE COUNTY Blue River Catfish 1500 Blue River Catfish 800 Blue River Catfish 800 Blue River Catfish 600 Blue River Bullheads 2000 Yard Pool Goldfish 30 Home Pool Goldfish 40   OUTDOOR NEBRASKA 13 Where Planted Kind of Fish SHERMAN COUNTY Number Rock Creek Bullheads 1500 Muddy Creek Bullheads 2000 Muddy Creek Bullheads 700 Muddy Creek Bullheads 1500 Muddy Creek Bullheads STANTON COUNTY 2500 Denny Lake Bass Fry 4000 Denny Lake Bullheads 2000 Chase Lake Bullheads 4000 Johnson Lake Bullheads 1200 Johnson Lake Bass Fry 5000 Chase Lake Perch THAYER COUNTY 1000 Sandy Creek Catfish 500 Sandy Creek Bullheads 500 Little Blue River Bullheads 500 Little Blue River Catfish 500 Little Blue River Perch 200 Nursery Bass Fry 4000 Sandy Creek Bullheads 400 Nursery Bass Fry 2000 Sandy Creek Bullfrogs THOMAS COUNTY 2000 Loup River Catfish 100 Loup River Catfish 500 Loup River Croppies 200 Loup River Catfish 500 Camay Lakes Bullheads 2000 Loup River Bullheads 2000 Loup River Catfish 500 Home Pool Goldfish 12 Loup River Bullheads THURSTON COUNTY 2400 Yard Pool Goldfish VALLEY COUNTY 6 Loup Sloughs oullheads 60*. WASHINGTON COUNTY Settling Basin Bullheads 2000 Settling Basin Croppies 200 Drainage Ditch Bullheads YORK COUNTY 1000 Blue River Bullheads 2000 Blue River Bullheads 300 Lincoln Creek Bullheads 300 Mill Pond Bullheads 300 Blue River Bullheads 1000 Blue River Bullheads 1000 Lincoln Creek Bullheads 1000 Spring Sloughs Bullheads 1000

THE IZAAK WALTON LEAGUE AND THE STATE

Continued from page 4)

administration will end next July with possibly $50,000 in the treasury.

From July 1, 1925, to July 1, 1927, a period of two years, we spent $231,409.26. I estimate that we will spend close to $300,000 between July 1, 1927 and July 1, 1929. If we do, we will have spent over one-half million dollars. I think you will agree with me that the present administration has made history in the game department. I do not know of a single cent of this amount that was not spent for necessary supplies, equipment, land and buildings, and where we did not get value received for the money. I do not have the classified expenditures available for the last two years but I do have them here for the first two years that is from July 1, 1925 to July 1, 1927. We spent during that time the sum of $231,409.26 as follows:

Purchase and trapping game birds ....$56,950.67 Administration, printing, office ........ 21,930.72 Law enforcement................................ 53,853.19 Conservation and distribution .......... 31,873.96 Gretna Hatchery................................ 17,821.28 Valentine Hatchery ............................ 32,202.86 Benkelman Hatchery ........................ 10,429.95 Rock Creek Hatchery ........................ 6,346.63

So much for the past. What of the future ? .

As I said before, we are spending a lot of money and I believe your organization and public opinion will see that the coming administration, who ever may be in charge, spends the money for what it is collected for— building up the game and fish resources of the state.

It is my opinion that we greatly need a conservation plant, similar to that of the Department of Public Works, with trackage, store rooms and small ponds connected with city water or a state well where seining equipment such as nets, trucks, etc. can be properly housed and where carloads of fish can be held temporarily. This would greatly increase the hauling capacity of the fish car for long hauls and enable us to deliver fish quickly and efficiently.

I would recommend that the salaries of our game wardens be increased so that a man could receive pay in accordance with his value to the department and length of service.

I would recommend that the game wardens be required to wear uniforms as much as possible, especially when inspecting permits and work not requiring disclosing of identity. This has been tried out in several eastern states with great success. The attitude of the public changes completely when approached by a man in uniform.

I would recommend the building of nurseries and the continuance of the nursery system of fish culture.

I would recommend the purchase of additional recreational grounds.

I would recommend the purchase of several lakes to be used as bass spawning water-.

I would recommend the placing of all meandered lakes in the state under the game department instead of the Commissioner of Public Lands and Buildings. The lakes are of little or no value to him but of great value to the game department.

I would recommend the rewriting of the entire game code. This must be done by sympathetic and experienced lawyers who understand the proper writing of laws. Each section of the law should carry a penalty and the cumbersome and misleading system of having all penalties in one section done away with.

I would recommend a program of building of artificial lakes in eastern and southern Nebraska. There are many possibilities for getting small lakes and ponds in the eastern and southern part of the state which will be of great value to the recreation and welfare of our citizens.

(Continued on page 14-)

14 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA

THE IZAAK WALTON LEAGUE AND THE STATE

(Continued from page 13)

I would recommend trying out the badge system as is now in use in four or five states. Each permit buyer is required by law to wear a button issued at the time he is given his permit. It is of great assistance to game wardens and increases the sale of permits.

So much for what the state can do. Let us consider what the League can do to help.

The major of the protection and conservation work must fall on you. The best way to protect and conserve wild life is to get the citizens of Nebraska to realize the need of it. That means a big educational program in every community in the state. The league can do this better than any other organization.

Next you must see that the game funds are spent for building up the fish and game of the state and not diverted to other uses. You must see that needed legislation, such as closing the season on prairie chicken is secured and that harmful legislation is not put upon the statute books.

I would be untruthful if I did not say the League has rendered valuable service to the Game Department. To you must go the credit for getting public opinion back of building up the game department. Undoubtedly if it had not been for the league, awakening public opinion, our game department would not have accomplished what it has during the last four years.

But I feel that I should issue a word of warning. An organization, like an individual, must be fair and just. It cannot indulge in petty personalities and trivial matters. And it must maintain its enthusiasm and keep pounding away. It must not think too much about the means of getting something done but think more of the goal. Men may differ in how to do something, but if in the end, they get the task done, they should be given credit for it. Some of your chapters have indulged in petty matters that has soured public opinion and made it difficult for the bureau to do its work in such localities. On the other hand, some of your chapters have stood with us in every task, working hand in hand, getting the public back of the department. Where that is done, much can be accomplished.

The Izaak Walton League is still young and has many organizational problems to work out for its own good. But I firmly believe you have a place in America and that the future of our wild life and natural resources rest greatly in your hands. If you fail, it will be America's loss.

THE CANADA GOOSE

(Continued from page 5)

Along our eastern seaboard, many Canada Geese are reared as domestic birds. The original parents of these flocks were wounded in winter shooting and from the same source additions to the flocks are made from time to time. From these decoys we learn many interesting characteristics of this great bird of passage. The writer knew one wild gander in North Carolina whose history as locally recounted was as follows: Wing-tipped by a shot long ago he was put in the goose-pen with other decoys. His wing healed, but he could never fly. He moved about with the other Geese but paid no particular attention to any of them for thirty years. Then he mated, and when I last saw him, he had been a faithful mate, winter and summer, for thirty-two years.

It is often difficult to get decoys to select mates and as indication of the value of mated Geese I may state that the writer remembers the time, only a few years back, when in North Carolina a pair of mated decoys would readily sell for $5, while an unmated Goose was worth only from 75 cents to $1. A man who had a 'stool' of two dozen Geese thought himself fortunate if he had as many as four or five pairs that were mated.

Canada Geese are supposed to keep their mates for life. However, it is but natural that, with the recurrence of spring, evidences of solicitation on the part -of the gander should be most pronounced. At this season he goes through many weird contortions of his neck, wings, and body, either with the evident intention of charming his mate or warning away any other lovelorn gander who may wander near. Leaning forward, with neck stretched to its full length and head swaying only an inch or two from the ground, the bird will maks sudden rushes all about the place. His mouth is open, he hisses furiously, the feathers of his wings are ruffled, and altogether he is quite a fierce antagonist to face.

The male keeps close, jealous watch over the nest and his brooding mate, and if he thinks they are endangered he at once gives battle. If the nest is approached he will not hesitate to attack a human intruder as the blue bruises of my own body, on more than one occasion, could have borne testimony.

The summer home of the Canada Goose is in our northwestern states and over large portions of Canada. Five to eight white eggs are laid, usually in a feather-lined nest on the ground in the immediate vicinity of water. I have found the birds particularly partial to little islets for nesting-sites when these are available.

In the Molting Season

The molting season comes while the birds are in attendance on their young, and there is a time in the history of every family of Wild Geese when neither the parents nor the young can escape by flight. It is, however, no easy matter to capture an adult Goose under such circumstances. For the sake of experiment the writer has upon occasion attempted the pursuit of old Geese when found in company with the young. The utmost effort that could be put forth by two men paddling a lige canoe or rowboat was wholly insufficient to overcome the rapid progress which the wild Goose made, first by swimming and later by flapping along the surface of the water, in which movement both wings and feet were used. There are printed records tending to show that Canadian Indians sometimes succeed in driving the molting Geese out of a pond by means of dogs, and thus bring the birds within range of their arrows.

With thousands of men constantly seeking to kill the Canada Goose, it seems strange that they have not long ago been exterminated. As a matter of fact, it appears that of recent years their numbers have been increasing.

The food of this species consists of a wide variety of objects gathered on land as well as in the water. Small frogs, insects and other acquatic life are taken in a small degree, but usually these birds are vegetarians, Corn gathered from the ground in the autumn cornfields, grain picked up among the wheat stubble and even acorns

(Continued on page 16)

OUTDOOR NEBRASKA 15

THE VERMIN PROBLEM

(Continued from page 7)

able citizens. In the April Forest and Stream and official of the Biological Bureau says, "Young crows in the nest are fed largely on insects." In contradiction to this statement I have here the reproduction of a photograph showing the shells from eggs destroyed by crows, and the remains of young birds eaten by them, collected by the Fish and Game Commission of Texas in the vicinity of nesting crows. Since the crow himself is a great destroyer of bird life by his presistent hunting for and destruction of nests, it is hard for those actually familiar with the subject to place him in the beneficial column.

I can say this for the crow: He is the wisest bird that flies. We are unable to keep laying pheasants at the State Game Farms in open-top breeding pens for the egg gathering. We have artificial pheasant eggs laying around in the pens, of such good imitation that they often fool the man gathering the eggs, but not the crow. When he comes egg stealing he never announces the fact, and soon learns to time his visit to arrive during the noon hour. Shoot, trap, and poison all we can and there will be enough left to satify the most exacting naturalist.

As a destroyer of game birds' nests the magpie ranks next to the crow. He is a flesh-eater and readily partakes of the small meat baits frequently used about carcass decoys in poisoning campaigns against the coyote. The big sheep rancher, and it is in the big sheep rancher's country that the magpie is most numerous, is interested in the destruction of predatory birds and animals only when his pocket-book is affected. The magpie is easily poisoned but where an organized campaign has been waged against him it has invariably been in the interest of the wool grower, and not the sportsman.

Scientists tell us that the marsh hawk feeds upon frogs, the sparrow hawk upon field mice and grasshoppers, and perhaps the western redtailed hawk upon rabbits and other small rodents.

The western redtailed hawk looks harmless soaring around high up in the air, and might easily be mistaken for a buzzard were it not for a difference in the wing spread, and an occasional scream not unlike a domestic chicken in distress. When but a mere black speck in the sky this bird can accurately locate his prey, quite often a full grown pheasant hen, upon which he drops straight down. Some authorities claim that this bird has a sp.ecial eye muscle by which they can alter their sight to long distances, or, in other words, a telescopic lens.

A recent meeting in Dallas, Polk County, of the local rod and gun club, Dr. Prill of Scio, Linn County, stated that the sharp-shinned and Cooper hawks were the only varieties of hawks detrimental to game birds. At the Eastern Oregon State Game Farm near Pendleton I requested the foreman to place brood coops containing young pheasants out in an open field forty yards apart. With convenient cover this would enable the little pheasants to get away from sparrow hawks that were all too numerous along the Umatilla river. Instead of forty yards apart he placed the coops only four feet apart, making the pheasants so thick that it was impossible for many to seek a hiding place. [ can say from first hand knowledge sparrow hawks will kill young pheasants. At a matter of fact, if you will show me a hawk, of any species, that will not kill young pheasants, grouse, or quail I will agree to eat it guts, feathers and all.

If the State Game Commission is unsuccessful in their attempt to stock suitable localities in this state with wild turkeys it will be on account of predatory animals, and predatory birds, for it is claimed that the great horned owl attacks the young turkeys at their roosting places at night. Commissioner Dorris farms 280 acres near Eugene where no hunting was permitted, but after six years of protection the farm contained no more game birds than before. In the October, 1926, number of Sportsman and Fancier Commissioner Dorris had an article entitled, "The Case of Our Upland Game Birds," saying in part: "The ranch goes in heavily to nuts—filberts and walnuts—and nuts provide tempting food for squirrels, so that it is necessary to set numerous small traps toward harvest time, to keep these pests thinned down. During the past three weeks we have taken eight skunks out of these traps, the last one this morning. Yet in the past six years the writer has never seen a skunk except in a trap.

"It is his opinion, possibly taken on snap judgment, that one of the biggest reasons for the decrease in our upland birds is the fact that the western part of the state, particularly the Willamette Valley, is much more infested with vermin, such as weasels, rats, skunks, wild house cats, hawks and owls, than we have yet believed, and that these by robbing nests and preying on the young birds just after hatching and before they are able to protect themselves, account for more birds than do all the hard winters and hunting, both preseason and legal.

"If such is the case, our much vaunted system of game refuges is a mockery. Instead of releasing the birds into a sanctuary we are releasing them into a slaughter house. Hunting is prohibited on all refuges. That means, for practical purposes, the hunting of vermin as well as the hunting of game birds, because any one found on a game refuge with a shotgun would have a tough time explaining to the judge."

My experience with skunks is very similar to that of Commissioner Dorris. In distributing pheasants throughout the state I frequently come down the Pacific highway with a truck load of birds in June, July and August. I cannot recall ever having seen a live skunk along the highway in the day time, but there is a strip or highway for thirty or forty miles south of Roseburg that is always littered with the remains of skunks killed by automobiles at night. If skunks are equally as plentiful back away from the highway, game birds in this territory must lead a precarious existence.

During the last 20 years the state of Massachusetts spent nearly $60,000 in an attempt to save the last remnant of the; heath hen. On Martha's Vineyard Island a warden was hired to protect them, but was later discharged because he killed a couple of screech owls. An editorial in a recent sportsman's magazine states that the National Association of Audubon Societies, with an annual expenditure of practically $200,000, and an endowment fund now nearing the million dollar mark, has refused assistance to save this rare game bird for fear

(Continued on page 16)

16 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA

THE CANADA GOOSE

(Continued from page 14)

are eaten. Various kinds of water plants are consumed. Near the country club house of the Camp-Pire Club of America there is a pond of several acres where in 1921 nine Canada Geese were kept. During the summer these birds destroyed nearly all vegetation growing in the shallow water about the margins.

Science recognizes four forms of this Goose, varying from each other but slightly in size or marking of the plumage. These, known as Canada Goose, Hutchins's Goose, White-Cheeked Goose, and Cackling Goose are all inhabitants of North America.

RATING OF THE PHEASANT

(Continued from page 5)

ers, the difficulty invariably is solved.

Relative to the pheasant's ability to weather the rigors of our Northwest winters, I will say that we do lose a few birds during periods of extreme weather conditions. The number lost, however, is not alarming, and we find in most cases the birds lost are those that were weakened through being wounded during the open season, and it is our contention that the climate is beneficial to the breed. The "survival of the fittest" is a law of nature, and severe weather eliminates only the weaklings from our breeding stock.

TEN-DAY OPEN SEASON ON PHEASANTS

(Continued from page 3)

kind, get in touch with the county warden. Other wardens will parole counties that are closed and will guard against hunting in such places. No stone will be left unturned to prosecute to the limit of the law any person shooting pheasants in closed counties.

THE VERMIN PROBLEM

(Continued from page 15)

of offending the Conservation department of the state of Massaehuetts.

With deer you protect the females of the species and pay bounties for the destruction of their natural enemies. Nearly four thousand dollars, or, to be exact, $3,975, was paid out by the State Game Commission during the first five months of this fiscal year in bounties on cougars alone. So far we have done nothing to reduce the natural enemies of upland game birds, except to create an occasional small, abortive game reserve, that soon becomes a happy hunting ground for predatory birds and animals. While liberating pheasants on the Fred Stump game reserve in Polk county several years ago poachers took a shot at them before they lit. To liberate pheasants or other game birds on a game reserve making no provisions for controlling the game bird's many enemies is simply handing another torn cat a meal ticket.

Eastern states that have actually brought their game back have done so by purchase, by propagation and by maintaining real game refuges, constantly patrolled by varmint hunting and trapping wardens. Practically every estate in England has its own game keepers who are waging war on the natural enemies of game birds every day in the year. When it comes to upland game birds we can learn a lot from England, and an English game keeper knows his owls. He is a game keeper because his father, and his father's father was a game keeper. He is not merely a pheasant raiser, he is an expert trapper of vermin and an efficient game warden besides.

We will all have to admit that the natural enemies of game birds must be destroyed, but how are we going to do it? This state sells 100.000 hunting licenses a year. If every purchaser of a license would kill just one predatory bird or animal that would help a lot. But each could and should kill a dozen. Keep this up for two, five or ten years—well, figure it up for yourself. Before procuring a hunting license in some states the applicant must make a sworn statement as to the number and kinds of game he killed the previous year. Would it not be as practical to require a license purchaser to first prove that he killed a certain amount of destructive vermin? If not disposed to do the killing himself he could well afford to hire some one to do so for him.

Now in conclusion, who is going to destroy the enemies of your game birds? The State Game Commission cannot do it alone for lack of funds; the United States Biological Survey never has done it; the National Association of Audubon Societies don't do it, neither will the National Wool Growers Association, so who in the name of God is going to do it if you sportsmen don't.

Nebraska Game and Fish Laws 1928-1929

OPEN SEASON

Black Bass: (Not less than nine inches in length): Season open from January 1 to May 1 and from June 10 to December 31. Bag 15, possession 25.

Bass, Rock, White, Striped: Not less than six inches in length) : Open season January 1 to December 31. Bag 15, possession 25.

Catfish: (Not less than 11 inches in length): Open season January 1 to December 31. Bag 15, possession 25.

Croppies: (Not less than six inches in length) : Open season January 1 to December 31. Bag 15, possession 25.

Perch: (Not less than six inches in length) : Open season January 1 to December 31. Bag 25, possession 25.

Sunfish: (Bluegills, Pumpkinseed, etc.) CA11 lengths): Open season January 1 to December 31. Bag 15, possession 25.

Trout: (Not less than eight inches in length) : Open season April 1 to October 31. Bag 15, possession 25.

Pickerel: (Not less than twelve inches in length): Open season May 1 to December 31. Bag 15, possession 25.

Bullheads: (Not less than five inches): Open season January 1 to December 31. Bag 25, possession 25.

Pike: (Not less than 12 inches in length): Open season April 1 to October 31. Bag 15, possession 25.

Frogs: Bull frogs protected, all sizes, during all season. Grass frogs may be used for bait.

Minnows: Minnows may be used for bait. Take same only with minnow seines not more than 20 feet in length nor more than 4 feet in depth. Minnow seines and traps MUST have one-fourth (1-4) inch mesh.

Carp, Buffalo, Suckers, Gar (all lengths) : Open season January 1 to December 31. May be taken with spears during months of March to November, inclusive. These fish under Nebraska law classified as coarse fish and not game fish.

Prairie Chicken, Grouse: Open season October 1 to November 1, inclusive. Bag 5, possession 5.

Waterfowl (Ducks, Geese, Coots, Brants): Open season September 16 to December 31. Bag, 20 Ducks, 5 Geese, 20 Coots, 5 Brants. Possession: 40 Duaks, 5 Geese, 40 Coots, 5 Brants. Waterfowl are also protected by federal laws.

Pheasants: No general open season. From time to time short season may be opened by order Department of Agriculture.

Squirrels: Open season from September 16 to December 31. Bag 10, possession 20.

Raccoons, Muskrats, Opossums, Foxes and Otters: Open season on raccoons and opossums November 1 to February 15. Open season on muskrats, foxes and otters, November 16 to March 1.

NO OPEN SEASON

Elk, Deer, Antelope, Mountain Sheep, Beaver. Minnows (except for bait), Bull Frogs, Wood Duck, Doves, Quail, Swans, Imported Game Birds, Song and Insectivorous Birds, except Sparrows, Crows, Bluejays and Hawks.

BAG LIMITS

IN ONE DAY—5 prairie chickens, 20 ducks, 5 geese, 15 rails, 25 snipe, 20 coots, 15 game fish, except bullheads and perch which are 25.

AT ANY ONE TIME—5 prairie chickens, 40 ducks, 5 geese, 25 rails, 25 snipe, 40 coots, 25 game fish.

PERMIT FEES

Permit required for all persons over 16 years of age for hunting or fishing. Permit required for ALL persons trapping regardless of age.

Permits necessary for women same as men.

Permits must be carried on person.

Resident—To Hunt and Fish $1.10. To Trap $2.10.

Citizens of the United States but not a resident of Nebraska—To Hunt and Fish $25.10. To Trap $25.10. To Fish $2.10.

Aliens—To Fish $5.10. To Trap $25.10. (No alien hunting permits issued because illegal for alien to carry firearms in Nebraska.)

SPECIAL PERMITS

To breed and raise game birds, $1.00.

To breed and raise game or fur-bearing animals, $2.00.

To buy furs, resident $1.00, non-resident $10.00.

Private fish hatchery, $25.00.

To sell coarse fish taken in Nebraska with hook and line, $2.00.

GENERAL LAWS

Unlawful to use artificial light, or spot light in hunting protected game birds and animals.

Unlawful to hunt on private land without owner's consent.

Unlawful to shoot game from automobiles.

Unlawful to put game in storage without tags issued by Bureau of Game and Fish.

Unlawful to keep game in storage more than 10 days following close of season.

Unlawful to ship game by auto, train, private car or express without tagged with tags issued by Bureau of Game and Fish.

Unlawful to use nets, seines or traps to take fish.

Unlawful to have seines, nets and traps in possession.

WARNING TO HUNTERS

Attention of all persons hunting in Nebraska during the 1928-29 season is called to the following:

LICENSE. All residents of Nebraska must have a Resident Hunting and Fishing License. Price $1.10. All non-residents must have a Non-Resident Hunting and Fishing License. Price $25.10. All licenses must be carried on person. Penalty for failure to secure license, Resident, $15.00; Non-Resident, $50.00.

WHERE TO HUNT. It is unlawful to hunt on private land without consent from the owner thereof or person in charge. Artificial light must not be used. Hunting is not permissable before one-half hour prior to sunrise or after sunset. It is unlawful to buy, sell or barter game. It is unlawful to hunt game in an automobile.

WHAT TO HUNT. The state law governing Nebraska game is as follows and must be strictly observed:

(a) Water Fowl: Season open from September 16th to December 31st, inclusive. Don't kill more than five (5) geese, twenty (20) ducks, five (5) brants, or twenty (20) coots in any one day. No person can have more than fifty (50) game birds in possession, of which there shall be no more of any one kind than five geese, forty ducks, five brants or forty coots.

(b) Prairie Chickens and Grouse: Season open from October 1st to November 1st, inclusive. Don't kill more than five (5) chickens or grouse in any one day. No one can have more than five (5) prairie chickens or grouse in possession at any one time.

PENALTY. The penalty for violation of Nebraska game laws is severe and all such laws are strictly enforced. Your cooperation in the observance of game laws is requested.

DON'T KILL MORE GAME THAN YOU NEED. SAVING GAME THIS YEAR MEANS GAME FOR OTHER YEARS.

BUREAU OF FISH AND GAME DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE State of Nebraska