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 Game, Forestation and Parks Commission VOL. IV OCTOBER, 1929 No.4

Eight Counties to Have Open Season on Pheasants

E.ight counties have petitioned the Game Forestration & Parks Commission for an open season on pheasants and these have been given favorable action by the Commission.

The counties to be open are: Morrill, Garden, Garfield, Valley, Sherman, Buffalo, Boone and Nance. The dates of the open season are from October 22 to Oct. 31 inclusive.

Several other counties desired an open season for two or three days, while one county petitioned to have only a part of the county open. Owing to the fact that where counties are opened at different times and where only parts of counties are opened, much confusion has resulted, and the Commission deemed it advisable to accept only such petitions as covered entire counties and where the open dates were left to the state authorities to determine.

Past experience has demonstratd that where a county is opened only for two or three days, a large number of hunters consentrate in that county thus causing complaint on the part of the farmers. Then,too, comparatively few birds are taken after the first two or three days, since they become accustomed to the hunters and are much more difficult to flush.

The rules and regulations governing hunting of pheasants is about the same as heretofore. Only cock birds may be taken. Hens accidentally taken must be checken in and turned over to charitable organizations. Persons killing hens and leaving them in the field will be subject to prosecution. The bag is five birds a day, and the possession limit is five birds. All birds must be tagged in county where taken. As special tag is used this year. Any other tag than these special 1929 tags cannot be used.

The following order, issued by the Nebraska Game Forestration and Parks Commission, covers the details of the open season:

Open Season On Pheasants

In accordance with Section 1, Atricle 3, Chapter 112, Session Laws 1929, State of Nebraska, an open season on male ringneck pheasants is hereby declared to be effective in the following counties subject to the conditions set forth:

1. The counties declared to be open are: Boone, Morill, Nance, Sherman, Valley, Garfield, Buffalo and Garden. (No hunting will be permitted in Garden county along the game reserve.)

2. The open season shall be fore a period of ten (10) days, beginning at 7 a. m., October 22, 1929, and ending at 6 p. m. October 31, 1929. No hunting is permissable between sunset and one-half hour before sunrise of each day.

3. The daily bag limit during the above season shall be five (5) male birds, and the possession limit shall be five (5) male birds.

4. All birds killed and carried from the county must be tagged with special tags which shall be available from county clerks and persons handling state permits in the several open counties. One tag shall be used for the bird. A fee of ten cents will be charged for tagging each bag.

(Continued on Page 14)

4 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA

Commission Fixes Open Season for Muskrats

ACTING in accordance with the new laws, the Nebraska Game Commission has fixed the opened season for muskrats.

The State of Nebraska was divided into two parts, the western counties known as the "Western District," and the eastern counties known as the "Eastern District." The open dates in the Western District are from January 1 to April 1, inclusive, and the open dates in the Eastern District from December 1 to March 1, inclusive.

During the past several years there has been considerable dissatisfaction in western Nebraska. Trappers and ranchers have felt that the season opened too early and closed too early. It is claimed that no rats of good pelt quality can be taken until towards spring. On the other hand, trappers and farmers in eastern Nebraska claimed that rats could be taken in their part of the state only early in the winter. Hence the present law and regulations in an attempt to compromise and satisfy all concerned. It is possible the dates fixed for 1929 may not be exactly as desired by all persons concerned, but it is believed the present arrangement will be much mor satisfactory than under the old plan.

Over five thousand letters were sent out by the Commission in an effort to get the opinion of persons interested in the muskrat industry. These letters were sent to trappers, ranchers, farmers, sportsmen, Izaak Walton League officials and others. Two to one of all letters sent to Western Nebraska favored a season of from January 1 to April 1.

The following information covers the new open season. Find the district in which your county is listed and follow the dates as given. Trapping at any other time in such districts is illegal and will be rigidly prosecuted. The 1929-30 trapping season on muskrats in Nebraska is as follows:

Eastern District—December 1 to March 1, inclusive.

Western District—January 1 to April 1, inclusive.

The counties of Nebraska as listed below show in which district they are located. The map also shows the boundaries of the two districts:

Eastern District Adams, Antelope, Boone...., Buffalo, Burt, Butler, Cass, Cedar, Clay, Colfax, Cuming, Custer, Dakota, Dawson, Dixon, Dodge, Douglas, Filmore, Franklin, Furnas, Gage, Gosper, Greeley, Hall, Hamilton, Harlan, Howard, Jefferson, Johnson, Kearney, Knox, Lancaster, Madison, Merrick, Nance, Nemaha, Nuckolls, Otoe, Pawnee, Phelps Pierce, Platte, Polk, Richardson, Saline, Sarpy, Saunders, Seward, Sherman, Stanton, Thayer, Thurston, Valley, Washington, Wayne, Webster, York. WESTERN DISTRICT Arthur, Banner, Blaine, Box Butte, Boyd, Brown, Chase, Cherry, Cheyenne, Dawes, Deuel, Dundy, Frontier, Garden, Garfield, Grant, Hayes, Hitchcock, Holt, Hooker, Keith, Keya Paha, Kimball Lincoln, Logan, Loup, McPherson, Morrill, Perkins, Red Willow, Rock, Scotts Bluff Sheridan, Sioux, Thomas, Wheeler.

PURCHASE MORE LAKES

The Nebraska Game, Forestration and Parks Commission recently purchased eight more sand-pit lakes for public fishing.

These lakes are located near Louisville. They comprise eight nice sand-pits, varying from five to twenty acres in size. All of them are deep and well stocked with fish.

In due time roads will be built leading into the grounds and trees planted. It is likely that the same policy of resting lakes as is in force at Fremont will be in force here. Under this system at least two lakes will be kept closed at all times, allowing the fish to breed and increase.

CAMPING AT STATE PARKS

While the public is allowed to camp free at State Parks, it has been found necessary to limit the time that they can remain free of charge. This was brought about by certain families who have moved into the parks and used them as temporary homes to avoid paying rent elsewhere.

Hereafter persons remaining at State Parks for more than two weeks will be required to pay a small daily charge. It is best to consult the Park Superintendent when stopping at the several parks so you may be informed as to the rules in force at that particular place.

That will save misunderstanding and confusion later on.

OUTDOOR NEBRASKA 5

Old Timers See Need of Conservation

THESE brisk autumn mornings, when the air is laden with the odors of the fresh, clean out-of-doors, are fast loosening the tongues of the lovers of lakes and streams.

Not a few Nebraska hunters have already accumulated a repetory of glowing narratives of kills made on the opening day at their favorite pasture puddle or during a hurried trip to the sandhills. The lists will be growing in number and brilliance as these fall days are swallowed up into winter.

Shooting has been good in practically every section of the state so far this fall, if the above mentioned "reports" are correct, and no one would doubt them. Favorable weather during the spring, plenty of water, together with other conditions worked for an especially good hatch of young ducks, with the result that there was an abundance of local ducks on hand for the opening day of the season.

Hunters who claim to know are predicting a good season this year, but that phase, "a good season," is sneered at by old timers who enjoyed the days when ducks and geese "blackened the skies," and swamps, lakes, and rivers were a wild confusion of feathers from the first frost until and even after the first solid freeze.

Let two of these old timers get together about this time of year, and whether it be on main street or in a comfortable backyard nook, their conversation is bound to turn sooner of later to some stormy day back in Seventy-umpty-umph, when the old gun got "red hot." and "it took three trips in the spring wagon to lug 'em home."

Yes, those were great days- but there are some of those old timers who let an unmistakable note of regret creep into their voices whom they recall some of those big "kills."

Those same old timers have watched hunting become poorer and poorer and are now among those most active in the promotion of the present conservation policies and in the establishment of game preserves where ducks and geese may rest and feed along their migratory route.

They recall the days when a little jaunt out to the edge of town or down the lane to the cornfield would net enough prairie chicken or quail to fill the family larder. Now they are active in preserving the last few of these two species of game birds.

Quail have been protected from hunters for a number of years. This year for the first time the prairie chicken is safe the year around. They were driven from their old haunts in southern and central Nebraska years ago, and now they are fast loosing the foothold in the sandhills. Buffalo have gone. Antelope have gone. Wild turkeys have gone. Quail have nearly disappeared and prairie chickens have been becoming fewer and fewer every year.

The real need of conserving this precious wildlife has been firmly imprinted on the minds of those who know. Conservation work is moving rapidly ahead in Nebraska. The Izaak Walton league has been responsible for the bulk of it. Hunters of this generation have been educated to the need of it with the result that "game hogs" have been practically eliminated.

Now the newly created state game and parks commission is taking a hand in the work. Made up of men who are real sportsmen at heart, men who besides glorying in a good day's shoot, also have a keen interest in preserving game to guarantee hunting in the future.

Among them is a veteran sportsman who has tasted the sport of years ago. One who saw ducks, geese, quail, prairie chicken, pluvers and curlew swarm over the state in millions. Who has seen many of those birds become extinct, others practically so, and still others thin out until a full bag was a thing to take pictures of.

George Dayton of Lincoln is that member. There is probably no sportsman in Nebraska who possesses a better knowledge of the habits and haunts of wild game. This knowledge, together with his years of experience in the state, has made him one of the most ardent of conservationists. Now he has the opportunity to make the best use of that knowledge.

"My first hunting and fishing was done in a day when fish and game existed in such vast numbers that it never occurred to the fisherman or hunter of that day that there would come a time when any of the species then existing would become extinct," he told the writer recently.

But we were mistaken, for of those very species which fifty years ago existed in countless millions are now extinct.

"The most notable of these is the passenger pigeon, commonly called the wild pigeon. The last great flight

Continued on Page 14

EDITORIAL

MOST SHOREBIRDS ARE STILL PROTECTED BY CLOSE SEASONS

There will be no hunting of black-bellied and golden plovers and greater and lesser yellowlegs this season under Federal regulations, according to the Biological Survey of the United States Department of Agriculture, the bureau that administers the migratory-bird treaty act under which these birds are afforded protection. Woodcock and Wilson's snipe, or jacksnipe, are the only shorebirds on which there will be open seasons this fall. These seasons differ in the various States.

The use of automobiles in the taking of migratory birds is prohibited. Also, the use of airplanes for this purpose is prohibited.

Copies of the amended Federal regulations giving the open seasons and other restrictions on hunting (Service and Regulatory Announcement—B. S. No. 71) may be. obtained on application to the United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.

IN PREHISTORIC TIMES

The fossil beds of Nebraska and other parts of the West contain eloquent proofs of the richness and variety of mammal life on this continent at different periods in the past. Perhaps the most wonderful of all these ancient faunas was that revealed by the bones of birds and mammals which had been trapped in the asphalt pits discovered not many years ago in the outskirts of Los Angeles, Calif. These bones show that prior to the arrival of the present fauna the plains of southern California swarmed with an astonishing wealth of strange birds and beasts.

The most notable of these are sabertoothed tigers; lions much larger than those of Africa; giant wolves; several kinds of bears, including the huge cave bears, even larger than the gigantic brown bears of Alaska; large wild horses; camels, bison (unlike our buffalo); tiny antelope, the size of a fox; mastodons, mammoths with tusks 15 feet long; giant ground sloths; in addition to many other species, large and small.

With these amazing mammals were equally strange birds, including, among numerous birds of prey, a giant vulturelike species (far larger than any condor), peacocks, and many others.

The geologically recent existence of this now vanished fauna is evidenced by the presence in the asphalt pits of bones of the gray fox, the mountain lion, the close relative of the bobcat and coyote, as well as the condor, which still frequent that region, and thus link the past with the present. The only traces of the ancient vegetation discovered in these asphalt pits are a pine and two species of juniper, which are members of the existing flora.

There is reason for believing that primitive man occupied California and other parts of the West during at least the latter part of the period when the fauna of the asphalt pits still flourished. The folk-lore of the locally restricted California Indians contains detailed descriptions of a beast which is unmistakably a bison, probably the bison of the asphalt pits.

The discovery in these pits of the bones of a gigantic vulturelike bird of prey of far greater size than the condor is even more startling, since the folk-lore of the Eskimos and Indians of most of the tribes from Bering straits to California and the Rocky Mountain region abound in tales of the "thunder-bird"—a gigantic bird of prey like a mighty eagle, capable of carrying away people in its talons. Two such coincidents suggest the possibility that the accounts of the bison and the "thunder-bird" are really based on the originals of the asphalt beds and have been passed down in legendary history through many thousands of years.

DODGE THE GAME BIRDS

On the highways and byways throughout the pheasant country the motorist sees brilliant splashes of green, red and black or patches of brown beside the road. They have fluttered from the weeds in front of a speeding car and their trim bodies have been hurled lifeless to the ground. Killing of game birds by motorists is wanton waste. No real sportsman will indulge in the practice or countenance it. Most of the time the driver, with but little inconvenience, could avoid it. Not realizing the speed with which the automobiles are traveling, the same birds, often startled from the weeds by a savage roar, flutter upward into the path of the machine. Not always can they be avoided, but most of the time the driver can see them long before he approaches and the honk of the horn will send them scooting out of his path. Young hatches of pheasants are making their appearance and not infrequently is the motorist confronted by a hen leading her brood of tiny chicks across the road. To plow ruthlessly into them is slaughter.

CANNOT MISREPRESENT THE ORIGIN OF FURS

"The action of the Federal Trade Commission in behalf of the fur trade, cannot be overestimated," according to the September issue of Fur Animals. This statement is born of the action of the Commission in designating certain names by which certain furs shall hereafter be known and advertised, and is designed to put a stop to the custom of many concerns, among whom are doubtless a large number of retail dealers, in misrepresenting the origin of certain furs. The Commission, for instance, declare that the correct name of the fur must be the last word of the description and that if any dye or blend is used in simulating another fur, the word "dyed" or "blended" must be inserted between the name signifying the fur that is simulated and the true name of the fur: as "Seal-dyed Muskrat," or "Mink-dyed Marmot." All furs shaded, blended, tipped dyed or pointed, must be described as such: as, "Black-dyed   OUTDOOR NEBRASKA 7 Fox," or "Pointed Fox." There are other requirements laid down but these two mentioned will serve to i;al! attention to the fact that the Government is making a signal attempt to prevent unfair and actually false representations in the marketing of furs. If a person buys a sealskin coat, that person is justified in knowing whether the coat is seal or muskrat-dyed.

GOOD WORK BY THE SOUTH CAROLINA AMERICAN LEGION

At the State Convention of the American Legion recently held at Anderson, South Carolina, the Legion put itself on record as favoring conservation by passing the following resolutions:

"WHEREAS, The American Legion has always fostered and encouraged the upbuilding of our nation and our state and for the conservation and development of influences and resources that are for the benefit of our people,

"AND WHEREAS we feel and believe that, due to advancing civilization and modern industrial development, that great inroads are being made in the forest and streams and wild life of our state, and that this is a valuable resource that we can ill afford to have depleted and perhaps wiped out entirely."

SCOURED ANGLEAVORMS MAKE PINE FISH BAIT

W. R. Walton, of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, who has made a serious study of the earthworm in connection with the damage the worms sometimes do to lawns and golf greens, has also shown that the scouring of worms has been well known to some anglers for hundreds of years, and was well described by Izaak Walton, patron saint of fishermen, in 1653. Scoured worms, this entomologist says, are much more desirable than those freshly dug. They will live longer on the hook and will take more fish.

Here is the method of scouring as described by Mr. Walton: Take a quantity of sphagnum moss, such as is used by nurserymen in packing plants for shipment. Put this into a stoneware crock or a tight wooden box. This moss, which grows in shady, swampy woods, should be well moistened, but the excess water should be wrung out before the moss is placed in the container. Worms should be placed in the moss for at least two days, and preferably three or four, and kept in a cool place. At the end of this period, they should be almost transparent, tough, and lively. In case it becomes necessary to keep them in the moss for some weeks, a little sweet milk should he poured over them at intervals of about a week, but the moss should be washed and wrung out in clean water every week or ten days.

EXTINCTION

Extinction, when applied to one of our native species of wild life, is a tragic word: it means blotting out, the pushing into oblivion of one or more species of those which help to make more interesting our plains, our forests, our lakes.

Western states can inscribe on this black-bordered list the marten, the wolverine, the trumpeter swan, the passenger pigeon and several of the shore birds.

The Atlantic states were formerly the home of the eastern representative of the prairie chicken, the heath hen. The progress of civilization was ruthless, however, and in 1890 there were only about two hundred left, aiid these were confined to Martha's Vineyard, an island in Massachusetts. In 1907 this number was reduced to about 75, and with the help of strong protective measure the total was brough up to an estimated three hundred

Now, in 1929, we hear that there is only one solitary health hen left in the world—will we, in Montana, allow our counterpart of the heath hen, the prairie chicken or pinnated grouse, to become also a museum specimen?

Sam Anderson, recently appointed to the Federal Migratory Bird Commission, fears for the future of that splendid game bird, the prairie chicken. He asks that the future of this bird be carefully considered by individual sportsmen, by conservation organizations, by all those who desire that it remain something more than a memory in the minds of the older generation. There are a few coveys left in favored spots in the state and it would be good sportsmanship on the part of the resident hunters in those areas to join in a demand for further closed season on this vanishing bird.

SOUTH DAKOTA PHEASANT SEASON

Nebraska hunters desiring to hunt pheasants in South Dakota this year will be interested in the following information pretaining to the open season in that state:

Number of Days—15.—Dates—Daylight hours of period beginning at noon, Oct. 29 and closing at noon Nov. 13.—Counties—Aurora, Bon Homme, Brookings, Brown, Charles Mix, Clark, Clay, Codington, Davison, Day, Deuel, Douglas, S% of Edmunds, Faulk, Grant, Hamlin, Hanson, Hughes, Hutchinson, Hyde, Jerauld, Kingsbury, Lake, Lincoln, McCook, Marshall, Miner, Minnehaha, Moody, Potter, portion of Geneseo and all of Lockwood Twps. in Roberts, Sanborn, Spink, Sully, Turner, Union and Yankton.

Number of days—10.—Dates—Daylight hours of period beginning at noon, Oct. 29 and closing at noon Nov. 8.—Counties—Bedie, Brule, Buffalo and Hand.

Number of days 2.—Dates—Daylight hours of period beginning at noon Oct. 29 and closing at noon Oct. 31.— Counties—Butte, southof federal highway 212 and north of 212 to Belle Fourche river and Lawrence north and east of Federal highway 16.

Bag Limit—five birds per day, one of which may be a hen.

Limit in Possession—15 birds.

Limit of 10 shipping tags (in lots of 5 or 10 only) available to resident licensees, sold by game wardens.

Twenty-five pheasants may be shipped on non-resident license coupons.

No open season on Prairie chickens or any other variety of grouse.

CONSERVATION OP PISH

During the past summer a large amount of game fish have been conserved and a considerable number of course fish removed by the seining crews.

A total of 271,000 game fish had been salvaged from the Platte River holes, drying-up ponds and river overflows. These fish consisted of the following varieties:

Bullheads....................42 3,0 32 Catfish.................... 22,800 Black Bass.................... 6,825 Pike.................... 5,200 Sunfish.................... 7,100 Crappies.................... 6,800 Pickerel.................... 16

A total of 170,874 pounds of course fish were removed from various ponds.

The work is still in progress, with a number of lakes and ponds to still be taken care of. It is estimated at this writing that more than a half million fish will be salvaged during the season.

8 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA

Experimental Fur Farm Operated by Uncle Sam

(By Walter C. Henderson, Associate Chief, Bureau of Biological Survey)

THE Fur-Animal Experiment Station of Bureau of Biological Survey, whose Field Day we are here observing, was established six years ago this fall at Saratoga Springs, New York. Its chief purpose is to facilitate and other necessary research in fur farming, the need for which has just been presented to you by Doctor Woods, the Director of Scientific Work of the United States Department of Agriculture. Facts are being gathered here on all phases of fur production for the benefit of the growing numbers of fur farmers throughout the country. The result of the investigations are given to the public through demonstrations, individual advice and the publication of bulletins and circulars.

Earlier fur stations were operated by the Survey at Pritchard, Idaho, and at Keeseville, New York, as forerunners of this one now maintained in the Adirondack region. Shortly after the establishment of a separate Rabbit Experiment Station by the Bureau at Fontana, California, last year, the stock of rabbits formerly kept here was taken there. Investigations to supplement the work of the Saratoga station are being made elsewhere in the country in co-operation with the Medical School of the University of Minnesota, designed primarily to control outbreaks of disease on fur ranches and to develop methods of diagnosing diseases, treating the animals affected, and controlling both diseases and parasites.

Through the instrumentality of the Fur-Animal Experiment Station and other fur investigations of the Biological Survey, valuable information is being developed regarding all the species of fur bearers now being propagated on fur ranches in the country. Their habits are observed here and elsewhere and investigations are made of the best management practices regarding feeding, breeding and housing captive animals and the prevention or control of the diseases and parasites to which they are subject when concentrated in numbers greater than are ordinarily found in small areas in the wild.

Not only is the Adirondack region in which this station is situated noted for the quality of the fur produced in the wild, but the station site itself is well adapted to meet all the requirements for raising fur animals in captivity. In addition it is readily accessible for bringing in stock, building materials, feed, and other supplies. These features were considered essential when a new location for the station was being sought six years ago, and the wisdom of those who selected the present site has been amply demonstrated.

The station grounds are on a 20-acre tract of welldrained soil, about three-fourths of which are covered with an excellent forest growth that makes it all the more suitable for the fur bearers. Conveniently situated on a State road, only 4 miles from Saratoga Springs, it is easily reached by the public. To accommodate visitors the station is open to them on Wednesdays and Sundays from the first of June to the first of December, between the hours of 10 and 4. The funds for operating the station are provided in annual appropriations made by Congress to the Department of Agriculture, for expenditure by the Bureau of Biological Survey in its work on the production of fur-bearing animals, the general authorization being couched in broad terms, as follows: "For investigation, experiments, demonstrations, and cooperation in connection with the production of fur-bearing animals raised for meat and fur, in the United States and Alaska."

The prime object of the Fur-Animal Experiment Station is to determine the most efficient methods of producing fur bearers in captivity. The station is not operated as a farm for commercial profit through the sale of either breeding stock or pelts, but all energies are directed to developing economical methods of producing fur of fine quality, insuring sanitary surroundings for the animals, and preventing outbreaks of disease or infestation of parasites. Surplus animals are pelted, however, but the proceeds from the sale of the skins are deposited in the United States Treasury and are not available for extending the work of the station. No live animals are sold for any purpose.

The animals maintained at the experiment station include, or have included, red, cross, and silver foxes, martens, minks, skunks, badgers, and others. Additional species will be experimented with as the work develops and the funds permit. The equipment of the station includes modern pens, dens and nest boxes for the animals, a laboratory and administration building, a utility house containing cook room, feed room, and carpenter shop, a watch tower from which the animals can be observed when necessary without disturbing them, a storehouse for miscellaneous equipment, and a comfortable house and other buildings for the use of the caretaker and his family. Two large areas are inclosed with guard fence. One of these contains breeding pens, pens for the young, and the watch tower, and the other, called the "furring pen," is used as an exercising yard for the foxes. Foxes kept in the large furring pen do well and fur out better than those kept constantly in the breeding pens, and although they consume more food there, as they have greater freedom for exercise, the lessened labor and time in caring for them more than offsets the increased cost of feeding.

One of the chief lines of investigation being conducted at the experiment station for the guidance of fur farmers throughout the country is concerned with foods and feeding. In the experiments, which have to do chiefly with foxes, facts are developed under three headings. These are concerned with (1) the simplest and most satisfactory methods of preparing the feed and giving it to the animals; (2) the quantity required during the various seasons of the year; and (3) the best feeds and combinations of feeds for animals of all ages.

Wholesome feeds are supplied to all animals at the experiment station, and the water used is pumped from a deep well. Feedings are usually once daily, but under certain conditions both morning and evening meals arc given. Practically all of the feed is given raw and in individual aluminum pans. The main ration consists of a mixture of ground raw meat, milk, cereal mixture, water, and cod-liver oil. The cereal mixture is prepared from bread that has been kiln-dried, shredded wheat waste, wheat germ, corn oil cake meal, fish meal, edible bone meal, alfalfa meal, and iodized salt. Th3 quantity of feed consumed daily by each fox ranges from about 9 to 14 ounces.

Modern sanitation methods are strictly insisted upon throughout the station, for the necessity for cleanliness and sanitation can not be over-stressed if fur-animals   OUTDOOR NEBRASKA 9 are to be produced profitably. Sanitary surroundings are as essential to the health of the captive fur animals as to that of other kinds of farm livestock. Cleanliness and common-sense methods in management are of first importance in keeping fur animals in health and vigor. All dens and pens are kept as clean as possible, a pure and fresh water supply is provided, and after each meal all the feeding dishes are collected, cleaned and sterilized.

The method developed in disease control through cooperation with the University of Minnesota are carefully followed at the experiment station. In spite of the strictest sanitation, some diseases break out among Cur animals on farms, and special studies are being made of those that affect foxes. Thus far four distinct diseases have been described, through the cooperative research work being conducted. All of these, and possibly some others not yet recognized, have in the past been shown by the one term "distemper." It is now known that separate kinds of treatment and control are required lor each, that the history of outbreaks is not the same, and that the mortality rate in the different diseases varies. Special note is made of these matters, the class of animals affected, their symptoms, and the organs involved.

Most outbreaks of diseases on fur farms have been traceable to animals brought from other farms or from fox shows. In the early stages of the investigations of fur-animal production lack of laboratory facilities and of adequate funds prevented the necessary studies of the bacteriology, pathology, and parasitology of infected stock. It was to correct this defect in investigational methods that arrangements were made with the University of Minnesota a little more than two years ago (October 1, 1927) for a program of cooperative research on the diseases of fur animals. With the causes of infection known, and accurate methods of diagnosis worked out, it is more possible to combat the disease outbreaks that occur. The work at the station and at the university are supplementary the one to the other, and, and the results are being applied on the fur farms from which requests are received for assistance in controlling disease. The four infectious diseases on which progress is being made through the cooperative investigations are epizootic fox encephalitis, paratyphoid infection, pneumonia and tuberculosis.

Improved methods of handling diseased animals during treatment are being devised, and during the past year a motion picture film was made at the experiment station to acquaint veterinarians and others with the best methods of handling foxes. Without taking proper precautions and using the right kind of instruments, an operator is likely to suffer severe injury in handling his stock, either for examinations or for the treatment of disease.

Studies have been in progress at the station for some years of the tolerance of foxes to the various drugs employed as anthelmintics and for other therapeutic purposes. Such intestinal parasites as can be reached by drugs given through the mouth can be fairly well controlled by recently developed treatments, properly administered. Additional studies are required and are being pursued so far as the facilities permit, of the parasites of fur animals, their life histories, and practical means of control. Whenever reliable information is developed at the station, or through visits of members of the station staff to private fur farms, or through other laboratory investigations, the facts are made available to the general public in the form of letters, press articles radio talks, or bulletins, or in actual demonstrations when these are feasible. It is the primary function of the Fur-Animal Experiment Station to acquaint fur farmers with the latest developments on all phases of fur farming.

The Biological Survey desires exceedingly to meet its obligations to the fur farmers of the country. Every effort is made to acquaint breeders with discoveries made at the station regarding improved management practices in breeding, feeding, and handling fur bearers in captivity. Field work of representatives of the station and of the Washington and cooperating offices in inspecting fur farms is resulting in the accumulation of much valuable information on the various problems confronting fur farmers and in many notable improvements in fur-farming practices. This information is available to all concerned, and fur farmers are invited to utilize the facilities provided by the Biological Survey through its FurAnimal Experiment Station to the greatest possible extent. The station is maintained to benefit fur farmers individually and collectively, so that a stable industry may be established in fur production, one efficiently managed and intelligently directed, with future progress constantly in view.

NEBRASKA HIGH IN PERMIT SALE

Only eleven states sold more hunting and fishing permits to their residents during 1928 than did Nebraska.

During the 19 27-2 8 season more than six million persons bought permits throughout the United States. New York headed the list with a sale of 675,780 permits. Deleware was the lowest with a sale of 1,970. Nebraska sold 163,477.

States selling more permits than Nebraska are as follows: New York, Pennsylvania, California, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Washington and Wisconsin.

10 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA

Fish, Game and Park Activities

CLOSE BIG ALKALI AND DAD'S LAKES

The Game Porestration and Parks Commission, meeting at Lincoln, October 3, closed Big Alkali and Dad's Lakes in Cherry County, making them game refuges for waterfowl.

This action was taken upon the consideration of a petition from Cherry County, asking that these lakes be. closed.

The Commission felt that since these two lakes were so large they would soon become the resting place for thousands of birds and it would improve the hunting. Where birds have a place to rest, they will remain longer during the fall season and work out to nearby feeding grounds where hunters have an opportunity to get a fair share of them.

Another reason the Commission felt it was advisable to close these lakes was to start the ball rolling in an effort to get the federal government to cooperate under the Norbeck-Anderson bill and place several refuges in Nebraska. The federal government expects to spend millions of dollars in these refuges, and Nebraska should have several, at least.

The resolution passed is as follows:

WHEREAS, responsible citizens of Nebraska residing in the vicinity of Dad's Lake and Big Alkali Lake in Cherry County, have petitioned the Commission to exercise its lawful authority to set these lakes aside as migratory wild fowl sanstuaries to the end that a goodly number of such wild fowl be allowed to remain in said vicinities during the fall migration and,

WHEREAS, it appears that these lakes are natural resting and refuge lakes for migratory wild fowl and are not feeding lakes, and that the protection of these wild fowl thereon will measurably increase the number of said birds for Nebraska sportsmen,

THEREFORE, be it resolved that this Commission by authority in it vested by the Legislature, does hereby close said lakes to all shooting, and does hereby prohibit the disturbance of wild fowl thereon by any and all means, and that said lakes be set aside as migratory wild fowl sanctuaries from and after October 16, 1929, and be plainly posted as such, and that reasonable publicity be given this Resolution.

EXPECT TO ACQUIRE MORE HOLDINGS

The Nebraska Game Commission expects to secure holdings on a number of Nebraska lakes as well as to buy abandoned sand-pits and suitable fishing places for the public. This policy was announced at the last meeting when Governor Weaver, Chairman of the Commission said:

"I believe the greatest service the Commission can render the people of Nebraska is to secure suitable fishing lakes and ponds throughout the state which the public may use. Our good roads are taking thousands of our citizens to the great Nebraska out-doors, and it is our task to provide a pleasant place for them to spend a day or week-end pleasure trip."

The Commission has already acquired title to a number of fine sand-pit lakes near Louisville and have several other tracts under consideration. It is desired to obtain such sites in various parts of the state so that all citizens of the State will have access to them.

STATE TO DO SEINING

Effective this fall, the State Seining Crews will remove all course fish from Nebraska lakes. No more contracts will be made with wishermen to do this work.

The larger lakes will be cleaned of the course fish during the winter months when fishing through the ice is possible. At this time of year the fish command a better price and such work does not interfere with other important work, such as salvaging game fish, etc.

It is expected to remove over one hundred tons of Buffalo and carp from Nebraska ponds and lakes during the coming winter.

TO STOCK GAME BIRDS

The Nebraska Game Commission has authorized the purchase of 80 0 pair of partridges, 500 pair of Mexican bob-whites and 5 0 pair of wild turkeys for planting during the present fall.

Great difficulty is being experienced in obtaining partridges, owing to the great demand in this country and the shortage in central Europe where they are trapped. Bad weather during the breeding season is believed to account for the shortage.

The purchase of the Mexican Bob-Whites is more or less of an experiment. A number of other states have been stocking these birds and it was deemed advisable to try them out in this state.

The wild turkeys brought in last year are doing nicely and those purchased this year will be added to the flocks started.

All of the above birds will be placed on the many game refuges created during the past several years

  OUTDOOR NEBRASKA 11 BULLETIN OP THE AMERICAN GAME PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION Fruits of Experience

Breeding game birds in large numbers requires experience as well as theoretical knowledge. The difficulties which beset the game breeder can never be forecast; some new problem is constantly arising. Men of long and successful experience ii the breeding of game birds, however, seldom suffer serious loss because their long years of actual practice have qualified them to meet all emergencies and overcome all ordinary difficulties.

The career of Gene M. Simpson, Superintendent of Game Breeding for the state of Oregon, is a record of achievement and valuable service to his state. In the June-July issue of American Game, the bulletin of the American Game Protective Association, Mr. Simpson modestly describes the operations of the Oregon game farms for the past year and writes instructively on the methods employed in that state.

Oregon was the scene of the first introduction of the Chinese ring-necked pheasant, the birds having been brought to that state from China by Judge O. N. Denny in 1880. It is an instance of appreciation all to rare that Mrs. Denny, wife of Judge Denny, now receives a pension of $50 per month from the state game fund and will continue to receive it during her life in recognition of the service rendered to the state by her late husband.

Oregon operates two large game farms the output of each being chiefly the ring-necked pheasant, which is the established upland game bird of that state. Mr. Simpson has also achieved greater success in experiments breeding the Hungarian partridge than any one else in this country. He has found that the Hungarian can be reared in captivity with reasonable assurance of success, although it is more precarious than the breeding of pheasants and requires different methods of handling the bids during the laying period and in the rearing fields. Last season Mr. Simpson raised 43 5 Hungarian partridge to maturity, all fine healthy birds, which is encouraging.

In closing his article Mr. Simpson says: "You must look to the game breeders of this country for your future supply of upland game birds. Restraining laws alone will not increase, or even maintain, the supply. We must produce if we would destroy."

Cigarettes Cause Fires

Hot, dry weather in many parts of the country the past summer brought about the most dangerous fire situation of the year, Assistant United States Chief Forester E. A. Sherman said. The worst of these fires occurred in California, the Pacific Northwest, the inland Empire region, and in Minnesota, and Wisconsin. A number of them were caused by carelessness with cigarettes.

According to the United States Bureau of Standards, the property loss from fire attributed to smoking is about $45,000,000 a year, and this does not include forest fire damage, which in 1927 amounted to more than $6,000,000, or all the loss from grain field fires started by smoking, for which separate figures are not available.

More than 30,000 fires are estimated to have been caused by smokers in 1927. In an effort to reduce the number of fires caused by smokers, smoking is prohibited on extensive areas of National Forest land except at important camp grounds and places of habitation.

"Some of the progressive cigarette manufacturers are becoming interested in the problem of reducing cigarette fire losses," said Mr. Sherman. "Investigations by the Bureau of Standards on possible methods of fireproofing the tips of cigarettes are receiving the manufacturers' attention. The Forest Service is co-operating with the manufacturers in the development of a plan for educational work to induce greater care on the part of smokers. By including cautionary notices in cigarette packages and possibly on cigarettes themselves it may be possible to reach millions of smokers with direct warnings."

Mr. Sherman emphasized the fact that "Cigarettes and pipe ashes should be pressed out and discarded only in unquestionably safe places. Matches should be broken in two before they are thrown away. Every automobile should be equipped with ash receivers for both front and rear seats, as many fires are caused by burning tobacco or matches thrown from cars along the roadsides."

National Park Standards

There are pending in the present special session of Congress bills to establish national parks in North Dakota, Colorado, Nebraska, Texas, Arkansas and Iowa. Other bills to establish parks are brewing and will probably appear early in the regular session. It cannot be said that any of the parks proposed by these bills conforms to standards set by such parks as Yosemite, Yellowstone, Ranier, McKinley, Glacier, or a number of others. It may be that all these proposed park areas are well suited for recreational purposes and ought to be used as such, but that does not warrant the United States Government, in establishing a large number of mediocre national parks which would be of interest only in the localities where they are established.

A national park, obviously, should be of such character as to be of interest to the people of the whole nation. It should have some extraordinary, outstanding quality, such as an example of striking scenery or some natural phenomena.

There doesn't seem to have been accepted in Congress and standard for national parks, consequently their creation is largely a matter of influence of their promoters and trading in votes. A declaration by the Camp Fire Club of America on what should constitute a proper standard for national parks, recently issued, is timely. This declaration of standards was promptly adopted by the American Game Protective Association and some 15 0 other national and local organizations interested in the conservation of America's unique and inspiring national objects. The declaration of National Park Standards are adopted by these organizations states that:

"National Parks are spacious land areas essential in their primeval condition and so outstandingly superior in quality and beauty to average examples of their several types as to demand their preservation intact and in their entirety for the enjoyment, education and inspiration of all the people for all time."

National parks, It is asserted, should not be established primarily as recreation resorts. That should be left to state and local parks. National parks should have a higher purpose and be of such outstanding character as to warrant their commitment to national care. They should serve as permanent museums for the preservation of such striking examples of historic, prehistoric, geological or other unique objects they may contain. Their wilderness features should be maintained in primitive form and not spoiled by recreational devices common to state and local parks. Their value should be chiefly educational and spiritual. There should be a clearer understanding of this differentiation between local recreation resorts and national parks.

Quail Accept Hospitality

William B. Mershom of Saginaw, Michigan, sends the American Protective Association an interesting report   12 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA of the care of a bevy of quail which were looked after by a woman interested in birds during last winter near that place. She writes that she fed twenty-seven quail at her home all winter. As soon as the birds found that they were safe and unmolested they came readily every day for their food, the feed being placed about seven o'clock in the morning and again about five o'clock in the evening.

The birds found shelter at times in an old barn near by and frequently resorted to the protection of the space beneath the porch of the house near where they were fed. Chick feed, corn-meal and dry bread were used as food and it is significant that the lady caring for the quail keeps no cats.

Mr. Mershon supplements this report by saying that during the past winter he had a notice placed in the local Saginaw newspaper, asking people who were caring for quail to keep a record of their work and report to him. lie states that he knew of six or seven different people wno were feeding quail about Saginaw and learned indirectly that many of the birds were brought through the winter in that way, but he received no reports except, the one above referred to. Mr. Mershon states that this instance is well worth wide publicity because it shows how quail may be kept tnrough the severe winter ol northern latitudes by giving them opportunity for shelter and food.

Antelope Season

The Wyoming State Game Commission again made provision for an open shooting season on antelope for this fall for a period of three days in part of the state and six days in other portions, commencing September 'Adch. The special antelope permits cost non-residents of the state $50 each, and each hunter or party of two must be accompanied by a guide.

Montana Introduces Bullfrogs

Alva Clapp, State Game Warden of Kansas, has presented to Tom Marlowe, Chairman of the Fish and Game Commission of Montana, a shipment of Kansas bullfrogs. Several hundred pairs were released in Kicking Horse Reservoir in the hope that they would find their new surroundings congenial and become established.

The bullfrog of the South and the East is highly prized as a food delicacy, but efforts heretofore to establish them as far north as Montana have not been successful, owing probably to the severity of the climate. This new experiment will be watched with interest.

Western Fish Survey

At a meeting of the game officials of Wyoming. Montana, Utah and Idaho at Yellowstone National Park on July 17th and 18th, it was proposed that Congress make a provision by appropriation for a survey of the streams of the Rocky Mountain region of the United States to determine what varieties of fish are suitable for each stream and what is needed to be done to provide an adequate food supply in each. Congress will undoubtedly be asked at the coming session to make such an appropriation.

Participating in the conference were representatives of the National Park Service, the United States Forest Service, the United States Bureau of Biological Survey and the United States Bureau of Fisheries.

Birth Prom a Grave

The laws of nature seem to have been inverted when applied to that continent of the southern hemisphere embraced in the Island of Australia. Many of the strange creatures of the animal kingdom inhabiting that country have no counterpart anywhere else in the world. One of the most astonishing in its paradoxical habits is the mallee-fowl, a bird which buries its eggs in the ground or in a heap of sand or rubbish and leaves them there to be hatched by the heat of the sun. This bird is not abundant and is said to be in danger of extermination.

T. B. Bellchambers of Humbug Scrub, South Australia, a correspondent member of the American Game Protective Association, who has established a sanctuary for the preservation of the mammal and bird life of that region, writes of the experience he has had in breeding the mallee-fowl under protection, which has given him an opportunity to observe its strange habits.

Writing in January, Mr. Bellchambers says:

"The mallee-fowl (Leipoa ocellata) are just now proving interesting in that chicks are now arriving. This season being favorable, we are expecting better success than the last season or two, when summer rains spoiled our chance. Conditions here are very different to those of this bird's natural habitat.

"His Majesty the King was pleased to accept from me a pair of these interesting birds. They were bred here from a pair, the female of which is 15 years old and the male 14 years. This pair invaribly places the firs!: egg in the mound in late August, and the female is still laying on January 18th. I have two other pair working,

"it is becoming increasingly difficult to find in its wild state in Australa, but without doubt t would be saved from its threatened doom if placed on properly protected reserves in the mallee lands. (Malee is the name of a dwarf eucalyqtus tree.) The pity of it is tnat our people will not see the importance of taking such action in time, no less than seven species of marsupial life having disappeared from over a wide area of this state within the last twenty years, and our avifauna have likewise suffered very grievious losses.

The mallee-fowl inhabits the dryer parts of Australia. It deposits its eggs in mounds of sand and rubbish which are from ten to twenty feet in diameter and about two and a half feet high. The egg, which are about three and a half by two and a half inches in size, are buried some eighteen inches deep and are deposited over a period of three or four months. The incubation period is about two months.

When the chicks hatch, they dig themselves out and receive no attention whatever from their parents, having to shift for themselves from birth. The adults pay more or less attention to the care of the mounds in which the eggs are placed by scratching off the surface occassionaly in order to admit the heat of the sun. They appear to understand the necessity for this, varying their operations according to the weather.

The birds are about the size of domestic fowl. They build the mounds in which the eggs are placed by scratching the sand in a heap with their feet. The vast amount of labor required may well be imagined from the size of the mounds.

Pheasant Propagation in Two States

Michigan and Wisconsin produced at their game farms this year a total of 30,000 pheasant eggs. Each state set as large a percentage of the eggs as possible at the state game farms and distributed the others to private individuals for hatching. The distribution of birds from the two states will approximate 15,000, besides those reared by private individuals. The hatching of eggs by individuals has not been so successful as the work of the state game farms, owing to lack of technical knowledge and experience.

The work of these two states in propagating and   OUTDOOR NEBRASKA 13 introducing pheasants is of a substantial character and should go a long way toward increasing the stock of wild birds.

Virginia Importing Deer

Strange as it may seem, with its vast areas of wilderness mountain country, Virginia is finding it necessary to import deer to restock her depleted forests. Recently thirty white-tailed deer were procured by the State Department of Game and Inland Fisheries from the Plsgah National Forest of North Carolina, purchase having been made of the United States Forest Service at $25 per head.

The deer will be distributed and liberated in various parts of the state in favorable localities. Virginia has large areas well suited to deer.

The experience of a number of other states in restoring deer by restocking and putting into effect the protection of females and fawns should easily be duplicated in Virginia.

Mammoth Pish Hatchery

According to anouncement of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, that state is now constructing what, when completed will be the world's largest fish hatchery. It is being constructed near Lonoke, Arkansas, under the supervision of Del Brown of the United States Bureau of Fisheries, an experienced fish hatchery builder and superintendent who has been loaned to the state of Arkansas for this undertaking Mr. Brown is officially in charge of the United States Fisheries Station at Mammoth Springs, Arkansas.

The Arkansas hatchery, when completed, will include two hundred and forty-four acres of ponds and will be devoted to the propagation of the warm-water nestbuilding fishes such as bass and bream.

PHEASANT OPEN SEASON

The following instructions and assignment of territory for the open season on pheasants this year will be in force.

Tagging Birds

All birds taken from the respective open counties will be tagged as heretofore. Supplies of tags will be sent the warden in charge of each county and he will be responsible in seeing that these tags are placed with all dealers handling permits in his county, also at drug stores, sporting goods stores and other places where the public can get them. A fee of ten cents per bag is allowed the dealer for tagging.

Hen Pheasants

Hen pheasants killed by accident will be checked in as heretofore and turned over to charitable institutions. Wardens will arrest persons killing hen pheasants and leaving them in fields. Handle the hen problem as heretofore.

STUDY OP PHEASANT FOOD

"Contents of the digestive systems of more than 100 Chinese ring-necked pheasants have been analyzed at State college since April 1, in connection with an investigation to determine the relation of the game birds to South Dakota agriculture, it was indicated by a report today by H. C. Severin, professor of zoology and entomology at State college, who has supervision of the project.

Some of the birds already examined include the following, as set out in the report:

One struck and killed by a car when eating corn in the middle of a graveled highway near Mitchell. Its gizzard and crop contained corn almost exclusively, although 3 72 fine stones and 5 yellow-foxtail and 4 wildbuckwheat weed seeds were also discovered, as well as a few insect parts.

Another was taken from a corn field near Huron. The corn was approximately six inches high. The crop contents of this bird were: 61 kernels of unsprouted corn, 21 of oats, 6 barley, 1 wheat, 1 spider and 38 cut worms. The gizzard contained 4 kernels of unsprouted corn, 25 cutworms, 5 oats, 1 barley, 1 yellowfoxtail weed seed and 357 small stones. The corn eaten by this bird was undoubtedly waste corn, in the opinion of Professor Severin.

The crop of another bird, taken from a small-grain field near Mitchell early in the spring, when snow was on the ground, contained 258 kernals of oats, 146 of barley, 17 wheat, 75 sweet clover, 1,532 yellow-foxtail weed seeds, 5 Russian thistle, 16 wild buckwheat, 2 lambs quarters, 4 8 green foxtail and 2,2 6 0 stones, or less than about one-fifth of a teaspoonful. The gizzard contained: 1,8 8 6 stones, 3 oats, 5 barley, 2 3 sweet clover, 9 4 yellow-foxtail, 1 wild buckwheat, 2 green foxtail and 9 wild rose."

—From Public Opinion, Watertown, So. Dak. SEVERAL PROPOSE TO RAISE FISH

Several Nebraska citizens have decided to help the state raise its game fish and have signed contracts to furnish same during the season of 1930.

The following have signed up to raise fish:

E. D. Hoover, Spencer, fingerling bass. John Ashburn, Tilden, fingerling bass. W. M. Dutcher, Plainview, fingerling bass. Arthur Bleyhl, Norfolk, bass and sunfish.

Mr. C. H. Nichols, who is handling this work, reports that a large number of persons are interested in raising fish. The prices paid run from $10 to $50 per thousand for fingerling, depending on variety and size.

No waters ever used for fishing or subject to overflow can be used for raising such fish.

ADJUST SALARIES OP WARDENS

The salaries of game wardens have been adjusted so as to reward men who have served the state for a long period of time.

Heretofore wardens have received $100 per mouth flat regardless of length of service or value to the state. Through recent action of the Game Commission this schedule has been changed so that wardens will henceforth receive from $80 to $120 per month, depending on length of service and rating as to efficiency.

It is believed that the new schedule will make it possible to retain good men of experience and to make the service more attractive to persons interested in wild game resources.

14 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA

EIGHT COUNTIES TO HAVE OPEN SEASON ON PHEASANTS

(Continued from Page Three

5. Where hen pheasants are killed by accident the person killing will retrieve the same and turn such bird over to the nearest game warden. Such game warden will give a receipt for these birds and turn them over to cheritable organizations or state institutions. Persons killing hen pheasants and leaving them in the field will be presecuted.

6. The ownership and title of all birds rests in the state and the person taking or killing the same shall consent that the title thereto shall be and remain in the state for the purpose or regulating the possession, use and transportation thereof after killing or taking of same. The taking or killing of birds shall be deemed a consent on the part of such person that title to same rests in the state.

7. All persons taking or hunting birds on any land not public must obtain the consent of the owner or person in charge of the same. It is unlawful for any person to trespass on duly posted land or hunt on private land without the consent of the owner in charge. It is, also, unlawful to shoot game birds on or from a public highway. All such violations will be prosecuted.

Dated this 1st day of October, 1929 at Lincoln, Nebraska.

TRAPPING ON STATE LAKES

Trappers are warned not to trap on state-owned or meandered lakes. The Game Commission recently passed a rule prohibiting all trapping on all meandered and state-owned lakes and ponds.

It is believed that muskrats greatly aid in preserving fish during the winter months when lakes are covered with ice, and for that reason no trapping is allowed. Then, too, these lakes serve as a breeding grounds for rats, thus improving the trapping on nearby lakes and ponds.

CONSERVATION PLANT IN OPERATION

The new plant recently constructed at the Nebraska Fair Grounds for distributing fish and storage of equipment, is now in full operation. Over 100,000 adult fish have already been worked out through this plant.

Not only will this plant be a great help in distributing fish but it will provide a storage place for the trucks and seining equipment owned by the state. Heretofore there has been considerable waste through lack of space to properly store such material.

While trackage turns into the building at the Fair Grounds and the fish car can be housed therein, it is likely that the car will still be stored when not in use at the Gretna shed. The fish trucks not in use will be kept at the Lincoln building where servicing, washing and etc. can be done

"OLD TIMERS" SEE NEED OF CONSERVATION

Continued from Page 5

of wild pigeons occurred in 1879. Each year following they came through in their annual migrations in greatly diminishing numbers, and by 1885 they had practically disappeared.

"Fifty years ago this fall, which was the year of their last great flight, they came into their roosting places in the poplar swamps of northern Indiana in flocks of millions extending as far as the eye could reach. They would light in the trees in such vast numbers that heavy limbs would be broken off, and with the crash that resulted clouds of pigeons would rise only to settle again with the same result.

"Hunters armed with eight and ten guage shotguns loaded with huge charges of black powder surrounded these roosting places and after a few shots gathered up the dead pigeons by the two-bushel sackfull. The dead birds were barreled up and shipped to the Chicago market, while the live birds caught in traps and nets were sold to be used in live bird shoots in place of tame pigeons.

"It was customary for people to invade their nesting places at night and by means of traps and nets take them by the thousands.

"Using long poles, they poked the squabs out of the nests and in this manner destroyed thousands of nests in which the single egg had not yet hatched. The wild pigeon laid but one egg and was therefore not highly productive.

"While I am convinced that human agencies entered more largely into the extermination of the wild pigeon than any other factor, yet I believe that man was not entirely to blame for its extinction. Severe storms during their nesting season in northern Michigan left their bodies on the shore of Lake Michigan in such vast numbers that people living near moved away until they disappeared by decomposition.

"The last individual of the species that once existed in countless millions died in the Zoological gardens in Cincinnati in September 1915 at the age of 35 years. This last survivor was bred in captivity.

"The second example of the extinction of a species is the Eskimo Curlew. Older Nebraska sportsmen will remember this beautiful curlew as the dough bird which appeared on the brunt prairies in the spring by the thousands. They were so fat that when shot they frequently burst open when they struck the ground. Not one individual of this species is now living. This bird was destroyed almost wholly by human agencies.

"The Nebraska legislature in 1929 passed some wise legislation looking to the protection and preservation of our game birds. Without that protection our game birds will suffer the fate of the passenger pigeon and the Eskimo Curlew.

"A new consciousness is appearing among the American people. The thoughtless destruction of early years is disappearing and the spirit of conservation is taking its place. This is largely the result of the efforts of the Izaak Walton league, which is teaching the sportsmen of the United States that if they expect to be able to hunt and fish in the future, they can only do so by being satisfied with reasonable bag limits and by a replacement by propagation of that which has been destroyed."

There is still good hunting in Nebraska. Millions of ducks make their summer home in the Nebraska sandhills and hatch their broods in the marshes there. This state is likewise in the direct line of flight for the great migration from northern lakes to the gulf. So long as enough birds are living to make this semi-annual migration, ducks and geese will stop on Nebraska lakes and streams.

On days of the "big flight" western and northern Nebraska hunters may still see millions of these birds in the skies, rivalling the days of old. The real complaint of the present day hunter is that the ducks and geese come through in the bulk during two or three days, with few of them stopping long enough to look over the attractive layouts of decoys. Another complaint is the difficulty of finding a place to put up a blind.

  OUTDOOR NEBRASKA 15

The Platte river is spotted with an unbelievable number of blinds from the mouth to its tributaries available ponds and marshes are leased, or landowners are reluctant to permit hunters the run of their land. Those are problems to be solved, as well as that of protecting the birds. Ponds and marshes are diminishing in number as farmers drain them to make more valuable land for cultivation. The population is steadily increasing, with the result that there are more hunters.

There is a. plan to solve the former. The federal government has appropriated money for the purchase of large reserves in the states in line of migration. These reserves when established will provide resting and feeding places for the birds. Wise old drakes and ganders will learn of these places of protection with the result that their flocks will linger a bit longer and shootingwill be improved in the area surrounding them. Plans are under way for the establishment of such a reserve in Nebraska.

In the meantime private landowners and sportsmen's organizations in various parts of the state are establishing their own reserves.

The planting of pheasants and hungarian partridges and their enormous increase in numbers has provided a substitute for the quail and prairie chicken hunting of days gone by. Even a few wild turkeys have been introduced in the state as an experiment.

Progress is being made, but it is slow work and there remains much to be done in the future. The "old timers" who know are the greatest asset the state has in seeing that the work continues.

PISHING

"Next to prayer, fishing is the most personal relationship of men—"

"Fishing seems to be the sole avenue left to presidents through which they may escape to their own thoughts, may live in their own imaginings and find relief from the pneumatic hammering of constant personal contacts—"

"Fishing is a constant reminder of the democracy of life, of humility and human frailty—for all men are equal before fishes."

These philosophic gems are supposed to have come from President Hoover—though we are unreasonable enough to suspect they sprung from the brow of an energetic Boswell like George Akerson, Mr. Hoover's secretary.

But whether the president said those things or not, really doesn't matter. Being an ardent fisherman, he must think them.

Fishing may be next to prayer in the "most personal relationship" of Mr. Hoover but trying to keep the wolf from the door leads both with the average American. Of course every angler will agree that a fishing trip is a fine way to commune with himself. But the president's contention that fishing is a constant reminder of the democracy of life won't register conclusively with most of us.

Where does the "democracy" come in save that everybody can fish? Is a $500 array of steel rods, fancy flies and whatnot, on a democratic level with a cane pole and a can of worms? Is a bass the democratic equal of a mud cat? Is a half million dollar clubhouse on a lake with a fleet of motorboats the same as a shack with a few "battows?" Not by a jugful.

Pishing has its classes, the same as social life but it has this redeeming feature—the "nigger fisherman" has as good a chance to bring home a string a yard long as has the richest angler on the stream. To that extent and no more, it is democratic.

—From the Arkansas Democrat.

CONSERVATION IS A PATRIOTIC DUTY

By Charles G. Dawes U. S. Ambassador to Great Britain

"The conservation movement in the United States today constitutes this country's finest demonstration of pure idealism—of unselfish patriotism. Those who adhere to it solely for the love of out-of-doors, who comprehend their duty only in terms of planting a tree, purifying a stream, protecting a bird's nest, or otherwise making the out-of-doors a little cleaner, a little more beautiful, and a little more alive with the pulse of nature, have justification enough for their work and reward enough in their accomplishments. On economic grounds alone we may call upon the self-interest of our people and justify all the time and the energy that is expended in a conservative movement."

TURKEY HUNTING

Taney county Missouri, promises to be good turkey hunting country this season if present indications concerning the bird can be relied upon. Otto Bower, game warden, observed two large turkey hens and about twenty young birds not far from Lake Taneycomo one day early last month. Large hatches have been reported in Taney, Shannon, Dent, Carter, Texas, Ozark, Douglas, Phelps, Crawford and Mississippi counties.

Turkey hunting season extends through December. The bag limit this year has been reduced to one.

THE CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT AND THE BOY SCOUT

This issue of Fins, Feathers and Fur we dedicate to that splendid group of youths, the Boy Scouts of America. Starting with this issue we will carry a regular department devoted to matters of interest to these young Americans. This department will be handled by Bill Brown, chairman of Extension Committee, and member of the National Council of Boy Scouts of America.

We believe that the Conservation Department should take greater cognizance of their work and stand ready to aid and advise them whenever the opportunity presents itself.

Anthony Benson, author of our frontispiece poem "A Scoutland is the Arrowhead," is a Boy Scout Leader in Virginia. Martin K. Nelson, whose article appears on page 262 of this issue has been long identified with the scout movement and as one of our youngest wardens has the new idea of law enforcement through education.

The outstanding wardens of the state of Minnesota such as Wm. F. Munch of Crookston, J. M. Totten of Little Falls, Sam Warner of Litchfield, Rex Robinson of Rochester have for years found that the Boy Scouts were a group of youngsters that could be depended upon to assist in collection of outdoor data, observation of wild life and the other little problems that daily confront the active warden.

We hope that every one of Minnesota's 145 wardens will become personally acquainted with every Boy Scout   16 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA in the district that he serves. Let them know that he is their friend and advisor in matters pertaining to wild life. Also let him know that as Bill Brown so aptly heads his splendid article that "Outing is just about all of Scouting."—From Pins, Feathers and Fur.

ON CONSERVATION

"Personally, I think this conservation makes for better citizenship. It preserves some of the frontier spirit of our forefathers.

"We must bring back, by purchase, as much of the "big outdoors" as possible, where strong men in spiritual power find their best nourishment.

"When we lose our "pep," when good food tastes bad, when friends do not satisfy, when life becomes a bore, when music seems out of tune, when the old dog annoys, when the doctor fails, and the good wife irritates, there is but one remedy for the run down, and it is found in the forests and on the streams in the "big outdoors."

"There we go to church and worship God by conversing with the things that He made, listening to sermons from rocks and trees and choir music from, the birds.

"If you need a fresh start and want to lose the rundown feeling and get back your "pep," go fishing."

"Our Federal Government should buy some of the "big outdoors" now, when opportunity knocks and the price is cheap, and then buy more when opportunity comes again.

"The "big outdoors" is for the poor and for the rich; it is for all of our people; and we can not buy too much now, for soon there will be none to buy.

"If you want to lend a hand, write to your State and Federal lawmakers. If they know you are in earnest about it, they will respond by making the necessary laws."—U. S. Senator Harry B. Hawes.

BASS DO NOT MIGRATE

Most every bass fisherman has heard that question oftentimes considered moot, "do bass rove about or do they remain in one place?" discussed. Now comes Dr. W. A. McGuire of Campbell in Dunklin County with a new angle to the argument that bass are not rovers.

Doctor McGuire lias studied fish and their habits for many years and some months ago, after he had grown weary of hearing fishermen argue over the bass migration question, he started to find out all about it for himself. He caught a number of large black bass for use in his experiments. These he banded in the tail with a tiny piece of aluminum and released them in a slough near Campbell. Since the time the fish were released the St. Francis river has flooded the slough five times. Once the water ran ten feet over the normal level of the slough.

During the last summer Doctor McGuire angled for his banded bass in the effort to learn if they had left the slough during the highwater. He has caught thirty-two of the banded fish as the result of fishing in the slough. None of the banded fish have ever been caught in the river so far as Doctor McGuire can learn although he has offered a reward of $10 for anyone returning the band from a fish caught in the St. Francis river.

Doctor McGuire believes the bass are not rovers.

Now, what's your story?

TENDERFOOT HUNTERS

Every outdoorsman has a list of choice tenderfoot tales. They range from the hunter who carries a portable bathtub to the angler who uses patented backrests and rod supports. Here is a choice one from Fred Olson, former president of the Lake City Waltonians.

Last year while hunting on lake Winnebigoshish a party of novice hunters arrived to do their first duck hunting. They carried a large number of wooden decoys and a box of live caller ducks.

Early in the morning they took their decoys and placing the box of live ducks in the bow of their boat started out to their blind. In order to facilitate the placing of their decoys they took with them a lighted lantern.

About ten o'clock Mr. Olson and his party paddled near these tenderfeet and were surprised to see the wooden decoys placed on the decking of the duck boat, while one of the "hunters" had a stick with which he would prod the "callers" to make them call whenever a flock of ducks were sighted. Yes, and the lantern was still burning.

BIRD SEED

Old Timer tells us that back in his day quail were plentiful and even though the winters were longer and more severe, the birds went through them without artificial feeding. He would have us believe they were hardier and more able to stand exposure than the quail of the present time.

They were hardier because nature supplied food in the way of an abundance of berries and seed that was always above the snow and ice covered ground. But since those days, man in his eagerness to cultivate the land for his own gain, has cut away all useless (?) shrubbery. He has taken great pride in keeping his fence rows and draws mowed clean. This has certainly deprived bird life of much food and shelter causing it to seek livelihood in other localities. The little that lie may have gained in satisfying his pride has been out balanced by losses from insects.

"Old Timer" might also state that orchards were formerly more productive, that it was not necessary each spring and fall to dig the "borer" out of the butt of the fruit trees, that great masses of wooly worms, encased in webs were not seen blighting trees in every orchard, and syraying was unheard of then.

It seems imperative that bird life be brought back to the former standard. This can be done by increasing and improving the food supply by planting berry, seed and fruit-producing vines and shrubbery such as mulberry, wild cherry, elderberry, wild grapse, dogwood, redhaw, night-shade and sumac.—J. O. C.

Just when a man commences to think he is a big gun, someone comes along and fires him.

An optimist is one who makes the best of it even when he is getting the worst of it.

Not the number of boys to square mile—but number of square boys to mile.

Kind of father you have is fixed—kind you will be is for YOU to decide.

We owe the boys of America an example which they can SAFELY follow.

Nebraska's New Game and Fish Laws, 1929-1930

The following game laws are now in effect in Nebraska:

OPEN SEASON (Birds) Rail, except coots...........-.......Sept. 16th to Nov. 30th. Snipe (Wilson and Jack)........Sept. 16th to Nov. 1st. Water=fowI (Brant, Coots, Ducks, Geese.............. ..............._............_.........................Sept. 16th to Dec. 31st. Pheasants (male)___Open date to be fixed by Commission. Plover..........................................No open season unless ordered by the Commission. Prairie chickens and grouse................Sept. 16th to Oct. 15th in the year 1931 and every odd numbered year thereafter. Wood duck .........................................-.........No open season. Eider duck ......................................._...........No open season. Curlew ......._......_.............................................No open season. Swan .................................................-...............No open season. Crane (Sand Hill and Whooping)....No open season. Quail ____......_................_...................._...........No open season Partridge .......................................................—No open season. Hungarian partridge ..............................No open season. Dove ...............................................—Sept. 1st to Sept. 15th. Wild Turkey .........................-.................._.No open season. Female pheasants ...............-....................-No open season, except when ordered by Commission. OPEN SEASON (Animals) Mink, rabbits and skunks........Jan. 1st to Dec. 31st. Tree squirrels (all species)......Oct. 1st to Dec. 31st. Raccoons ............Nov. 16th to Feb. 15th next ensuing. Opossum......._...Nov. 16th to Feb. 15th next ensuing. Muskrats............Not to exceed one hundred and five days to be designated by the Commission between the 16th day of November and the 15th day of April next ensuing of the following year. Foxes........................Nov. 1st to Feb. 15th next ensuing. Otter..................Nov. 16th to Feb. 15th next ensuing. Beaver............................._..........---------------No open season. Buffalo............................................................._.No open season. Deer......................................................................No open season. Antelope.....................................-----............_.No open season. Mountain Sheep....................._.....................No open season. Mountain Goat..............._......................_.....No open season. OPEN SEASON (Fish) Black bass, Big mouth and Small mouth, 10 inches in length or larger............June 10th to April 30th next ensuing. Black bass, Big mouth and Small mouth, less than 10 inches in length.........._...No open season. White, striped or rock bass, 6 inches in length or larger......June 10th to Apr. 30th next ensuing. White, striped or rock bass, less than 6 inches in length........................................._.......No open season. Pickerel and Great Northern Pike, 15 inches long or larger............May 1st to March 16th next ensuing. Pickerel and Great Northern Pike, less than than 15 inches long............................No open season. Wall=eyed pike or pike perch, 12 inches long or larger............May 15th to Apr. 1st next ensuing. WalNeyed pike less than 12 inches in length No open season. Trout, 8 inches in length or larger............................ __.........._...........................................Apr. 1st to Oct. 31st. Trout,, less than 8 inches in length....No open season Crappies, 6 inches m length or larger..........._....... ..........................................................Jan. 1st to Dec. 31st. Crappies, less than 6 inches in length..............._... ........................._.............._...............................No open season Perch, yellow, white and striped and sun fish 6 inches in length or larger...-................................. ...........................................................-Jan. 1st to Dec. 31st. Perch, yellow, white and striped and sun fish less than 6 inches in length......No open season. Catfish, 12 inches in length or larger..............._....... ..............................................._...........Jan. 1st to Dec. 31st. Catfish less than 12 inches in length......._......_....... ................................._..............................-.....No open season. Bullheads, 6 inches in length or larger... ...Jan. 1st to Dec. 31st. Bullheads less than 6 inches in length......._......__ ...........-........-............................-......-..........No open season. BAG LIMITS

It shall be unlawful for any person in any one day to kill, catch, take, or, save as herein excepted, to have in his possession at any time a greater number of game birds, game animals, or game fish, of any one kind than,

Plover ............................................................................... 10 Grouse, including prairie chicken.................. 5 Rails (except coots) .......-....................................-. 15 Snipe (Wilson and Jack) .................................... 15 Ducks and Coots .....................................................— 20 Doves ............................................................................._. 15 Geese, including brants ......._......--------------- 5 Pheasants.............._..........................................—...... 5 Squirrels ........................._............_............................... 10 Raccoons ..............._.................................._..................- 3 Opossums ........................................._........-------......... 3 Trout (any kind) legal size.......................,........ 15 Black bass (Small mouth) legal size......._... 15 Black bass (Large mouth) legal size_____ 15 Pickerel and Great Northern Pike legal size ...................................................-........... 10 Game fish, any other kind legal size, except catfish taken in Missouri river...... 25

It shall be unlawful for any person to have in his or her possession at any one time a total of more than 40 of the larger game birds to-wit: Geese, brant, ducks, coots, grouse, prairie chickens, and pheasants, or to have in possession at any one time a total of more than 25 of the major game fish to-wit: Bass, pickerel, pike, trout, and catfish, and it shall be unlawful for any person to have in his or her possession at any one time in excess of forty game birds of all kinds or fifty game fish of all kinds. Of such totals there shall be no more of any one kind than the daily bag or creel limit herein specified, except that it shall be lawful for a person to have in his or her possession during the open season thereon such additional number of ducks but of none other of said larger game birds as to make a total bag of forty of said larger game birds or a total bag of forty ducks alone.

FISHING

Game fish may be taken with hook and line only. Illegal to snag or take with hands. Set lines are legal, providing not more than five hooks to line. Traps, nets, seines etc. are illegal and subject to confiscation.

PERMIT FEES

Hunting and fishing, resident permits, $1.10 required for all persons who have reached sixteenth birthday. Permits necessary for women same as men. Permits must be carried on person.

Hunting and fishing, non-resident permits....$10.10 Fishing, non-resident, ......._............................_...........$ 2.10 Trapping, resident, ..._......_................................_...........$ 1.10 (Trapping permit required for all persons regardless of age.) Trapping, non-resident, ...............................__......_...$25.10 DAMAGES

Under the new Nebraska law, every person illegally taking game or fish must pay the state for such game and fish in addition to the fines and costs. The damage assessed is as follows:

Buffalo ..........................................................................$300.00 each Elk ..................................................................................$300.00 each Deer .......-......................................................-..............$300.00 each Antelope .....................................................................$300.00 each Swan ..............................................................................$300.00 each Wild Turkey ......._.............................................._.„$ 25.00 each Wild Goose ..................................._........„...............$ 25.00 each Duck................_..........................................-........_.....$ 10.00 each Pheasant ......................................................................$ 10.00 each Shore bird ..................................................................$ 10.00 each Quail..............................................................................$ 10.00 each Partridge ........................._......................_........____$ 10.00 each Prairie Chicken ...................................-.................$ 10.00 each Fur-bearing animal .....................__...................$ 10.00 each Fish ...................................-................_............___.....$ 5.00 each Song bird......................................................_____.$ 5.00 each

Warning to Hunters

Attention of all persons hunting in Nebraska during the 1929-30 season is called to the following:

PERMITS: All residents of Nebraska must have a resident hunting and fishing permit, price $1.10. All non-residents must have a non-resident hunting and fishing permit, price $10.10. All permits must be carried on person. Women require permits the same as men, and all boys having reached their sixteenth birthday must have a permit. Penalty for failure to secure a license is from $1.00 to $100.00.

WHERE TO HUNT. It is unlawful to hunt on private land without the consent of the owner thereof, or the person in charge. Ducks and geese may be taken from September 16 to December 31 any place in the state. Prairie chickens or grouse can not be taken this season. Pheasants may be killed in certain counties from October 22 to 31 inclusive. (Write for particulars.)

MISCELLANEOUS HUNTING LAWS. Hunting of game birds is not permissable before one-half hour prior to sunrise or after sunset. Artificial lights can not be used. It is unlawful to buy, sell, or barter game birds. It is unlawful to shoot from vehicles.

BAGS. The bag on game birds is as follows: Geese five (5), Ducks twenty (20), Doves fifteen (15), Snipe fifteen (15), Pheasants five (5). It shall be unlawful for any person to have in his or her possession at any one time a total of more than 40 of the larger game birds, to-wit: Geese, brant, ducks, coots, and pheasants, and it shall be unlawful for any person to have in his or her possession at any one time in excess of 40 game birds of all kinds. Of such total there shall be no more of any one kind than the daily bag limit herein specified, except that it shall be lawful for a person to have in his or her possession during the open season thereon such additional number of ducks but of none other of said larger game birds as to make a total bag of 40 of said larger game birds or a total bag of 40 ducks alone.

Federal game laws protect migratory water fowl and certain species of shore birds. Familiarize yourself with the Federal laws. The open season on ducks and geese is the same in Nebraska under the state law as under federal law. The bag on ducks and geese under federal law is slightly greater than state laws in Nebraska, but the state law holds, since a state can have more restrictive game laws if it desires. Therefore, play safe and follow the state law in tins case.

Do not kill more game than you need, Saving game this year means game for other years.

GAME, FORESTATION & PARKS COMMISSION STATE OF NEBRASKA Lincoln