Ducks and Geese Open Season October 1 to November 30 in Nebraska

OPEN season for hunting waterfowl, coot and jacksnipe in Nebraska this fall will again comprise two months. In Nebraska the season opened at 12 noon, October 1, and will continue until November 30. Open seasons on waterfowl are now fixed by the United States Secretary of Agriculture.

Slight reduction in bag limits on ducks is the only major change made in hunting ducks. The maximum daily bag limit on ducks this year will be twelve birds in the aggregate, with a special bag limit of five eider ducks and eight in the aggregate of canvasbacks, redheads, both varieties of scaups, ringnecks, the three teals, shovellers and gadwalls, as against fifteen and ten respectively last year. No change was made in the bag limits of geese and brant. The federal law fixes the daily bag on geese at four and possession limit at eight, but Nebraska laws, which can be more restrictive than federal laws, set the possession limit at five. Hence, no more than four geese can be killed in a day nor more than five geese in possession at any one time.

Possession limits on ducks are reduced from thirty to twenty-four and on the excepted species from twenty to sixteen.

No open season for hunting brant on the Atlantic coast is provided by the amended regulations. On the Pacific coast the regulations will permit shooting of these birds, but investigations conducted by the Biological Survey have shown that on the eastern coast a shortage of eelgrass, the principal food of brant, has reduced the numbers of these waterfowl to such a degree that maximum protection is necessary.

For the first time since 1930 the new regulations include cackling geese in the lists of birds that may be hunted during the waterfowl seasons.

In Wisconsin and New York, including Long Island, amendments this year provide for the same open seasons for hunting rails and gallinules that are set for waterfowl in these States.

The season for hunting mourning doves has been changed in northwestern Florida to November 1-January 31, in conformity with the season in the coastal section of Alabama.

A new provision in the regulations limits to 12 the number of woodcock that one person may have in possession. The season on this bird has been changed in Maryland to November 15-Eecember 15, and in Wisconsin to September 23-October 22.

The new regulations also establish possession limits for waterfowl lawfully imported from foreign countries.

The Department is greatly concerned over the present status of migratory waterfowl and has adopted these measures to reduce still further the numbers of birds killed annually in this country. Long-continued drought on principal breeding areas in the Prairie Provinces of Canada and in the Northwestern United States, together with overshooting, had reduced the supply of wild fowl in 19 31 to the lowest point that these birds had ever reached. Conditions on the breeding grounds early in the spring of 1933 were much more favorable, but since the first of June they have been only a little better than in 19 31, and the Biological Survey considers it possible that when the wild fowl arrive this fall their numbers may prove to be no greater than two years ago. In this event further restrictions may be necessary. The Department urges sportsmen to cooperate with the Federal and State game conservation authorities during the present emergency. It should be realized that an adequate breeding stock must be saved if the sport of wild-fowling is to continue.

Copies of the amended regulations, being printed as Service and Regulatory Announcement No. 78, of the Biological Survey, may be obtained from the Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.

Dates of Open Seasons

In detail the new open seasons for ducks (except wood duck, ruddy duck, and bufflehead duck), geese (except Ross's goose and snow geese in Florida and all States north thereof bordering on the Atlantic Ocean), brant (except on the Atlantic coast), coot, and jacksnipe are as follows:

In Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Nevada, and in the five northern counties of Arizona, October 1 to November 30.

In Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York (except Long Island), Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Utah, Washington, Oregon, Idaho (except in the five northern counties), and the northern zone of New Mexico, October 16 to December 15;

In that part of New York known as Long Island, and in Delaware, Indiana,

Continued on Page 15.

"NOTICE TO HUNTERS 1933 OPEN SEASON ON MIGRATORY WATERFOWL

The new Federal amendment to the migratory-bird treaty act provides for two months open season on ducks, coot, geese and brant in Nebraska this coming fall.

The season in Nebraska will open at NOON October 1st, and will close at SUNDOWN November 30th, 1933.

The new regulations makes the state bag on ducks ineffective leaving the bag limit as follows:

Ducks, daily bag limit for all species, except Ruddy and Buffle-head 12, of which number not more than 8 of each or in the aggregate may be Canvasbacks, Redheads, Scaups, Ringnecks, Blue-winged Teal, Green-winged Teal, Cinnamon Teal, Gadwalls and Shovellers.

The possession limit on ducks is double the daily bag limit.

No open season on Ruddy, Buffle-head or Wood Ducks.

Coot, daily bag limit 20; possession 20.

Geese, 4 a day; possession 5. Brant, 4 a day; possession 5.

No change in the season or bag on Wilson or Jacksnipe.

Not more than 25 live duck decoys can be used at any one blind.

After the opening day shooting will begin not earlier than one-hal* hour before sunrise and stop at sundown.

GAME, FORESTATION AND PARKS COMMISSION

Secretary. FRANK B. O'CONNELL, (Cut this out and carry with you)

OUTDOOR NEBRASKA 3

Nebraska Hunters to Enjoy Big Pheasant Crop

THE seventh annual pheasant hunt in Nebraska will take place at 7 A. M. October 22nd and continue until October 31st at 6 P. M. This will give Nebraska hunters full ten days hunting.

The open territory this year will be exactly the same as last year. Seventy-six counties will be open, with only seventeen counties closed. The Game Commission would have preferred to open three or four more northwestern counties where the birds are numerous, but decided not to do so on account of the prairie chicken and grouse. These birds are frequently mistaken for hen pheasants and many are accidentally killed. The Commission is particularly anxious to preserve the present chicken and grouse.

There is a change in the bag limits on the birds this year. While the limit remains five birds each day or five birds in possession, this fall either five cock birds or three cock birds and two hens may be taken. Last year only one hen was permitted.

The official order, opening the pheasant season, follows:

In accordance with Chapter 70, Session Laws, 19 31, State of Nebraska, an open season on ringneck pheasants is hereby declared in all parts of Nebraska EXCEPT the following counties:

Box Butte Otoe Cass Pawnee Cherry Richardson Dawes Sarpy Douglas Saunders Gage Sheridan Johnson Sioux Lancaster Washington Nemaha

The open season shall be for a period of ten (10) days, beginning at 7 a. m., October 22, 1933, and ending at 6 p. m. October 31, 1933. No hunting is permissible between sunset and onehalf hour before sunrise of each day.

The daily bag limit during the above season shall be five (5) male birds or three (3) male and two (2) female birds and the possession limit shall be five (5) male birds or three(3) male birds and two (2) female birds.

Birds will not be tagged as heretofore, but all persons carrying birds into closed counties will upon request of a game warden or any law enforcement officer or employee of the State Game Commission state the name and location of farm or farms where birds were taken.

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

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 of 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.

All persons taking or hunting birds on any land not public land 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 8 th day of September, 19 33, at Lincoln, Nebraska. GAME, FORESTATION AND PARKS COMMISSION, Frank B. O'Connell, Secretary. SOUTH DAKOTA OPEN SEASONS

Hunting seasons of 30 half days for pheasants and four half days for grouse in South Dakota this fall were announced Monday by the state game and fish commission. The regulations provide:

Pheasants—Shooting permitted in all counties east of the Missouri river except Brule, and in Tripp and Gregory counties west of the river.

Dates—afternoon only October 10 to 24, inclusive; and November 17 to December 1, inclusive.

Bag—Five birds in one day, one of which may be a hen, with the possession limit ten, including two hens. Twenty-five birds may be had in possession if shipping tags are attached.

In all counties west of the river except Lyman, Stanley, Gregory, Tripp and Lawrence, and that portion of Custer county lying west of state highway No. 79 hunting will be permitted on afternoons of October 21 and 22, with the bag limit two males a day and the possession limit four birds.

Grouse, western sharp tail and prairie chickens—Shooting permitted in all counties west of the Missouri river, except in Lyman and Stanley, that portion of Lawrence and Meade lying south and west of federal highway No. 16, and that portion of Pennington and Custer lying west of state highway No. 79.

Dates—Afternoon only on September 21, 22, 23, and 24. .

Bag—Four birds in one day, with possession at any one time limited to eight. No birds may be had in possession later than September 3 0.

The Nebraska Game Commission now estimates the annual kill of pheasants around 200,000. Each year more and more hunters are going after the wary chink. If the weather is good, the opening of the 1933 season should find hundreds of Nebraskans in the field with their guns.

4 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA

Nebraska "C. C. C." Making Excellent Progress

DURING the summer some thousand Civilian Conservation Camp workers have been busy in Nebraska making the outdoors more attractive.

There have been five camps of foresters at work—two working under the direction of the United States Forestry Service and three under the United States Park Service and the Nebraska Game, Forestation and Parks Commission. The boys working in the forestry service have spent most of their labors on soil erosion, timber culling and thinning, tree disease eradication etc., while those working under the Park Service have been improving state parks, building dams, roads, dikes, picnic facilities, fish spawning beds, tree planting and the like.

One of the forestry camps has been located at Crawford. Most of the work here is timber work. A great deal has been done in culling out diseased trees in the Pine Ridge section and the eradication of prairie dog towns.

Another of the forestry camps is located in the Chadron State Park. This camp will continue through the winter. Here six-hundred acres of new park area is being opened to the public. Roads are being built, timber thinned out, bridges constructed, cabins erected and picnic grounds established. It is believed by park authorities that when completed, Chadron State Park will be among the most attractive in the middle west.

The three camps under the direction of the Park Service are located at Fremont, Louisville and Parks (Dundy County). At Fremont the U. P. Sand Pit Lakes, acquired by the Commission last summer are being developed for fishing and picnicking. Roads are being built, sand dunes leveled off, trees planted and the whole project generally made attractive. At Louisville the same work as at Fremont is under way. Here the Nebraska Commission expects to make one of the most attractive recreation centers in the middle west. Owing to considerable timber being available there are great possibilities here. At Parks a dam is being built where over fifty acres of water will be impounded. This project is located on Rock Creek, famous for its wonderful springs and this lake will eventually be a haven for anglers.

Inasmuch as some $30,000.00 are being spent in the development of Nebraska recreation grounds alone, it will readily be seen that this movement will mean a great deal to the outdoor lovers of the Cornhusker State.

ANTI-BAITING question POSTPONED

Further action by the U. S. Department of Agriculture on the proposal to prohibit wild-fowl shooting near baited areas has been postponed until after the close of the open seasons approved by the President on September 11, states W. C. Henderson, acting chief of the Bureau of Biological Survey. The proposal was the subject of a conference held by Secretary Wallace in Washington, D. C, on August 28.

The postponement, Mr. Henderson explains, should not be considered as a final indication of the Department's attitude toward the regulation of waterfowl baiting. Regardless of the merits of such a restriction, promulgation of a regulation of this nature on the eve of the shooting season, he says, would cause much confusion and add heavily to the difficulties of game-law enforcement.

OUTDOOR NEBRASKA 5

Frogs and Their Commerical Use

By Tracy I. Storer, in "California Fish and Game."

MANY inquiries concerning the possibilities in rearing frogs for the market have been sent to the University of California, the California Division of Fish and Game, and the California State Department of Agriculture within recent years. To answer these a circular on the subject, prepared by the writer, has been distributed widely. Since the number of letters on the subject has been increasing it has seemed desirable to offer a somewhat more detailed statement on the subject. The author has visited numerous places where attempts were being made to rear frogs in captivity, has corresponded with many persons on the subject, has been studying the frogs and other amphibians of western North America for the past 2 0 years, and has used every opportunity to obtain reliable information upon the subject.

The market demand for frogs rests upon use of the flesh (chiefly the hind legs) as food, and use of the entire anmals, either alive or preserved, for scientific study in biological laboratories. Frogs legs have always been considered a specialty item, sometimes replacing fish in a menu; their use as food is relatively limited, especially as compared with the quantities of fish consumed as human food. Incidentally the use of frog skins as leather and for glue and the canning of frog meat have been considered.

There are 17 or more species of frogs native to the United States and Canada, but only a few of these are of commercial value. The more important ones are:

American Bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) also known as Louisiana frog and jumbo frog. Native to eastern half of North America, from Gulf coast to southern Canada and west to Texas, Kansas, and Wisconsin; acclimatized in California, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, and possibly in other western States; and also established in Hawaii and Japan. Head-and-body length 6 to 7 (exceptionally 8) inches; large adults weigh over one pound. Upper surface green with more or less brown over color, sometimes in distinct spots; undersurface white or pale yellow; black practically smooth, no longitudinal folds; ear membrane large, equaling eye (females) or exceeding eye (males) in diameter. Strictly aquatic, inhabiting only permanent bodies of water; larvae require two (or one) years from egg to transformation.

Green Frog (Rana clamitans). Eastern North America from southern Canada to Florida, west to Michigan, Illinois and Arkansas. Smaller, but similar in appearance to bullfrog; throat yellow; average length of adults under 3 inches; habits in general those of the larger species.

Leopard Frog (Rana pipiens). Most widely distributed frog on this continent, ranging from Atlantic seaboard to east side of Sierra Nevada. Total length not over 3 inches. A conspicuous longitudinal fold of skin along either side of back; a series of very distinct large oval light-margined dark spots on back. Inhabits damp grassy meadows and marshes.

California Red-legged Frog (Rana aurora draytonii). Restricted to California (and extreme northern Lower California) west of the Sierra Nevada and southern mountains and south of Mendocino County; length about 4% inches; underside of the body and hind legs always with more or less salmon red; upper surface of body varying in color from light yellowish brown to blackish brown with scattered irregular black spots each with a light center; ear membrane (behind eye) smooth and always smaller than eye in diameter. Inhabits permanent pools on foothills, streams and reservoirs.

Other species of frogs are used locally as available, but none of them is important in the trade.

Edible frogs are often called "French frogs." So far no species of edible foreign frog is known to be established in the United States, despite frequent claims that breeding stock has been imported from abroad. The term "French frog s," "jumbo frog," Louisiana frog," etc., are often applied to the American bullfrog.

No figures are available regarding the quantities of frogs used commercially in Calif.; in fact there are very few reliable statements anywhere concerning the numbers of these animals sold or the prices received,, since data on frogs are not ordinarily included in the statisical reports of fisheries compiled by the Federal government or the States. Only a few casual records are at hand. Some years ago one of the principal California dealers handled over 3000 dozen frogs annually, and, at times, had as many as 250 dozen live frogs on hand to supply his customers. But early in 1933 it was reported that more frogs were offered to San Francisco dealers and restauranteurs by local collectors than could be used by the trade. Only a few of the more select restaurants regularly list frogs on their menus. With an increasing local supply and lower prices for "frog legs" on menus, it is possible that a somewhat larger commercial use of these animals may result in California.

(Continued on Page 11)

Financial Report

Audit of the accounts of the Game, Forestation and Parks Commission for the calendar year 1932, made by the State Accountant, shows the receipt of $1 77,327.98 for the year. Less $311.10 overpayments carried forward to 1932 accounts as credits makes a total of $177,016.88.

These collections are accounted for by deposits of $175,423.15 in the state treasury and by accounts receivable $1,889.53, making a total of $1 77,312.68.

Delinquent ledger and suspense accounts at the beginning of the period 1931 was $3,415.09. There was collected during 1932, $892.37, leaving the delinquent ledger account $2,522.72.

Of the scrip for hunters a total issue of $1,1 1 7.50, all but $50.50 has been redeemed and this amount has been paid to the state treasurer. Following are the sources of receipts for 1 932:

Resident hunt and fish permits, $1.00 each _______________________________$147,544.00 Non-resident hunt and fish permits $10.00 each ________________________ 3,820.00 Non-resident fish permits, $2.00 each____ 4,156.00 Resident trap permits, $2.00 each _____ 10,072.00 Alien fish permits, $5.00 each ___________ 90.00 Fur Buyer's permits, $10.00 each ______ 1,450.00 Game Fanciers permits, $1.00 each ____ 40.00 Fish Vendor's permits, $10.00 each ____ 230.00 Missouri River Seining Permits ____-„..._, 627.10 Game Bird Breeder's permits __________ Fur-bearing animal breeders permits __ Hatchery permits ______________________ Fish propagation _______________________ Sale of food fish _______________________ Confiscations __________________________ Miscellaneous __________________________ Liquidated Damages ___________________ Collection delinquent accounts ________ Collection suspense account ___________ Arbor Lodge receipts __________________ Chadron park receipts __________________ Victoria Springs park receipts __________ 456.00 350.00 170.00 521.75 ,269.09 418.55 603.62 455.00 892.37 27.17 193.93 658.40 283.00 Total _____________________________$1 77,327.98

A New Deal for Water-Fowl

Declaring that the time has come when the wild water-fowl of America should be given a New Deal, Dr. T. Gilbert Pearson, President of the National Association of Audubon Societies, today stated:

"Unless the best thought, foresight, and honest convictions of conservationists and sportsmen of our land are speedily and effectively translated into action, there may yet be witnessed in this generation a cessation of the hunting of wild water-fowl as a sport. Those best acquainted with the past and present status of our wild ducks and geese can not but be profoundly

  OUTDOOR NEBRASKA 7 A NEW DEAL FOR WATER-FOWL (Continued)

convinced that there has been a steady decline in the fortunes of these birds; so great, indeed, that the present numbers are but a pitiful remnant of the vast congregations which in former days thronged our lakes and bays, sloughs, and marshlands.

"All those who have at heart the interests of our native game birds should not forget that this decrease in our wildfowl carries a solemn warning and has a tragic counterpart in that of our shore birds which, at the beginning of the present century, had been so greatly reduced in numbers that upon passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, in 1918, only six species belonging to this extensive group were permitted to be hunted; while today an open season exists on only two of these birds, namely Wilson's snipe and the woodcock."

Continuing, Dr. Pearson said:

"Foremost among the factors contributing to the decrease of wildfowl are the extensive drainage of lakes, ponds, and marshes, with the accompanying spread of agriculture; the enormous increase of hunters, the amazing construction of highways, together with the almost universal use of motor-cars, which has made quickly and easily accessible almost every part of the country. To these factors must be added the use of the magazine shotgun, and the custom of killing these birds from baited shooting-stands, as well as various other minor causes that are part of the destructive processes of civilization."

Dr. Pearson concluded:

"It is with these indisputable facts in mind that the Audubon Association feels the time is ripe for a New Deal for our sadly harassed wildfowl. This should include, as its major feature, a greatly changed attitude of mind on the part of many who indulge in the sport of wild-fowling, and also would involve a new approach and a new ethics of sportsmanship wherein, both as regards legislation and practice, the advantage at all times would be given to the birds.

"It is in conformity with the principles of such a New Deal that the Audubon Association has stood staunchly for the abolishment of shooting over baited waters, and for the discontinuance of the use of the magazine shotgun. In the minds of some these may seem minor considerations in the large constructive program which must be energetically carried out if America's wild ducks and geese are to survive, in goodly numbers, the vicissitudes of our civilization.

"However, to the ever-increasing number of the non-shooting public who enjoy wild-life for its own sake, and to many sportsmen as well, these items are essential parts of the New Deal by which it is sought to preserve our North American water-fowl for future generations; for it may very soon come to pass, unless adequate breeding stocks of these birds are maintained, that an alarmed public opinion, having in mind the extinction of the passenger pigeon and the heath hen through excessive shooting, may demand a cessation of the hunting of our wild ducks and geese."

The Problem of The Vagrant Cat

By T. GILBERT PEARSON

IT is a widely recognized fact that domestic cats are great destroyers of wild bird-life. Particularly is this true during the spring months when the young birds are leaving the nest. Many people do not observe the destruction which these animals inflict upon the bird population about every town and in the countryside, because the killing is done largely during the hours of darkness and in the early morning. Drivers of motor cars at night frequently see the eyes of marauding cats by the roadside.

Control should be exercised over the cat population and arrangements made for destroying humanely vagrant and unwanted cats, the numbers of which are exceedingly great.

Cats are known to be carriers of disease, their cries at night disturb the slumbers of men and women everywhere, and thousands of sick people are rendered nervous and irritable by Grimalkin's nocturnal serenades.

State Laws for Killing Cats

Legislation has been enacted in the following states to encourage the destruction of bird-hunting cats:

California Fish and Game Laws. "All cats found within the limits of any fish and game refuge shall be considered and classed as predatory animals and subject to all provisions of law relating to the destruction or killing of such animals, and the Board of Fish and Game Commissioners, their deputies and employees are hereby empowered, authorized, and directed to kill all such cats so found within the limits of such fish and game districts; provided, however, that the provisions of this section are not applicable to any cat while it is in or at the residence of its owner or upon the grounds of the owner adjacent to such resident."

Conservation Laws of Maryland. "Any person may and it shall be the duty of any deputy game warden or other officer of this state to humanely destroy any cat found hunting or killing any bird or animal protected by law and no action for damages shall be maintained for such killing."

New Jersey Fish and Game Laws. "Any person holding a valid hunting and fishing license may, and it shall be the duty of any Fish and Game Warden or peace officer, to humanely destroy any cat found hunting or killing any bird or animal protected by law or with a dead bird or animal of any species protected by law in its possession; and no action for damages shall be maintained for such killing."

New York Conservation Law. "Any person over the age of twenty-one years, who is the holder of a valid hunting, trapping and fishing license, may, and it shall be the duty of a game protector or other peace officer, to humanely destroy a cat at large found hunting or killing any bird protected by law or with a dead bird of any species protected by law in its possession; and no action for damages shall be maintained for such killing."

Licensing of Cats by Municipal Authorities

The National Association of Audubon Societies has on numerous occasions called attention to the perfectly natural bird-catching habits of these animals. It financed the publication and distribution of the most complete treatise on the subject that has ever been issued, viz., "The Domestic Cat," by Edward Howe Forbush. For many years we

Continued on Page 14.

8 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA

Commission Field Activities

SELL CONFISCATED GUNS

The Game Commission held its annual sale of confiscated firearms at Lincoln on September 21st. A total of fifty-one guns were sold at auction, bringing a total of $396.00, an average of $7.75. In view of the fact that part of the lot were rifles, the price received was very good.

REMOVE FISH LAKE QTTINNEBATJGH

Owing to low water in Lake Quinnebaugh, the Game Commission found it necessary to remove the fish. Over several hundred thousand game fish were taken out and placed in nearby water. Owing to the deep mud it was necessary to work on platforms built in the water.

Efforts were made to get permission to pump water into the lake from the Missouri river, but property owners would not give the commission consent to do so. Three years ago the commission installed a pump, replenishing the lake's supply of water. The fish removed consisted mainly of bass, crappies, bluegills and catfish.

FISH DISTRIBUTION UNDER WAY

The fall distribution of fish throughout Nebraska is now under way. During October and November, bass, crappies and sunfish are taken from hatchery ponds and nurseries and placed in the many ponds and lakes. Ditches and flumes in the irrigation district are cleaned out and thousands of perch and crappies salvaged.

The Commission hopes to plant more fish in 1933 than ever before, but of course this depends greatly on the crop. Some years ponds produce far more fish than usual and sometimes far less than the average year.

WATERFOWL HATCH AT LAKE CRESCENT GOOD

An exceptionally good hatch of waterfowl on the Crescent game reserve, southeast of Alliance, this year has boomed the prospects for duck hunting in the future, according to Bill Krummers, superintendent of the reserve. Krummers has also estimated that there is about twice the usual number of native ducks On the reserve this year.

Paramount in Krummers' mind in the light of these facts is the support of his contention that the Garden county reserve is proving up to the expectation of those most active in selecting the site for a reserve in the middlewest.

There are at this time about 40,000 aeres of land and water in the reserve and in the time that Krummers has been in charge there has not been a single violation of hunting regulations on the reserve. Hunting is absolutely prohibited on the grounds and firearms are barred from it.

Three lakes on the reserve are now open to fishermen, Island, Harris and Hackberry. Good catches have been reported in all of them. No permit is required for fishing other than the ordinary state license. Boats for rent are available. Live bait is barred.

About a thousand trees have been planted near the lakes on grounds which have been designated as recreation sites. Other sections of the reserve are closed to trespassers. It is now hoped by interested parties that the government can be induced to do more forestation work on the grounds and a suggestion as to that has already been made direct to Washington. State officials are being solicited to lend theij influence to the move.

NEW PERMIT POSTER In order to promote the sale of hunting and fishing permits, the Nebraska Game Commission has prepared the above poster for all dealers. Any one selling permits or having a place where they would like to place one or more of these posters can secure same from the Commission's office. HATCHERY WASHED OUT

A cloudburst near Benkelman recently caused considerable damage to the Benkelman Fish Hatchery. Nearly all the ponds there were washed out, most of the dams giving way. Some of the fish were saved, but the greater part were carried into the Republican river.

Repairs have already been made. Part of the foresters from the camp at Parks were put on the emergency work and soon had most of the dams restored.

No damage was done to the big hatchery on Rock Creek, sixteen miles from the Benkelman plant.

RAISE ANTELOPE ON BOTTLES

In order to get a herd of antelope started in the Wild Cat Hills Big Game Reserve in Scotts Bluff county, the Game Commission has started an "Antelope Nursery". Eight baby antelope were picked up from the several herds at large in western Nebraska and turned over to Mr. Harry Runion, in charge of the Dundy County fish hatcheries. Mr. Runion started them out on bottles and brought them through in excellent shape. They are now being weaned and will probably be placed in the Reserve late this fall or early in the spring.

FIND INDIAN VILLAGE

Another Indian village, dating back from 600 to 1,000 years, has been unearthed near Hastings, according to A. T. Hill and Curator A. M. Brookings, of the Hastings museum.

The village was discovered near a bluff about five miles south of Hastings. Remains of two "houses" have been unearthed to date, Brooking said.

It is believed by Hill and Brooking that the village was probably populated by the ancestors of the Pawnee Indians who frequented this region during the last century.

  OUTDOOR NEBRASKA 9 MINK OPERATES OWN COLD STORAGE PLANT

The mink is one animal which can refute the claims of vegetarians—it is America's preeminent exponent of an entirely carnivorous diet—and it is not particular whether it dines on chicken, duck or clams on the half shell. When none of these courses are available, fish, frogs, squirrels, rabbits or a fat muskrat is relished by this meat gourmet.

Termed also minx, vison, water weasel and least otter, the mink operates its own cold storage plant. Not content with enough for one gory feast, the blood-thirsty animal frequently kills far beyond its immediate desires for food and stores the surplus in pockets in its den during the winter, according to old trappers.

For the farmer or sportsman who is endeavoring to propagate waterfowl, poultry or game birds, there is only one good mink—and that's a dead one. While the animal destroys many mice, it is black-listed as a neighbor in wild life or agricultural communities. What damage it can accomplish within a hen house or game bird rearing area within a few minutes is terrific. Instances are cited by a publication of the University of Michigan, which describes the diets of predatory animals, of 17 Plymouth Rock chickens being killed by a mink in one night. Another case cited is that of a farmer who lost 19 ducks and 2 7 chickens.

Trapping is the recommended method of ridding a locality of minks. No. 1 or 1 % double-jawed traps will give best results. They should be set in the water in hollow logs, holes in drifts, and under stumps. Bait should consist of only fresh meat.

Pish oil makes a good scent to attract minks to traps, according to the booklet, "More Game Birds by Controlling Their Natural Enemies", issued free by the More Game Birds Foundation. This oil can be obtained by taking a fish, cutting it into small pieces and placing them in a wide-mouthed bottle or jar. The container should be loosely covered, until the fish is rotted into a liquid state. Musk oil, obtained from the musk glands of mink taken during the mating season, added to about two ounces of fish oil, will make an ideal scent. No bait should be used when scent is employed.

FLUSHING BAR SAVES GAME

That at least one game bird, either actual or potential, is destroyed by mowing machines to every acre mowed throughout the United States is borne out again by actual figures reported by Mr. R. M. Collette of Dayton, Ohio, according to information received by the American Game Association.

In mowing thirty acres of hay, twenty-nine pheasant eggs were uncovered and, it is thought, the mother bird on one nest was maimed so badly that she will die.

"Was over in the country yesterday and found that they had broken up three pheasant nests in the last ten days in the hay field," Mr. Collett writes. "Two of the nests had ten eggs each and one had nine, and the pheasants never came back to any of them. In fact, Robert mowed right into a hen pheasant on one of the nests and cut her up very badly; possibly so badly hurt that she died, although they didn't find her. This means that in thirty acres of hay this year the mower actually destroyed twenty-nine potential pheasants, and maybe killed one mother.

"Chances are they cut over several quail nests and just simply didn't find them. That also means that those quail didn't come back."

The flushing bar is the answer to this appalling loss of wildlife, the American Game Association points out. This bar, which, affixed to the mower, travels several feet ahead of the cutting knife, flushes the sitting bird and affords the operator the opportunity to lift the bar and leave an island of vegetation around the nest.

It was reported last year that in mowing 123 acres of alfalfa on the James Fuller estate in Pennsylvania, 1500 pheasant eggs were saved by the use of the flushing bar. Word comes to us now that 13 60 eggs have been saved in 210 acres. Mr. Krall, superintendent of the estate, states that in years past, before the flushing bar was used, they killed several hundred ringnecks every season, but that since the advent of this useful implement the mortality has been reduced to a scant 25 or 30 birds.

This bar is coming into general use throughout the United States. France, too, is adopting it. It is estimated that 167,000,000 ground nesting birds, potential and actual, can be saved each mowing season by the universal use of the bar in this country alone.

ALL THAT IS NECESSARY TO HAVE TURTLE SOUP

Riddle: What is it that perches on logs but does not fly, has claws and a bill, makes a nest and lays eggs but does not sit on them, hibernates like a bear in winter, will eat one-third its own weight in food each day during summer months, catches fish without bait and is seen taking a stroll along the country roads during June or July?

The snapping turtle answers to all of these qualifications and in addition is one of the most destructive creatures inhabiting the waters of the country today. Where ducklings and fish are plentiful, snapping turtles are liable to be absent—both do not usually mix well together. If the farmer has been missing youngsters from his flock of domestic ducks, and they have been in the habit of venturing out on ponds, a turtle trap may be the means of explaining the disappearance. Here's how to make one:

Secure enough 5 4-thread twine to knit a hoop net of three-inch mesh, four feet long, three hoops to the net and without wings. A trap 3 0 inches in diameter with a 2 5-inch mouth will take the large turtles. The hoops should be of half-inch round iron. The "funnel" conforms to the shape of the turtle, and the mouth is 18 to 20 inches wide.

The net should be staked out entirely submerged, or nearly so, the funnel end being always under water and pointing away from shore, but the other end should be within six inches of the surface. The bait, waste fish or meat, should be suspended in a perforated can hung a few inches from the mouth of the funnel. A cheap grade of sardines or salmon with several fine holes in the can will serve as an effective lure.

Green turtle soup from Florida, and mock turtle soup, which may originate at packing houses, have their place at the top of menus. After trapping a snapper, here is a recipe that will tickle the palate of a gourmet:

Kill turtle by cutting off head and allow carcass to bleed for several hours. Cut out meat by opening sides. Boil until well cooked, then remove meat from broth. Add to broth potatoes, onions, macaroni. Cut up meat into small pieces and add to broth after vegetables are well cooked. Add chopped hard boiled egg. Add about one pint of milk to each quart of soup and also one tablespoonful of butter. Salt and pepper to taste. A small quantity of wine similar to sherry will improve soup considerably.

THREE HUNTERS PINED

Three men, two in Valley county and one in Platte county, were fined $2 5 and costs recently for taking pheasants out of season. August Hoke, Richland, paid a fine at Columbus, his gun was confiscated and he paid $10 damages for the one bird he was caught Tn the act of shooting. Perry Timmerman and Howard Huff, both of Ord, were fined there. Timmerman had two birds in his possession and Huff four.

10 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA

Outdoor Gossip

By the Editor

Inasmuch as many hunters will be going out after the wary "Chink" we are going to tell you something about are going to teel you something about this interesting bird. Perhaps a better knowledge of the Ringneck will make your hunting trip more interesting.

The pheasant is of very ancient origin. He was first seen in Asia. His name is derived from "Phesis" the name of a river on the eastern shore of the Black Sea. He was known and admired by the Greeks and Romans who undoubtedly first saw him in his native range in southeastern Europe. It is possible that it was the Romans who introduced him in their homelands and that this was the beginning of those later found in Prance, Great Britain and Germany.

The common American pheasant that we know as a game bird is more or less of a hybrid. He springs from the Chinese pheasant which in its pure strain occurs in Manchuria, Korea and eastern China, and from the English pheasant which was introduced in the pure strain into England by the Romans and later spread over the whole of Great Britain. The pheasant family is a very large one, including guineafowl, turkey and peacock. There are something like one-hundred species of the true pheasants.

The Chinese pheasant was first successfully introduced in pure strain into eastern Oregon in 18 80, where as the English pheasant in nearly pure strain was introduced in New Jersey in 1887, Later on both of these pure strains, as well as their hybrid, the ringneck pheasant from England, were imported into other states. From these beginnings have sprung thousands of birds which are now generally known as "Chinese Ringnecks" and which range over Oregon, Washington, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania and other states in large numbers.

The Chinese Ringneck is by far the most popular for hunting and restocking purposes. It is estimated that about nine-tenths of all birds reared in the United States are Ringnecks. Hardy, aggressive and wary in nature, these birds have shown great adaptability. They can usually establish themselves in a new region where other game birds would soon disappear. They are especially desired where birds are to be raised in captivity. They soon adjust themselves readily as is not the case of many other wild birds. Yet they retain their wild instincts and when released readily takes to the field to find their own food. They are polygamous and prolific and their meat is the equal if not superior to that of any other variety of pheasant.

The male Ringneck is a very attractive bird, varying somewhat in the degree in which it is related to the Cinese of English ancestry. He is gay in variegated plumage at all times, though not as much so as his cousins, the Golden pheasant and the Lady Amherst Pheasant. The Ringneck has a white ring about its neck from whence comes the common name and his plumage takes on various hues of red, purple, green and black. His head is dark green, his underparts bronze-red, his flanks reddish-brown and tipped with blue-black.

His long tapering tail is gray and marked with black. The female birds are considerably smaller and of much more sombre color. Her plumage is of a yellowish-brown with darker brown markings. Like her mate, she has a long tapering tail.

We are interested in the Chinese Ringneck pheasant and it might be well here to give a brief description of some of the other members of the pheasant family which are now being bred on American game farms. Many of these birds are in demand for ornamental purposes, but because of lack of hardiness, sterility in captivity and popular demand, they are not being reared in nearly as large numbers as the Chinese Ringneck.

First, let us consider the Reeve's Pheasant which is one of the handsomest of its family. This bird is quite large and has a very long barrel tail that is black and white in color. Sometimes this tail attains a length of four or five feet. It is said that Marco Polo, the famous Venetian traveler of the thirteenth century, saw the Reeve's Pheasant, for in the language of his original translator, he is made to say: "There be plenty of Feysants, and very greate, for one of them is as big as two of ours, with tayles of eyght, nine and tenne spannes long." This species is said to have great strength of flight and without equal among pheasant. The males are pugnacious and they range more on high ground than the common pheasant, which prefers lower or marshy range.

The Golden Pheasant and the Lady Amherst Pheasant are inhabitants of the mountains of China. They have gorgeous plumage and are much in demand for ornamental purposes. In their native range they are sometimes known as "fowl of gold" because of their brilliant colors. Both of these species are bred on game farms and are considered easily reared. They are runners rather than fliers, thus they are not so popular with sportsmen.

The Japanese Pheasant comes originally from Japan where it ranges through the mountains. It is gorgeously colored, resembling the peacock somewhat. Its breast is a dark grass green, its neck dark blue and its face brilliant scarlet. This species is a good flier and crosses freely with other pheasants of their group. It is hardy and will adapt itself to the range of the Chinese Ringneck. It is perhaps most in demand for ornamental purposes and usually brings a fancy price.

The Brown-eared pheasant inhabits the bleak and barren plains and hills of northern China and is said to be able to hold its own in very bad weather. It will survive in barren places where even the Chinese Ringneck will fail to find sufficient food. It is not considered a good sporting bird because when pursued it habitually runs to some high point and then scales off downhill. It is more of a digger than the Ringneck and feeds upon tubers and roots in addition to insects, buds and acorns.

According to Nebraska History Magazine, J. Sterling Morton, founder of Arbor Day, one time went in for raising fish. Among the improvements at his home, now Arbor Lodge State Park, was a fish pond which he had stocked with choice fish.

Over and over again sudden storms had flooded it and scattered the fish, and over and over again he had repaired damages and restocked the pond with fish. At last there came a terrific storm with disastrous effect.

"Really, Sterling, this is a most delicious fish!"

"It ought to be* Mother," he replied, "for it cost me a thousand dollars."

OUTDOOR NEBRASKA 11

FROGS AND THEIR COMMERCIAL USE

(Continued from Page 5)

The aggregate numbers of frogs needed for scientific work is moderate; small schools purchase one or more dozen annually, while large institutions may require several hundred frogs each year. Biological supply houses in various parts of the United States, as a part of their regular business, sell live or specially preserved specimens to educational institutions where frogs are used for dissection or in experimental work. Wild-caught frogs are obtained, especially during the earlier months of the year, and distributed as ordered through the summer and winter months.

Inquiry by the U. S. Fish Commission in 1900 indicated that the annual catch of frogs in the United States as a whole was then slightly under one million animals with a gross return to the hunters of about $50,000 and the cost to consumers not less than $150,000. In 1908 the Commission reported a total of 250,000 pounds of frog legs with a value of $42,000 taken by hunting in thirteen eastern states, of the Mississippi Valley and Atlantic Coast. The commercial take of bullfrogs in Louisiana during 19 28 was reported as 715,540 pounds valued at $107,331. In France, Belgium, Switzerland and Germany, there was, at least in earlier years, a considerable demand for frogs during the Lenten season. Incidentally it is reported that the use of frogs for food in France is less than that in the United States.

The prices received by either collectors or dealers for frogs are never large, excepting when large bullfrogs are sold as "breeding stock" to persons enthusiastic about "frog farming." It is reported that large bullfrogs have been sold at $10 (and exceptionally more) per pair! However, the top retail price quoted for extra large live bullfrogs to be used in biological laboratories within the past decade has been one dollar apiece, or $9 per dozen. In 19 25 the retail price in California for medium-large bullfrogs was $6 per dozen; smaller frogs (3 inches in head-and-body length) were $3 per dozen. In 1933 these two size classes were quoted at $2.50 and $1.25 per dozen, respectively. Men who collect frogs for the dealers in California were earlier reported to receive about two-thirds of the retail price for their animals. When the frogs reach the restaurant table in the southern and eastern States,the customer may pay from 60 to 75 cents per serving, and up to $1.25 or even more in the west. However, in places where frogs are abundant a dish of "frog legs" may constitute the entree for an entire lunch or dinner costing only 75 cents.

Efforts to rear frogs under some degree of confinement began in the United States before 1900. During the early years of the present century there was a limited interest in the subject, stimulated in part perhaps by Owen Wister's delightful and fanciful tale of frog farming in his tremendously popular novel, "The Virginian." During the past ten years the topic has received an ever increasing amount of attention. Numerous articles have appeared in newspapers and popular magazines, many of them greatly exaggerating the possibilities and the results obtained by persons who have attempted "frog farming." Recently, several companies have been formed to capitalize on the popular interest by offering "breeding stock" and "lessons in frog culture." The whole subject promises to become a craze and seems destined to follow the same excited course as did silkworm culture and fur farming. An impression has been created that frog farming is a highly profitable business, requiring only limited investment of money and time, but yielding considerable financial return. Some of the propagandic literature implies that there is a great market demand for frogs far exceeding the wild supply, that the wild stocks of frogs are far reduced, and that frogs may be reared successfully in ponds of limited size. It is true that, in certain places, the wild stocks have been depleted by overhunting. But, as pointed out above, there is now a plentiful supply of bullfrogs in California that is contributing importantly to the local market requirements. It still remains to be demonstrated that artificial rearing of frogs in small ponds can be made a biological and financial success.

Some so-called frog farms have been nothing more than ponds where frogs captured in the wild have been held until shipped to market. Other enterprises have been more serious; definite attempts have been made to rear numbers of frogs in confinement as with "fish farms," "fur farms," and the intensive production of domestic poultry and live stock.

Between 1903 and 1918 the Pennsylvania State Department of Fisheries conducted some experiments on frog farming but the last reports stated that "the propagation of tadpoles and frogs is very interesting although very uncertain * * *," and that "experiments and observations * * * found * * * it would not be commercially valuable to propagate the frog for commercial purposes * * *." Under date of 1931 the Louisiana State Department of Conservation, Division of Fisheries, in Educational Pamphlet No. 2, on the "Frog Industry in Louisiana" stated (p. 19) that "No frogs are raised commercially; * * * there have been been attempts to raise frogs on a commercial scale in Louisiana and in no case has the trial been a success." Neither the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries nor any of the other State fish and game commissions have ever given more than casual attention to the subject.

Continued search by the author for successful farms which have reared frogs in numbers for sale as meat has failed to discover any such enterprise which persisted over a term of years and proved independently profitable to its owner.

At Stege (later El Cerrito), Contra Costa County, California, on the ranch of Richard Stege, a frog farm was maintained from about 1898 to 1907. Miss Edith Stege was primarily in charge of the venture. Four artificial ponds totaling between four and six acres in area were used. They were stocked with both the native California red-legged frog and the American bullfrog, three dozen of the latter having been purchased from somewhere in the eastern States about 1898. Eggs and larvae were kept in a small spring-fed pond, the older frogs in three larger ponds, fed by overflow from the smaller one; these ponds were interconnected by culverts. The ponds were fenced with closely placed boards, to a height of about three feet. At the top was an inturned rim of tin, to prevent escape of the adult frogs. The ponds had no lining other than earth. They contained numerous aquatic plants, which provided shelter for the frogs and also for the numerous aquatic insects that served as food for frogs. Upon discovering, by accident, that large numbers of frogs were hibernating one winter in a culvert between two ponds, an effort was made to provide individual hibernating places by boring holes laterally into the bank below the water level, by use of a post-hole auger. Thenceforth it was possible to capture frogs if necessary during the winter hibernation period when they were ensconced in these holes. The frogs were roughly sorted as to size in the different ponds to prevent too many of the smaller frogs being eaten by the larger individuals.

(Continued on Page 15)

12 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA

"IKES" HOLD ANNUAL CONVENTION

The Nebraska Division of the Izaak Walton League held its annual convention at Omaha September 18, 19, 1933. Ward Betzer of Lincoln, president, was in the chair.

The following are resolutions adopted and new officers elected for the ensuing year:

I.

WHEREAS, Gordons' Creek, in the County of Cherry, State of Nebraska, is at the present time diverted into Hackberry Lake, in the County of Cherry, State of Nebraska, and,

WHEREAS, Hackberry Lake, while open to the public, has no accommodations, and is a lake that has been very nearly dry for the past two or three years, and,

WHEREAS, by the diversion of this same Gordons' creek at a point ten or twelve miles farther west, a great more benefit will accrue to the general public, a great number of people and sportsmen, and a great number of lakes serving the public would be benefited by this diversion. The diversion, here suggested, to be made into what is known as Long or Sawyer's Lake; thence into Pelican Lake; thence into Round Lake, and thence, directly into the three Marsh Lakes. In the event that the water levels reach a satisfactory level, a further diversion would be made after reaching Pelican Lake, east to Dewey, east to Willow, north to Trout Lake, and north to Clear Lake.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that in view of the fact that the Game, Forestation and Parks Commission has already made a tentative survey of this particular project, that this convention request the Game, Forestation and Parks Commission to proceed further bringing about this diversion as quickly as possible to save these lakes from total destruction caused by the recent drouth.

II.

WHEREAS, it is ever the desire of the Nebraska Division of the Izaak Walton League of America to conserve all natural resources, particularly our lake regions throughout the state of Nebraska, and,

WHEREAS, the water level in eastern Cherry County has reached a low point,

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Nebraska Division of the Izaak Walton League of America in their state convention request the Game, Forestation and Parks Commission to make, in accordance with their ten year program, the necessary survey of the Snake River toward the end of utilizing any surplus or excess water impounded of said Snake River, or diverted from said Snake River, when not in conflict with any landowners toward the end of putting these lake levels back to somewhere near normal.

III.

WHEREAS the program of the Izaak Walton League of America is that of conservation for the most part and

WHEREAS, Chester E. Ager of Lincoln, Nebraska, has over a period of years assisted in no small way in the promotion of this program, both by his individual efEorts and enrolling others in the work, and that he has contributed in the securing of favorable legislation.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Nebraska Division of the Izaak Walton League in convention assembled extend to him its most sincere appreciation and does hereby make him an honorary member of the Nebraska Division of the Izaak Walton League for a period of five years.

IV.

WHEREAS, despite the unusual difficulties encountered during the past year, due to the present trying economic conditions, and appreciated the trials and ordeals that the state officers have gone through in the past year,

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the President, Ward C. Betzer, and his co-workers receive the commendation and thanks of the members of the Izaak Walton League of Nebraska.

V.

WHEREAS, the Omaha chapter in their hospitality has gone to great lengths and much effort in putting on a splendid program of entertainment for the Nebraska Division Convention.

BE IT RESOLVED, that the convention extend its hearty vote of thanks and appreciation for the splendid entertainment afforded us while we have convened in Omaha.

VI.

WHEREAS, it is the wish of this convention to bring before the people of the state of Nebraska a greater educational and publicity program,

BE IT RESOLVED, that the state officers and directors assume duties as follows:

a. To formulate plans for greater education along all conservation lines.

b. To foster and promote a greater cooperative effort among sportsmen's organizations, schools, civic agencies, and commercial bodies of the various cities and towns.

c. To plan and arrange for more favorable publicity, furthering the program of the Izaak Walton League among the various publications of the state.

VII.

WHEREAS, the Game, Forestation and Parks Commission, being the child of the Nebraska Division of the Izaak Walton League, and both working to a common end and purpose, and indispensable to each other, and

WHEREAS, the secretary of said Commission, Mr. Frank B. O'Connell, and the various members of the Commission have so faithfully carried on our program,

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Nebraska Division of the Izaak Walton League extend to the members of the Game, Forestation and Parks Commission, and to its secretary, Mr. Frank B. O'Connell, our most hearty appreciation of their efforts and of the results they are achieving, and that we pledge to them our support in their every endeavor.

VIII.

WHEREAS, the secretary of the Game, Forestation and Parks Commission, Mr. Frank B. O'Connell, has had over eight years experience and valuable education in conservation work, and

WHEREAS, he is recognized throughout the United States as to his ability along conservation lines in general, and fish and game culture in particular.

WHEREAS, he has cooperated in every way, both with the local and national units of the Izaak Walton League, and

WHEREAS, he has received special commendation and recognition from the United States Biological Survey, and

WHEREAS, the Nebraska Division of the Izaak Walton League feels his services are indispensable to the welfare of the state of Nebraska in his capacity as Secretary of the Cimmission, and

WHEREAS, his appointment will expire on May 9, 1934,

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Nebraska Division of the Izaak Walton League in convention assembled endorse and recommend that the members of the Game, Forestation and Parks Commission recommend the appointment of this secretary at the expiration of his term.

IX.

WHEREAS, the term of Honorable Emerson R. Purcell, member of the Game, Forestation and Parks Commission expires January 15, 1934, and

WHEREAS, Commissioner Purcell has had much experience in parks and recreational grounds management, and has served for many years in such capacity as a member of the old State Park Board, and the present Game, Forestation and Parks Commission,   OUTDOOR NEBRASKA 13 devoting much of his time and energy to this work.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Nebraska Division of the Izaak Walton League of America, in convention assembled earnestly commends to the Governor of Nebraska, and recommends his reappointment as a member of the Nebraska Game, Forestation and Parks Commission.

OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS ELECTED

Ward C. Betzer, 323 So. 12th St., Lincoln, Nebraska, President, re-elected.

W. L. Davis, Lincoln, Nebraska, Vice President.

I. J. Dunn, Omaha, Nebraska, Vice President, re-elected.

Chas. L. Dickey, Columbus, Nebr., Vice President.

W. J. Nissen, Oxford, Nebraska, Vice President, re-elected.

I. A. Goff, Hay Springs, Nebraska, Vice President, re-elected.

Mildred M. Spann, Atkinson, Nebraska, Secretary-Treasurer, re-elected.

Directors.

First Congressional District— Leo Soukup, Lincoln, Nebraska, 4 years. M. E. Mallory, Tecumseh, Nebraska, 3 years, replacing Frank Hintz of Seward, deceased. W. L. Mayer, Beatrice, Nebraska, 1 year, replacing H. B. Swalley of Nebraska City.

Second Congressional District— Edwin A. Dygert, Omaha, Nebraska, re-elected for four-year term.

Third Congressional District— M. G. Scudder, Central City, re-elected for four-year term. F. A. Gordon, South Sioux City, replacing Frank Lake.

Fourth Congressional District— Howard L. Harse, Hastings, Nebraska, re-elected for four-year term. Don Metz, York, Nebraska, replacing W. C. Bullard of McCook. C. C. Nielsen, Oxford, Nebraska, replacing L. K. Orr of Clay Center.

Fifth Congressional District. C. A. Sheffner, Hay Springs, Nebraska, four-years.

Cometh now the Ten Commandments for the Sportsmen, issued on the eve of the hunting seasons, nine by the Advisory Board to the U. S. Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the tenth by the American Game Association, for the protection of all game, particularly wildfowl which have recently suffered depletion through the drought and others causes obtaining the last three years.

The Commandments for Sportsmen are not graven on stone nor brought down from the mountains on high, but pecked out with a hunt-and-punch system on a rickety typewriter; nevertheless, officials point out, the observance of these Ten Commandments for Sportsmen are just as vital to preserving the welfare of game as Moses' Ten Commandments are to preserving the welfare of the human soul.

In fact, officials point out, the Ten Commandments for Sportsmen may be more vital in preserving wildlife, especially ducks; for many species are reaching stages of depletion that threaten extinction.

"The Advisory Board is of the opinion that the present plight of our waters fowl is in part due to disregard for high standards of sportsmanship in water* fowl hunting, and it believes that substantial benefits will accrue if unsportsmanlike practices and abuses are eliminated or reduced to a minimum," a resolution adopted recently by the Board states.

Commandments For Sportsmen 1. Take your birds in a sportsmanlike way and avoid excesses. 2. Select your birds and refrain from, destructive flock shooting. 3. Refrain from shooting at birds beyond reasonable killing range. 4. Never shoot at birds on the water unless badly crippled. 5. Retrieve your down birds and avoid all possible waste. 6. Do not patronize commercial shooting stands where abuses are practiced. 7. If you feed birds during the season, continue it as long as feed is beneficial. 8. Do your part to restore breeding grounds and maintain refuges. 9. Be a Sportsman—obey the law and insist that others do likewise. 10. Swat the crow and other predators that prey upon game. THE CAT A RUTHLESS DESTROYER

In a widely distributed circular recently issued by the National Association of Audubon Societies, calling attention to the great destructiveness of the domestic cat to bird-life, it is stated in part:

"It is a widely recognized fact that domestic cats are great destroyers of wild bird-life. Particularly is this true during the spring months when the young birds are leaving the nest. Many persons do not observe the destruction which these animals inflict upon the bird population about every town and in the countryside, because the killing is done largely during the hours of darkness and in the early morning. Drivers of motor-cars at night frequently see the eyes of marauding cats by the roadside.

"Control should be exercised over the cat population, and arrangements made for humanely destroying vagrant and unwanted cats, the numbers of which are exceedingly great.

"Cats are known to be carriers of disease, their cries at night disturb the slumbers of men and women everywhere, and thousands of sick persons are rendered nervous and irritable by Grimalkin's serenades."

The statement continues:

"State-wide legislation has been enacted in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and California to encourage the killing of bird-hunting cats. However, these laws, helpful though they be, lack much of getting at the heart of the problem. At least ten towns in the United States, in order to abate the nuisance of uncontrolled and vagrant cr.ts, have already adopted a licensing ordinance. However, from information obtained through correspondence with the officials of these cities, it was found that there has been very little observance of the cat license feature. People do not want to pay a license on cats, and public sentiment, in most places, is preventing the enforcement of these measures.

"The Audubon Association, cognizant of the objections commonly raised by those opposed to the act licensing feature, suggests a non-license cat-reduction ordinance, which provides for the town assuming responsibility of humanely disposing of cats of which people desire to be relieved. To this end the proposed ordinance provides that no person owning or harboring a cat shall permit it to run at large in any of the streets or public places of the town in question, unless it wears a collar or identification tag bearing the owner's name and address, or registered number, which tags shall be furnished at cost by the Town Clerk."

The statement concludes:

"In view of the great difficulties presented by this question, we favor trial of various methods of cat control by the different states and municipalities, believing that to be the most effective way of working out a practical solution to this troublesome problem."

SAYS REDUCED KILLS ONLY HOPE

The only hope for the future of migratory game birds and the sport of wildfowling is in reducing the number of birds killed, W. C. Henderson, associate chief of the Bureau of Biological Survey, U. S. Department of Agriculture, declared in an address on "The Condition of Our Waterfowl," delivered before the International Association of   14 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA Game, Fish, and Conservation Commissioners in Columbus, Ohio, on September 22.

"I am not speaking," said Mr. Henderson, "of a catastrophe far in the future but of a thing so imminent that it may be seen by most of us."

If the situation in 193 4 is less favorable than in 1933, or even if it is only as good, we shall be forced, he predicted, to adopt further restrictions or the sport of wildfowling will be doomed. Necessary emergency measures, he assured the commissioners, will have the strong support of the Government to make them effective, and he appealed to all sportsmen for cooperation.

Mr. Henderson summarized observations made by biologists in the Northwest Plain States, the Prairie Provinces of Canada, and over a vast area to the north. According to these observations, he reported, pintails, mallards, and black ducks may be present in fair numbers on favorable concentration areas during migrations this fall, but canvasbacks, redheads, scaups, bluewinged teal, and certain other ducks, it is expected, will be at an exceedingly low ebb.

Conditions, he said, especially those in the more northern areas, indicate that the shortage of these birds can not be charged mainly to drought, but that over-shooting has not left sufficient stocks to utilize the breeding possibilities. The species, he emphasized, have reached a point where they can not make full use even of the favorable areas that remain.

"Almost the only encouragement that can now be found in the migratory game bird situation," said Mr. Henderson, "is derived from the fact that at least the sportsmen in this country and in Canada are alarmed and are ready to support any action that may be necessary." He urged sportsmen to practice strict moderation in shooting and to see that the kill is made chiefly from the more abundant species. Every effort, he emphasized, should be made to spare the kinds that are now seriously reduced.

In reply to claims that gunners would not observe additional restrictions, Mr. Henderson declared that it would be most unflattering to the vast body of sincere sportsmen to imply that there does not exist a majority unselfish enough to support any measures, .however drastic, that may be found necessary to save the ducks and geese. "I can not believe," he said, "that sportsmen will tolerate the evasion of emergency restrictive regulations by a few greedy individuals."

Refuge areas Mr. Henderson described as of primary importance to the future welfare of the birds, but he pointed out that they are of secondary interest in the present emergency. So also, he showed, the problem of increasing water areas will be a secondary issue until the birds have shown considerable increases in numbers. At present, he said, the value of refuge areas is to be measured more by their effectiveness in reducing the kill of wildfowl than by the extent to which they may increase the nesting and feeding grounds. The wild fowl of this country, he declared, can not await the development of relief measures that are slow in maturing or those that will require the expenditure of millions of dollars.

THE RAVEN AND CROW EMBLEMS OF DEATH

Poe's raven and America's crows, like Rosie O'Grady and the Colonel's Lady, are sisters under the skin. "While the raven tapped doors, the crow taps eggs of nesting birds—the baneful influence of both the legendary emblem of death and the pillager of cornfields amounts to the same thing.

"It is doubtful," states a publication of the United States Department of Agriculture, "whether any other bird is of as great economic importance to the farmer as the crow. In food habits it is practically omnivorous; it takes anything from the choicest poultry and the tenderest shoots of sprouting grain to carrion and weed seeds. The facts that no less than 656 items have been identified in its food gives some idea of the bird's resourcefulness."

During the months of May, June and July when young crows are being hatched and reared, the parents are persistent hunters for the young and eggs of wild birds and poultry. The Bureau of Biological Survey states in a report on crow damage at a federal waterfowl sanctuary: "The chief enemy of the ducks was the crow. This bird destroyed 3 5 per cent, of the eggs."

There are four related species of crows: The Florida crow, fish crow, southern, and western crow, but all of them can be cured of egg-eating tendencies by a simple remedy—strychnine. When Jim Crow needs some of this tonic, small holes should be made with an eight penny nail through the shells of a few eggs. A pea size quantity of strychnine is poured in and the openings closed with paraffin. The eggs are placed in elevated nests safe from desirable creatures and when the nest robbers come back for more eggs it will be their last trip.

Crows have one sworn enemy—the owl—and they can be lured within gun range by the simple expedient of setting up a decoy owl on a conspicuous perch where crows are numerous. From a well constructed blind, thoroughly concealing the gunner, who operates a crow call, the black marauders can be shot in numbers. The first crow to spy his nocturnal enemy will call the gang together and attack the decoy. If the gunner can shoot at all, there will soon be less crows.

THE PROBLEM OF THE VAGRANT CAT

Continued from Page 7.

and municipal ordinances intended to reduce the surplus cat population. The Garden Club of America and many other organizations also have sought to have the stray cat evil mitigated.

The International Cat Society of New York City, formed in 19 31, has tried to induce municipal authorities to enact cat license ordinances, and in two years has been successful in three instances. The Audubon Association recently wrote the mayors of four thousand cities and towns on the subject. One hundred and fifty-six answers have been received, about half of which ask for further information. We know of only ten towns in the United States which have adopted cat ordinances. These are: Harrison, Larchmont, and the Village of Roslyn Harbor, New York; Milbourn, Montclair, and Pompton Lakes, New Jersey; Seattle, Washington; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Massillon, Ohio; and May wood, Illinois. Communicating with the authorities of these towns, we found that there has been extremely little observance of the cat license features. People do not want to pay a license on cats, and public sentiment in most places is preventing the enforcement of these measures.

A Suggested Ordinance for the Licensing of Cats

The Cat-License Ordinance prepared and promulgated by the International Cat Society of 101 Park Avenue, New York City, is as follows:

"Section I—Cats to Be Licensed: It shall be unlawful to own, harbor or maintain a cat of more than six months of age unless the owner thereof or the person harboring or maintaining the same shall have a valid and subsisting license for such cat.

"Section II—License Fees: The annual license fees for cats over 6 months of age shall be as follows: 1. Each male cat, $1.00; 2. Each female cat, $2.00; provided, that if, accompanying the application for licensing a spayed female cat, there shall be a certificate from a licensed veterinary surgeon that said female cat has been properly spayed, the annual license fee shall be $1.00.   OUTDOOR NEBRASKA 15 Provided, further, that any person keeping or having in his possession cats for breeding purposes, and the selling and exchange of such cats, may obtain a kennel license for the kennelling of cats of five or more in number, and shall pay for such kennel license the sum of $5.00. No license shall be granted for a period exceeding one year, and all licenses shall expire on the day of...... in each year.

"Section III—Tags to Be Issued: A metal tag or tags marked with a number, to correspond with the number of the license, shall be issued with said license and shall be attached to a collar and shall, at all times, be worn by the cat so licensed when at large.

"Section IV—Unlicensed Cats at Large: Any person over the age of twenty-one years may, and it shall be the duty of every police officer, to destroy humanely an unlicensed cat at large, and no action for damages shall be maintained for such killing.

"Section V—Penalties: Any person violating the provisions of this ordinance shall, upon conviction of such violation, be subject to a fine in an amount not to exceed Ten ($10.00) Dollars:

"Note: Where objection is made Section V may be omitted. Also, cost of license may be made optional, to suit the requirements of your municipality."

This would seem to be an excellent ordinance if it could be adopted generally and enforced.

DUCKS AND GEESE OPEN SEASON OCT 1—NOV. 30

Continued from Page 2.

Kentucky, California, and the northern zone of Texas, November 1 to December 31;

In Wisconsin, North Dakota, and the five northern counties of Idaho, September 21 to November 20;

In New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Arizona (except in the five northern counties), and in the southern zones of Texas and New Mexico, November 16 to January 15;

In Florida, November 2 0 to January 15; and

In Alaska, September 1 to October 31.

FROGS AND THEIR COMMERCIAL USE

(Continued from Page 11)

No especial attempt was made to provide food. The tadpoles fed on the green algae in the small pond. Older frogs captured insects, small fish, some of the younger frogs, and many of the small Pacific tree-frogs (Hyla regilla) which were abundant in the ponds. The various enemies of frogs had to be reckoned with and destroyed whenever found. These included sea gulls, herons, ducks, and water snakes.

This "frog farm" was but a side issue on a large general ranch, and costs of construction and labor were not assessed against the venture. No detailed figures are at hand concerning the numbers of frogs reared. Certain published statements as to the amount received for frogs were wide of the truth. On one occasion seventy-dozen frogs were shipped to Hilo, Hawaii. Others were sent to restaurants in San Francisco. The maximum price received was $10 per dozen for large bullfrogs dug out of the mud in winter. Ordinarily, large bullfrogs were sold at $4.50 to $5 per dozen.

There are several published references to a "frog farm" maintained at South San Francisco in the early 19 00's by S. C. Coombes, but two competent witnesses have stated to the writer that the Coombes' "ranch" was merely a series of ponds where frogs captured in the coastal counties of California were held until sent to market.

At the present time there are numerous attempts at frog farming in the United States, several being in California. All so far as known are using the American bullfrog. Some of these enterprises are of considerable size. Only time will show whether any of them will prove profitable to their owners. It is reported that intensive culture of bullfrogs is being practiced in Japan with stock introduced from the United States. The meticulous care which the Japanese use in all efforts at artificial culture of animals in confinement and the relatively low value of labor in that country may make for results there not really obtainable in this country.

The principal difficulty in artificial propagation of frogs is that of providing an adequate supply of food for the animals after transformation, because frogs will then take as food only objects which move. Another is that of protecting the larvae from the predaceous aquatic insects abounding in any outdoor pond; still another is that of preventing the larger frogs from devouring the younger ones. Epidemic disease may also enter as an adverse factor at times.

Frogs form part of the natural food of mink, raccoons, skunks, (even "house rats" at times), herons, certain ducks, kingfishers, garter snakes, and certain fishes. Any or all of these animals as well as certain water beetles and bugs and the larvae of dragon flies will feed upon the tadpoles. Adequate fencing would keep out the mammals and the snakes. Birds might possibly be excluded by a network of wire over the ponds. Predaceous fish could be screened out or otherwise excluded from ponds containing frogs, but there is great difficulty in excluding the insects; furthermore, the latter, while injurious to tadpoles, serve importantly as food for the transformed frogs.

In nature all of these "enemies" play a part in regulating the frog population. Thus, while a female bullfrog may lay 10,000 eggs and a red-legged frog 300 0 eggs per season, in either case only two of these need to become mature frogs in order to maintain the species! A wide "margin of safety" is thus provided against destruction of eggs by predaceous animals, fungus or drought, and of the larvae and maturing frogs by any of the animals just named.

Exposure of boards smeared with honey or molasses, or of scrap meat or fish, close to the ponds and suspending either kerosene or electric lights over the ponds at night, all with the thought of attracting insects, are expedients tried in attempts at solving the food problem. More recently, top minnows (Gambusia) have received attention. These small fish multiply readily in ponds similar to those used for frogs and their increase may be used as food to supplement the insect supply.

Method of Taking Fish— Snagging Prohibited

It is hereby declared unlawful to take, catch, kill, destroy, or attempt to take or catch any game fish by any means other than angling with hook and line. Fishing with a line having more than five hooks thereon, or with artificial bait having thereon more than three triple-gang hooks, or by snagging fish externally with hook and line, is declared unlawful. Provided that, carp, suckers, or other non-game fish may be taken by spearing between sunrise and sunset from April 1st to December 1st.

TASTE OF WATER LEADS SALMON TO BIRTHPLACE

Proof that salmon return to their birthplaces to spawn was found When 1,00 0 big Royal Chinook salmon returned to the Bonneville state hatchery in Oregon.

The fish average 30 pounds. When released in the Columbia River four years ago they were but 2 % inches long.

THERE ARE INNUMERABLE DESOLATE PLACES in this country — once the home of waterfowl and wild life and the playground of the people—forever destroyed by the unthinking travelers who left behind the lighted campfire, the unburned match or glowing cigarette.

THIS DEVASTATION CAUSED BY CARELESSNESS can and must be stopped. All sportsmen and travelers should pledge themselves to assist the State and Federal Governments in the war against needless destruction of our forests and wild life.

NEBRASKA GAME FORESTATION & PARKS COMMISSION LINCOLN