2 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA—1948

ANNUAL GAME DEPARTMENT MEETING

One of the highlights of the Nebraska Game worker's calendar was the annual departmental get-together held in Lincoln recently. The forenoon session was devoted to an informal meeting of the law enforcement staff together with other departmental personnel to hash over problems of game law enforcement and general departmental problems.

At the invitation of the Commission, sportsmen from a number of Nebraska communities attended the afternoon session.

The program opened with an address of welcome by Governor Val Peterson. Guest speakers for the afternoon program included Dr. Ira N. Galbrielson, President of the Wildlife Management Institute, who gave an inspiring address on problems of wildlife management which affect Nebraska. Dan H. Janzen, Regional Director of the U. S. Pish and Wildlife Service gave a summary of national waterfowl problems as they affect Nebraska. Following Janzen's address was a discussion of coordinated fisheries activity between the state and the federal government by C. P. Culler, Regional Fisheries Coordinator. John Gottschalk of the Basin Studies group of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife discussed plans for wildlife in the Missouri Basin project. Flick Davis, Regional Supervisor of Law Enforcement for the U. S. Pish and Wildlife Service discussed the relationship between federal and state game laws. Walter Gresh, Federal Aid Inspector for the Wildlife Service summed up the afternoon's discussion.

The evening banquet was climaxed by the presentation of awards to 12 Commission employees who have served an average of over 21 years with the department and to Mr. C. P. Culler. The award certificates were presented by Secretary Paul Gilbert in a formal ceremony.

4 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA—1948

NEBRASKA'S MINNOW SHORTAGE

By GLEN FOSTER Supervisor of Fisheries

It is generally recognized that the increase and abundance of any game animal or fish depends on two major factors: suitable environment and adequate food supply.

Suitable environment is provided in Nebraska by our numerous streams and lakes, but the food supply in a large number of them is sadly wanting. The lack of food supply has been caused by natural conditions in some cases such as the raising and lowering of the water levels by drouth, floods, etc. These conditions tend to eliminate plant growth in the streams and lakes which supplies most of the natural food for fish. Another and more serious reason for the lack of natural food is the direct destruction of natural elements such as removing minnows from the waters for bait, and by pollution and erosion.

We have no control in stopping drouths or heavy rains which cause floods, and have done very little in stopping erosion. However, the Soil Conservation Service is doing a fine job on erosion control in Nebraska by cooperating with farmers and landowners. Every field brought under control helps our streams and lakes. Pollution, so far, is not as big a problem in Nebraska as in some other states at the present time and everything possible is being done to keep it under control. We can and should, however, have better control over the natural food supply in our streams. Most Nebraska game fish are carnivorous in their habits, and require an immense supply of small fish to bring them to catchable size. Unless a sufficient supply of minnows is present in the waters, the larger game fish will feed on their own offspring, or the young of other species. As an illustration of the importance of minnow life in a bass stream, the following is quoted from a report of the Pennsylvania Board of Fish Commissioners:

"Observations were made of a stream that was stocked with bass. The absence of minnow life was very noticeable at first, and in checking the bass nests during the spawning season, only 150 nests were found in a distance of 1/4 of a mile. Very few yearling bass were seen. The stream was heavily stocked with minnows continuously during the year, and the next season 1,500 bass nests were counted in the same distance. The stream also contained bass of all sizes, which shows that when the natural food supply is sufficient, bass are not liable to prey upon one another."

At the present time there are hundreds of minnow (bait) dealers over the state and their entire stock is procured from public streams at the expense of our game fish. No actual figures are obtainable on the number sold or the number wasted. It is safe to say, however, that where one minnow is sold at least five more are destroyed by careless handling. The results of careless handling can be seen on nearly every stream bank where minnows have been taken. Hundreds of minnows are left lying on the banks or trampled into the mud. Many more are lost in transporting to holding tanks and a large percentage of what are left die or are discarded before they are sold.

The artificial propagation of minnows, a possible means of solving this problem, would undoubtedly be carried on more by dealers if more were to know about methods of propagation. This is not so easy with some species of bait minnows, such as the common shiners and some other stream minnows. They will not produce well in ponds, neither will they respond to artificial expression of their eggs. The only means of preserving minnows of their kind is to prohibit or control seining in streams where they spawn. Many other species of good bait minnows, however, are easy to raise in ponds, and reproduce several times during the spring and summer.

Every fisherman should be concerned about this problem. The facts are that there is a serious depletion of minnows in many sections of Nebraska. Indiscriminate seining for minnows not only wastes these important fish but also does other damage harmful to game species. In the spring of the year, during spawning season, spawning beds may be destroyed unless care is taken to watch where the nests are located.

The major problem, however, is the depletion of the food supply of game fish. In streams where game fish are stocked by the Commission or in streams suitable for good production of fish, it is   OUTDOOR NEBRASKA—1948 5 certainly not good management to remove the food supply. A farmer would not think of putting cattle in a pasture and then go in and destroy or take out the grass. Fishes are animals and their size and numbers depend on the amount of food available for them.

A number of Game Departments of other states have already restricted or prohibited the taking of minnows commercially. Most of them are encouraging bait dealers to raise their own minnows. The Nebraska Game Commission has restricted minnow seining in several areas. This was started three years ago in the western part of the state, mainly in trout streams. At the present time a total of 80 streams and their tributaries in 32 counties are closed to the seining of minnows and also to spearing. With additional dams being placed in our streams and with increased channel widening and straightening in many sections, further restrictions to protect the minnow will undoubtedly have to be made. The small tributary streams are where most of the minnows spawn and are produced. These areas should be protected in order to supply food to the game fish in the deeper waters below.

Both fishermen and bait dealers can help in this problem before it gets out of hand. This can be done by just using a little common horsesense when seining and transporting minnows:

1. When seining, never drag the seine out on the banks; sort your minnows with the net in the water and turn back all game fish, fry and minnows not the size you want. All minnows small enough to go through the net will then escape and not be killed.

2. Never use small carp or goldfish for bait due to the chance of distributing them in other waters.

3. Avoid excessive handling or injury. Handle minnows only with dipnets.

4. Minnows should be taken to your fishing waters, live box, or holding tank as quickly as possible.

5. A most important thing is to not overcrowd them. Never use more than 50 medium sized minnows to a cubic foot of water (7% gallons).

6. Carry a pocket thermometer and keep the water temperature below 70 degrees. Ice or cold water can be added slowly to lower the temperature.

7. Provide plenty of aeration for them at all times.

8. Minnows should be fed if held over a few days in a small tank. For a short period minnows will get along on cracker or bread crumbs. Well-ground meat scraps, cooked oatmeal, etc., can be fed if minnows are to be held over a longer period.

Bait minnows are easy to raise and after the ponds are provided, it is less expensive than to seine them from natural waters.

The Game Commission is now attempting to get all of the latest information collected from other states for distribution to bait dealers and fishermen interested in raising their own minnows and will give all assistance possible to help anyone get started. Let's all do our part in conserving the minnow supply of our natural waters and give the game fish a break.

6 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA—1948

FARM PONDS FOR FISH

By WALTER KIENER Soil Conservation builds dams.

Soil conservation has in recent years become an accepted practice on many farms as a matter of good farm-land management. Nebraska is on the whole deficient in rainfall. What rain does fall in the spring and summer months, is apt to be violent, causing flash floods, resulting in erosion. To prevent wasteful loss of soil through erosion, small dams on the farm are of primary importance.

Dams create ponds.

When the water accumulates above the dam, a pond is created. Water is thus kept on the land longer, and is prevented from washing out gullies, and tends to lessen damage to the main valleys. A pond may be of great value for cattle in supplying drinking water. Birds are attracted by the water, and birds hold down insect pests. Ponds created by dams thus are a part of general soil conservation and are essential in good management of most farms.

Farm ponds as fish ponds.

The primary purpose in creating farm ponds by building dams, is soil conservation and farm-land management. The use of these ponds to raise fish is really only an afterthought, or a secondary use of the pond water. When this accessory use of the pond water for raising fish is contemplated, certain problems are confronted and questions need to be answered.

Fish-raising problems in farm ponds.

It goes without saying that in order to raise fish, there must be the necessary supply of food in the water to sustain the life of the fish and to make them grow. Fish live in water but the water itself is not food. The quality of the water also has something to do with the welfare of the fish. Above all there must be enough air (oxygen) in the water. When a farm pond becomes quite warm during the summer, and the amount of water reduced through evaporation, there is much danger that the oxygen   OUTDOOR NEBRASKA—1948 7 becomes exhausted and because of it the fish may die through suffocation. A pond with an amount of water too small, is apt to become a failure through too much summer heating of the water and consequent reduction of the amount of oxygen in it. This applies to ponds built primarily for soil conservation as a part of good farm-land management. There are other ponds built primarily for raising fish where soil conservation is of secondary order. In any pond, however, the chief problem in raising fish is food supply.

Food supply in fish ponds.

The natural food necessary for fish life varies with the kinds of fish and their sizes. The food is a product of nature and occurs without the help of man in natural ponds, that is, in ponds that were not made by man. Old ponds are usually better supplied with food than new ones. The fish food is a complicated matter and is the result of chain reactions among living things in the water. These reactions are usually spoken of as the food chain.

The food chain in fish ponds.

It is an old truism that without plant life there would be no animal life on this earth. The same is true in water. The food chain then must begin with plant life or its derivations. There are chiefly two ways in which plant life serves as food to animal life. The first is by healthy and growing plants. These may be microscopic in size and are eaten whole by likewise microscopically small animals. Larger plants which are rooted in shallow water are fed upon by small to larger animals. Most anybody has seen, for instance, snails feeding upon water weeds. Adult carp feed almost wholly on plant matter. The other way plant life serves as food to tiny animals, is when the plants are dead, and stems and leaves are decomposing. Upon organic matter of vegetable decomposition feed many kinds of very small animals. The smaller animals are eaten by larger ones. Fish fry live on the tiny animals, and only when fish have reached a certain size, do they start feeding on smaller fish. Thus, the chain of larger eating the smaller builds up until we have the big fish.

How the food chain starts.

In a man-made pond the water may be supplied by springs or rain water, or a combination of both. Pure spring water has no fish food in it but usually has the potential chemical elements necessary for plant growth. Rain water that has washed over the soil usually carries plant and animal debris which upon decomposition supply some organic matter suitable as food for some tiny fish food animals. Rain water with its impurities from the air and soil also has the potential chemical elements to make possible the growth of plants.Now when

  8 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA—1948 the impoundment of the water has taken place, and the chemical elements for plant life are present, it needs the introduction of propagules (from propagation—small plant particles, as seeds, that will grow into adult plants and multiply and spread). These propagules, as a rule, become introduced into the pond through natural agencies, such as birds carrying them inadvertentedly on feet or feathers, or being blown in by the wind. Nature's processes usually work slowly, and it may take some time before all the necessary members of a food chain are present in any one pond. Quite often also, undesirable and even damaging plants, such as some pond scums, may become introduced, and make a pond a failure for fish. In a similar way as plant propagules are introduced, tiny animals also enter the pond water. The success of the small animals will depend on the amount of tiny food plants present and the amount of organic decomposition —products available from decaying plant parts. In many cases man can help speed up the processes of the food chain by so-called fertilization.

How a fish pond may be fertilized.

As in agricultural soils, so in pond water, some of the compounds of the chemical elements, nitrogen, phosphorus, potash, and others, tend to be present only in deficient quantities for continued good plant growth. For better growth these chemical compounds then must be added to the water, either in the form of commercial fertilizers, or in the forms of manure. In certain cases the fertilizers are preferable because of the purity of the material and the knowledge of its composition. When manure is used the exact chemical composition of fertilizer value is not known, and undesirable contaminations may be introduced into the pond. There is, however, in manure a great deal of organic matter which is in itself food for tiny animals whose inherited habits require that kind of food. The decomposition is brought about mostly by bacteria which thrive in this process and also become part of the food chain.

How fertilization works.

When manure is used as fertilizer it will require a certain amount of time before the manure is broken down, mostly by bacteria, to a chemical state available to plant growth. Chemical fertilizer, however, becomes available to plant growth quickly, that is, as soon as the compounds have dissolved in the water. Plant growth is then stimulated to greater activity. In the case of the microscopically small plants greater activity means accelerated rate of reproduction in numbers, which acceleration stimulates the rate of reproduction in the tiny animals which feed upon these plants. Thus, when the number of fish food-animals increase, due to increase in plants, the fish present, profiting from the increase of food animals, grow fatter and bigger faster. In no case, however, do the chemical elements of the fertilizer affect the fish, or the fish food-animals directly. The fertilizer acts only through plant life, which when improved, improves food animals, which in turn improves the fish . This is truly a chain reaction.

Fertilizer does not always work as desired.

When a farmer adds fertilizer to crop land, it not only benefits the crops but also the weeds. The farmer must keep down the weeds or they would smother the crops. Something similar happens in a pond. There are plants good to the food chain for fish and there are others that are detrimental. Most fertilization is done under the assumption that somehow only the good plants are present and everything will be as fine as wished for. But it does not always work out that way. Quite as often it may happen that the plants one hopes to fertilize are not there at all, or the wrong kind only is present. Some pond waters have already enough natural fertilizer and any addition may only be harmful. A few years ago, the owners of a small producing lake on a sheep range with thousands of sheep grazing around it, decided to spend several hundred dollars for the fertilization of their lake. They followed a much publicized fad, but overlooked the fact that the lake water was already brown in color from sheep manure. This sportsman also had the mistaken idea that the fertilizer in some mysterious way would act directly on the fish, causing them to increase immediately in weight and multiply in number. They were completely unaware, that the fertilizer could only be effective by acting on the basic plant food of the tiny animals. When the fertilizer was added to this small lake, small, floating duckweeds were present on the water. The fertilizer so stimulated the growth and reproduction of the duckweeds that they covered the entire surface of the water about an inch thick for most of the summer and were later thrown onto the beach where they formed large wave rows. While the duckweeds formed a continuous cover over the lake, they shut out the light for the many submerged water-weeds   9 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA—1948 which then began to die. On the dead water-weeds the number of bacteria increased enormously. The bacteria absorbed most of the air in the water and were essential in causing an oxygen deficiency. When the oxygen became exhausted the fish died. Thus costly and disappointingly ended an inconsiderate fertilization.

When is fertilization most needed?

vWhen a pond is new, and when mineral water is the sole supply of the fish pond, fertilization is indicated for early results. The underlying principle demands that the basic fertilizer elements be supplied for quick production of tiny plants to feed the tiny fish food-animals. Providing that the right kind of tiny plants and animals are present in the water to serve as breeding stock, chemical fertilizer should theoretically give the quickest result. Manure, though acting slower, may be the more desirable fertilizer. Manure also produces tiny food-animals. Further fertilization need will depend on the fish crop expected.

10 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA—1948

PRESCRIPTION FOR WILDLIFE

By DR. IRA N. GABRIELSON President, Wildlife Management Institute

The pattern for wildlife resources management has been successively based on different ideas. Each method has had its enthusiastic supporters, all sure that their plan provided the sure-fire method to make the dream of endless hunting and fishing sport come true.

One after another, restrictive legislation, artificial propagation and stocking, and refuges, to mention only three of the more important, have been on trial and found wanting. No one of these methods for increasing stocks of fish and wildlife have been "the answer," but all remain and probably will remain as useful tools of proper management.

Certainly no thinking sportsman can believe that it will ever be possible to do without laws governing the human harvest of natural resources. The type and degree of regulation may change from year to year but game law enforcement will always be a part of the management program.

Likewise, few successful management plans, and no successful restoration program, have ever been put into operation without furnishing sanctuary for breeding stocks. There is little doubt that refuges, both formal and otherwise, will always be used in game management.

Neither is there much doubt that restocking will remain a useful and, under certain circumstances, an important tool in management.

The latest and, so far as it has been tried, the most effective method of producing game and fish is restoration of proper living conditions for them. We must reverse the idea in Ding's cartoon, "How Man Does Improve on Nature," (see back cover) building back environment as we vigorously preserve that which still exists. We must increase the homes for wildlife if we are to increase the amount annually produced.

By development of new environment more game and fish can be produced each year at less cost than any other method yet found. It is Nature's way of producing wildlife and it has the enormous additional advantage of fitting in well with the vitally important program of soil conservation and management. It is not possible to practice good land management and reduce, destructive erosion without producing better food and cover conditions for many species of wildlife.

Soil and water are the two most vital resources of this nation and their proper management is of vital concern to every citizen. The retention and best management of the fertile soils and the greatest utilization of the biological productive capacity of the water is of increasing necessity to the maintenance of national health and prosperity.

Wildlife is one of the important products of land and water. It cannot be produced on worn out lands or in sterile and polluted water in any greater abundance than domestic crops and livestock could be produced under the same unfavorable conditions.

Wildlife is dependent entirely on the right environment; in other words, on suitable cover (living quarters) and food at all times of the year. Without such environment it cannot long survive; with it, annual crops of wildlife can continue tobe produced. Therefore, the preservation of suitable environment and its restoration where it is now lacking are fundamental in any fish and game program.

OUTDOOR NEBRASKA—1948 11

LARGEMOUTH BLACK BASS

An unpredictable but lovable scoundrel, the largemouth black bass is appropriately called the King of American Game Pishes. Its many and mixed traits make it the most sought-after game fish in the world—tossed together are courage, stamina, viciousness, cunning, versatility, stubbornness, showmanship, fight and—just pure cussedness.

At times, it will spurn the most attractive artificial bait to gobble up a worm or minnow. Again, it will pass up a luscious looking gob of wiggling nightcrawlers to smash viciously at the homeliest plug tossed nearby. Periodically, it will sulk without reacting toward any lure, artificial or natural . . . But, when the largemouth is looking for business, here is an antagonist who will offer everything to be desired in the way of gamey sport.

NAMES . . . Actually a member of the sunfish family, the largemouth black bass is known by a number of nicknames in various parts of the country.

The more common misnomers are: bronzebacker, chub, trout, green trout, green bass, linesides, mossback, yellow bass and bigmouth.

CHARACTERISTICS ... The color of the largemouth will vary in different waters. Those taken in clear, sand-or-gravel bottom lakes and streams have green sides shading into white on belly. Those from mud-or-moss bottom lakes or sluggish streams will be almost black on the back and sides while the belly will vary from grey to a yellowish white. Regardless of water conditions a dark, blackish stripe runs along the sides from the gills to the tail.

The largemouth can be distinguished readily from the smallmouth bass by the position of the maxillary, or jaw joint. On the largemouth bass this joint extends back from the eye, while on the smallmouth it ends directly below the eye.

RANGE . . . Due to extensive transplanting, the largemouth is now found in nearly every state of the Union, Canada and Mexico. Also, it has been introduced successfully into France, Germany, and South Africa.

Look for the largemouth in freshwater lakes, ponds, rivers, creeks and canals. . . Around lily-pads, rushes, reeds, weeds, logs, sunken tree trunks, eroded pockets or deep holes.

SIZE . . . The world's record largemouth, caught on rod and reel, was taken by George W. Perry in Montgomery Lake, Georgia, on June 2, 1932. It weighed 22 pounds and 4 ounces. The average size, taking the country as a whole, would be from 1 to 2 pounds, but in the south the average is higher.

FOODS . . . No snooty aristocrat, the largemouth will please the live-bait fisherman by killing anything resembling worms, insects, frogs, crawfish, minnows, field mice, small birds, snakes and even young muskrats.

LURES . . . On the prowl, the largemouth will smash with equal vigor at wet or dry flies, surface or underwater plugs, spinners, spoons, bucktails or spinners-and-fly combinations—to the delight of the artificial bait angler.

METHODS . . . Methods of fishing also vary with the section of the country and largemouth can be caught by bait-casting, fly-fishing, still-fishing, spat-fishing, bobbing, skittering and trolling.

TACKLE . . . Bait casting is by far the most popular medium and the accepted outfit is a 4 % to 6 foot rod of tempered bamboo or tapered, tubular steel such as the "Pal". With this is preferred a fast-action, level-winding casting reel with aluminum spool and line from 10 to 18-pound test.

HAVE YOU PURCHASED YOUR FISHING PERMIT FOR 1948?

WHERE DOES THE GAME DOLLAR GO?

 

14 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA—1948

MORE HOMES FOR WILDLIFE

By JAMES H. AGER In Charge of Development Plantings

For years and years farmers have been asked to leave food and cover patches for game birds, and perform dozens of odd chores for the benefit of wildlife. About the only thanks they have had is an army of city sportsmen swarming over their fields, leaving gates open, breaking fences, and sometimes injuring livestock.

Now, at long last, farmers are to get a break. There will still be pleas of "do something for wildlife", but there now will be something given in return for doing something for wildlife. Here is how it works:

In 31 Nebraska counties the State Game Commission will fence off waste plots of land and plant them to trees and shrubs. The Commission will furnish the trees, the fence materials, and the labor necessary to converting eroded gullies into valuable woodlots and wildlife habitat areas.

Expanding a program which began before the war, and which was greatly accelerated last year, the Game Commission will have six crews of men working this spring to put the development program on a big time basis. Ordinarily the crews will consist of a foreman-laborer and three men. During the height of the planting season the crews will be augmented by additional part-time laborers.

To get a better idea of the scope of the program, here is a list of the equipment being used: 6 tractors, 6 plows, 6 disc cultivators, 6 posthole diggers, and three mechanical tree planters. Eight light pickup trucks will transport men, trees, and tools. Six 2-ton trucks will be used to transport tractors and other heavy equipment, and fence materials.

Fence materials include 14,000 steel posts, 2,000 wooden corner posts, 5,000 wooden brace posts, and about 18 tons of wire. This is enough material to fence in about 180 development plots with an average area of three acres.

Now for nursery stock. A total of over 600,000 trees and shrubs will be planted this spring. These include red cedar, Russian olive, honeysuckle, spirea, wild plum, multiflora rose and asparagus. In addition to nursery stock, 30 bushels each of sweet clover and brome grass will be planted.

In addition to building fences around the development plots and planting the nursery stock, the development crews will cultivate the plantings during the first growing season.

  OUTDOOR NEBRASKA—1948 15

Obviously it is impossible to blanket the entire state with habitat development areas even with the present expanded program. In years to come, however, the work will be carried on wherever tree planting is feasible.

Now for the matter of participating ill the program. The development work is available only to land operators who are already cooperating in the soil conservation program. Land owners contact their local Soil Conservation office, and where openings are available, sign a rider agreement to the regular Soil Conservation Service agreement. The proposed development area is inspected by a Game Commission wildlife technician. If found suitable the area is fenced off preparatory to spring planting.

To be suitable for the program, a plot must be:

Within one-fourth mile of crop land. At least one-fourth mile removed from farm buildings. At least one-half mile from any good woody cover.

Now, one last important item. This program costs a lot of money; where does the money come from? The work is done under the Pittman-Robertson act with three-fourths of the money coming from the federal government as a kickback on the 10 percent excise tax paid by sportsmen on the purchase of guns and ammunition. One fourth of the money comes from the sale of hunting permits. We cannot have more game until we provide more habitat for game to propagate.

16 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA—1948

1948 FISHING REGULATIONS

The following regulations are prescribed by the Game, Forestation and Parks Commission, State of Nebraska, in accordance with Section 37-301, Revised Statutes, State of Nebraska, 1943, as amended by Session • Laws, State of Nebraska, 1945 and 1947, and in accordance with Section 81-6505, Revised Statutes, State of Nebraska, 1943, and are. effective from February 1, 1948 until further change by the Commission.

Trout

OPEN SEASON: April 1 to November 1.

AREA OPEN: Entire State except streams closed (See below under Restricted Areas).

SIZE LIMT: No size limit.

DAILY BAG LIMIT: 10.

POSSESSION LIMIT ANYTIME: 10.

Bass (Large Mouth or Small Mouth or both)

OPEN SEASON: No closed season.

AREA OPEN: Entire State.

SIZE LIMIT: 10 inches.

DAILY BAG LIMIT: 10 (inclusive of both species).

POSSESSION LIMIT ANYTIME: 10 (inclusive of both special).

White Bass

OPEN SEASON: No closed season.

AREA OPEN: Entire State.

SIZE LIMIT: No size limit

DAILY BAG LIMIT: 5.

POSSESSION LIMIT ANYTIME: 5.

Crappie (Black [Calico bass] or White or both)

OPEN SEASON: No closed season.

AREA OPEN: Entire State.

SIZE LIMIT: No size limit

DAILY BAG LIMIT: 15 (inclusive of both species).

Sunfish (Bluegill, Green or Pumpkinseed or all)

OPEN SEASON: No closed season.

AREA OPEN: Entire State.

SIZE LIMIT: No size limit

DAILY BAG LIMIT: 15 (inclusive of all species)

DAILY BAG LIMIT: 15 (inclusive of all species).

Rock Bass

OPEN SEASON: No closed season.

AREA OPEN: Entire State.

SIZE LIMIT: No size limit

DAILY BAG LIIMT: 15.

POSSESSION LIMIT ANYTIME: 15.

Bullheads

OPEN SEASON: No closed season.

AREA OPEN: Entire State.

SIZE LIMIT: No size limit

SIZE LIMIT: No size limit DAILY BAG LIMIT: 15—Except in Cherry, Brown and Rock Counties Where the limit is 25.

POSSESSION LIMIT ANYTIME: 15— Except in Cherry, Brown and Rock Counties Where the limit is 25.

Catfish (Channel, Blue or Mud [yellow] or all)

OPEN SEASON: No closed season.

AREA OPEN: Entire State.

SIZE LIMIT: 12 inches.

DAILY BAG LIMIT: 10 (inclusive of all species).

POSSESSION LIMIT ANYTIME: 10 (inclusive of all species).

Catfish (Commerical Fishing)

Under proper commercial permit issued by the Commission, catfish may be taken from the Missouri River by nets, the meshes of which are not less than one and one-half inches square.

OPEN SEASON: No closed season.

AREA OPEN—Missouri River — South and West of the Middle of the Channel and not less than 300 yards in any direction from the mouth of any stream emptying into the River.

SIZE LIMIT: 13 inches.

POSSESSION LIMIT: None.

ANNUAL REPORT: All persons holding a commercial Seing-Vendor Permit shall keep an accurate record of the number, species and weight of all fish caught and a separate report of all fish sold during the calendar year. A record shall be kept for each month separately. Each person shall send this information to the Secretary of the State Game, Forestation and Parks Commission on or before the 15th day of January of the following year. Forms for this purpose shall be furnished by the State.

Perch

OPEN SEASON: No closed season.

AREA OPEN: Entire State.

SIZE LIMIT: No size limit

DAILY BAG LIMIT: No limit.

POSSESSION LIMIT ANYTIME: No limit.

  OUTDOOR NEBRASKA—1948 17 Pike (Walleye or Sauger [sand] or both)

OPEN SEASON: No closed season.

AREA OPEN: Entire State.

SIZE LIMT: 12 inches.

DAILY BAG LIMIT: 5 (inclusive of both species)

POSSESSION LIMIT ANYTIME: 5 (inclusive of both species).

Pike (Northern)

OPEN SEASON: No closed season.

AREA OPEN: Entire State.

SIZE LIMIT: 12 inches.

DAILY BAG LIMIT: 5.

POSSESSION LIMIT ANYTIME: 5.

Freshwater Drum (Sheepshead)

OPEN SEASON: No closed season.

AREA OPEN: Entire State.

SIZE LIMIT: No size limit.

DAILY BAG LIMIT: 10.

POSSESSION LIMIT ANYTIME: 10.

Total Bag and Possession Limit: No more than 25 game fish of all kinds combined may be taken in any one day, nor more than 25 game fish of all kinds combined be had in possession at any one time, excepting perch, no limit on perch.

Returning Fish to Water: All fish caught that are under the legal size limits as specified herein, and all fish legally taken that are not to be counted in the bag limit, must be returned immediately to the water with as little injury as possible.

Reservoirs and Lakes Open to Fishing: All reservoirs and lakes within the State not closed or restricted because of Federal regulations or otherwise closed or posted, are declared open to the public for fishing, subject to the rules and regulations of the Commission.

Restricted Areas: Restricted areas shall be designated on various lakes during the spawning season in which areas fishing shall not be permitted.

Fishing in the three drainage ditches in Lincoln County, between Sutherland and North Platte, shall be alternated as follows, leaving one ditch open to fishing each year; These streams are closed to spearing and to seining of bait at all times.

No. 1 North Drain Ditch: Starting about two miles west and one mile north of Hershey and flowing east to the Platte River—is closed to fishing during 1948, and until April 1, 1950.

No. 2 Middle Drain Ditch: Starting just southeast of Hershey and flowing east, joining No. 1 ditch west of North Platte—is open to fishing April 1, 1948 and closed November 1, 1948.

No. 3 South Drain Ditch: Starting south and east of Sutherland flowing east on the south side of the South Platte River and flowing into the South Platte River about one mile east of Hershey—is closed to fishing during 1948 and until April 1, 1949.

The following streams in Scotts Bluff, Morrill and Sioux Counties are closed to fishing February 1, 1948 until April 1, 1949 and closed to spearing and seining for bait at all times:

1. Stuekenhole Creek 2. Dry Spotted Tail Creek and Tributaries 3. Spotted Tail Creek and Tributaries

The main channel of the Nemaha River and the Little Nemaha River and within one miles of the mouth of any of the tributaries running into said rivers in Richardson, Pawnee, Gage, Johnson, Nemaha, Otoe, and Lancaster Counties shall be closed to spearing and to seining for bait at all times. Bait seining, therefore, will be permitted in the tributaries one mile above the mouth of each tributary to the source.

The following streams are closed to spearing and to the seining for bait at all times and closed to fishing from November 1 to April 1, effective February 1, 1948, until further change by the Commission:

I Antelope County: Verdigre Creek and all tributaries

II Banner County: Pumpkin Creek and all tributaries

III Box Butte County: Niobrara River

IV Brown ,County: 1. Long Pine Creek 2. Plum Creek and all tributaries 3. Calamus River 4. Goose Creek

V Cherry County: 1. North Loup River and all tributaries   18 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA—1948 2. Schlegal Creek 3. Fairfield Creek 4. Cedar Creeks 5. Snake River and all tributaries 6. Plum Creek and all tributaries 7. Bear Creek 8. Goose Creek

VI Cheyenne County: Cedar Creek

VII Custer County: South Loup River above Arnold

VIII Cheyenne County: 1. Chadron Creek 2. Big Bordeaux Creek 3. Little Bordeaux Creek 4. Squaw Creek 5. White River above Crawford 6. Niobrara River above Mirage Flats diversion dam at Old Dunlap and all tributaries 7. Dead Horse Creek 8. Deep Creek 9. White Clay Creek 10. West Ash Creek 11. Deadman Creek

IX Dundy County: 1. Buffalo Creek 2. Rock Creek

X Garden County: Blue Creek

XI Garfield County: Cedar River

XII Holt County: 1. Steele Creek 2. North Branch of Verdigre 3. Middle Branch of Verdigre 4. South Branch of Verdigre 5. Brush Creek 6. Red Bird Creek 7. Eagle Creek 8. Big Sandy Creek 9. Cedar River

XIII Hooker County: Dismal River and all Tributaries

XIV Keith County: 1. Otter Creek 2. White Tail Creek 3. Lonergin Creek

XV Kimball County: Lodgepole Creek and all tributaries-west of Owasco Irrigation Canal Dam Located in Sec. 29, T-15, R-55W and approximately 100 feet east of State Highway No. 29.

XVI Knox County: 1. North, Middle and South Verdigre and all tributaries above town of Verdigre 2. Steele Creek

XVII Logan County: South Loup River

XVIII Morrill County: 1. Cedar Creek 2. Red Willow Drain 3. Pumpkin Creek and all tributaries 4. Plum Creek 5. Wild Horse Creek 6. Lyman Drain 7. Miller Drain 8. Myrtle Hill Drain 9. North and South Drain 10. Suhr Drain 11. Silvernail Drain

XIX Rock County: 1. Calamus River 2. Long Pine Creek

XX Scotts Bluff County: 1. Winter Creek Drain 2. Nine Miles Drain 3. Sheep Creek Drains 4. Dry Sheep Creek Drains 5. Tub Spring Drains 6. Minatare Drain 7. Ackers Draw

XXI Sherdian County: 1. Snake River 2.Larrabee Creek 3. Pine Creek 4. White Clay Creek 5. Deer Creek 6. Little Bordeaux Creek

XXII Sioux County: 1. Sheep Creek Drains 2. Dry Sheep Creek Drains 3. Niobrara River and all tributaries 4. White River and all tributaries 5. Monrow Creek 6. Sow Belly Creek 7. Hat Creek 8. Dean Man Creek 9. Deep Creek 10. Squaw Creek

XXIII Thomas County: Dismal River

XXIV Wheeler County: Cedar River

OUTDOOR NEBRASKA—1948 19

CANVASBACKS, MALLARDS, AND TEAL

By LEVI L. MOHLER

Sometime ago, OUTDOOR NEBRASKA mentioned to its readers that a book entitled "The Canvasback on a Prairie Marsh" was now available. I don't know how many readers have seen the book, but I'd like to pass on to other duck hunters some of the questions which H. Albert Hochbaum, the author, has put down there in his very enlightening and thought-provoking way.

During the past ten years Hochbaum has spent most of his time at the Delta Marsh, in Manitoba. It has been his job to study this duck marsh and its ducks in order to get information which is sorely needed in the management of waterfowl on this continent. A number of Nebraskans have had the pleasure of talking ducks with Hochbaum lately,— he was in the states in December,—and it's great to meet such a fellow. He knows our duck problems and he gives you the story straight from the marsh, and straight from the shoulder, without pulling any punches.

The Delta Duck Station in recent years has been sort of a mecca for waterfowl workers. Nebraska's John Wampole, the Game Commission's biologist who works with ducks here in the Cornhusker state, spent his vacation at Delta last summer in order to get better acquainted with the whole waterfowl picture and he and Hochbaum have been swapping information on ducks for some time.

Are there really more greenheads than hens? Does early shooting cut into our supply of breeding females more than later shooting? Can depleted species, such as canvasbacks and redhead, stand as long a shooting season as mallards and pintails which have extensive breeding ranges? What effect does December and January shooting of paired mallards have upon reproduction? When we consider such questions, we have to admit that in most areas we have practically no information which will answer such questions. Then what can we do about it? Let's get down to cases. But, for the areas we hunt, do we know anything about the bag of drakes compared to hens, the total kill of gadwalls compared to redheads, or whether local hunting kills a higher proportion of young to adults than were reared during the past season?

All of the above suggests that duck hunters keep some records,—and they can perform a valuable service to waterfowl management by doing so. We have a handful of men working on these problems,—but the work would go ahead much faster if several hundred duck hunters would pitch in too. Such information is needed particularly from eastern Nebraska. The state probably gets ducks from two major flyways and hence the eastern data is needed as well as the western in order to plan future management, including hunting regulations, most wisely.

And how about our crippling losses? Do we take the legal limit and leave an equal number crippled or dead? Ever think about counting our down-but-lost birds as part of our daily bag? Some hunters squawk about predators,—but unless we kill cleanly we hunters are probably the sloppiest and most damaging "predators" of all.

About all we hope to do here is acquaint the reader with a few of the questions which are, for the most part, unanswered. Pacts reported by hunters on their 1947 hunters' report cards, and data gathered by game biologist John Wampole in his hunting season studies in western Nebraska, are given under "Wildlife Notes" on page 22 of this issue of OUTDOOR NEBRASKA.

(Editor's note:) Duck hunters who would really like to help the game department in getting the kind of information needed may volunteer their record-keeping cooperation now. Cooperating hunters will be supplied with easy-to-keep report blanks. A summary of the information obtained will be given each cooperator after the next season ends. A postal card saying "I want to keep a duck hunting record" will get you on the mailing list. Address the card to Waterfowl Investigations, Game Commission, Lincoln, Nebraska.

20 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA—1948

DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!

By HENRY P. DAVIS Public Relations Division, Remington Arms Co.

The time for every sportsman, sportswoman and every individual interested in the outdoors, regardless of his love for the sports of hunting and fishing, to rally to the cause of wildlife restoration is NOW. Like Mark Twain's weather, there has been a lot of TALK about present and future wildlife supplies. Unlike Mark Twain's weather, there IS something we can do about it. And there has been a good deal of constructive ACTION. But what we need to do is balance the TALK with ACTION. We may preach wildlife management practices, outline wildlife restoration programs and institute constructive legislation, but if we do not follow through with cooperative and concerted ACTION, all of this intensive effort may go for naught.

My twenty-five years of active experience in working with sportsman's clubs and conservation organizations has convinced me that the greatest difficulty experienced by these units lies in the lack of a definite program. The goal is there in plain sight, but how to reach it presents a problem which is something else again. It is fairly easy to get a group of sportsmen together and weld them into an organization, but to make that organization effective for the common good is another matter. The main reason for the inertia in sportsmen's organizations is the fact that but few of the individual members are given anything to do. There is no organization or community which does not have its own specific problems, and no national program for wildlife restoration will fit all the individual problems of every community. Sportsmen's groups are mainly concerned with their own local situations, and should their efforts be effective in their own bailiwicks, the whole national picture is helped.

Club officials should carefully study their own local conditions, lay out a well-thought-through program of activity for the solution of existing problems and then put this program into effect. Discuss the proposed program with the state game and fish administration. Ask them for cooperation and guidance. This eliminates wasted effort and loss of time. In approaching the launching of any program, officials should study their own individual membership, find out where the personal interests of each member lie, pick those individuals whose preferences and inclinations make them best fitted to tackle a specific job and then charge them with the responsibility of getting that job done, backing them up with what official assistance is needed. With all members working in full, or even near, harmony toward a common goal, with each man knowing what is expected of him and possessed of the know-how to do the job, no club's sound program of accomplishment can fail entirely. Should there be a cog missing in the wheel or a laggard or two in key positions, the progress of the program is materially retarded, to say the least. The responsibility for keeping the wheel turning and the workers in line rests upon the club officials themselves. No man should be elected to club office simply because he is a good fellow or a glib talker. This type is easy to find in any organization. The success of an organization depends upon the willingness of its members to WORK. A few willing souls generally carry the whole load, and too many members are content to sit back and let the others do it. With good organizers in key positions this won't happen.

There are always many members in every organization who are perfectly willing to pitch in and get a job done if they are only told WHAT TO DO and HOW TO DO IT. Sometimes the latter isn't necessary, but these fellows simply must be led and cannot be depended upon to use their own initiativeness.

There is never any dearth of wildlife problems to be solved and situations to be corrected. It's easy enough to find SOMETHING TO DO if one will only look for it. If the club members don't know the answers themselves, there is always something they can DO about that, too. State game and fish departments have technicians who can find solutions to these problems and these wildlife administrators are always anxious to help any bunch of fellows who want to help themselves. In fact, that is one of their jobs as wildlife administrators. The Wildlife Management Institute, Investment Building, Washington, D. C, has a field staff of trained men who can also lend a hand. These men, like those in similar capacity for other organizations, may not always be available but are willing to help whenever possible.

OUTDOOR NEBRASKA—1948 21

THE 1947 QUAIL SEASON

By DAVID DAMON Biologist, Quail Investigations

The following information has been compiled from the reports submitted by cooperating quail hunters. In addition to the hunting reports, we received over 400 quail wings from old cooperators by means of which we were able to determine the age ratio of birds in the bag. New (first year) cooperators are asked only for a report of their hunting success— no wings are requested from this group except in special cases.

Most of us do not care to wade through a lot of statistics and if we do, we may end up in a more confused state of mind than when we began. However, if you were one of the hundreds who went after quail last November, you are probably interested in a report of hunters' success and the statistics may not be dull, particularly if you like to see how your success (or was it failure?) stacks up with the average of all hunters' reporting.

Hunting Time: Reports indicated that the quail hunter spent more time afield this year than in any previous year. Last season quail hunters averaged 3.4 hunting trips and 3 hours and 45 minutes per trip which makes about 12% hours for the season. The greatest number of quail hunting trips reported was 10. In spite of the increased hunting pressure, the evidence is that we are still under-harvesting our quail.

Hunting Success: What luck did the hunters have in finding and bagging the quail? Birds appeared to be as numerous as in past years (since 1944). Coveys were flushed at the rate of 1 every hour and 8 minutes, but these rates varied quite a bit according to counties. The range was from 1 covey flushed each hour in Pawnee and Otoe counties (much more hunting was reported in Pawnee) to 1 covey every 2 hours in Nemaha county. Unfortunately, we received no hunting reports from Jefferson county.

Quail were bagged at the average rate of 1.1 bird per gun per hour. Here too, the counties showed considerable variation in hunters' success. Otoe county showed the best success with 1% quail put in the bag every gun hour; Pawnee county's average was slightly less than 1 bird each hour, while Nemaha was poorest, about % of a quail bagged each hour. The bag for the season (all counties) averaged a little less than 14 quail.

An average of 1.2 quail were bagged for each covey flushed. When dogs accompanied hunters, 1.6 birds were secured for each covey found, whereas dogless hunters took home only 0.9 quail for each covey found. The reason for this is that those hunters who used dogs were able to recover more of the birds that they knocked down. When dogs were used only 9% of the knocked down birds were lost, while without dogs the hunter lost 20% of his birds. The moral is, "Take a dog along." Last season dogs were taken on 60% of the hunting trips which still leaves a lot of dogless hunting trips. Over 1/4 of the hunting trips resulted in limit bags (7 birds) and slightly over 1/10 of the trips yielded no birds. In other words, hunters were getting the limit nearly 3 times more often than they were coming home empty-handed.

If you shot 6 shells for each bird you bagged, then you were doing average shooting.

Sex and Age Ratios: The quail bags have always run heavily to cocks and this season was no exception. Nearly 60% of the birds bagged were cocks. Stated as a ratio, we say that 148 cocks were bagged for every 100 hens.

The ratio of young birds to old birds continued to hold up well. Since this year's birds produce most of next year's young, fairly high ratio of young birds in the fall population is desirable. Eighty-one per cent of the bagged quail were birds which had hatched in 1-927. This is a ratio of 429 young to 100 old birds.

The response to our requests for hunters' reports and quail wings has been gratifying and to each of you who have assisted in this work, we say "Thank you." We plan to call on you for similar help each year and hope that other cooperators will be added to our list. With the assistance of many cooperating quail hunters, we are able to obtain the information which is needed in order to wisely manage this game bird.

If you want more detailed information than is contained in this rather brief summary, do not hesitate to write to us. We want to help you.

22 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA—1948

WILDLIFE NOTES

By LEVI L. MOHLER MOSTLY MALLARDS

Mallards made up 85 percent of 3,481 ducks checked during the 1947 season at Ogallala and Lewellen by John Wampole, game biologist of Grant, Nebraska.

Drakes outnumbered hens in the mallard take by about 17 to 10. Hunters who selectively take greenheads are probably giving the ducks a break since field counts show an excess of drakes.

In 1947 at Ogallala slightly more than two young mallards were checked for each adult mallard. The ratio of young birds to adult females was slightly over 4 to 1.

In numbers bagged, mallards were id followed in order by gadwalls, green-winged teal, pintails, baldpates, redheads and goldeneyes.

COYOTE FOOD HABITS

Year-around studies of coyote food habits are under the supervision of biologist Edson Pichter. 143 coyote stomachs collected in 1947 contained far more rabbit remains than all other food items combined. Less than a tenth of the stomachs contained pheasant remains while over two-thirds contained rabbit and about one-fourth contained mouse remains.

Field studies are essential in the evaluation of laboratory findings in food habits investigations, and such studies are going on in 1948 in connection with the laboratory studies.

PHEASANTS BAGGED IN 1947

The average season bag was 5 pheasants in 1947 according to hunters' report cards returned.

On the average, hunters reported one pheasant down but lost for every 5 pheasants bagged.

Hunters report cards showed an average duck bag of 8 ducks per waterfowl hunter for the season.

Goose hunters spend about six days of hunting per goose bagged, and goose hunters reporting took slightly less than two geese as an average for the season.

About three-fourths of the reporting hunting permit buyers hunted pheasants in 1947 and about a third of them hunted waterfowl.

In the counties open to quail shooting about one-fourth of those reporting hunted quail. For the state as a whole the figure was much lower.

Quail hunters flushed coveys at about a covey per hour of hunting time,—which means very satisfactory hunting. Quail hunters cooperated with David Damon, biologist in charge of quail investigations, in keeping records of their hunting.

Hunters without dogs lost about 20 percent of the quail they downed. Hunters using dogs lost about 9 percent.

Pheasant hunters in 1947 averaged 1.3 pheasants bagged per hunting day compared to slightly over 2 per day in 1946. Shooting was permitted only in afternoons in 1947 and all day in 1946.

Squirrel and rabbit hunting dropped off in 1947 considerably. The unusual weather and foliage conditions no doubt contributed to the decreased number of people hunting these species and to the decreased average season bag.

Considerable pheasant hunting pressure has shifted from central to south central Nebraska in the past few seasons, but Wayne county had heavier hunting pressure than any other county in 1947. Other counties which were rather heavily hunted included Adams, Hall, Madison, Howard, Stanton, Platte, Fillmore, Clay and Colfax.

THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW

The longest flight on record for any banded bird is that of an Arctic Tern banded at Turnevik Bay, Laborador, and found on the beach at Margate on the east coast of South Africa. The shortest possible distance between points is 8,000 miles and the probable course would be around 9,000 miles.

The hippopotamus is really a pig. His name means river horse.

The butterfly was originally called the flutterby.

The dog was the first, and the horse the last, animal to be domesticated by man.

The armored catfish does not have ordinary scales, but rather overlapping armor plates. The fish, good scavengers, lay eggs in bubble-nests in plants at the surface of water.

OUTDOOR NEBRASKA—1948 23

THE THIN THREAD OF COMMON SENSE

An Editorial

Sometimes it is difficult to keep both feet on solid ground and both eyes trained on the horizon. A glance over the tremendous volume of literature appearing in periodicals on the subject of wildlife conservation will disclose that the condition of our natural resources, like our politics, is but a symptom of a sick, sick world. Our most valuable resource, soil, is literally washing down the drain. With that soil must go our wildlife resources. The two are inseparable.

Nearly everyone agrees that we are going deeper and deeper into an unhealthy state of affairs; the diagnosis is simple enough. But try to find more than a handful of people who agree on the proper treatment and cure of the disease! Ask a leading question about what is wrong with our hunting and fishing in any group of sportsmen, and you will have touched off an argument of cataclysmic proportions. Mention ducks, nheasants, trout, quail, or deer; then sit back (if you can) and listen to the airing of an alarming array of theories. Everyone, it seems, has a prescription to releive the pain of our suffering resources The prescriptions, somehow, vary directly with the number of persons present. And the patient suffers on.

Take, for example, fishing. Have you heard these arguments before? "We need more and bigger fish hatcheries to supply fullgrown fish to our lakes and streams. We have a lot of small fish, but they don't seem to reach legal size. Bigger, hatchery produced fish are the answer."

"Let's quit wasting money on fish hatcheries. Most of our waters are already over-stocked to the point that fish starve to death competing with each other for food. Cut out the bag limits and minimum size limits and open the season the year around. There is the answer to the need for better fishing."

"Down with pollution. Industrial pollution is the evil which is destroying the fish in our streams."

"Carp are the culprits! Eliminate carp from our lakes and streams and we will once again have good fishing."

As the arguments become louder and more heated, you wait for someone to suggest that it might help matters if we were to arrange to keep our topsoil up on the hills and plains where it belongs, instead of gushing downstream to provide fertility to an already fertile Mississippi delta. The thread of common sense is strained, at times, in arguments like these.

So much for diagnosis. Now, if we could just get together on a little practical therapy. Listen to these prescriptions, none of which are a preceptably more painful than the disease: "Close the season for five years!"

"Raise the price of duck stamps." "Death to all predators, especially crows." (U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service records show that on federal waterfowl refuges bullsnakes destroy many more ducks than crows do.)

"Let's have more research to get at the basic facts of the waterfowl dilemma."

"Let's quit wasting money on research and get down to some practical action."

"Cut out non-resident duck hunting. If you are short of birds in your state, that's just too bad, buddy!"

You may have heard this type of argument (?): "Let's have a later season. The birds were gone south before we got a chance at them." This one came up last year in a state not too far distant from here: "Give us back live decoys. We are not bagging our share of birds."

Heard enough? If not, bring up the subject of deer, quail, or, if you feel lucky, pheasants. In the case of the latter, keep an eye on the nearest exit. The argument may become really rough!

Sometimes the thread of plain, common sense is strained indeed as it stretches its way through a cloud of conflicting, pressure-borne arguments. We of Nebraska, here in the heart of a conservative Middle-west, like to think that we have our feet on the ground and our eyes directed toward ever-widening horizons. Let's keep our thinking along the line of that thin, taut thread of common sense.