Outdoor Nebraska

PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY NEBRASKA GAME, FORESTATION AND PARKS COMMISSION Editor: Dick H. Schaffer Associate editors: Dan McGrew, Pete Czura Photographer writer: Gene Hornbeck Artist: Claremonl G. Pritchard Circulation: Phyllis Martin SEPTEMBER. 1958 Vol, 36. No. 9 25 cents per copy $1.75 for one year $3 for two years Send subscriptions to: OUTDOOR NEBRASKA. State Capitol Lincoln 9 NEBRASKA GAME COMMISSION Floyd Stone, Alliance, chairman Leon A. Sprague, Red Cloud, vice chairman Don F. Robertson, North Platte George Pinkerton, Beatrice Robert H. Hall, Omaha Keith Kreycik, Valentine Robert F. Kennedy, Columbus DIRECTOR M. O. Steen DIVISION CHIEFS Eugene H. Baker, engineering and operations Glen R. Foster, fisheries Lloyd P. Vance, game Dick H. Schaffer, information and education Jack D. Strain, land management and parks PROJECT AND ASSISTANT PROJECT LEADERS Orty Orr, fisheries (Lincoln) Phil Agee, game (Lincoln) Clarence Newton, land management (Lincoln) Dale Bree, land management Malcolm D. Lindeman, operations (Lincoln) Frank Sleight, operations (Lincoln) Harvey Miller, waterfowl (Bassett) Bill Bailey, big game (Alliance) DISTRICT SUPERVISORS DISTRICT I (Alliance, phone 412) L. J. Cunningham, law enforcement Lem Hewitt, operations John Mathisen, game Keith Donoho, fisheries Robert L. Schick, land management DISTRICT II (Bassett, phone 334) John Harpham, law enforcement Delmar Dorsey, operations Jack Walstrom, game Bruce McCarraher, fisheries Gerald Chaffin, land management DISTRICT III (Norfolk, phone 2875) Robert Benson, law enforcement Lewis Klein, operations Gordon Heebner, game H. O. Compton, big game George Kidd, fisheries Harold Edwards, land management DISTRICT IV (North Platte, phone 4425-26) Samuel Grasmick, law enforcement Robert Thomas, fisheries Chester McClain, land management Gale B. Mast, game DISTRICT V (Lincoln, phone 5-2951) Bernard Patton, law enforcement Robert Reynolds, operations George Schildman, game Richard Spady, land management Delvin M. Whiteley, land manager RESEARCH BIOLOGISTS Karl E. Menzel, coturnix quail (Lincoln) Raymond L. Linder, pheasants (Fairmont) AREA CONSERVATION OFFICERS William J. Ahern, Box 1197, North Loup, phone 89 Robert Ator, Box 66, Sutton, phone 4921 Cecil Avey, 519 4th Street, Crawford, phone 228 William F. Bonsall, Box 305, Alma, phone 154 H. Lee Bowers, Benkelman, phone 49R Dale Bruha, York Lor on Bunney, Box 675, Ogallala, phone 247 Ralph L. Craig, Box 462. Chappell, phone 4-1343 Robert Downing, Box 343, Fremont Lowell I. Fleming, Box 269, Lyons, phone mutual 7-2383 Raymond Frandsen, P. O. 373, Humboldt, phone 2411 John D. Green, 720 West Avon Road, Lincoln, phone 8-1165 Ed Greving, 501 So. Central Ave.. Kearney H. Burman Guyer, 1212 N. Washington, Lexington, phone Fairview 4-3208 Larry Iverson, Box 201, Hartington, phone 429 Norbert J. Kampsnider, 106 East 18th, Box 1, Grand Island, phone DUpont 2-7006 Jim McCole, Box 268, Gering, phone 837 L Jack Morgan, Box 603, Valentine, phone 504 Roy E. Owen, Box 288, Crete, phone 446 Paul C. Phillippe, Syracuse, phone 166W Fred Salak, Mullen, phone KI 6-6291 Herman O. Schmidt, Jr., 1011 East Fourth, McCook, phone 992W Harry A. Spall, 820 Clay Street, O'Neill, phone 637 Joe Ulrich. Box 1382, Bridgeport, phone 100 Lyman Wilkinson (unassigned) Richard Wolkow, 817 South 60th Street. Omaha, phone Capital 1293 V. B. Woodgate, Box 403, Fremont, Phone PArk 1-5715 Don. J. Wolverton, General Delivery, Rushville

IN THIS ISSUE:

PULL! Page 3 (Gene Hornbeck) NEBRASKA'S GAME ANIMALS OF THE ICE AGE .Page 6 (Dr. C. B. Schulrz) BULLDOZED FISHING Page 8 (Earl Kendle) THE DURANTES OF DOGDOM Page 10 (William C. Blizzard) GUN QUIZ Page 13 BIG-GAME BOWMEN Page 14 (Bill Bailey) ALL ABOUT COTURNIX Page 17 (Dan McGrew) THREE WEEKS WITH LAFB Page 20 (Norbert Kampsnider) FISHING COW COUNTRY Page 22 (Pete Czura) OUTDOOR ELSEWHERE Page 25 NOTES ON NEBRASKA FAUNA, (LONG-TAILED WEASEL) Page 26 (Dan McGrew) HELP WANTED! Page 28

PULL!

Bigger bags, fewer cripples, and more enjoyable bunting await those gunners who practice on clay birds

THE scene is jolly old England in the early 1800's, as a lordly gentleman steps from his gilded carriage dressed in top hat and red hunt jacket. A fawning valet hands him a beautifully engraved muzzle-loading shotgun. Then, stepping up to the firing line, he loads, calls for a bird, and fires at a live pigeon rocketing up from a box trap. As smoke clears, an attendant picks up the bird while the trapshooter reloads. Powder, wadding, shot, and wadding; his fowling piece is ready for another bird.

As the morning passes, some gunners tire of the repetitious sport and invent a new approach to shooting, forming what was known as the "Top Hat Club." Each shooter neatly tucked a live pigeon in his top hat, and on a given signal, reached up, removed that hat, and shot at the bird as it went buzzing off in most any direction. Novel sport but kind of tough on the wing.

This was the birth of our modern-day trapshooting. Shooting live birds is no longer legal, but in their place we have clay targets, along with many methods of "busting" them.

Trapshooting is more varied than skeet, for hand traps and small portable traps can be carried into the field for SEPTEMBER, 1958 3   shooting closely simulating actual field conditions. In skeet, the gunner fires from fixed stations at thrown targets with standard speeds and angles of flight.

Sharpening of the shooting eye for hunting season can be accomplished on the trap range. Contrary to some old beliefs, the shooter adept at breaking clay targets will make a better field shot than his counterpart who takes his gun off the shelf only when the first ducks start southward.

You need not shoot 5,000 rounds yearly to become a good shot with a scatter gun. A dozen boxes of shells will do wonders for your shooting eye. Your present gun or the one you intend to do your hunting with will suffice.

The hand trap is perhaps the most useful item for the average gunner wanting some preseason shooting. The single-target trap is sufficient, but you also can purchase one that will throw two or three rocks at one time for double and covey-shot practice.

Hand trapshooting lends itself as a sport for both the thrower and shooter. The former can try to outthink the shooter by throwing the targets in various directions and at variable speeds and angles. Hand traps are unsurpassed for teaching gun handling, safety, and the basic principles of sighting and pointing.

In the field the thrower should stand to the rear or side of the gunner for safety. You should have a 300-yard field for safe shooting. If you wish to shoot clay targets on private land, be sure to ask permission of the landowner.

Hand-trap games can be made to simulate almost any type of shooting; the thrower can vary his tosses to afford shots such as a close-to-the-ground rabbit shot, the somewhat higher quail or pheasant shot, and the high-flying duck or goose shot.

The versatility of the hand trap allows the thrower to walk beside the gunner, tossing targets at random in typical cover for down-to-earth practice. Many hunters have trouble with cross-over and incoming shots. Both can be thrown with the hand trap. On the cross-over, the thrower should stand a little to the rear and about 20 yards to one side, throwing up and across in front of the gunner. On the incoming shot, the thrower can get behind a slight ridge or embankment (for safety's sake), throwing over the rise to the waiting gunner. If your weak point is the high, going-away shot, turn your back to the thrower, call for your bird, and take it as it goes over.

No. 7% or 8 shot in the super trap loads are recommended for trapshooting. These 2% or 3-dram loads with the fine shot size are well-proven combinations for breaking blue rocks.

A 12 gauge is the choice of most trapshooters, but you can enjoy the sport with any shotgun.

Some tips on the fundamentals of trapshooting or any shooting would cover four basic steps plus five phases of the actual shooting. First, is to relax; second, stand naturally; third, lean into the gun; and last (before firing), keep your head down.

Steps in firing are: Pick up your target quickly; track it (swinging the gun to intercept its flight); correct your lead (learn to swing smoothly in correcting lead); fire (practice will enable you to pull at the right time); and follow through (your gun should continue to swing after firing to enable your swing to operate smoothly).

To summarize, raise the gun to the face in a smooth movement; don't strain, just cheek the stock firmly. Hold the butt solidly against your shoulder, good form makes a good shooter. Point your gun, don't aim it. Learning to shoot with both eyes open gives you a far better perspective of your target. Pull the trigger in a quick, steady movement.

Trapshooting is a growing sport which will, with the increasing population, become necessarily more important to supplement our game-bird shooting. Presently, our supply of game in Nebraska provides more than enough targets for our guns, but what about the future? Our shooting may follow trends of the heavily gunned, highly populated eastern states, where trap and skeet clubs are taking up slack for scatter-gun fans.

Nebraska has many club ranges where the gunner can do as much or as little firing as he wishes. Should he become what he thinks is "Old Daniel" with the scatter-gun, there is a place for him in state trapshooting circles. Nebraska shooters have and are taking many national 4 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA   honors in the sport. Natives such as Jim McCole of Gering, Bill Nelson of Scottsbluff, Bueford Bailey of Big Springs, Bud June of Scottsbluff, Ray Scheer of Arlington, and Wayne Kennedy of Kimball, are renowned as some of the top guns in America.

Stan Daneks, president of the State Sportsmen's Association, will represent the United States on the Olympics team in matches to be held in Moscow.

It is not strictly a man's game, although there is, of course, a predominant male participation. Blanche Bowers Ketler, Benkelman, has taken the ladies' state championship for the past nine years.

A regulation trapshooting layout consists of five stations. Each station has a 16 to 27-yard marker. The shooter fires five rounds from 16 or more yards then moves on, firing five more at each point until completing the five stations.

Targets are thrown at various angles, previously unknown to the shooter. Birds travel about 50 yards and average hits are made at 35 yards on a rising target.

Skeet shooting is done with the same type equipment, but procedure is quite different. The layout is a half circle, a high house at one end and a low house at the other. The birds are projected from these at the same angle each time, with the shooter taking a bird from first one house and then the other, moving around the half circle to each of the eight stations. After firing 16 rounds, he then fires a round of doubles from stations 1, 2, 6, and 7. For his 25th shot he must take his first miss. If he has 24 straight he may call for a target of his choice.

Firing lots of rounds in one year is quite hard on the pocketbook. Shells average $2.35 per box, and 135 targets $3.75. The average gunner will find, however, that shooting a few boxes on either the range or with a hand trap will pay off in more hits when hunting season rolls around.

Nebraska has many good clubs located throughout the state. Typical are those located at Grand Island, Lincoln, Omaha, Fremont, and Doniphan. For information on competitive shooting in the state, write to Gordon Still, Nebraska State Sportsmen's Association, Elm Creek. He is state secretary and has information on clubs nearest you, procedure in joining, and competition in regulation meets.

The Utopia for trapshooters is the Amateur Trapshooting Association's Grand American Shoot at Vandalia, Ohio. Some 2,000 gunners gather there each year to compete for national honors.

Conservation Officer Jim McCole of Gering, top gun in the state this year, will compete in the Grand American. Jim has this to say for the average shooter and the sport of trapshooting: Most gunners do not handle their guns enough. It is impossible for anyone, he continued, to become a top shooter by competing in only one or two meets a year. Practice, dry firing, and lots of shooting are the key to success.

Many gun owners are wondering what competitive shooting costs. A good example is Jim's first year in competition in which he shot 1,300 targets. Total cost of shells, targets, and entry and trophy fees was $208.

How much can you win if you are a top shooter? It isn't much. Most shooters very seldom break even, but should you enter the Grand American Handicap Shoot at Vandalia and walk off with top honors, you could win around $5,000. See you at Vandalia?

THE END SEPTEMBER, 1958

NEBRASKA'S GAME ANIMALS Of The ICE AGE

by Dr. C. B. Schultz Director of the University of Nebraska State Museum and Professor of Geology

DURING the not too distant geological past, just prior to recent times, the Nebraska prairies and forests were teeming with great herds of big-game animals. There were elephants (mammoths and mastodons), wild horses, tapirs, sabre-toothed tigers, jaguars, huge bears, camels, giant bison, sloths, and a multitude of others. These were the big game animals of the Ice Age or Pleistocene.

Today Nebraska has an impoverished big-game fauna, for only a few game animals survived the Ice Age. Undoubtedly North America's varied climatic conditions played a part in the extinction of many of the forms. Even in Nebraska there were times when the temperature must have reached 70° or more below zero, while at other times it was much warmer than today. The repeated advances and retreats of the ice kept the great game herds on the move. While only the eastern part of the state was actually covered with glacial ice, other portions were made inhospitable by deteriorated weather conditions. When the animals were forced to retreat to the south because of the weather and the glaciers, their food supplies were restricted and there was great overcrowding. Undoubtedly the weakened herds were ravaged by disease and pestilence caused by insects.

Then, near the end of the Ice Age, man migrated to North America from Asia via the trans-Bering land bridge. There were no hunting laws in Nebraska at that time, of course, and the newly arrived human inhabitants played an important part in the extinction of the biggame animals. At least the dart points and spearheads found associated with the bones of many of these Ice Age animals would lead one to think such. Man constantly followed the game herds during their migrations.

The average Nebraskan is apt to think that the Great Plains region has always been the way it is today, i.e., as far as the climate, plants, and animals are concerned. All these have constantly changed. Our weather of today is even different from when the early white settlers came to Nebraska. Also, no longer can one hunt the mountain sheep, bear, mountain lion, elk, bison, wolverine, and Canada lynx, all of which were fairly common to parts of Nebraska when it was made a state in 1867.

6 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA   State s rich fossil beds yield skeletal proof of terrific hunting open to prehistoric residents

The buried sands, gravels, silts, loesses, and soils of the Pleistocene of Nebraska have yielded vast quantities of fossilized bones, giving us the clues to our contantly changing faunas. There were continuous migrations of animals during the Ice Age. As the ice advanced toward the Nebraska region, the southern forms such as camels, Imperial and Columbian mammoths, jaguars, tapirs, peccaries, and sloths migrated southward where the climate was warmer. The glacial weather, however, was not too inhospitable, for we have evidence that such arctic animals as the caribou, musk oxen, wooly mammoths and mastodons, northern bears and wolves, and giant moose-like deer moved into the state and lived in areas not to distant from the ice and also in the adjacent tundra regions. Musk oxen skulls and wooly mammoth teeth and bones are frequently found today as far south as the Republican River Valley in southwestern Nebraska.

When the glaciers retreated and the weather became warmer, these arctic animals migrated back to the north and the southern ones returned to this area. Evidence at hand indicates that since medial Pleistocene times, the glaciers advanced and retreated at least seven times in north-central United States.

During the widespread glaciation an enormous amount of water was transferred from the oceans to the ice caps and glaciated regions and thus the sea level was lowered as much as 200 feet or more. Large areas in the coastal regions of our continent were extended seaward during the periods of greatest glaciation, only to be inundated again when the ice caps melted. Nebraska was too high above sea level to the affected by an inundation from the sea, but portions of Florida and the Gulf states were frequently covered with sea water during the Ice Age.

North America was connected to Asia at various times during the Pleistocene by land bridges in the Bering Strait region. Thus big game could migrate to or from Asia.

For example the mammoths, bison, wild cattle, musk oxen, and mountain sheep first migrated to North America from Asia during medial Pleistocene times. Prior to that time none of these animals existed here, or at least their fossilized bones have not been discovered in early Pleistocene deposits on this continent.

The camels, which had been typical of the Great Plains area for some 35 million years, migrated to both Asia and South America for the first time about the beginning of the Ice Age, 500,000 years ago or more. Camels, however, continued to live in the Great Plains as late as 7,000 or 8,000 years ago and were actually hunted by Early Man for food. More than a million camels (llamas) still live in South America, but they are entirely extinct here, their original home. Of course we can always go to the Pioneer Park Zoo in Lincoln, and see some llamas today, but we realize that they are South American forms. We should stop to realize, however, that most of their ancestors and relatives once lived on our continent. Nebraska has produced more fossilized camel bones than any geographic locality in the world.

Horses, too, were typical of the Great Plains landscape, having lived here as long as the camels. They also were hunted by Early Man for food and became extinct late in the Pleistocene at the same time as the camels. Early in the Pleistocene, however, some had migrated to Asia and these were1 (Continued on page 24)

SEPTEMBER, 1958 7

BULLDOZED FISHING

by Earl Kendle Associate Fisheries Biologist Eastern Nebraska anglers may have a great new fishing area at hand as a result of intensive research conducted by state fish biologists

NEBRASKA, unlike its northern neighbors, is not blessed with large numbers of natural lakes. Lacking Paul Bunyan's lake-making boot, Nebraska has turned to bulldozers and earthmovers to provide fish habitat, particularly in the heavily populated southeastern portion of the state. Scattered throughout Nebraska are small man-made lakes and farm ponds providing an excellent fishing potential for the crowded fisherman. This fishing potential, however, is infrequently realized.

Recognizing the inadequacy of present management methods developed largely in the southern states, the Game Commission is embarking on a study of the small impounded lakes and farm ponds in southeastern Nebraska. The Mutt and Jeff of the study lakes are a 137-acre lake being constructed at Burchard, and a one-half acre pond near Wymore. Through this study, new management procedures more suitable to this state will be developed to produce maximum fishing.

Game Commission biologists are planning to move right in with Mr. and Mrs. Fish to learn how well they like their man-made homes, and what can be done to increase their standard of living. Possibly the different kinds of fish in a pond are not compatible, and one kind nearly crowds the other species out of existence. This often is the case when bullheads, crappie, or carp are present, with the result that one or the other takes over house and home.

Failure to find enough to eat may be one difficulty encountered in their search for a happy home. Just as any given pasture can feed only a given number of cattle, so 8 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA   any given pond can feed only a given number of fish. If this number is exceeded, the fish do not grow well, and soon the pond is overrun with small, stunted fish.

The biologist can determine if an adequate food supply is available. This can be done through a study of the fish itself. What number of each kind of fish is present in the pond? How fast are the fish growing, and are they lean or fat?

By seining fish, marking them, and returning them to the water to be seined again, an estimate can be made of the fish population. The more seine hauls made in a lake, the more accurate the estimate. This method is very similar to the banding method of estimating duck and goose populations. By weighing and measuring the fish, their condition can be determined. Scales can be taken from the fish and the number of growth rings or annuli can be counted to determine their age.

Also, the food supply itself can be measured. This means that the number of insect larvae living in and on the bottom mud will be estimated. The number of small crustaceans, distant cousins of the crayfish often called water fleas, also will be estimated. The insects and water fleas are food for small fish which are, in turn, food for larger fish. The insect larvae and water fleas feed on microscopic plants suspended in the water.

These microscopic plants must have the proper nutrients to grow and multiply, just as wheat and corn need certain nutrients for good growth. Therefore, some measure will be made of the nutrient materials, such as phosphorous, in the water. The water depth to which sunlight will penetrate will need to be known, for the microscopic plants also need sunlight to grow.

Naturally, fish must be able to utilize the available food supply. Being cold-blooded animals, fish grow in relation to the temperature of the water. Largemouth bass, for example, do not begin feeding until water temperature reaches 50°F. At 70°F., they grow five times as fast as they do at 50°F. This rate of growth continues to increase as the temperature rises, although the increase in growth is not as rapid as from 50° to 70°F.

Even though water temperatures are not easily manipulated, some things can be done to change them. We know that turbid or dirty water and lakes full of weeds do not warm up as fast as clear weed-free water. Lakes which catch the full force of the wind also warm slower than protected lakes, and naturally shaded ponds do not warm as rapidly as ponds with plentiful sunshine. Nor need it always be a matter of raising the lake temperature. If trout lakes are being considered, holding the lake temperature down to keep it within a desirable range for trout is necessary. It is apparent that a record of water temperatures is of utmost importance.

Other important factors are the size, shape, and depth of the lake or pond, and the amount of cover needed to make the fish feel at home. If maps of the study lakes and ponds are not available, they will be made. These will indicate water volumes, surface areas, and the various depths of the lakes. This information evaluated in conjunction with the data on fish, fish foods, and water chemistry should point out the construction type most favorable for fish growth. A brush pile or a ledge under which to hide may be what they need to keep them "biting" happy. They may prefer a weed bed or just a few feet of water overhead. Whatever it may be, the biologists will be striving to find the answer.

Once new management procedures are developed for Nebraska's impounded waters, information bulletins and pamphlets will be printed. They will be designed to aid owners in managing their ponds and lakes to produce the best possible fishing for you. Information bulletins and pamphlets will be printed also to aid in the construction of new fishing waters.

THE END SEPTEMBER, 1958 9

THE DURANTES OF DOGDOM

by William C. Blizzard Loose and lean, tightly compact, keen of nose or eye. That's the hound, as varied in looks as in function.

WHEN a certain singer wailed that someone was "nothhV but a hound dog", the implication of uncertain ancestry and general worthlessness was unmistakable. Actually, the recipient of the alleged epithet should have been flattered, for the hound, in point of ancient lineage, variety of skills, and all-round worth and social usefulness, might rank several notches above the singer—at least to hound lovers. And that would include excellence of voice.

The hound is the Durante of dogdom, a sachem of sniff. His great nose, mounted on a powerful chassis, is almost uncanny in its keenness.

Joseph B. Thomas, author of Hounds and Hunting Through the Ages, says: "A really fine working hound is unquestionably an extraordinary animal, probably the most unusual of all domestic animals. He must have prodigious endurance, the best nose of all sporting dogs, cry, speed, strength, agility, brains, acquired experience, and be under the mounted huntsman's control where proper pack work is de rigueur. No other domestic animal used for sport is called upon for all the qualities that must be found in a good hound."

As stated before in this series, the hound has been crossed with other dogs, notably bird dogs, in order to improve the noses of the latter. So he has benefited other breeds in addition to being his own magnificent self. There are many types of hound, varying in size, conformation, and other characteristics. But all, excluding the greyhound and a few others not really in the hound classification, have a common denominator: a nose of awesome keenness. The greyhound, along with other large, swift dogs of acute vision, was developed in ancient times for sight-hunting the stag. His use at present is largely confined to racing around a circular track in pursuit of an artificial bunny.

These animals are not, however, limited to the racetrack. In Nebraska, for instance, Alfred and Charles Shafer of Shubert, Wayne and Loye Dettman of Falls City, and Wayne and Leon Harshbarger of Stella, use the greyhound to run down and kill coyotes and foxes. In 1956, their biggest year, 147 coyotes died under the fangs of the swift hounds.

The development of scenting hounds took many centuries of intelligent breeding. But they were no doubt known to the Greeks, as is indicated by certain passages of Homer concerning Argos, the white hound of Ulysses. The Romans too, knew the hound, for Cicero, in de Nalura Deorum, speaks with admiration of the animal's 10 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA   great scenting ability. It appears that the hound was used in war as well as hunting.

Packs of hunting hounds were known in France and elsewhere on the continent at least as early as 100 B.C. It is probable that the modern bloodhound, the best trailer of all dogs, was derived from the St. Hubert breed known as early as the 14th century. The St. Hubert was probably the same dog called the Flanders hound, a thorough, slow trailer of the 12th century and earlier.

Little is known of hounds in England until after the Norman conquest (1066), but the first English breed was the Talbot. This hound resembled the bloodhound, and the St. Hubert was probably in its ancestry. Many hounds in the United States are believed to have Talbot blood in their lineage.

It is worth mentioning that the keeping of large kennels and hunting on a major scale was once, for obvious reasons, a privilege of royalty. Later, landed gentry became avid followers of the chase. A similar pattern was followed in this country, insofar as large kennels were concerned. Today, hunting is no longer a rich man's sport.

Much of the history of hounds in England seems to date from the Norman conquest, and some authorities call William the Conqueror the father of English hunting. This monarch claimed most of the large forests of England as his private hunting grounds. A poacher was killed immediately, not like a dog, but as a dog might not be.

Louis XIII of France loved hounds so much he kept them in his bedroom. Says Saint-Simon, a famed diarist of the time: "The dogs slept en masse in his bed; bitches had their puppies there." He had 500 horses and over 1,000 dogs, cared for by several hundred attendants.

As late as 1903, the Grand Duke Nicholas of Russia had 200,000 acres set aside as his personal hunting preserve. He kept 200 foxhounds and 100 borzoi (wolfhounds) along with 100 hunting horses and the requisite personnel to maintain these animals.

It has been mentioned in an earlier article that Hernando de Soto probably brought the first hounds to the New World, and used them to hunt Indians, or so it is alleged. But early English colonists without doubt brought dogs with them, and the hound is certain to have been well represented. Hunting to the colonists was not so much a sport as a necessity. And Old Rover did double duty as a guard dog, just as he does today around the farmhouse.

The first pack of hounds of which there is record in America belonged to Thomas Brooke, a member of a prominent British family who came to Maryland in 1650. From this pack sprang the famous Brooke hounds, sires of many strains of American hounds.

The hound accompanied English settlers as they migrated westward. One of these peripatetic explorers was Dr. Thomas Walker, who imported hounds from England in 1742. A famous breed of hound, the Walker, is not, however, traceable to him, but was developed by a namesake at a later date. Dr. Walker established the Castle Hill Hounds, as he called his English imports, in Albemarle County, Virginia.

George Washington was a hound fancier. In his diary, Washington relates that in August 1785, he received from the Marquis de la Fayette "three dogs and four bitches." The Father of his Country used these French hounds in hunting fox. Other prominent men in American history, including Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, and Alexander Hamilton loved the hound.

The introduction of the hound into the West took place in 1878. Percival Rosseau belonged to a family that had received a land grant in Louisiana from Louis XIV. Living rather like continental gentry, the family had kept hounds for years. But the Civil War changed things, and Percival found himself in need of recouping the family fortunes. He therefore migrated to Texas where he found both cattle and abundant game.

So he sent home for 12 of the family hounds. They were transported 2,000 miles up the Mississippi River to St. Louis, by train to Denver and Pueblo, Colorado, then another 500 miles on foot to the Texas panhandle, a total SEPTEMBER, 1958 11   journey of almost 4,000 miles. Rosseau used the hound dogs on panther and other game for years, and it is probable that descendants of his pack are baying today in the land of cattle, Cadillacs, and oil, as well as points north and west.

Hounds may be conveniently classified according to the game they've been trained to hunt. In the United States, three major classifications are foxhounds, coonhounds, and rabbit hounds. The hound, however, is a versatile animal, and with little or no training will hunt whatever is at hand, be it bear, deer, bobcat, mountain lion, or other big and small game. He may even be used on birds.

The foxhound will be considered first. As has been noted, he was brought here by fairly well-to-do men who wished to continue English traditions of riding to hounds. It does not follow, as has been seen in the case of George Washington, that these were always English hounds. For English and continental sportsmen experimented with various breeds from different countries.

But the formal fox hunt, complete with red coats and fine horses, did not spread into all classes. For monetary reasons, if for no others, the imitation of English landed gentry could not be attempted by men of ordinary incomes. And in America the great outdoors was untamed and unformalized, a far cry from well-ordered Englisli fields and the forest of Chantilly, whose allees resembled nothing so much as huge, well-clipped, rustic bowling alleys.

In England, fox burrows are "stopped" or sealed the night before the hunt so that Reynard has no choice but to keep running before the hounds. This is not possible in the United States, where rugged terrain does not permit finding all possible burrow entrances and exits. This formal riding to hounds is the least popular method of foxhunting practiced in the United States. It is largely confined to the eastern states and sections of Virginia, Maryland and Kentucky.

In New England and a few other areas the fox is hunted with a gun behind a slow-moving, sure-nosed hound. The object is to shoot the fox, and, with good Yankee business sense, pocket the bounty.

The third type of fox hunter outnumbers both other classes combined. He is probably most numerous in the southern states, and his ranks include farmers, businessmen, white-collar workers, and professional people. They hunt the fox at night and don't shoot the animal. Their sport is in listening to the cry of the hounds as they pursue their quarry. Some hunters own only one hound but this hound is made a part of the pack, and the owner can identify his dog by sound.

And the voice changes with aspects of the chase, depending upon whether the game is close at hand or far away. The voice of, the pack is a language, and an enjoyable one, full of music.

There are several breeds used for fox hunting. While many have been developed primarily to hunt fox, they may be used for almost any other game. An expert in the field has said that a foxhound is a foxhound when he is used for hunting foxes. Trained to hunt raccoon, the same dog might switch classification with ease, so it may be said that the foxhound is a type rather than a breed.

The type varies in accordance with the sort of fox hunting being done. Hounds used in formal hunts before horses are generally blooded dogs registered with the American Kennel Club. They are bred for conformation and pack uniformity. The New England foxhound will have a nose that ties him to a trail, but speed is a disadvantage, for it would drive the fox out of rifle range. The little beagle is often used for this work.

The moonlight hunter of the South may be almost any hound breed, or even a mixture of breeds. But he must be fast to keep up with the red fox, and he must voice well. In order to travel fast he must be able to utilize air-borne scent rather than depend entirely on foot scent.

The most popular strain of foxhound is the Walker, a medium-size dog still closely resembling the old-style English foxhound. He comes from Kentucky, and was developed, for the most part, by George Washington Maupin and John W. Walker. It is an oddity in the history of the modern Walker that he results to an extent from a cross between the Maupin-Walker stock and a hound of unknown ancestry.

This hound, called Tennessee Lead, was lifted from a pack in Tennessee while the pack was chasing a deer. This stolen dog was taken to Kentucky and presented to Maupin. Found to be a prize fox hunter, he was named Tennessee Lead and bred to Maupin-Walker bitches. At least two other imports from England further contributed to the breed. The present Walker is now found wherever foxes are chased for sport.

The Trigg hound, named for its developer, Colonel Haiden C. Trigg of Glasgow, Kentucky, looks a bit like a Walker on stilts. The Trigg is long in leg and racy in appearance. He was, in fact, bred for speed with the encroachment of the red fox into the South after the Civil War.

The rootstock of the Trigg hound was a pack imported from Ireland by Dr. T. Y. Henry of Virginia, a grandson of Patrick Henry. Dr. Henry went to Florida for his health and took his hounds along. This move almost wiped out the pack, for the dogs liked to chase deer through Florida swamps and the many huge alligators there fed on the tasty Irish hounds. The doctor presented the remnants of his pack to George L. F. Birdsong of Georgia in order to spare the survivors.

Birdsong crossed the hounds with a dog from Maryland named July, and progeny and descendents came to be known as the July strain of the Birdsong hounds. Actually, it seems that July had much the same blood lines as the rest of the Birdsong hounds, but the differentiation was nevertheless made.

Colonel Trigg secured some of the Birdsong hounds after the Civil War, later crossing them with Walker hounds having the famed Tennessee Lead's bloodline. The result is a fast, excellent hunter.

The coonhound is a hound that hunts coons, and may be of a breed originally bred (Continued on page 16)

12 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA

GUN QUIZ

Answers below photograph

HOW much do you know about the guns you use? The following true or false quiz will test your allround knowledge of guns and ammunition.

(True or False)

1. The system of determining gauges of shotguns was originally designated by thousandths of an inch; thus, 12 gauge would be .120.

2. The term "3-dram equiv.", in describing loads of powder, means the amount of smokeless powder used to produce the same shot velocity as three drams of the old black powder.

3. Rifle calibers are determined by bore diameter before the rifling is cut.

4. If the bullet from a rifle held parallel to the earth is fired, and at the same instant a bullet of the same weight held at muzzle height is released, both bullets will reach the ground at the same time.

5. In shooting at game with a rifle, a hunter must remember to make a large allowance for bullet rise when shooting downhill or drop when shooting uphill.

6. Recoil of a gun will affect the point of aim unless the shooter holds his weapon firmly.

7. The most popular deer rifle in use today is the .30/06.

8. A mallard flying at moderate speed will cover 40 feet a second.

9. The rifled slug for the shotgun will ream out the choke.

10. The shotgun and rifled slug is legal for use on deer in Nebraska.

11. The 1958 rifle season for deer in Nebraska begins November 1 and ends on November 5.

12. A light, high-speed bullet should be of the hollow or soft-point variety to be effective on larger game.

13. The shot string of a high-pressure shotgun load is about 11 feet long at 60 yards.

14. The percentage of pellets in a 60 inch circle at 40 yards determines the choke of your shotgun.

15. Nos. 5 or 6 shot are recommended for all-round hunting, with No. IV2 better for quail and 4 more suitable for pass shooting on ducks.

QUIZ ANSWERS

1. False. The system of determining shotgun gauges began many years ago. A gun-bore size was determined by checking against a round lead ball that would fit it. The number of these balls it took to make a pound determined the gauge. Thus, the bore of a 12-gauge shotgun could be fitted with a lead ball of a certain size, and 12 of these balls weighed a pound. The actual size of a 12-gauge bore is .729 inch.

2. True.

3. True.

4. True. Gravity exerts the same pull on both bullets, and both will reach the ground at the same instant, neglecting the slight curvature of the earth.

5. False. Actual rise or drop of the bullet will be in fractions of an inch at 100 yards with medium-caliber rifles. The picture of the target becomes distorted to the hunter at extreme angles. This may cause the inexperienced hunter to under or overshoot his target.

6. False. By the time the shooter feels the recoil, the bullet is already on its way.

7. False. The .30/30 far and away out numbers any other caliber.

8. True. At 60 miles an hour, he covers 88 feet a second.

9. False.

10. False.

11. True.

12. True.

13. True.

14. False. It is a 30-inch circle.

15. True.

SEPTEMBER, 1958 13

BIG-GAME BOWMEN

by Bill Bailey Assistant Project Leader, Big Game Nebraska sportsmen find ancient skills will bring down deer, providing they're willing to use practice and patience

CLEM edged over to the two strangely dressed men who were talking on the street corner. They were engrossed in conversation.

"Wonder if this is a new-fangled style," mused Clem, as he examined their clothing. "Looks like the camouflaged uniform my boy wore in the jungles of New Guinea during World War II. Hmm, one of the fellows even has his eye glasses wrapped with friction tape. Odd get-up."

Clem cocked his ear in an effort to pick up some conversation. He heard them mention bodkins, broadheads, stiff-shafted. "Just like these young bucks, always talking about girls," thought Clem, as he leaned closer. "Huh, 60-pound pull? Probably has some position in the courthouse."

The strange dress and fragments of conversation aroused Clem's curiosity. "Might as well introduce myself and find out what the Sam Tucker this is all about."

Clem eased over and thrust out his hand boldly. "My name is Clem, native of these parts. Couldn't help but notice your clothes and conversation. In my day young men never referred to girls as bodkins or broadheads. Seems kind of disrespectful."

The two strangers looked at each other, chuckled, and introduced themselves.

"You missed some of the conversation, Clem," said the taller fellow. "We were discussing some of the different types of bow and arrow equipment. Bodkins and broadheads are arrow points."

Clem blushed slightly and shook his head. "Guess I took the wrong trail that time," he replied. "But why all the interest in bows and arrows? The Sioux haven't been active in these parts for more than 80 years. And why the strange clothes?"

The smaller man chuckled. "Along with many other people, we practice archery as a sport, not only on a target range but in actual hunting. That is what we plan to do tomorrow. September 13 is the opening day of archery season for deer in Nebraska. We plan to be out at daybreak to try our luck."

"The hunt tomorrow," he continued, "is the reason for the mottled clothing. We ordinarily hunt from a stand and let the deer come to us; the deer have to be pretty close for an effective shot. So,'we take advantage of all the camouflage possible, and these clothes blend well with vegetation.".

Clem's interest was beginning to show. He mentioned that he, too, was a deer hunter, but that he didn't know you could hunt with bow and arrow.

"How long has this been going on?" he asked.

The tall fellow proceeded to tell him that bow-and-arrow hunting for deer is relatively new in Nebraska. This 14 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA   is actually the fourth consecutive season, but the first season, in 1955, was restricted to four counties along the Missouri River. Since that time, the Game Commission has extended the open area, and today archers are allowed to hunt any place in the state. In addition, the season has been lengthened and now runs from September 13 through December 31. This is probably one of the most liberal seasons in the United States.

"Seems mighty liberal all right," replied Clem.

"Well," countered the tall fellow, "the Game Commission figures it's their duty to provide as much recreation as possible within bounds of our wildlife resources. The bow-and-arrow harvest of deer will not be excessive, even with our long season, so they are giving us the opportunity of being in the field for more than three months."

Clem suggested a cup of coffee, so he and the two archers walked across the street to a small cafe. After settling down in a comfortable booth, the short fellow resumed his discussion.

"As I said before, the Game Commission realizes that the harvest by archers will not be excessive, although our rate of successful hunters in Nebraska is much better than the national average of 4.4 per cent..

"Last year 658 archers participated in the hunt, bagging 80 deer for a hunting success of 12 per cent. Even with the long 1958 season, the rate of successful hunters is not expected to exceed 15 per cent."

"Even though the total kill is low," broke in Clem, "it seems that you would cripple quite a few animals. This has to be considered, too."

"Right!" replied the tall fellow. "We have crippling losses in all types of hunting, and it is the responsibility of both the archer and rifle hunter to hold this loss at a minimum. So far, our losses in Nebraska do not appear to be excessive, for Game Commission surveys indicate that only about one deer is crippled for each one killed. This would mean that about 80 to 100 deer were probably crippled in 1957."

"Actually, more deer are killed on highways each year than are killed or crippled by archers. As a single mortality factor, the kill by archers does little to affect the deer population."

"See what you mean," said Clem. "Believe I could have more luck throwing rocks. Must take a lot of practice to be good enough to get a deer."

The tall archer replied that it does. He said that Archie and he belong to an archery club that has a standard target range, so members can learn and retain the fundamentals of bow shooting. There is also a field course with silhouettes of animals placed at stategic points. The archer walks about the course as if hunting, and when he comes upon a silhouette in a lifelike position, he places his shot, trying for a vital area. This not only gives him a taste of field shooting, but it also sharpens his eyes for spotting game. Most members practice every chance they have.

"We also try to teach our members the effective range of their weapons," interrupted the smaller fellow. "This will vary, of course, with the individual and his equipment, and each archer must recognize and evaluate his ability and equipment. Some archers may be able to place an arrow in a vital spot from 50 yards. For myself, I would not attempt a shot at a distance greater than 30 yards. Long shots, beyond effective range, usually result in crippled deer.

"We try to impress this upon all our members and caution them about wild shooting. The same idea may be applied to hunters using a rifle. Each rifle hunter certainly is not equal in ability nor do they all have the same equipment."

The tall archer joined in, saying that it takes lots of patience to develop skill on the practice range. It takes even more patience while hunting, he continued.

As mentioned before, most archers select a stand and wait for the deer to come to them. Some may stalk their game, but either way, they often will have deer within 60 or 70 yards. If they attempt a shot at that distance, they may cripple the animal or spook it. Most of the time patience will pay off. A deer spooked by a long range shot may have moved into good effective range, if the archer had bided his time and remained concealed.

According to a Game Commission report, the distance at which deer were killed in 1957 varied from 5 to 70 yards. The average distance was 34 yards, so one can see that most archers have to be pretty close. Any man killing one at 70 yards is either mighty good or mighty lucky.

"Sounds like an interesting way to hunt," said Clem. "How many archers did you say hunted deer in 1957?"

SEPTEMBER, 1958 15  

"In Nebraska, we had 658, of which 20 were women," answered the tall fellow. "In 1956, we had only 275 archers, so this was a pretty good increase."

The sport is increasing in popularity all over the United States. According to a report in National Bowhunling, 46 states had an archery season for deer in 1957. The same report indicated that 253,134 archers hunted big game with bows and arrows last year, more than a 25 per cent increase over 1956.

Clem moved to get up. "I've sure enjoyed talking to you boys, but I have to be getting on. I have my chores to do and it's getting late. Why don't you fellows hunt on my place tomorrow? I have a few deer, and you are sure welcome to try your luck."

"Thanks for the invitation," replied the tall fellow, "but we made arrangements several weeks ago to hunt on another ranch. We were scouting the area this morning and have already selected our stands. We've found that it pays to make arrangements and scout the area before the season opens. But, we will keep your invitation in mind for next year."

"Hope you have some luck," Clem said as he shook hands again. "From what you have told me, I'm sure you will have an enjoyable hunt, whether or not you get a deer."

Clem turned and left the cafe. As he walked down the street, he thought, "Those boys will need all the luck and skill they have in the storage bin. They are sure going after their deer the hard way."

THE END

Editor's note: There is no limit on the number of archery permits to be issued. The $10 bow-and-arrow permits for deer will be available through the end of the September 13 to December 31 season.

The Durantes of Dogdo

(Continued from page 12)

to run fox. For instance, the 1954 winner of the Leafy Oak National was a Walker hound named Sailor. On the other hand, the world championship winner at East Liberty, Ohio, was Sunbeam, an Arkansas hound of no certain lineage. But Sunbeam's owner paid $1,200 for him, and the dog has won many times that amount in field trials. Other breeds often used on 'coon are the black-and-tan, the Plott, and the bluetick.

Registration body for coonhounds is the United Kennel Club, the counterpart of the American Kennel Club for most other breeds.

Among small hounds, the beagle is king. Although he may be used on varied game, his forte is the cottontail rabbit. This little hunter is today the most numerous of all hounds in the United States and is run in more field trials than all other breeds combined. Small size is a factor in the beagle's popularity.

In field trials, beagles are run in 13-inch and 15-inch classifications. In the days when English nobility hunted much game from the saddle, the beagle was bred even smaller. He could be carried in a pocket or in an ancient horsey version of the glove compartment in today's automobile.

The bloodhound is more often noted as an aide to law enforcement than as a sporting breed, but he is sometimes used on game. The bloodhound is foremost among trail scenters and his great nose has been instilled into many sporting breeds through cross-breeding.

As an example of his uncanny powers, let us cite an occurrence of March 10, 1910, involving bloodhounds belonging to Dr. J. R. Fulton of Beatrice. On March 7, a child belonging to Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Dickens of Worthing, South Dakota, wandered away from home. Searching parties were organized. They examined every bush in the Worthing area, but the little boy could not be found. Three days later, the parents sent for a pair of the Fulton bloodhounds. The hounds sniffed some of the boy's clothing, then took up the trail.

The end of the trail was tragic, for it was broken off at a stream called Beaver Creek. The child's body was found in the stream a little later.

These bloodhounds were not brought in until 72 hours after the boy disappeared, yet they found the child's trail with ease. Examples of the bloodhound's marvelous nose could be multiplied endlessly. Other dogs, of course, have this power in lesser degree. Body odor seems as much an individual matter as fingerprints and the bloodhound is an expert at B.O. interpretation.

Finally, there is the birdhound. Don't laugh. Ask the man who owns one. Of course, no breed is formally known as such. But if a coonhound is a hound that hunts coons, and a foxhound a hound that hunts foxes, a hound that hunts birds might just as logically be called a birdhound. And hounds have been used on birds.

So unimpeachable an authority as Ray P. Holland says he had a friend who asserted his bloodhound was the world's foremost pheasant dog. Holland claims firsthand knowledge of beagles used on that wily bird. He maintains that the very best meat-hunting pointer he ever saw was perhaps half hound.

And so we leave the hound dog, the happy and efficient companion of king and commoner, outlaw and police officer, boy and man. He can hold up his head in any company. But he would far, far rather put that good, true nose close to the ground.

THE END 16 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA

Ocean-hopping "Salwa", world's most widely distributed game bird, given one-chance-in-three of becoming permanent Nebraska fixture Compiled and written by Dan McGrew Associate Editor

AS CHILL morning mists drift inland from the Mediterranean Sea, an Arabian scurries about, picking small feathered bodies from tidal flat mud and dropping them in a sack. A fine net, scarcely six-feet high, extends along the coast as far as the eye can see. As you watch, other weary birds fly in low from over the broad ocean expanse, collide with the net, and drop exhausted.

The scene just described dates back to antiquity in Middle Eastern, Baltic, and African regions. Each autumn millions of the chubby birds, known as Salwa to Arabic speaking people, migrate to Africa to be taken by commercial huntsmen.

Salwa, for centuries the most widely distributed game bird in the world, ns being introduced into the United States at present in a massive, 16-state program. Known variously as "Wet-My-Feet", "Mend-Your-Breeches", "Bend-Your-Back", "Stuttering Quail", "Przepiorka", and by 60 SEPTEMBER, 1958 17   other common names; the bird is being released by game management biologists under its scientific name, Coturnix, coturnix japonica.

Most Nebraskans are aware that the current coturnix program has been under way here since the first Game Commission release, April 21, 1957. What most people do not know is that this small, tasty bird is native to all parts of the Old World, from England to Japan, and Scandinavia above the Arctic Circle to the southern tip of Africa. They have been successfully established in the Hawaiian Islands as well.

During the first releases in 1957, 23,760 birds were planted in Nebraska. The 1958 total is expected to be slightly greater. Total release for the 1957 to 1959 program is expected to be more than 75,000. Through banding, nest studies, hunter returns, and other research tools, game management biologists expect to determine the species' adaptability in the United States.

Should coturnix take hold, they would provide a great addition to our game-bird populations. M. O. Steen, Nebraska Game Commission director, and originator of the mass program to bring coturnix to the United States, gives this bird a one-in-three chance of becoming established in this country.

Examination of 21 coturnix crops in Hawaii revealed 42 per cent animal matter and 58 per cent vegetable matter, by volume. Fallen seeds are the chief vegetative feed-stuff of the species. Most of the insects eaten are the grass or ground-dwelling variety.

Feeding rarely on green matter, coturnix apparently fulfill their water requirements through their insect diet and dew. In dry regions and during drought seasons, they drink from rivers and ponds.

Most coturnix feeding occurs in late afternoon, and the birds are more active at night and twilight. They are more susceptible to heat prostration than bobwhite, although often dust-bathing in the sun at noon.

For sportsmen, coturnix offer unexcelled grassland bird gunning. About 7 to 8V2 inches in length, smaller than bobwhites, they have been described as "delayed-action flushers, with flight similar to teal." They often will rise almost from between the hunter's feet, level off at about shoulder height, and fly a relatively short distance before gliding to earth and seeking refuge.

Their flight is more muffled than bobwhite, with less whir of wings. The.low-altitude course, high-pitched peeping, and small body may convince the uninitiated that they have flushed a very young native quail.

David Wetherbee, formerly in charge of the state's coturnix program, compiled the most complete and comprehensive report on this species made to date. To better acquaint OUTDOOR NEBRASKA readers with this new bird, a popularized summary of this report follows.

The coturnix is a small, chubby, tailless, cinnamon-colored, ground-dwelling member of the galliform family (pheasants, turkeys, grouse, partridges) introduced from Japan after 1955. Those now found in the U. S. were stocked, from game-farm propagated flocks of the sub-species, C.—Japonica. which is extremely variable and adaptable in many aspects of its biology.

During spring and summer, coturnix average from 3 to 3V2 ounces in weight, as full-grown adults. However, during fall migration, they attain considerable fat and may almost double their weight, reaching 5.2 ounces in size.

For field identification, the coturnix is a grayish-brown, striped bird, smaller than the bobwhite. It runs rapidly, and its flight is swift, sometimes erratic, 3 to 15 feet from the earth, with quick wing beats. After flying a relatively short distance, the bird glides to earth. There is a faint peeping heard above the muffled flight sound. Unlike bobwhites, coturnix are seldom flushed in more than pairs.

Check the bill, too. Coturnix have smaller, slimmer, and less conical bills than bobwhite. Check feathers on the back and upper, near-body part of the wings. In bobwhites, these feathers will be dark and drab; in coturnix, they will have cream or light-colored bars down the midrib.

The castanet-like crowing of the male, variably accented —"Pick-per-a-wick" or "Ko-turr-neex", with a gurgle in the middle—is distinctive.

General habitat consists of cultivated fields, meadows, small grain, and short-grass pastures, with wheat and clover being favored. Coturnix avoid very tall and dense vegetation, rarely being found in areas best liked by bobwhite.

Breeding and nesting habitat of small grain, medium-height alfalfa, and clover fields are preferred. Feeding is limited to the ground along edges of dense vegetation. Coturnix have been observed feeding in dwarf millet fields. The birds roost on the ground, never in trees, in heavier marginal grass. They are often observed taking dust baths in small barren clearings, which appear to be favorite loafing areas.

When frightened and seeking cover, they prefer grass for shelter or cover under a bush or rock in flat desert. As meadows and grains are harvested, the birds leave with the loss of standing cover.

Migration patterns of coturnix probably are not standardized, even in the Old World. Perhaps, according to one biologist, mature birds migrate separately, according to sex. Ulianin (1941), recorded that females migrate with their young.

Coturnix fly 10 to 20 feet high during migration and in 18 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA   compact bands, ranging from 12 birds to several hundred, although the latter are uncommon, and bands of 15 to 30 birds normal, according to some biologists. Others credit the species with migration in two's and three's. It is established that flight occurs at night, with bands separating by day, seeking shelter, food, and rest.

North American band recoveries from the current program show direct southerly autumn migration of birds released in spring, summer, and fall. Released birds may breed on the site or disperse several miles. A quail released near Bourbon, Kentucky on July 9, 1957, was recovered at Saginaw, Michigan 107 days later. Another bird released July 17, 1957, in Nance County, Nebraska was recovered alive March 11, 1958 in Hall County. Six other birds of the same release group were taken during the winter in Oklahoma and Texas. There was a total absence of wintering records for coturnix in the state, the recovery is probably evidence of successful return migration.

Young coturnix may breed the same year they are hatched. Under hatchery conditions, females produce fertile eggs as early as 31 days of age, and males mature sexually at 28 days.

Breeding and nesting normally occur in late May and June, following growth of tall grasses. Breeding territory is advertised from the male's crowing ground, which usually is an elevation in an area bare of vegetation except for a clump of grass in the shadow of which the male crows. In densely populated areas, these territories are about 100 yards apart.

There is a courting dance, although descriptions of this vary considerably. Crowing by the male appears to be dependent upon the absence of the female. Mated males call very little. Coturnix apparently are seasonally monogamous, with little substantiation of claims the species is polygamous in the wild.

The nest, similar to that of the ring-necked pheasant, is well concealed in grassy cover: outside diameter, 6 to 7 inches; inside diamter, 3V2 to 4V2 inches, and inside depth, 1V4 to 2 inches. Constructed of dried weeds, leaves, and stems placed around a shallow depression in the ground, without a canopy, the nest is a product of the female only. Most of the building is accomplished between laying of the first and fifth eggs, none during incubation. Captive females lay as many as 200, 250, and in one case, 365 eggs per year.

One of nature's more perfect camouflage miracles is displayed in coturnix eggs. They have a hard, smooth, glossy texture, with a white bloom over light, buffy yellow, marked with chestnut to black speckles, spots, and large blotches. Spots can be removed with a fingernail.

Young leave the nest a few hours after hatching and are brooded by the female only. They disperse as far as 100 yards within four days, fly short distances at 11 days, and fly strongly at 19 days.

There is considerable conflict of evidence concerning the number of broods per female per year. Some scientists insist that the species are single-brooded in all areas of the northern hemisphere.

An annual mortality of 90 per cent is indicated from Japanese banding reports, with about 9 per cent living for two years. This means that there is an almost complete population turnover every two years.

Non-natural death causes for the species include predation, disease, and man. Predators include foxes, weasels, skunks, hawks, snakes, and owls. Man's toll includes birds destroyed by machinery, strung wires, trapping, and sport. Post-harvest operations, such as hay baling from windrows, may be more harmful than actual reaping of crops.

Difficult to flush while hunting, except by dogs, they seldom rise twice. Sometimes when flushed by one hunter, the birds fly blindly toward another. There is some controversy about whether the bird remains where it lights after an escape flight or runs quickly for cover.

Should the 16-state, three-year release program establish coturnix in the United States, it would require more and greater releases over many years before natural production could produce enough birds to make a worthwhile bag. Knowledge gained from the present co-operative project will determine if future generations will enjoy large-scale hunting of the bird.

There are many good reasons for permitting the shooting of coturnix in current Nebraska quail seasons. It would be almost impossible for lay sportsmen to distinguish between bobwhites and coturnix in the brief time available for wing shooting, if coturnix shooting where banned. The birds are scattered and relatively isolated, meaning any possible take will be small.

In addition, the sighting and harvest of a few coturnix by observant hunters will provide game biologists with valuable information. Hunters are urged to report all shootings and sightings of coturnix. For positive identification of downed birds, check to see if there is a leg band. If such a bird is taken, as soon as possible mail the band and all information as to where, how, and when the bird was taken. Describe fully the area, weather, and actions of the bird. Using hunter reports, game biologists can build a better knowledge of the species.

Remember, if you take an unbanded bird, which you think may be a coturnix, please send one wing of the bird, plus pertinent information, to: NEBRASKA GAME COMMISSION, State Capitol, Lincoln. It may be the offspring of banded, hatchery-produced birds and an indication of coturnix adapting to the area.

THE END

SEPTEMBER, 1958 19

THREE WEEKS WITH LAFB

by Norbert J. Kampsnider Conservation Officer, Grand Island For hours on end we toiled under experts, so as to better qualify us to act in face of emergencies

DURING the period July 14 to August 2, I was one of 90 Nebraska Game Commission employees who participated in a program that represented a number of firsts on both state and national level.

Divided into groups of 30 members, each class trained for one week under military and civilian instructors at the Lincoln Air Force Base in the first co-operative program of its kind. As a member of the third group, I became one of the first civilians in the United States to undergo training on a Strategic Air Command base.

On Tuesday, July 15, after the first class opened shop, LAFB went on ALERT, due to the Middle East crisis. The status was still in effect when the last group finished on August 2, meaning that we were on a combat base.

All of us completed the Standard Red Cross First Aid course and will be better equipped to handle emergencies involving sick or injured persons. For those of us who are enforcement officers and spend a great deal of time around water, completion of this coursed is of immesurable value.

Now that the standard first-aid course has been completed, an advanced course may be planned for Game Commission personnel. A possibility is training in advanced water safety, teaching us how to rescue people from capsized boats and in other deep-water emergencies. After that there can be even more advanced courses.

The purpose of this is readily apparent. The Commission hopes to provide Nebraska's citizens with the most highly qualified group of personnel in the nation, not only to provide maximum fishing and hunting, but also to give everyone the greatest possible protection in the field. Your local officer will be better equipped to handle any emergency, meaning less danger to him, and greater service to you.

Our training included sessions on air search and rescue. This will be of increasing importance, as key enforcement officers, Game Commission employees, including myself, are to be equipped soon with two-way radios in our cars. These will be provided under a "matching fund" civil-defense program, with the state and federal civil defense sharing the costs. We will have the radios for everyday use in our regular work, and they will be available for communication in event of aircraft crashes, storms, floods, fires, or other disasters. Plans are being made to have us linked directly with the LAFB Air Search and Rescue Coordination Center, making every man more valuable.

Many of us also will be equipped with civil-defense radiation detection equipment as a result of our training 20 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA   at LAFB. We were taught the basics of nuclear physics. I don't think any of us are qualified to give lectures on the subject, but both air force and civil defense authorities are satisfied that we can return valid radiation reports from all parts of the state if the need should ever arise. The equipment is something like a Geiger counter, but from what we were told, it won't work in uranium prospecting.

There were sessions on survival under extreme weather conditions, just in case we ever should be caught in the open, say in the Sand Hills, during a blizzard. As Officer Lee Bowers of Benkelman said, "It might not save our lives, but at least we'll know how to freeze to death gracefully."

There were some more sessions on emergency procedure in case of an airplane in trouble or crashing. There are some things we can pass along. If you go to the scene of a crash, chances are that the authorities will already be on hand and have everything under control, so go home. Don't pick up or move anything, unless you are asked to. The "souvenir" you take home might contain a vital clue as to the crash cause.

But you can help if you see a plane in distress. Telephone collect the Air Search and Rescue Co-ordination Center at Lincoln Air Force Base. Report what kind of aircraft is in trouble; what the direction of flight was; if there was any fire or smoke; any parachutes coming from it: the exact location and how they can get there by car or plane. Also, give your name, address, telephone exchange, and the number where they can call back if need be.

Our class had several hours of instruction in procedure in case an aircraft crashes and we are at the scene. We all have much respect for the crew members of military jets, especially the men who man the bombers. Nevertheless, their primary safety device, the jettison-seat system, is extremely dangerous and should be operated by persons "in the know." It is human to try a rescue if you see the pilot still in a crashed plane, but use caution and proceed with "deliberate haste."

We learned that if a SAC bomber crashes in the United States, the chances of a nuclear explosion are about a million to one. But, a charge of "trigger" explosive in each A-bomb may explode and scatter alpha and beta radioactive particles over a large area. These are dangerous only if they are breathed or swallowed or come into close contact with your body. Play it safe if a jet crashes and explodes; keep everyone in the area at least two miles from the explosion site.

The last session of each day's program was conducted by the LAFB hand-to-hand combat instructors. Although most of us called this the "judo class", in reality it wasn't. We were tutored in basic self-defense.

I've tried to report our activities at Lincoln Air Force Base. Even though we gained in knowledge and ability to carry out our jobs, the most important thing is that the Game Commission now has a functioning in-service training program which can continue to develop for even greater benefits to Nebraska.

THE END SEPTEMBER, 1958 21

FISHING COW COUNTRY

We found an anglers paradise on a float trip down the fast - moving waters of a Sand Hills bass river by Pete Czura Associate Editor

UNKNOWN to most of Nebraska's sport-fishing fraternity is a jewel of a river that offers unsurpassed angling adventures. Located in Blaine County, this river—the North Loup—doesn't look like much at first glance, but underneath its swirling waters lies an unending flow of game fish.

People in this Sand Hills region are few and far apart. In fact there are only three towns in Blaine County, with a total population of 1,200. This is cattle country and perhaps explains how in mid-August on a three-day fishing adventure along this river, we met a few plump cows munching grass along the banks, a lonely horse, a mink, two owls, a hungry looking hawk, a solitary heron, but not one angler. We had the river for ourselves.

For the Nebraska angler seeking home-state angling, the three branches of the Loup river—North, Middle, and South—can furnish stirring excitement. A weekend on either of these rivers may send you home with sizable catches that will prompt your neighbor to ask, "Where'd you catch 'em?"

This report on the North Loup will reveal what lures and bait to use, how to use them, the best times to fish, areas to fish, and in general, what kind of action to expect. In certain areas of the North Loup, you can match 22 OUTDOOR NEBRASKA   wits, if you're a purist, with the wily trout, the scrappy bass, ponderous catfish, a few walleye, and an occasional sauger.

To get a first-hand picture of what the average angler will encounter on the Loup, Gene Hornbeck, staff photographer, and this writer made a float trip from Spencer's bridge, east of Brewster, to T. R. Miller's ranch. Ordinarily, this distance can be traveled by auto in seven minutes; in our aluminum pram, it took us seven hours.

Casting off from the bridge in early morning, we floated with the current, stopping occasionally to explore sloughs, pockets, weed beds, and other likely bass hangouts. We were using a 10-foot aluminum pram. Best outfit for such a float is a beamy aluminum boat with an extremely shallow draft or, perhaps, a canoe. Using such craft, the river current will propel you at a good clip, gliding over the sand bars; you won't have to do much rowing.

Around the first bend of the swift-moving river, we tried underwater lures along the main channel, casting under the heavy brush overhangs. Our luck was nil, so we continued drifting for a mile or so, then beached our boat. Next we tried our hand at stalking bass in slough waters.

Gene edged his way to the edge of the slough on hands and knees, careful not to make a sound or cast a shadow on the waters. Gently, he cast his flatfish-type lure into the glassy-still pool. The plop of his lure spooked a big bass into nearby weed cover. Still hidden on the bank, and hoping to entice the old battler out again, Gene sent his lure back into the water. Retrieving slowly with short, gentle jerks, causing the lure to send small puffs of sand upward, we watched as another bass put in an appearance. This curious lunker edged forward, ever so slowly, as if he was on the edge of attacking the lure. But as Gene nudged the lure to madden him into striking, he, too, spooked.

When fish get skittish, as these two did, it pays to leave them alone for a bit. This we did wandering on up the slough. Ten minutes later we crept back, again on hands and knee. Hiding behind some tall bushes we began another stalk. After making several casts, a goodsized battler inched his way out of the weed bed and stopped to glare at the lure puffing up sand before him. He remained frozen for a spell, suspiciously eyeing the action of Gene's lure.

The urge to strike proved too great for him.

As the lure settled down for the sixth time, the mossy broke and rushed viciously at the lure. That was his Waterloo. Gene's rod snapped upward, and the frantic bass peeled off about 40 feet of line. Then he applied the brakes and raced back toward Gene, For four minutes he was an aerial acrobat. He shook his jaw savagely, trying to spit out the hook, then did some fast tail-walking. Finally, beaten and bushed, he was easy landing for Gene without a net. This scrapper hit the scale at a shade under two pounds.

The scrapper was the first of many caught during our lazy seven-hour float down the North Loup. During the journey, the river sent us twisting, winding, zig-zagging along tortuous horseshoe bends. Along the way, we noticed many gravel and sand pits which possibly contributed to increasing the Loup bass population, particularly those connected to the river.

For you bass enthusiasts, here are some tips you may find useful. During daylight hours, especially 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., underwater lures pay dividends. They gave us plenty of action.

The fly-rod man in summer will find grasshoppers aplenty. Used on pre-dawn and twilight fishing expeditions, they'll produce many strikes."

As one old codger said, "Boy, it ain't the catch that matters to me, it's the strike that sends goose pimples as big as golf balls racing up and down my back that brings me back here again and again.

The bait fisherman, fishing in early dawn or twilight, should try to fish the top of the waters on the Loup. A proven method is the use of a medium-sized minnow on the surface. Hook the minnow behind the dorsal fin, for this will allow him. plenty of freedom, and his actions will appear more natural. If you should be using a light spinning rod, try the same system, but don't use a weight of any kind; this will kill the natural action of the minnow. Another successful rig is the night-crawler, spinner combination. Fish this combo very slowly, pausing often during each retrieve.

Brewster, county seat of Blaine County, is a good jumping-off place for fishing the North Loup region. To reach Brewster, from the north take highway 7; from the south drive on highways 2 and 91.

The most popular gathering place, in Brewster, for the fishing gentry is the local general store. On the day we dropped into the store, Gywnne Neubauer, Elmer Demaray, SEPTEMBER, 1958 23   and a couple of unnamed grizzled fishing veterans were rehashing their experiences. Everyone was talking at the same time.

Demaray, Blaine County clerk for over 36 years, migrated from Minnesota in 1908. He liked what he saw and has remained in this town ever since. Slim, silver-haired, and soft-spoken, Demaray said: "One method that I have found pretty successful, is to use Blue Barrel soap, as bait for catfish."

There was talk of Elmer's catch of a few weeks back. It seems that one of his set lines had a live frog for bait; and when he checked it the following day, he found two bass on the same hook. It's the talk of Brewster to this day.

To sum up the fishing possibilities, remember that fishing during the hot-summer months is hard work. You must employ all the skill and artistry of a craftsman to obtain any measure of success.

Keep in mind that early morning and late evening hours are the best times to try for bass. Use surface lures at these times. During the day use underwater lures. Do this, and you will feel the surge of excitement rip up your back, as a three or four-pound bass snaps up your offering.

During a lull in our fishing float trip, we decided to explore a gravel pit. We didn't find any fish, but we did find a large petrified bone. We thought it would make a fine paperweight and brought it home. Two days after our return, Gene checked with the University of Nebraska Museum and learned that his find was a camel bone, approximately a million years old.

If you're lucky, you might make a haul like us—plenty of bass and one old camel bone. Who could ask for anything more?

THE END

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISEMENTS

Rates for classified advertising: 10 cents a word; minimum order $2.50 BAIT African red crawlers, large, mature, 100 for $2.00, 500 for $7.50. Four to six-inch panfish, 100 for $1.50, 500 for $5.50. Live delivery, count guaranteed. Instructions. Postpaid. Phil's Bait Supply, Ericson, Nebraska. MINNOWS Grow minnows for bait in your own pond. Pond-spawning varieties for sale: golden shiners, red-fin shiners, brassy, and fathead minnows. Price 25 cents each. Dale Fatting, Brady, Nebraska. VACATIONS Spend a nice, quiet vacation at Lake Ericson. Good swimming, boating, fishing, or hunting in season. Plenty of shade. Nice cabins with refrigeration. Boats for rent. Cabins for sale or rent. For reservations call for L. W. Watson at Flossie's Cafe, Phone 18. Call at 7:30 a.m., 12:30 p,m,. 6:30 p.m., or write L. W. Watson, Ericson, Nebraska.

Nebraska Game Animals

(Continued from page 7)

the ancestors of our modern horses. Some scientists have reported that zebras, as well as various kinds of wild horses, lived here during the Ice Age.

The ground sloths were strange looking beasts with large claws. They were vegetarians and lived in the woods and plains of Nebraska during the Ice Age, but they were migrants from South America. They reached the Nebraska region just prior to the Pleistocene and lived here during the warm interglacial periods of the Ice Age. They became extinct near the end of the Pleistocene after man had migrated to this continent.

The large carnivores were varied and numerous during the Ice Age. Outstanding among those that lived in Nebraska were the giant bears, wolves, jaguars, and sabre-toothed tigers. There were bears that were twice as large as the present-day Alaskan Brown Bear. The largest so far recorded was found by a museum expedition in the medial Pleistocene deposits of Sheridan County, Nebraska. Jaguars, relatives of the large spotted cats now living in South America and southern North America, made their home in Nebraska during the warm interglacial periods. In all sections of the Plains the giant wolves and the sabre-toothed tigers lived and hunted the big game animals.

Fossil elephant remains have been found in almost every Nebraska county. The largest elephant skeleton ever recorded anywhere was unearthed near North Platte. Nebraska is noted throughout the world for its Pleistocene and Tertiary fossils. Visitors from all states of the Union and countries of the world come to the University of Nebraska State Museum to see the mounted skeletons of the big game of the Ice Age.

Today paleontologists hunt the big game of the Ice Age throughout the state. The paleontologist or bone hunter might be compared to the modern hunter of big game. Both must be endowed with an instinct for the chase and must have a thorough understanding of the terrain. The better prepared for the hunt he is, the better the results will be. The fossil hunter often tracks his game by following small fragments of bone found on the surface of a hillside. These clues may lead to an undiscovered quarry or a new specimen hitherto unkown to science, thus giving us new knowledge of big game of the past.

THE END

OUTDOOR ELSEWHERE

Deer Ring Broken

PENNSYLVANIA . . . Seven game protectors recently moved in on a number of persons who had been killing or possessing game unlawfully in Schuylkill County. The officers apprehended 13 persons implicated in killing or possessing deer, or parts of deer, unlawfully taken during the last two years. The killing was principally done by teen-agers, who used lights and shot deer with .22 caliber rifles at night. The boys disposed of the deer by giving, selling, or trading the carcasses, or pieces of the meat, to friends and neighbors. In one case a whole deer carcass was traded for a mere box of candy. The persons involved paid fines totaling $2,100.

* * * Not So Dumb

NEW HAMPSHIRE . . . Animals are dumb only in the sense that they are unable to talk. Their cunning and intelligence has been demonstrated innumerable times over the year. A good example of their evident ability to think and reason was recently exhibited by a seven-foot bear trapped in Pittsburgh. The 485-pound bruin became caught in a 50-pound steel trap to which was attached an eight-foot white birch log to act as a drag. Generally, a trapped bear will struggle along, pulling trap and drag with him. In these cases the trapper can usually track down the bear in an average of IV2 hours. Not so with this big fellow. He picked up the eight-foot log and carried it. As further evidence of his intelligence, each time he came to a hill he would lie down and roll to conserve his strength. It took the trappers five hours to track down this clever bear.

* * * Long-Flying Duck

NEW HAMPSHIRE ... A scaup duck bagged last fall by a New Hampshire hunter traveled about 6,000 miles to the Granite State. The bird had been leg-banded in July at the Minto Lakes, 30 miles west of Fairbanks, Alaska. Its long flight was uncovered when the band was forwarded to the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service for checking against its bird-banding files.

* * * Beaver "Doing Time"

MISSOURI ... A state conservation officer reported: 'The mayor of Dixon called for my help. On arriving at Dixon, the mayor informed me he had a prisoner in the city jail. He took me back to the cell and there was a 25-pound beaver. It seems that a pair of beavers from the Little Maries River decided they like city life better than country life. The fire department was called out and about 20 men finally trapped one of the beavers and threw him into jail." The officer didn't say whether he had to pay a fine for the beaver for disturbance of the peace before he was released from jail and taken back to the wild.

* * * An Extra Twist

SOUTH DAKOTA . . . When sportsmen around Presho go about doing something, they add a little extra twist. Take a few for instances as reported by Warden Chuck Kilburn: Curt Englund of Presho bagged a jack rabbit. Lots of people bag jack rabbits, but they have a rather pedestrian approach to doing it. Curt got his by having it jump through the windshield of his station wagon. About the same time, Jake Fennenga managed to catch a blackbird while he was trying for bass. Jake got the line tangled around the wing of the bird as he was trying to drop a plug over a big bass. Jake, though, isn't up to the feat of Mrs. Fennenga. She hooked a gull through the nostril as it was cruising past. The gull was a little miffed, but unharmed.

* * * Acute Indigestion

WYOMING ... Do fish die of indigestion? Not usually, but Wyoming Game and Fish officials are beginning to wonder. The department received a report from David E. Lawrence, Big Piney, who found a 26-pound Mackinaw trout on the shore of Middle Piney Lake. Concerned at what caused the trout's death, Lawrence performed an autopsy and came up with the verdict—acute indigestion. The trout's stomach contained a sizeable ball of monofilament line, several large lead sinkers, three spinners, one minnow hook, two regular hooks, one swivel, and several bones all massed together.

* * * Unusual Catch

TENNESSEE . . . Billy Thomas, of Monteagle, recently made a most unusual catch while fishing in Grundy Lakes. His hook caught on an object, which he hauled from the water. It was a bundle of money wrapped in rotten cloth. The money amounted to $685 in old paper bank notes dating back to 1902.

* * * Glass "Egg"

PENNSYLVANIA . . . Sixty to 80 Canadian geese make their summer homes and raise their young on islands in the Schuylkill River near Mont Clare, Montgomery County. Protector W. E. Shaver said: "A sportsman wading the river approached one of the islands and saw a female goose on her nest. As the man drew near, the bird stood up and hissed at him. This did not surprise the intruder, but what he saw in the nest did. It contained two goose eggs and a large glass bottle. The sportsman photographed the unusual scene and sent me a picture."

SEPTEMBER, 1958 25

Notes on Nebraska Fauna

LONG-TAILED WEASEL

by Dan McGrew Associate Editor

AMONG species of Nebraska's widely distributed family Mustelidae, the long-tailed weasel is a less-common member. Longtails are popularly known through most of the state, at least during winter months, as ermine.

Ermine, however, is a misnomer. This misnaming of weasels is in keeping with the dearth of factual, scientifically confirmed information concerning this animal. No less than 36 subspecies of Mustela f renata have presumably been "discovered." Those subspecies which do exist are merely "cousins" of the royal fur bearer of Europe.

Mustela frenata are normally nocturnal, and, of necessity, stealthy, especially where man is a threat. A pair of musk glands, (reputedly efficient) in the anal region characterize the family. There are five wellclawed toes on each foot, at the end of short, powerful legs. The body is slender, elongated, and remarkably supple.

Excepting the shrew, weasels are supposed to be the world's most predaceous and ferocious carnivores for their size. Nebraska subspecies are less than 18 inches in overall length, with body length up to 11 inches for males, and 9 inches for females. The tail normally is one-third to two-fifths of the total length. About one-fourth of the tail's total length at the tip is solid black.

Nebraska's species follow a fairly standard descriptive pattern, with the only known variants being a slight difference in size and color gradations. These variations develop gradually between natural economic areas, not with sudden lines of separation of one subspecies from all others.

Upper body parts of the summer coat are uniformly dark brownish-yellow, with underpants white, tinted with dull yellow. The feet are dark in summer, but attain a solidwhite aspect, along with the rest of the coat in winter, excepting, of course, the black tail tip, which is constant.

The black tail tip also distinguishes longtails from the least weasels, during the larger species' juvenile stage. Where least weasels have a few darker hairs at the tail tip, longtails have a large, unmistakably black area covering the endmost fourth of the long, slender tails.

Three identified subspecies of Mustela frenata are known to populate Nebraska. The state may contain another subspecies, as well as several cousins, which actually are more common than the weasel. These are the skunk, black-footed ferret, mink, least weasel, and badger.

OUTDOOR NEBRASKA 26  

The Black Hills weasel (M. f. alleni) has been identified in the panhandle. Minnesota weasels (M. f. spadix) occupy the northeastern counties, and the long-tailed weasels proper (M. f. longicauda Bonaparte) are attributed to the western and central counties.

Missouri weasels (M. f. primulina Jackson) are suspected of residing in the state's southeastern counties. The least weasel (M. rixosa) is quite populous in eastern counties. The mink (M. vison) is a protected fur bearer and widely distributed. The black-footed ferret (M. nigripes) is a predator preying on western Nebraska's prairie dogs. As the once far-flung prairie dog towns dwindle in the face of man's attacks, the bandit-masked ferret faces extinction.

Wildlife romanticists have portrayed weasels as absolutely fearless in their predation. Evidence tends to bear this out. Although the species lacks great speed, stamina in chase, and massive strength in its battle with many natural enemies and man, it still survives with about the same populations as reported in the past. Weasels have been observed to attack animals several times their own size, even at the cost of their own lives.

One incident in the state has been reported of a live eagle with the teeth of a flayed weasel skull clenched in its throat. Apparently the animal obtained the grip, and then was killed or died of previously acquired injuries, refusing to release its enemy, even after death.

Many reports are circulated of weasels having killed up to 40 domestic fowl in one night's attack. In Kansas, 70 hens at one time were reported slaughtered. Other cases are known of hundreds of mice carcasses found where weasels had heaped them. Research indicates this type of attack is not based upon "lust for blood, killing and excitement," but upon the animal's natural drive to stockpile food, in fear of famine.

A mature weasel consumes about one-third its body weight in food every day. Some young can eat up to onehalf their own body weight in that period. Even this energetic little predator knows periods of hunger, partly because of his tremendous appetite. So, when the weasel has an opportunity to kill food for tomorrow and the next day, and the next, he does so, preserving by burial what he cannot eat. Claims of needless killing by weasels are apparently based on instances where they lacked the opportunity to bury the excess dead for future meals.

Weasels uniformly attack by fastening their teeth in the lower back portion of their victim's skulls, just above the neck vertebrae. Death is inflicted by crushing the skull or spinal column. Although they are credited with multiple killing solely for the chance to suck blood from their victim's jugular veins, examination of stomach contents fails to back up this theory.

Mice and rats are the favorite food source for the species, possibly because they are the first targets for young weasels' hunting skills, and probably because they are universally available. At any rate, weasels are nature's best small-rodent eradicators. In a somewhat trusting control effort, some poultry raisers with overwhelming rodent problems have been known to permit weasels free run of their farms. They and any naturalists claim a strong weasel population is a definite asset to the farmer in controlling these pests.

On the other hand, most farmers follow the old maxim: "The only good weasel is a dead weasel," and shoot on sight or suspicion.

Principally night hunters, weasels will forage during daylight hours if they must. Moving quickly, if not with great cross-country speed, they bound or lope through the hunting territory, slowing only when the prey is close enough to stalk.

Possessing highly developed smell and hearing, they investigate every possible hiding place for mice, rats, moles, shrews, ground squirrels, pocket gophers, rabbits, birds, squirrels, or, if desperate, insects.

Their small, flat heads and elongated, sinuous bodies permit easy entry to many rodent burrows, including those of small meadow mice. This ability saves the weasel effort in establishing a home. Rather than dig their own burrows, for which they lack ideal natural equipment, they invade desirable burrows. After killing the den's occupants, the weasel usually allows them the honor of serving as his first dinner at home. After this, he will rarely travel in a straight line more than 350 yards from home. But, within that radius, males have been known to travel three and one-half miles in one night's hunt.

Weasels are suspected of mating from early summer to late winter. Some "authorities" claim there is a unique delayed gestation period of 103 to 337 days' duration, with the young being carried for a long interval after attaining full fetal growth during the first stages of the pregnancy period. Other naturalists claim fetal growth occurs at the end of the delayed gestation, while still others claim weasel pregnancies, from conception to birth, last a period of approximately 40 days.

In any case, the average litter includes from five to eight young. The female has eight nipples where the young feed until their eyes open at five weeks of age. The young are born pink, wrinkled, toothless, almost hairless, but equipped with lusty squeaks.

Weasel males appear to be excellent fathers, assisting with family feeding and guardian chores until the litter is grown. After the fifth week, juveniles are taken to mousing areas and trained in the art of killing. They soon acquire sufficient skill to fend for themselves. Males at seven months are larger than their mothers.

Weasels are seldom seen in water. They seem to prefer a habitat with nearby water supplies, so long as their dens are dry. Their dens may be found in prairie, brush or timber country. The nest is usually heavily padded with dried grasses and often contains some hair or feathers and rat fur.

THE END SEPTEMBER, 1958 27

HELP WANTED!

Grouse hunters are requested to help their Game Commission learn the sex, age, and rate of reproduction of Nebraska's grouse population. Please send the two central tail feathers and outer part of wings from all prairie chickens and sharp-tailed grouse you shoot during the 1958 season to: Phil Agee, Nebraska Game Commission, Lincoln 9, Nebraska.