NEBRASKAland
October 1974 50 cents
NEBRASKAland
VOL. 52 /NO. 10 / OCTOBER 1974 Published monthly by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. Fifty cents per copy. Subscription rates $5 for one year, $9 for two years. Send subscription orders to NEBRASKAland, Box 30370, Lincoln, Nebraska 68503. commission Chairman: Gerald R. (Bud) Campbell, Ravenna South-central District, (308) 452-3800 Vice Chairman: James W. McNair, Imperial Southwest District, (308) 882-4425 Second Vice Chairman: Jack D. Obbink, Lincoln Southeast District, (402) 488-3862 Arthur D. Brown, Omaha Douglas-Sarpy District, (402) 553-9625 Kenneth W. Zimmerman, Loup City North-central District, (308) 745-1694 Don O. Bridge, Norfolk Northeast District, (402) 371-1473 William G. Lindeken, Chadron Northwest District, (308) 432-3755 Director: Willard R. Barbee Assistant Director: William J. Bailey, Jr. Assistant Director: Richard J. Spady Assistant Director: Dale R. Bree staff Editor: Lowell Johnson Editorial Assistants: Jon Farrar, Ken Bouc, Faye Musii Photography: Greg Beaumont, Bob Grier, Steve O'Hare Layout Design: Michele Angle Farrar Illustration: Duane Westerholt Advertising: Cliff Griffin Circulation: Juanita Stefkovich Copyright Nebraska Game and Parks Commission 1974. All rights reserved. Postmaster: if undeliverable, send notice by form 3579 to Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Box 30370, Lincoln, Nebraska 68503. Second class postage paid at Lincoln, Nebraska Travel articles financially supported by Department of Economic Development Ronald J. Mertens, Deputy Director John Rosenow, Travel and Tourism Director Contents FEATURES FAIR WEATHER AND FOWL 8 ALARM-CLOCK CARP 10 GETTING THE SHOTGUN IN SHAPE 14 NOT SO LONG AGO 16 THE BOBWHITE QUAIL 18 HUNTING THE BOBWHITE 34 PRAIRIE LIFE/PIONEER RIVER 36 FRONTIER RECIPES 40 NOTES ON NEBRASKA FAUNA/REDHEAD DUCK 42 DEPARTMENTS SPEAK UP TRADING POST 49 COVER: Retrieving a downed mallard from the North Platte River in western Nebraska, a Chesapeake Bay retriever proves his worth in frigid water. Photo by Bob Grier. OPPOSITE: In the fall, the Missouri River forms a scenic backdrop for nature's artistry on the landscape, and for man's developments. Photo by Lou Ell.
Sir / I'm not in the anti-hunting camp hunting is a great outdoor activity. What I am opposed to is the hunter who will fully or ignorantly breaks game laws.
The Article "Needed —New Systems & Ethics of Hunting" by Dr. James Hatter (January 1974) —the writer is to be commended for his concern for wildlife and the image hunters create; but a few of his ideas just don't relate to our present society. He writes: "We must get involved with landowners 12 months of the year, not just during the open season". This would be impossible for many hunters. Great numbers of them live in large cities and drive many hundreds of miles to go deer or elk hunting, so how can hunters get involved when they are only able to drive for a hunting trip once a year?
The writer also states that in Europe, game is sold to butcher shops, and the public regards the hunter as a necessary provider. He wonders if we can use their example. If this were to be done it would have to be only with game birds, water fowl, and animals whose stocks were constantly being replenished...market hunting all but caused some species to become extinct. Of course, destruction of habitat has caused scarcity or demise of many species.
Many of the no trespassing signs are there for a reason; perhaps hunters have left gates open, or owner's livestock or pets are shot. Another complaint is drinking. The lack of good judgment and common sense on the part of some hunters seems to be a very good reason for the no trespassing signs.
G.N. Van Essen Temple City, Cal. 91780Hopefully, the "bad guys" with guns, those who don't respect property rights of others, game laws and the many other factors, can either be converted to conscientious hunters or excluded from par ticipating. You're right in saying that common sense and good judgment would make up most of the gap; we must now figure out how to promote those qualities in all hunters, and non-hunters as well. (Editor)
Luck of the DrawSir / I would like to pass on to you my sincerest regards and appreciation for the work the Game and Parks Commission does, considering the circumstances.
I would also wish to thank you and the staff which handled the public drawing for antelope permits on June 3. This is the fifth year I have tried for a permit and I thought I would go down personally for the drawing. At the time I was the only one there and your people were quite gracious in offering to let me draw all the permits for the unit I had applied for. To say the least, I was quite surprised! Unfortunately, though, I couldn't even draw myself a permit! Perhaps next time. I did, however, want to let you know that I regarded this gesture as a great courtesy.
(Name withheld)It seems we have a continuing problem with credibility regarding our drawings for big-game permits. The above is an unsolicited letter from an Omaha man that we hope helps. (Editor)
Deer OnesSir / Enclosed is a picture taken from our back door window on December 26, 1973. Thought you might find it interest ing. There were 19 deer that went through the yard, and all stopped and smelled of the path shoveled on the sidewalk. This was taken about 4 p.m. and in zero weath er.
Mrs. William White Alliance, Nebr. 69301Sir / I want you to know I enjoy NEBRASKAIand very much. One thing I have looked for was pictures of the lakes and hills and valleys of the Sand Hills. I moved into old McPherson County, now Arthur, in 1907 with my parents, Albert and Julia Rownd, onto a 480-acre homestead.
I would surely appreciate it if you could devote some of the pages to the history and pictures of that land I grew up in. Would also like to see some letters from some of the old timers. I am nearly 81 years old.
Vassar Rownd Woodlake, Cal.We do devote a considerable number of pages each year to areas of the Sand Hills and its lakes and birds and wildlife. I hope we will be able to run more in the near future for your benefit. And, I hope some of those old timers will drop you a line. (Editor)
Song SearchSir / By chance I happened to run onto the words of this song about Nebraska and no one here seems to know just where they came from or what the tune would be. I think it would make a nice state song and was wondering if anyone had ever heard of it before. If so, I would sure like to know just what tune one would use.
Mrs. Orval Hjorth Doniphan, Nebr. When you sing of a state where the promise is great, When you sing of a land broad and green, When you sing of Nebraska, of farm lands and streams, All won by toil and hard-fought dreams. Chorus: Oh! Nebraska, Nebraska, wonderful land, Land of souls brave and true, Oh! Nebraska, Nebraska, Beautiful land, Nebraskaland, here's to you.There follows two more verses and an "interlude". It is possible this was one of the songs submitted for state song when the search was going on several years ago. If any reader knows any of the particulars, please contact Mrs. Hjorth or us. (Editor)
Mrs. S. E. Salzman of Ainsworth responded to a plea in Speak Up from Samuel Fremont, a native Nebraskan now in prison at San Luis, Obispo, and he is now receiving NEBRASKAland through her generosity. Several other people also offered subscriptions, one of which was anonymous, so his subscription is for two years —the later ones were returned. (Editor)
Clear skies dimmed our chances to bust any migrating mallards
FAIR WEATHER AND FOWL
Photograph by Tim HergenraderSTEVE REEDS was alternately optimistic and pessimistic about our chances of 1 shooting ducks. Steve, my cousin, and I usually have a blind on the Platte River near Gibbon, and although it means my traveling some distance to use it, we have in the past enjoyed some fine shooting. This year, however, due to high water on the river, we had been unable to get near the blind.
Steve had heard reports of people on the north channel having success on late arriving mallards, but the weather had turned unseasonably warm, thus giving him second thoughts about our chances of getting into any big bunches even if we could find a blind to use.
Since we couldn't use our blind, I suggested Steve call a Gibbon hunter and ask if we could join him. We went to see Bob Leonard, and after explaining to him that I wanted to do a duck hunting story, he and his son, Lonnie, agreed to host us the following day.
The morning was cold, but the winter sky was filled with bright stars, promising fair weather. The prospect wasn't encouraging, but Lonnie said, "I think we'll see some ducks."
Duck hunting on the Platte can at times be very frustrating. I imagine duck hunting anywhere can be, but in the area where Steve and I have (Continued on page 47)
ALARM-CLOCK CARP
HELL, FISH ARE like people...they'll take a bite out of something when they git hungry, but no tellin' when that'll be." That is Frank Cupak's rationalization when somebody accuses his style of fishing as being that of a lazy man.
Alarm-clock fishing is only one of a multitude of of systems and contraptions Frank has engineered OMer the many years he's fished Nebraska waters, and this includes his "jalopy".
As I drove off the access road at North Platte's Lake Maloney, a vintage green and silver Jeep was parked in a shaded area with the back door of the home made camper aimed lakeside. Its nomadic appeal prompted investigation, for all inanimate objects with character as typified by this jalopy, have a story to tell. The green Jeep with the silver camper, waiting patiently like a hunting dog at the feet of its master, provided no exception to the rule.
Its owner and creator was Frank Cupak, a small, wiry, character of 74 years no longer caught up in the day-to-day dogfight of work and other adversities termed as the "grind" Old Frank hasn't been a nomad all his life, although his interests have channeled him into a lifestyle commonly termed as "river rat"; spending all his weekends and holidays away from a 30-year job with a packing plant in Omaha.
During his tenure in the packing industry, weekends and evenings meant the tail-end of that green jalopy could be seen heading north or west out of Omaha. Frank's trips then were short, as he usually ended up at Louisville or Fremont. Not that Frank wasn't adventurous in those days, but his time was limited by Monday mornings beckoning him back to the grind. When top speed never exceeds 40 miles per hour, a fisherman is limited in the distance he can travel. Things are different now; Frank retired in 1965. Reluctant to do so at the time, Frank feels he was pushed into retirement, and as he explains it, even the company doctor "had his finger in it." Frank's new place of business is at the working end of a stout fishing pole, and he says its the best job he ever had. He no longer begrudges retire ment and is probably kicking himself for not doing it sooner, because since he'll never change his 40-mph driving speed, he had to increase his free time just to get where he wants to, and still have time to fish. It takes Frank most of nine hours to reach North Platte, but that doesn't discourage him. That's where Lake Maloney is, and at certain times of the year, especially July, Frank has been able to pull out some mighty big carp... his favorite fish.
Frank's nomadic habits keep him away from his south Omaha apartment almost nine full months of the year, but one can find him reluctantly frequenting the homestead more as early winter turns water spray into ice, driving him back to a lifestyle of tedium, awaiting spring.
Almost everybody says they're going to retire and live the good life, but few have actually made it to where Frank is. As Frank puts it; "I got the world by the neck, even a stick of dynamite couldn't drive me away from here". People who say that their pension doesn't provide them with enough money to enjoy retirement "are maybe spending their money foolish. Maybe they drive too fast or too much after they git where they're goin'." Those who know Frank know he'd say: "These people are jumpin' around like a bunch of jack rabbits", an expression he also uses for fishermen who are continuously moving their poles.
When I first saw him, he was hunched over a clean
ing table, which he had made, scoring a seven-pound
carp he had landed earlier that morning. It was readily
apparent that he was an outdoorsman in the truest sense
of the word. Everything around the camp was immaculately clean, except for a few kernels of corn which
he had spread around to feed the shore birds that Frank
likes to keep close to camp for company. "Skinny"
Harold Toombs, park maintenance foreman at Louis
ville's State Lakes, says Frank's a heck of a nice fisher
OCTOBER 1974
11
"A lot of people don't think much of this here fish," said Frank, referring to the carp he had just separated from the stringer, and while he was professionally sliding an old fillet knife under the scale layer. "Don't know what they're missin'; lot's of things to do with this fish. I like 'em smoked best; takes all day but its worth waiting for."
In the center of the cleaning table was a hole, through which Frank scrapes the scales, head and entrails into a pail and then buries them.
"Have some coffee'" he asked as he finished cover ing up the burial hole. "C'mon in the back of the jalopy and have some."
Walking into that thing was like visiting another world —a world void of wives or housekeepers, void of order. To the untrained eye this would seem the case, but to Frank Cupak everything had its place, and every thing was in it.
Frank poured me a cup of hot coffee that I don't believe I ever finished (or could finish). Then he looked around the little room formed by the camper and started to reminisce.
"I been out in all kinds of weather, you can ask Bob over there," referring to Bob Landberg, a fishing buddy of many years who came walking into the back end of the jalopy at that time. "One night I was down at Louis ville. There was a bar on the west end of the lake, and then there was a slough over there...a deep hole. I was camped there and a hell of a storm came up... tents down all over the park; and over on the southeast corner there was a limb broke; fell on a camper, and a woman had her arm broke, or her shoulder, I forget what it was." It was apparent that Frank knew which was broken but wanted to appear unconcerned about the danger of his situation to add uncertainty to his story.
"This fellow," referring to Bob Landberg again, "came out there during the night. I don't know, it must of been 1:30, 2 o'clock...after it was all over. Heck, I slept through the whole thing, and pretty soon, I hear... well, you know how a bullfrog bellers at night. Then Frank tipped his head back and his throat bulged just like an old frog..."bbbuurraa, bbbuurraa...Well, any way, I finally woke up. Pretty soon I hear 'ffrraank, ffrraank.' I said, what the hell you doin' here? He said, I come back to see if you were okay. I said 'you betcha I'm okay'. I guess he had a hell of a time gittin' through; wires down, burnin' in some streets. It didn't bother me.
"And west of Fremont on Military, the road is kind of high there. Boy, that ol' buggy was wobblin' back and forth. Thought she was on a rough sea. I thought any minute I'd be in the lake.
"Then there was the time...". At that moment, even fearless Frank jumped half off the cot he was sitting on from a commotion that seemed perfectly timed to interrupt the story he was about to tell.
The noise was loud and jangling, something like a fire-drill buzzer from school or the wartime sirens signalling an air raid. The terrible sound completely flooded the tail-end of that old jalopy.
It was soon apparent that the initial blast didn't really startle Frank, but was familiar to his ears; jarring him from memories of past experiences.
"There goes the alarm clock; fish on", Frank shouted over the obnoxious sound of the buzzer. Then a system took shape. Frank was in no hurry. His routine was planned and reinforced by years of experience. With the buzzer still blaring, Frank took a swig of coffee and hooked a wad of snuff with his index finger from a flat, circular tin, and somehow forced this fresh wad down on top of previous wads wedged between his lower lip and gum. He stepped down from the stoop of his camper, aimed himself deliberately in the direction of his rod, now thrashing madly, and slowly walked over.
Most men could not have shown the calmness and composure demonstrated by Frank during this, a fisherman's most anxious moment. Frank laughs at such excitable anglers. "I take my time. I don't run out there and break my neck like some people do. They see their pole jig a little bit, or shake a little bit...Oh, I can remember when Carl, I forget his last name, he had waders on, 'bout 10 sizes too big for him; 'bout all you could see was feet goin' down the bank and over in the water. And when he got there, he didn't have nothin' on. His bait wasn't even touched. Maybe a tumbleweed or somethin' hit the line and jerked the pole a little bit, but he made damned sure he got over there in time. I tell him to take life easy."
What I was seeing and hearing was one of Frank's marvelous fishing inventions in operation —his alarm clock system for carp.
"A fellow can sit by a pole a long time waiting for a big ol' carp to make a corn sandwich, but all you have to do is close your eyes and doze off. That's when he'll take it, and when you wake up, all the fun is over and your fish is gone."
That is what prompted Frank to create a system of fishing that would alert him to a striking fish even in his camper. He fishes with 2 poles with 2 hooks attached to 8-inch leaders at the bottom of his line. Above the hooks is a 3-way swivel and above the swivel, a sliding sinker. When a carp is hooked, a buzzer, which as I experienced could possibly wake the dead, goes off inside the camper. Frank gets up, and with the skill of a professional carp fisherman, lands the fish. He has devised an ingenious method, allowing a pin connected 12 NEBRASKAland
Each revision of his invention led to a new revision until what he's got now. Frank says it's perfected, but those who know him say it will just be a matter of time before he heads to the drawing board again. Frank's inventiveness and prowess in carp fishing has brought him 3 Master Angler awards, and it even works in catfishing, as he hauled in a 20-pounder at Gavins Point a few years ago.
Next time you go to Lake Maloney, look for the green and silver jalopy and the old fisherman dozing by his poles next to a stringer of harnessed carp. He'll have a story to tell you and a cup of coffee to share, and as the sun sets over Maloney's headwaters, bringing about an indescribable serenity to the lake, get ready for a screaming buzzer- it's time for alarm-clock carp.
Cleaning and lubricating the old scattergun should be done periodically, but before the season may be the most important. Also, inspect parts carefully and replace any defective or worn, as a gun is only as safe as its parts
Getting the Shotgun in Shape
WHEN UPLAND game and waterfowl seasons roll around, the majority of hunters give the first thought to their shotguns since last season. Unless improperly stored, a few hours of tinkering will put the old shooting iron in shape, but about now is also the time to make a resolution to take better precautions for putting guns away at the end of the coming season.
Regardless of how carefully a shot gun is treated in the field, there are always small foreign articles collecting amongst the workings. To ensure proper functioning when an old cackler rises from a weed patch, most or all those foreign articles should be removed.
First off, always keep safety upper most when handling any firearm, whether in the field or the home or in between. Always check for shells in the chamber and magazine —do this whenever anyone hands you a gun, or whenever you get one out of the gun cabinet. Then, disassembly can begin. And, this should be done in an organized way because those pieces have to go back in roughly the same order they came off. Unless very familiar with a shotgun, each piece removed should be placed on a cloth in order of removal to make putting back together a matter of fitting the right piece at the right time. Also, it is advisable not to let too much time elapse between taking apart and put ting together, as pieces do get lost and shuffled.
Some type of guns are much easier to clean than others, such as a single or double barrel, merely because of the fewer parts and the ease of disassembly, but cleanliness is always comforting with any gun, so take the effort whenever possible.
Once the gun is apart, it is a simple matter to clean out the dirt, old grease, weed seeds and the like, wiping everything clean and shiny, put ting on some lubricant that won't stiffen even in sub-zero temperatures, and putting everything back in the right sequence. The idea is not to have parts left over. Then, work the action several times to see that everything functions as it did before, or better.
While the gun is in pieces, how ever, inspect all parts carefully for wear, cracks or other weak spots. If any are found, it is advisable to either show them to a gunsmith or to replace them before they cause trouble. Such things as malfunctioning of the ejecter, frequent failing to fire from a worn firing pin, or loose actions would indicate parts are worn and not meshing as they should. A worn gun becomes unsafe, and the looser it is, the unsafer. A thorough checkup is in order before additional complications arise —such as the possible accidental firing because of worn sear, safety, etc.
Old guns are difficult to part with, or even to quit using, but there has to come a time when any firearm be comes too worn for safety. It must then either be repaired or relegated to a spot on the wall. Don't let familiarity with a gun overpower common sense.
Unless the woodwork is also to be refurbished, which is best left until after the hunting seasons, anyway, it should now suffice to oil the exterior of the metal, and also the wood if it has an oil finish. A hard finish is best protected with a few light coats of wax well rubbed. Of course, the bore should also be well cleaned and oiled again, although this was hopefully done periodically.
When the gun is in shape, there remains the problem of getting the shooter in condition —both physically and ballistically. A few hours spent on the trap range working over clay birds will pay great dividends, allowing the gun to be checked out, and also to get the eye used to moving targets again. Regular exercise during the year, or at least for a month or two before the season opens, can make those long walks afield much easier to take, so do a few knee bends, brisk walks, etc.
Hunting is one of the greatest sports ever invented, but only when no accident or tragedy befalls the partici pants, and when things are done right. Think safety; act safely; and don't overdo.
not so long ago
Hunting equipment and methods have changed since early in the century, but for H.J. Burgan, retired rail road engineer of Norfolk, the memories of "old days" linger as close as yesterday. His tales recall good times
DO YOU KNOW about sod houses? Well, I got to to tell you about that. Yup, it was a sod house. My folks bought that place —went out there and homesteaded in '83. It was south of Moon Lake, in the valley south of Moon Lake. That first place was close to 20 miles from town, all sandhills trails. It took about a day to make it each way with a team and buckboard.
I was born on the 15th of November in 1896 in another soddy 6 miles southwest of Johnstown, about a mile and half from Plum Creek. Well, I still go back there to hunt now, you know? I guess because I know the country; it's a little bit like going home.
So you want to know about grouse hunting in those days?
Well, the first gun I ever hunted with was a double barrel 10-gauge with 32-inch barrels. Never bothered me none, though.
My dad traded a 12-gauge lighter, cheaper gun — Belgian made or something. Traded it to another man who wanted a 12-gauge, and my dad looked at that Remington 10-gauge and got to thinking it was a lot higher-grade gun, then traded even with him.
Anyway, did you ever hear of Byron Baxter? He's up at Valentine. He and I went to school together. He's year or two older than me, and our ranches were about two miles apart, so of course we hunted together.
We were kids, about 12 or 13 years old, and we'd take just one gun. We would take my old double barrel, walk around, scare up chickens; young prairie chickens are kind of tame, you know.
Anyway, Baxter and me would walk around, try and scare up chickens, or grouse. Just had one gun, so who ever had the gun would shoot, then give it to the other fellow.
Maybe this is farfetched, but once with that old double-barrel gun, when I was probably 15 years old, a prairie chicken flew up along a side hill like they will, 10 feet off the ground. I led him just right and shot him, and up there in the grass on the sidehill I saw something flopping. I'd killed another chicken with that shot that was sitting up there, hiding in the grass on the sidehill, beyond the bird on the wing. That sounds extra-ordinary remark able, you know it?
When I was a kid, game was about half of your living. It was part of the menu all the time. In wintertime, in the colder weather —refrigeration was unknown then —we butchered a beef occasionally. The neighborhood would butcher a cow, and several ranchers divide it up. Pork you could salt down; wasn't too satisfactory though.
Game was most always available. I think when I first hunted you could have about 15 prairie chickens a day. I don't know for sure when they first started seasons.
I hunted with that old double barrel; carried that old gun around looking for ducks, even in the ponds and sloughs along the creeks. Shot muskrats, too. Didn't shoot them up-much either. You see, a swimming rat as a rule didn't have nothing but the top of his head out of water. Didn't damage it very much.
I'd sit on the east side of the pond or slough in the evening, at sundown-as long as I had the skylight in the west —and one of those old rats would come along; I'd let him have it. I got a lot of muskrats that way with that old gun.
There were flights of ducks that would come in, mostly teal. I'd let drive through that bunch of ducks, you know; figured on trying to shoot both barrels, but one of them would misfire. Still the ducks just come down, rained down, and not too far from me, either. We never knew what boots were, either. If you wanted to go in the lake, you just stripped off and waded in and come back out and put your clothes on. Finally wound up I had eight teal and a pintail from that one shot through that bunch of ducks. Nobody knew what the limit was in those days.
We'd trap a bit, also. All we ever tried to trap was muskrats, maybe a mink now and then, but there wasn't many of those. I think I caught one mink when I was going to school. I had to cross the creek to go to school, and there was about a mile, mile and a half from our place to school. I had half a dozen traps set along the creek for rats, and I had a piece of muskrat tacked on the side of the creekband for bait. The trap was set under it.
By golly, I had a great big old male mink. It seemed to me that we got about five dollars for a good mink then. That was a lot of money it was. A good muskrat skin, well if we averaged 25 cents right straight through for our rats, we thought we were doing good. A good, big one you might even get upwards of a dollar for it.
The first trout I ever seen was a brooky; "specks" we called them. I never seen a brown or rainbow for a long time. They finally put in some rainbows; had them farther down the creek by the railroad, northwest of Johnstown. There finally got to be some good-size rainbow, browns also; about all the trout we had was five miles south of the railroad.
I did a little reloading, and of course I've done a little gunsmithing right along. I've even built a few stocks, but I wore that out.
I made screws and whittled out pieces; I whittled out the most remarkable damn things; do you know about an Ithaca double barrel hammerless? A minister over at Madison brought in that gun and said he took it almost everyplace. It was broken but he had the two pieces of the broken hook part.
I wrote the company, got a letter signed by a woman. It said the only recourse I might have was to get some "expert" mechanic to make one; fashion one or make it. Anyway, I made that gun work; charged him $7.50.
I did checkering also but I wore that out too.
I never thought I wanted to hunt big game. I'd rather have a piece of beef. I could have shot deer a hundred times. I'd rather shoot at birds. I told the guys I would rather shoot something I could carry; all that big stuff I'd need help with.
Baxter and I can remember talking when we were kids, wondering if we would ever see a deer. They killed them all off. There was a man living down south of Ains- worth in the Sand Hills; he was showing my dad a Sharps. Do you know about the Sharps rifle?
He was showing my dad, and telling him how many deer he had got with it; it was 45 caliber. Anyway, this old man came out here, said he'd seen the last deer killed in these parts.
Did I ever tell you about railroading in them days? Well, it's not good to turn me loose on railroading. Might take more than an hour. Those was exciting times, you see....
the Bobwhite Quail
TO MANY sportsmen the quail is the "King of Game Birds." Nature lovers admire him for his cheery whistle and visits to glean farmyard grain. It is difficult to find anyone with an unflattering word for the "bob".
A bird that loves the edge of woodlands bordering on grasslands, the quail can be found statewide; its greatest numbers in southeast Nebraska and along river bottoms.
As farm land spread across the grasslands of Nebraska, the quail trailed along, thriving on the weeds, woods and grain that man created. Today, though, the quail is shrinking back as hedgerows, weedy fencelines and woodlots are cleared to feed an expanding, hungry world. On the following pages is the story of the quail's life, his struggle for survival, and how we can lend him a hand.
AMONG THE NATIVE Nebraska wildlife to greet settlers when they first arrived in the territory was the bobwhite quail. Pioneers and homesteaders found quail along wooded waterways throughout the state, and as home steaders introduced grain crops and fencerows to the quail, woody cover and annual weeds followed, all in creasing the range of the bobwhite.
Records show that by 1901 the "bob" was distributed throughout the state; along river systems and wherever else suitable habitat occurred. By 1919, the bob was especially numerous along the upper Elkhorn River and streams emptying into the Missouri River west of Yankton, South Dakota. First settlers in Antelope County reported limited numbers of quail, but those soon increased with the agricultural development and quail were plentiful there by 1909.
Quail were harvested for eastern markets in the 1800s prior to protection by state regulations, but most of the birds taken were trapped and not shot, probably because of the time and expense required for hunting. One shipper in 1875, during a 6-week period, shipped 18,700 quail from Lincoln to eastern markets, primarily Boston and New York.
Even during the early 1900s the effect of winter weather on the quail population was documented. The 1908 annual report of the Nebraska Game and Fish Commission states: "In my last report I called attention to the almost complete extermination of the quail, caused by the severe winter of 1905, and predicted a speedy recovery to normal conditions, owing to their domestic habits, and prolificy. This seems to have been true, as during the past season the quail have been reported more plentiful than for years past."
Again in the 1912 annual report: "The general condition of the game in this state is quite satisfactory, show ing an increase in prairie chicken and grouse, and also in quail, during the years of 1910 and 1911, but owing to the severe winter of 1911 and 1912 the quail have decreased; the heavy snows and cold weather for weeks at a time prevented them from finding shelter and food."
As we know today, the bobwhite is able to survive in Nebraska, how ever major population fluctuations have occurred due to severe winter conditions. Current fluctuations in population levels are probably not as drastic in the southeastern part of Nebraska due to better habitat conditions. We do, however, get major changes in the northern and western areas, especially in areas away from the wooded stream courses.
The bobwhite is normally considered more of a southeastern United States game bird. Many areas along its northern and westernmost range, however, do support high population levels. Nebraska lies on the north westernmost portion of the bob's range, with only marginal populations beyond this point.
In the state, bobwhite currently occur in greatest numbers in south eastern Nebraska, but there are densities outside that area that are equal to or better than those in the south east. These areas are found in the riparian habitat along the Republican, Platte and Elkhorn rivers.
Before settlement of the state, quail were probably restricted to the woody stream courses, and it's doubtful if they occurred in very large numbers. Settlers broke up the prairie into plots of ground and fencing followed. With the fences came woody cover for windbreaks to protect livestock and homesteads from the persistent prairie winds.
This interspersion of cropland, grassland and woody cover allowed the bob to move out of the river bottoms onto previously unsuitable range. This dispersion of range has undoubtedly increased the total quail population manyfold over historical levels.
A year With the Bobwhite
EARLY SPRING finds bobwhites grouped in flocks of six or more. As the days lengthen, the closely knit groups associate less as groups and more as indi viduals. Confined to a small home range during winter months, the birds begin to spend their days roaming the countryside in search of a mate and a nesting site. As the hens leave the covey they are normally accompanied by a male. The number of males always exceeds the number of females, leaving bachelor bobs. Excess, males insure that every female has a mate, thus no production potential is lost within the covey framework.
Even though the sex ratio is nearly 1 to 1 when the chicks hatch, males are just a bit hardier than females. Nebraska's sex ratio of adult birds taken during the hunting season aver age 4 males for every 3 females, while young birds average 13 males per 12 females.
The covey breakup occurs around the first of April. Nearly a month goes by before nesting begins in earnest. Preferred nesting cover early in the season is grasses from the previous year with overhead canopy. Once a nest site is located the male scratches a bowl-like depression and weaves overhanging grasses into a canopy over it. The female supervises the operation. Once the nest meets the approval of the female, egg laying begins. Eggs are deposited at the rate of just under one egg per day, so to produce the average clutch of 14 eggs normally takes 16 days.
Incubation begins as soon as the last egg is deposited in the nest. If predators do not find the nest, and heavy rains do not wash it away and the cover is not destroyed, the eggs hatch after 23 days.
During courtship and early nest ing, quail find their food supply on the increase. Bare ground in April makes the previous year's seed supply available but dwindling fast, so sprout ing green vegetation is a preferred food at this time.
As the agricultural ground is worked, fewer seeds are available, but by mid May insects are beginning to emerge in sufficient numbers to provide a good food source for the nesting birds. As the season progress es, the quail's diet is primarily insects, greens and fresh berries.
Many of the nests started by quail never produce young. Many pitfalls occur that prevent eggs from hatch ing, but the persistence of the quail to successfully raise a brood of young perpetuates the species.
Climatic conditions are especially disastrous on quail production. Tor rential rains flood out many nests, and cold, wet weather in May can set back the peak of hatch. Normal farming operations also take their toll each year, destroying nests located in fields that are worked late in the spring such as wheat, milo or corn stubble. Late spring burning will destroy both nesting cover and nests.
In cases where the nest is destroyed but the female survives, production is not necessarily lost because the hen will normally select a new nesting site and try again. If the hen dies and the nest is not destroyed, her mate will assume the incubation job and raise the young. If the male dies during this period, another is ready and willing to take his place. This is nature's way of insuring that every female has a mate, and unlike most species, once the clutch of eggs is complete, males will take full responsibility for incubating and raising the young.
Even though quail begin nesting in May, the production season will run into September. Maximum production occurs when the majority of the early nesting is successful as earlier clutches contain the most eggs. As renesting attempts occur, the number of eggs per nest decreases.
Until recently it was thought that a pair of quail would produce only one brood of chicks per year. How ever, biologists are now aware of some penned birds producing two broods. This only occurs under the most ideal conditions and the extent of this in the wild is unknown.
Current findings indicate that when second broods are produced by a pair, the second clutch of eggs is started soon after the first clutch hatches. The male then assumes full care of the first brood while the hen incubates the second clutch.
The frequency of this is not really known, but it does explain sudden eruptions of the quail population. There have been years in Nebraska, such as 1958, when the quail population almost doubled from the pre vious year.
Quail are about the size of a bum blebee when they hatch. The female broods them in the nest until they are completely dry, and as soon as they leave the nest the male joins his mate and the family moves into surround-
Sex Determination by Head Plumage
Age Determination by
Wing Feathers
ing cover never to return to the nest site again.
The first several days of a chick's life are spent searching for food when the weather is favorable, and when unfavorable, seeking protection from heat, cold and rain snuggled under the warm breast feathers of the adults.
Young quail grow rapidly. The soft yellow and black down they are born with is slowly replaced by juvenile feathers. Within two weeks the juvenile plumage begins to appear and by four weeks it covers all but the head. The bird is almost completely feathered by six weeks with only remnants of natal down still present on the head.
At eight weeks of age the first adult feathers begin to show on the breast. By 13 weeks adult plumage is dominant and at 15 weeks, adult plumage is reached.
A chick weighs 0.2-ounce when hatched and its weight about doubles every 10 days for the first 5 weeks. Between 8 and 10 weeks of age the chicks will have attained half of the adult weight.
For the first two weeks the young bobs spend most of their time under the protection of the adults, with only short periods of feeding. Immediately upon hatching, their feeding behavior is the same as adults. They scratch among the vegetation picking up in sects and small seeds left from the previous fall. Within a week their wings are developed to a point where they are capable of flying short distances. They utilize their wings in short hops or flights upward to catch insects.
Young quail are dependent upon their parents for protection until they are five weeks old. From then on the young rely on the adult mainly for warnings of danger from predators and other natural enemies. They roost at night huddled together, yet function individually when danger arises, flush ing singly and scattering in every direction.
As the young mature, they begin to function more as a unit, flushing to gether and taking the same flight path when danger is near. Their key to survival is this ability to act as a unit. In September and October, most of the young birds are no longer depen dent upon their parents for survival. Food and cover are plentiful and the young birds begin to wander about. Many birds join other coveys. This movement is called the fall shuffle. Early beliefs were that coveys of quail in the fall were family units, but this is not entirely true. Some late broods may still be together in November, but most coveys at this time are composed of young from several different broods as well as numerous adults. By this time the bachelor males have joined up with other birds and are also scattered through various coveys.
This dispels the theory that quail should be hunted to break up family groups and thus reduce inbreeding-nature has taken care of breaking up family units before the hunting season even opens.
Mortality begins taking its toll on quail early. Young birds are especially susceptible to chilling and moisture. Rain will take its toll on young birds as well as nests. Predators will also take an occasional quail. Overall, 80 percent of the quail chicks that hatch in a given year will never see the following nesting season.
By November the birds are settled into coveys and their home range is fairly well established around cover that will satisfy their winter needs. This range is normally associated with woody or brushy cover for protection from predators and winter storms, a grassy area for roosting, and a corn or milo field for feed. The better the quality and the closer these cover types are to each other determines the number of birds an area can support.
Throughout the winter the bobs are set in a way of life that changes very little from day to day. The covey spends the night in grassy habitat usually close to a patch of woody cover. The roosting formation is characteristic of the species and serves as protection from cold temperatures and predators: they form a circle with tails to the inside and heads facing out so that at any sign of danger the birds can take flight, and the circle is tight so that each bird has the benefit of body heat from each adjacent bird.
The covey leaves the roost shortly after sunrise and the first order of business is filling their crops. The covey moves off as a unit to its feeding area. In many cases the close proximity of the grain field to roosting cover allows the covey to walk instead of flying to breakfast. When food is in good supply, very little time is needed to satisfy the appetite of a bob, so they can soon move to a loafing area to spend the morning and afternoon.
Most of midday is spent loafing, preferably in an area that provides good overhead cover and allows the birds to dust themselves. Unless disturbed, the covey will spend the day in one location before moving off to feed again late in the afternoon. Upon completing their evening meal the birds move to their roosting area for the night.
This daily routine is repeated each day unless they are disturbed. Severe winter storms approaching will nor
It is during periods of sub-zero
temperatures and deep snow
that mortality takes its heaviest toll
on Nebraska's bobwhites.
Quail need to feed regularly to
survive but can make it through cold
winters as long as their food plants
are not covered with snow
mally keep a covey of quail, as well as most species of wildlife, feeding all day. During severe storms, the birds may not be able to leave the roost for a day or two and the food supply may be covered by several inches of snow. It is during periods of sub-zero temperatures and deep snow that mortality takes its biggest toll on Nebraska's bobwhites. Cold temper atures alone are not as harmful as when deep snow is also present. Quail require a lot of energy to survive sub-zero temperatures, but as long as their food source is not covered by snow they have little trouble withstanding the cold.
It is during the severest winter weather that habitat becomes most important to quail in Nebraska. Being on the extreme northwest edge of its U.S. range, the bobwhite population can be set back substantially during a severe winter; losses of 60 to 70 percent of the breeding population have been recorded. During periods of severe weather it is only the best habitat that will see a covey through. During the fall and winter months, as normal mortality reduces the size of coveys, reshuffling will occur. A covey reduced to less than 10 birds during the hunting season will merge with another covey. Average covey size will change very little during this period even though the total population is drastically reduced. This allows the birds to select the best habitat.
Winter food of the bobwhite is composed primarily of annual seeds and grain. Whichever is most readily avaiable will be used the most. Some berries are also utilized, such as sumac. Preferred grains are corn and grain sorghums, and while ragweeds and hemp are the most popular annual weeds, both are considered undesirable plants by farmers. Foxtail grasses are high on the preference list of quail, but the use of pre-emergents on cultivated lands has greatly reduced its availability.
As the first warm days of spring arrive, the once compatible males in a covey begin to square off in mock combat. It is at this time that most of the mate selection takes place. This will occur up to a month prior to the actual break-up of the winter coveys.
Provided normal conditions have existed during the year, the spring population of bobwhites is very close to that of the previous year. Very few old birds that nested the previous summer are left at this time, so most of the production rests on the hardy survivors produced the previous summer.
Photographs by Greg BeaumontNEBRASKA'S regulation of up land bird harvest began in 1866. The earliest seasons, through 1929, were set by the legislature. Since that time, the seasons have been set by the Game Com mission. During the early years of the 1900s there were one or two-month seasons with 50 birds-per-day limits.
The quail was completely protected from 1917 through 1943. In 1944, a 10-day season was allowed in Johnson, Nemaha, Pawnee and Rich ardson counties with a bag and possession limit of 5. The following year the season was extended to 15 days and another county (Gage) was added to the area. The area open to quail hunting progressively grew until the entire state was open in 1962.
Season length started at 10 days in 1944 and steadily increased to 90 days in 1973. For many years the quail season north of the Platte River was closed earlier than the area south of the river. January hunting was also prohibited for many years due to adverse weather conditions typical for that time of year.
Information gathered in recent years indicates that hunting pressure is related to the population density, and during periods of severe cold and deep snow cover, hunters are reluctant to spend time in the field hunting. These two factors allow quail hunting even in areas of low population densities, and for the season to extend into January when severe weather is most likely to occur.
Population surveys have been conducted in Nebraska since 1945, and data is available from the rural mail carrier survey from 1945 to the present. Although conducted three times a year (winter, spring and summer) only the summer survey is a reliable forecaster of the fall quail population. Questionnaires are sent to all rural mail carriers in the state and they record the number of game birds they observe during a four-day period, and the number of miles they drive.
The surveys are conducted at the same time each year and the variation in numbers of quail observed in dicates the changes in population level. Year-to-year fluctuations show
the effect of weather on the populations. Long-term trends from 1945 to 1972 indicate a gradual increase in the bobwhite population. The peak occurred in 1958 and 1959, with the lowest population recorded in 1949.
A whistle-count survey is conducted each year by Commission personnel. This survey is based on the fact that bachelor males spend the summer in search of unmated females. In their quest for a mate, the males spend their time right after sunrise giving the familiar bobwhite call. Theoretically, the ratio of unmated males remains constant, and therefore an increase in unmated males indicates an in crease in the overall quail population.
The whistle count survey is conducted each year over established routes 19 miles long. Starting at sunrise, the observer stops every mile along this route and records the number of quail giving the call. The num ber of males recorded is compared to previous years' records, thus establish ing a population trend.
Information from the whistle-count survey since 1947 in the southeastern counties corresponds quite closely with information from the surveys conducted by rural mail carriers. The lowest population level occurred in 1949 and the highest in 1959. Again, the general population trend has been upward since 1947.
Violent fluctuations are caused by ideal nesting conditions producing birds in excess of the carrying capacity of range foJlowed by severe winter storms that cause excessive winter mortality. As the population grows, quail disperse into areas that are simply not capable of supporting them. If a severe storm hits when the population is extremely high, their numbers can drop as much as 70 percent in one year.
When these sudden drops occur, sportsmen and landowners become very concerned and often request an immediate program to raise the population back up. Closing the season and stocking are the most common programs suggested. What is the best solution? Again, habitat is the key. If proper habitat is maintained, the fluctuation is much less pronounced. With normal nesting conditions and mild winters, a quail population will rapidly recover on its own. Such a loss occurred in northeast Nebraska in 1969. Due to a very severe winter the quail population dropped 58 percent. Within 4 years the population was back to the 1968 level and above it 5 years later (see graph) This recovery was made without change in management policy —no stocking or reduced seasons were involved.
What effect would stocking have on the recovery of a low quail population? Actually there is little or no benefit in stocking quail unless it is being done in an area where there are no wild birds and if the birds are released just ahead of the gun. The survival of pen-raised quail is normal ly less than 30 percent for birds released prior to the hunting season.
Studies have shown that the cost of putting a bird in the bag by stocking pen-raised birds ranged from $2.50 to $55.56 when young birds were released prior to the hunting season. Another technique used was releasing pen-raised young with wild trapped adults. The adults normally adopted the young, but again, the cost of a bird was over $35.
Population Trends in Nebraska
Studies indicate that less than 4 percent of the pen-raised birds released in the fall survive until the next breeding season. Even with 100 percent nesting success, this would produce only 26 birds for every 100 birds released.
Late winter and early spring release of adult breeders is also a financial bust. Survival of native birds is only about 31 percent and pen-reared survival would be much less than that.
It simply boils down to the fact that any pen-raised birds released to replenish wild stock is impractical. In nearly all of Nebraska it is also impractical to attempt to introduce birds into an area void of native birds. If quail habitat is present, native birds will be there. If no native birds are present, there is no way pen-raised birds will survive for any length of time.
Only under the most unique circumstances is stocking of pen-raised quail financially feasible. The major drawback to game-farm quail in the wild is their tameness, which makes them very susceptible to predators; they have trouble finding food since they are conditioned to finding their food in a pre-arranged location, and they tend to remain separated and not form the covey unit that is so essential for survival of wild birds.
What effect does closing or reducing the season have on the quail population? Hunting mortality has little or no effect on the following year's population. Even though hunters remove a fair number of birds from the population each fall, these birds would normally be lost due to lack of suitable cover and other normal causes.
The most common winter loss in Nebraska is due to severe cold —be low zero — for an extended period, and if their food source is buried beneath snow, quail will eventually starve. The means of combating this loss are to provide good protective cover from the cold and have the cover close to a food source that is not covered by snow. Birds that have to travel considerable distances from their roost ing and loofing areas during severe weather to find food burn up much needed energy and often perish.
Another threat to the quail population is a winter ice storm. Rain changing to snow with a rapid drop in temperature glazes the vegetation with ice and feeding can become difficult. There is also the threat of ice covering the birds, which normally results in suffocation.
When winter conditions become severe, the question of feeding game birds always arises. Done properly, winter feeding can bring a covey of quail through difficult times. How ever, there are definite ways to conduct a winter feeding program —the indiscriminate scattering of grain will not serve any benefit. The range of a covey must be known and the feed placed in good cover within that range. This means that instead of feed birds in general, a specific covey is fed. Once a covey is fed, the food supply must be maintained through out the bad weather.
Mixtures of the heading type of grains, like milo and the millets, offer the best quality food for winter feed ing. Corn and wheat mixed with these grains will provide nourishing food. Various chicken feed mixtures, available at grain companies, are excellent too.
Feeding does have drawbacks if done improperly. If feeding is not continued throughout a period, birds may be held in an area short on food when they normally would move into another region where food is more readily available.
Feeding birds can also increase losses due to predation. Predators can become aware that the birds will be found at a certain site at a specific time each day. Feeding birds along roadsides will also increase road-kill losses. Indiscriminate scattering of grain is a waste of time and grain if it is expected to provide food for quail. It gets a lot of grain in the field, but it will help very few birds through a period of severe weather.
When a covey of quail is known to be present and the food supply is known to be eliminated, feeding can assure their survival at a relatively low cost. But, this can only be done effectively on a farm-by-farm basis.
Nebraska's bobwhite harvest has gradually increased since records have been kept. The increase is due mainly to an increase in number of hunters who harvest quail. Although quail hunting is attracting more hunt ers all the time, the vast majority of quail are taken incidental to pheasant hunting. There are fewer than 10,000 sportsmen who hunt primarily quail, and fewer than 20 percent of the hunters harvest just over 60 percent of the quail.
Although many sportsmen and nature lovers feel that hunting seasons reduce quail populations, the real deterents to increased quail numbers are lack of habitat and the severity of Nebraska winters. The regulations as they now exist will simply remove quail from the population that would normally be lost due to inadequate habitat.
The gradual settlement of the state developed habitat more to the quail's liking. The plowing of prairie, the subsequent planting of small grain, the increase of weedy growth, and planting of trees all enhanced the cover and vegetation necessary for quail survival and increase.
While settlement increased the quail population, many modern farm ing practices are detrimental to quail production. The advent of herbicide use and increased mechanization have encouraged the trend toward "clean" farming. Much of the quail habitat is now restricted to inacces sible, untillable areas such as drain ages, ditches, fencerows and pastures.
The trend toward monoculture or one-crop farming is also detrimental to wildlife. For instance, a portion of land in corn year after year provides little variable cover that would benefit quail. All modern farming practices aren't bad, however. Conservation practices such as grassed waterways, terracing, strip farming, pasture improvement and shelterbelt plantings all may benefit quail.
Unlike so many native game birds, the bobwhite has adapted well to living with man. To sustain their populations, all we need do is meet their basic life requirements.
The Way to Quail Abundance
Photograph by Carl WolfeTHE KEY TO all successful wild life management is habitat. Various types of cover are needed at different seasons to serve the needs of bobwhites. Usually one or two types of habitat are available, but possibly an additional one needs to be increased. The main method of improving quail habitat is to increase "edge". Edges are those areas where two different types of habitat, that serve different functions for the quail, come together. Examples would be pasture land adjacent to a
corn field, a fenceline bordering a grain field, or a hedgerow or a woody draw bisecting farm ground. Since the bobwhite has a small travel area, two functions, such as food and cover, should be available in close proximity. A quarter-section of corn provides food only around the edge where a bobwhite has easy access to escape cover. Large timber tracts are only effective on their edges where nest ing cover or food is available.
Another term often heard in quail management is interspersion. Aldo Leopold described interspersion in his Game Management book written in 1933: "Abundance of non-mobile wildlife requiring two or more types, (of habitat) appears, in short, to depend on the degree of interspersion of those types, and this in turn their vegetation richness and simultaneous availability."
Thus, management of bobwhites requires knowledge of the variety of habitat, the quality and quantity required and the relationship of the various types.
Four types of cover are usually as sociated with bobwhites —grassland, crop, brush and woodlands. An ideal quail area would have a mixture of these four; however, all are not necessarily needed in order to have a suitable quail population.
Grass serves its best purpose as nesting cover; at least two out of three quail Viests are found in grass communities. Some hayfields are used, but usually the grass is associated with brushy cover on unused areas such as along a hedgerow. Many times, grass clumps that are inaccessible to cattle furnish the needed protection for a quail nest. Roadsides also receive high use due to non-use by livestock and haying. Also, a fencerow may provide additional protection and make a ditch bank a preferred nesting area. Over grazed pastures and harvested hay fields offer little for quail. Quail usually do not prefer heavy stands of alfalfa for nesting as pheasants do, but seek out areas that are more open, with less canopy effect, which are easily traveled.
The increase in cropland has been the primary factor in increasing quail range. Before the land was homesteaded, range fires disturbed the soil and allowed weed growth to occur, but grass succession eventually overcame the weed and forb growth. Early sod breaking and farming practices created disturbed areas and edges for the growth of ideal quail habitat.
While the old, inefficient type of farming was beneficial, modern farm ing techniques are working against the quail. The use of herbicides and insecticides remove the necessary cover and food that they need. Land leveling has removed many weedy or brushy draws that formed necessary edge. Fencerows and hedges are removed to enable the use of larger equipment. Because of the increased demand for food for the increasing human population, the farmer cannot be faulted for trying to improve his land for increased production. Many farmers, however, see the need for and benefits of conservation practices to prevent soil erosion and con serve moisture and water on the land. Most of these practices benefit both the farmer and wildlife.
Brush is probably a broad term that would include an osage orange "hedge" row, plum thicket or sunflower patch. Normally any low woody plants or woody type herbs provide a necessary part of the quail "home". The availability of this type of cover adjacent to cropland or other food source usually determines bobwhite home range. One reason why southeast Nebraska and the Platte and Republican rivers and tributaries are blessed with quail populations is because of these brushy areas.
While multiflora rose has been a beneficial addition in many eastern and southern states, the introduction into Nebraska has not been success ful due in part to lack of moisture, and disease.
Osage orange was planted as living fences, and as a brushy field bound ary has well served the quail. How ever, many of these hedges are going before the bulldozer, and the quail vanish with them. Plum thickets spring up and spread without help from man and are very important. Redcedar, commonly used for windbreaks, also provides important winter cover. Snow tends to bridge over the branch es, leaving a canopy and protection for the bobwhite.
Blackberries, raspberries, plums, currants and elderberries provide food in addition to shelter.
Woodlands serve best use when associated with brushy undergrowth or brushy cover adjacent to the wood land edge. Most woodlands are as sociated with rivers and tributaries and are not as intensively managed for timber or quail as in the south eastern states. Their value in Nebraska is limited to an association with brush and cropland. Some winter cover is provided, along with limited food. A woodlot that is heavily grazed to remove ground cover is practically worthless to quail.
Hunting the Bobwhite
AS A RULE quail hunters are specialists. A large portion of the 60,000 hunters in Nebraska reporting taking quail, take them incidental to pheasant hunting when suddenly they find themselves in the middle of a covey. The majority of quail bagged, though, are shot by a much smaller, but dedicated group of "bob" hunters.
Quail, unlike the introduced ringneck, are native to Nebraska. How ever, it has only been since the mid-1940s that the season was opened on the bobwhite. Interest in quail hunting developed slowly, with a handful of new avid quail hunters finding the sport each year. Quail are the only up land game bird hunted in Nebraska where a good dog is almost a prerequisite to a good hunt. This is not to say that quail cannot be hunted with out a dog, but such hunting is a distinct disadvantage. Without a dog, a bird downed in heavy cover is very difficult to find and much time can be spent searching. It is also difficult to locate and flush singles without a dog.
Quail cannot be effectively hunted before they leave the roost or before they have completed feeding for the morning. They are normally hunted in loafing cover from mid morning to late afternoon. Depending on the time of year and cover conditions, loafing cover normally consists of woody or brushy plants without heavy ground cover but with a good canopy. Quail are dependent upon this type of cover for protection from predators and ad verse weather.
Once a covey of quail has been located, it can be found in the same general area on subsequent hunts. The home range of a covey is normally quite small, providing all of their daily needs are met. Woody or brushy cover adjacent to a grain field is almost a sure bet to contain at least one covey. The more interspersion of woody cover with grain fields, the higher the quail density. In some areas, where sunflower and hemp are plentiful, quail can also be found. This cover is capable of supporting birds during mild weather but will not carry them through a prolonged winter storm.
Quail located in loafing cover will flush readily as a group. After the initial flush the birds will normally split up. Quail run very little after being flushed as a covey, and this allows a hunter to more easily locate those that he sees land. The second time a bird is approached by a hunter he tends to sit very tight, and hunters have been known to step on them be fore they will fly. It is hunting after the covey flush when a dog is extremely valuable.
It may seem to the novice that quail hunting is easy and the birds dumb, but this is not true. Quail have tricks of their own that can fool even the most experienced hunter. To begin with, quail are small, weighing an average of eight ounces at maturity. They are adept at putting trees and brush between them and the hunter. They also like to flush upward through tree branches, which causes a very erratic flightpath, and even an experienced hunter will frequently shat ter tree branches several feet off target.
A few simple tips can help the be ginner. First of all, when hunting with out a dog, do not try to kill two birds on a covey rise. Pick out one bird, shoot it, mark where it falls and then pick out a portion of the covey and concentrate on watching them land. If the birds are in real heavy cover, don't even try to hunt them without a dog. It is challenging alright, but not truly sportsmanlike because of the likelihood of lost birds resulting.
Many hunters encountering quail for the first time are not equipped to hunt them. A good quail gun is one with an open choke and a light load, as most quail are shot at close range and often in heavy cover. A modified choke is about as tight as can be used if you expect to retrieve more than a pile of feathers. Improved cylinders are ideal for the close-in shooting.
Short, light shotguns are requisites for consistent success. Experienced bobwhite hunters work thick cover, where maximum maneuverability is required. Short-barrelled, light guns that feel natural are the best choice. Some hunters feel that an automatic is the answer for quail, but more quail end up in the bag and fewer left in the field if birds are taken one at a time and retrieved immediately, rather than trying to garner a limit from a covey on the first rise. A single-shot or double barrel shotgun is probably as good.
When you're buying your quail loads, stick to shot size 71/2 or smaller. It doesn't take a heavy load to bring down a bird. Low brass trap loads work fine. What you want is a lot of small shot that will open up fast, make a good pattern yet not chew a bird up. A lot of hunters keep a 71/2 in the barrel and 6s in the magazine when walking cover where either a bob white or pheasant could flush. At close range the 7V2 will do the job even on a ringneck, and the 6s will back it up. If a quail should flush, though, the 7V2 would be just the ticket.
Much of Nebraska's quail range is along rivers and streams. These wooded belts are tough to hunt but offer some of the most exciting sport any wing shot could dream of. Snagshots through tangles of trees and shrubbery are the rule. Even the novice "bob" hunter soon learns that the cardinal rule of quail hunting is to fill the shell vest and then stick a couple of extra rounds in a pocket before starting off.
Prairie Life / Pioneer River
AT LENGTH WE gained the summit, and the long-expected valley of the Platte lay before us. We all drew rein, and gathering in a knot on the crest of the hill, sat joyfully looking down upon the prospect. It was right welcome; strange, too, and striking to the imagination, yet it had not one picturesque or beautiful feature; nor had it any of the features of grandeur, other than its extent, its solitude and its wildness. For league after league, a plain as level as a frozen lake was spread beneath us; here and there the Platte, divided into a dozen thread-like sluices, was traversing it, and an occasional clump of wood, rising in the midst like a shadowy island, relieved the monotony of the waste. No living thing was moving throughout the vast landscape, except the lizards that darted over the sand and through the rank grass and prickly-pear, just at our feet."
That was the account offered by Francis Parkman on his five-month journey along the Platte River in 1864. Like the handful of descriptions that preceded it and the many that would follow, it painted a grim picture of the great grassland river. Par adoxically, many of these same accounts that abound with phrases like "barren, trackless waste" and "The Great American Desert", just as commonly remark on the lush floral displays and the abundance of wild animals along the Platte.
Only days after his first view of the Platte River, Parkman commented in his journal that while traveling out from his party his "...ride had been by no means a solitary one. The whole face of the country was dotted far and wide with countless hundreds of buffalo. They trooped along in files and columns, bulls, cows, and calves, on green faces of the declivities in front. They scrambled away over the hills to the right and left; and far off, the pale blue swells in the extreme distance were dotted with innumerable specks...The antelope were very numerous; and as they are always bold when in the neighborhood of buffalo, they would approach quite near to look at me, gazing intently with their great round eyes, then suddenly leap aside, and stretch lightly away over the prairie, as swiftly as a race-horse. Squalid, ruffian-like wolves sneaked through the hollows and sandy ravines. Several times I passed through villages of prairie dogs, who sat, each at the mouth of his burrow, holding his paws before him in a supplicating attitude, and yelping away most vehemently, energetically whisking his little tail with every squeaking cry he uttered. Prairie dogs are not fastidious in their choice of companions; various long, checkered snakes were sunning themselves in the midst of the village, and demure little gray owls, with large white rings around each eye, were perched side by side with the rightful inhabitants. The prairie teemed with life for the first time I noticed insects wholly different from any of the varieties found farther to the eastward. Gaudy butterflies fluttered about my horse's head; strangely formed beetles, glittering with metallic lustre, were crawling upon plants that I had never seen before...."
To the Omaha Indians and their cousins, the Otoes, the river was "Nibthaska" or flat water, a name that early maps gave to the Platte and ultimately to the state. During the mid 1700s, two venturesome brothers came up the river in search of beaver and otter and named it "La Riviere Plate," French for the "Flat River." By the mid-1800s it had become the pioneer's great river road to the West. The Platte happened to be in the right place and its floodplain offered a smooth, well-grassed route to the mountains and beyond.
Twelve-thousand-foot-high, snow fed lakelets in the Rockies give birth to the Platte. From headwaters to mouth the Platte runs some 1,200 miles, much of that distance through Nebraska. By the time it reaches the borders of Nebraska, soft, alluvial sands have allowed it to slouch into a broad, shallow bed. Its current remains rapid, though, and a heavy load of sand, the castoff of the aging Rockies, roils in its eddies. Parkman noted that the Platte's low banks were, for the most part, "without a bush or a tree, and are of loose sand, with which the stream is so charged that it grates on the teeth in drinking."
Most early accounts of the Platte described it as about a mile wide and six feet deep when the banks were full. Other reports said that, "...some times the hoofs of the oxen were scarcely wetted by the thin sheet of water" when crossing. Reportedly, it had a remarkably level bed so broad that only, "...in a good year with good luck and much labor, a fur trader might float a few small boatloads of furs down the Platte. Otherwise it was not navigable."
The south fork of the Piatte, entering from the corner of Colorado and joining the north fork at North Platte, was scarcely a stream of beauty to would-be navigators. Mark Twain in Roughing It describes the river as "the shallow, yellow, muddy South Platte with its low banks and its scat tering flat sand bars and pigmy islands —a melancholy stream straggling through the center of the enor mous flat plain, and only saved from being impossible to find with the naked eye by its sentinel rank of scattering trees standing on either bank." Perhaps Twain's opinion of the South Platte was unjustly formed after floundering
Photographs by Jon Farrar 36 NEBRASKAland
through its quicksand at a crossing, for he continued: "Once or twice in midstream the wheels sunk into the yielding sands so threateningly that we half believed we had dreaded and avoided the sea all our lives to be shipwrecked in a 'mud wagon' in the middle of the desert at last."
Pioneers claimed, though, that the South Platte River held water of a far superior quality to that of the lower Platte's. It was muddy, they reported, but by dropping a handful of cornmeal into a bucket of water and letting it settle overnight, it was fit for consumption. The water of the South Platte, like the lands that bordered the Platte across the state of Nebraska, was rich not only in silt but wild life as well. One slouching pioneer, looking into his tin cup of river water, called to Parkman as his caravan journeyed by and said: "Look here you, it's chock-full of animals!" Parkman noted in his journal that the cup "exhibited in fact an extraordinary variety and profusion of animal and vegetable life."
The most obvious wildlife along the Platte, though, was of a larger variety. "From every gorge and ravine opening from the hills descended deep, well-worn paths where the buffalo issue twice a day in regular proces sion coming down to drink in the Platte." According to one traveler, the animals selected "routes, even in the roughest of districts, which the tripod of the white man cannot improve upon."
A group of writers and artists in the employ of Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper traveled across the plains in 1877 and recorded the following account on the attraction the Platte Valley held for the buffalo:
"Here we saw the first tufts of buffalo grass —that richest and most nu tritious of all the varieties for which Nebraska is famous, formerly the uniform carpeting of the whole Platte Valley. It grows in thick, short bunches, never exceeding two or three inches in height, with curiously crimpled blades, matted so as to give it an elastic spring to the tread. Dry and withered as it looks, it is wonderfully sweet and rich and furnishes a perpetual forage to the herds that rove in its neighborhood. Like the buffalo which it fed, however, it is gradually disappearing under the foot of the settler...."
The same Platte that was the benevolent provider for buffalo also took its toll on the herds. In 1867, one herd of 4,000 bison attempted to ford the Platte and walked into sweeping channels of loose quicksand. The animals to the rear, ignorant of the danger, pushed ahead and more and more of the lead animals slipped into the mire. By the time the herd had crossed, over 2,000 animals lay dying in the riverbed, helplessly stuck in the water logged sands.
Next to the buffalo, the elk was the largest native animal to be found along the Platte. It was exceedingly abundant across the state in the early 1800s, and as late as the 1880s was still to be found in the northern and western portions of the state. Bears were likewise found across the state and probably scavenged the remains of both bison and elk.
Of all the large, hooved mammals found along the Platte, and in the state in general, the antelope was probably the most abundant next to the bison. Parkman noted in his journal that, "The vast plain waved with tall rank grass that swept our horses' bellies; it swayed to and fro in billows with the light breeze, and far and near antelope and wolves were moving through it, the hairy backs of the latter alternately appearing and disappearing as they bounded awkwardly along; while the antelope, with the simple curiosity peculiar to them, would often approach us closely...."
Soon the antelope were shot off just as the buffalo before them. By 1880 most were confined to the northern portions of the state. A report to the governor revealed that: "The antelope remains abundant after the buffalo and elk are gone, and when but few deer remain, and yet the last of them disappear before the deer is entirely exterminated from a district."
Perhaps the most abundant mammal on the plains and along the Platte River, even exceeding the bison in number, was the prairie dog. Major S. H. Long, while leading a small expedition up the river valley in 1820, commented on their abundance and suitability for the table:
"On the following day we passed a number of prairie dog villages, some of them extending from two to three miles along the river. Though much in want of game, most of our exertions to take these animals were without success. A number were killed, but we were able to possess ourselves of no more than two of them. These we found to be in good condition and well flavoured. Their flesh nearly resembles that of the ground hog, or woodchuck."
Long continued, remarking on the company that the social rodents kept:
"One often sees different animals creep into these holes, especially rattlesnakes, which are numberless in these regions, lizards, turtles, and a small kind of owl. This quodlibet of animals cannot possibly constitute a friendly family; but Pike assures us he has repeatedly seen a prairie dog, a horned frog and a turtle withdraw into the same hole."
As late as 1880, Dr. Samuel Aughey, professor of natural sciences at the University of Nebraska, reported that the "American Otter is found more or less abundantly in all the rivers of Nebraska. The Beaver was until recently common on all the streams of Nebraska. Even on the larger streams, like the Platte, the Missouri and the Republican, where they could not build dams, they constructed excavated houses in the banks. Sections of trunks of cotton wood are yet found along these rivers, from eight to four teen inches y\n diameter, which were gnawed off by beavers. The value and beauty of its fur causes a constant war to be waged against it by Indians and white man."
According to Aughey, the wolverine was yet to be found in western and central Nebraska and the bobcat and lynx were "widely distributed over the State, but few of them have been captured." He reported also that while the coyote and red fox had disappeared more completely than the wolves, the now-endangered swift fox "holds his own in central and western Nebraska."
Of the bird life in Nebraska, Aughey commented that "The Whoop ing and Sand Hill Crane are both in Nebraska, and the latter quite abundantly. The Long-billed Curlew was formerly very abundant and still is in the new sections of the State. Gunners easily frighten it away and the follow ing season it rarely returns. The Anserine Birds, to which the swans, geese and ducks belong, are fully represented in the State. The Mallard was formerly exceedingly common in the State during its migrations, but is now much less so, owing no doubt to the manner in which it is hunted down. The common Wild Goose is equally common at these seasons."
When the Illustrated History of Nebraska was published in 1907, the wildlife of the Platte Valley, like the entire state, had been altered drastically. The lavish display of wild animals that the early explorers and pioneers had encountered was steadily being supplanted by grain fields and herefords. The editor of that text, J. Sterling Morton, summarized:
"A casual comparison of past and present conditions shows that the native animals have materially changed since Nebraska was first settled. Many of the earlier forms have disappeared or become much restricted in their distribution. Less than fifty years ago our plains were covered by immense herds of the bison...and elk in large bands roamed at liberty throughout the middle and western portions. Both species of deer...were to be seen in our woodlands, along the fringes of brush and trees that marked the small er watercourses...The antelope ranged the prairies at will, to within a comparatively short distance of our eastern borders. Coincident and in a measure dependent upon these for their food supply were foxes, wolves, panthers, lynxes, and even a few bears. But all this is now changed. Where the bison, elk, deer, and antelope once browsed our grasses we now have instead herds of cattle and sheep. The larger and fiercer carnivora, along with the forms upon which they were dependent, have been killed or driven away.
"The numbers of our smaller mammals, too, have been greatly changed. The beaver, otter, wolverene (sic), badger, and several others of the fur bearing kinds are now very scarce where they were once common or even abundant.
"Bird life, too, has greatly clpanged in Nebraska since the advent of civil ized man. Many of our larger and most showy species have nearly or altogether disappeared; while a number of the smaller ones, which were formerly present in flocks of thousands, are now few and scattered. Of the larger species are the wild turkey, cranes, Canada goose, and swans...; and of the smaller birds, birds like the Eskimo curlew, Bartram's sandpiper and golden plover...."
Today, pivot irrigation systems line the Piatte River and draw heavily on its already shallow waters. Huge dams are proposed to store its water and flood the sandbars and islands that are the resting areas of cranes and geese and the refuge of white-tailed deer. A motorized America speeds along the trails of pioneers on ribbons of concrete, oblivious to the flights of cranes, the deer that browse in the bottoms at sundown and "the lizards that dart over the sand and through the rank grass and prickly-pear."
frontier recipes
WHEN OUR mothers' grandmothers trekked across the plains into Nebraska, they discovered a disconcerting lack in their pantry supplies. But, being the resourceful persons they were, they learned to improvise.
Native fruits and vegetables replaced the familiar commodities available in stores back East. Little dabs of precious items were stretched to last almost indefinitely. Some of the improvised recipes turned out to be novel and exciting —maybe even better than the originals.
One of the staples of the pioneer diet was an improvisation. Sourdough became well-known throughout the West, and the starter was used as leavening for hot cakes, waffles, muffins, bread, and even cake.
Sourdough Starter 1/2 package dry yeast 2 tablespoons sugar 2 cups flour 2 1/2 cups water Combine ingredients in a stone crock or bowl. Beat well. Cover with a clean towel and let stand in a warm place overnight. In the morning, put 1/2 cup of the mixture in a scalded pint jar with a tight cover and store in a cool place for future use. This is the starter. To replenish starter, stir in 2 cups warm water and 2 cups flour. Yeast-stretching sourdough starter then became the basis for any number of items. Recipes for bread and hot cakes follow: Sourdough Bread Set sponge as for hotcakes and let stand in a warm place overnight. Save Vi cup for next starter. To the remaining batter, add; 4 cups flour 2 tablespoons soft fat 2 tablespoons sugar 1/4 teaspoon soda 1 teaspoon salt Sift dry ingredients into a bowl, making a well in the center. Pour starter into the well of flour, add fat and mix. Add enough flour to make a soft dough for kneading. Knead on a floured board for 10 to 15 minutes. Place in a greased bowl. Cover with a clean towel and let rise in a warm place for two to four hours or until doubled in bulk. Dissolve the soda in a tablespoon of warm water and add to the dough. Knead it in thoroughly. Shape dough into loaves, place in bread pans and set aside to rise. When doubled, bake at 375° for 50 to 60 minutes. Sourdough Hotcakes 1 cup starter 2 teaspoons soda 2 cups flour 2 tablespoons sugar 2 cups milk 2 eggs 1 teaspoon salt 3 tablespoons melted fat About 12 hours before serving hotcakes make a sponge by mixing starter, flour, milk and salt. Cover and let stand in a warm place. Just before baking cakes, remove 1 cup batter to replenish starter. To the remaining batter, add soda, sugar, eggs and shortening. Mix well and bake on lightly greased, hot griddle. For thinner hotcakes, add more milk to batter. Makes about 30 cakes. Fowl were probably the most common domesticated meats, providing a variety of dishes besides the traditional southern fried chicken. Sometimes chicken was pressed to make a delicious sandwich loaf, which was served with sourdough and a generous helping of hot potato salad. Pressed Chicken 3 1/2 to 4 lb. ready-to-cook chicken 1 whole clove 1 carrot 2 whole peppers 1 slice onion 1 1/2 teaspoons salt Cut chicken in serving pieces, barely cover with hot water; add carrot, onion and seasonings. Cook slowly until meat is tender. Strain broth and measure 2 cups. Remove chicken from bones; dice and combine with broth. Pour into loaf pan; place weight on top and refrigerate overnight. Unmold and slice for serving. Hot Potato Salad Wash 6 medium sized potatoes and cook in boiling water. Cool, remove skins and cut in very thin slices. Cover bottom of baking dish with potatoes, season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with finely chopped onion and parsley. Mix 1/2 cup cider vinegar and 1/2 cup cream. Pour over potatoes, cover, and let stand in oven until heated through. (All preceding recipes compliments of the University of Nebraska, Foods and Nutrition Department, "Recipes from a Sod House Kitchen", by Ethel Diedrichsen) In those rugged early years, wild game and fish provided basics, too, for the table. Recipes for preparing game were simple, but effective. Aunt Leva's Venison Steaks cut from breast of Salt, pepper, flour to venison dredge Fry in Va pound butter until brown. Put in hot dish and cover. Make a gravy with 2 teaspoons flour and 1 tablespoon currant jelly dissolved in 1 cup water. Stir a few minutes and pour over meat and serve. A glass of wine with 1 tablespoon sugar may be used for gravy instead of jelly and water. Baked Fish 8 medium onions, finely chopped 1/2 cup butter 4 cups bread crumbs 1 cup tomato sauce Pepper and salt (plenty) Stuff fish with this dressing and pour the rest over it and bake. In the summertime, homegrown vegetables were usually plentiful, but pioneer families took care never to waste any, for the winter could find them without the precious vitamins that vegetables provided. So, when the end of the season came, thrifty homemakers gathered the remains of the garden before the frost and made relish from it. "End of the Garden" Uncooked Relish 2 cloves garlic 4 large carrots 1 head cabbage (3 pounds) 2 sweet green peppers 4 small hot peppers 8 small white onions 1 large head celery 1/2 cup salt 4 cups sugar 3 cups vinegar 2 tablespoons mustard seed 2 tablespoons celery seed Grind vegetables together fine. Pour on enough cold water to cover mixture. Stir in salt, Set aside 1 hour. Drain well. Combine sugar, vinegar, mustard seed, and celery seed. Pour over mixture. Store in loosely covered jars in cool place. Cabbage was one of the best sources of vitamin C, and gallons of sauerkraut would tide pioneer families through the winter. The following cabbage casserole, and fried cabbage are good anytime. Cabbage Casserole Boil a firm head of cabbage until nearly tender. Mince some boiled ham. Mix with bread crumbs. Add pepper and salt, 1 tablespoon butter, 2 well-beaten eggs, and 3 tablespoons milk. Chop cabbage very fine and mix together gently. Bake at 350° in a buttered casserole until brown. Fried Cabbage 1 head cabbage, chopped fine 2 teaspoons sugar 1 cup good bacon grease 1/2 red pepper pod 1 cup boiling water Salt 1 teaspoon soda Vinegar Fry in a skillet, stirring occasionally, until brown. Just before serving, add vinegar to suit taste. Desserts, too, were hard to come by, with many ingredients unavailable. Lemons just didn't grow on the Nebraska plains, so pioneer women developed a dessert which could be used in place of lemon pie. Vinegar pie tastes very much like its lemon counterpart. Pioneer Lemon Pie 1 1/2 cups sugar 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar 3 tablespoons cornstarch 1 tablespoon butter 1 1/2 cups hot water 2 egg yolks Mix sugar with cornstarch. Stir in water, vinegar, and butter. Boil, stirring constantly, until very thick and clear. Remove from heat. Beat egg yolks slightly and stir small amount of hot mixture into egg yolks. Add egg mixture to sauce pan. Reduce heat and simmer 3 minutes. Pour into baked pie shell. Meringue 2 egg whites 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar Beat egg whites with cream of tartar until frothy and gradually add sugar. Beat until stiff. Spread meringue over filling. Seal to edge of crust. Bake 10-12 minutes, until slightly brown, at 325°. Special occasions and get-togethers were the time when the lady of the house trotted out her famous gingerbread men or molasses taffy. Recipes for both of those special dishes follow: Gingerbread 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon ginger 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup boiling water 1/2 cup shortening 1/2 cup sugar 2 eggs 1 cup molasses 2 cups flour 2 teaspoons soda Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs and molasses. Sift together dry ingredients. Add to shortening mixture. When smooth, add boiling water. Stir quickly. Pour into a greased pan and bake about 40 minutes at 350°. So good with whipped cream while hot, warmish, or cold —a great favorite over the years. (Preceding recipes compliments of Cliffs Notes, Inc., "Nebraska Centennial First Ladies' Cookbook", by Maxine Morrison and Catherine Hillegass) Molasses Taffy Young people gathered at the old schoolhouse for Saturday night social affairs. Old-fashioned taffy pulls, spelling bees and box suppers were great fun. 2 cups brown sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup molasses 1 tablespoon butter 1 tablespoon vinegar 1 teaspoon vanilla Combine brown sugar, molasses, vinegar and salt in heavy sauce pan. Cook to the hard ball stage (265°). Add butter and vanilla and pour onto buttered platter. When taffy is cool enough to handle, use fingers and pull until light in color and slightly firm. Cut with scissors into 1 inch pieces. (Compliments of the University of Nebraska, Foods and Nutrition Department, "Recipes from a Sod House Kitchen", by Ethel Diedrichsen) Despite the harsh conditions under which they worked, despite a lack of what we call basic essentials today, in the face of tremendous odds, our pioneer grandmothers created an array of cooklore that stands today as finger-licking good as it was when there were no alternatives.
NOTES ON NEBRASKA FAUNA... REDHEAD DUCK
Art by Tom KronenTHE REDHEAD DUCK has been rated as one of the most important and finest of game birds. Of the diving ducks, only the canvasback has been rated higher, probably because of its one-half pound weight advantage. Redheads are still the most popular diving duck in the hunter bag when legal to take them.
Scientific name of the redhead was originally Nyroca americana, but this changed to Aythya americana. The word Nyroca was a Latinized form of a Russian word which meant "a diving duck." The redhead is also known by several common names, depending upon locale. Canard mulet (mule duck), fiddlerduck, red-headed broad bill, red-headed raft duck and American poachard are some of the names used in various sections of the country.
Redheads are often closely associated with the canvasback and, in fact, are many times mistaken as canvas backs by some hunters. In general, the redhead can be distinguished from the canvasback by having a shorter, thicker appearing body and a some what darker body color. Another distinctive feature is the shape of the head. The redhead, in profile, has a round, high-domed head with an abrupt forehead.
As might be suspected from its name, the head of the redhead male is red. Actually, the head and upper neck are a rich, reddish chestnut which shows a purplish iridescence under some light conditions. The lower neck, forward portion of the back and chest are blackish. The back, sides and scapulars are finely vermiculated with dusky and white to give a gray appearance. The rump and tail are nearly black. The breast is white and the belly is whitish with fine dusky markings. Male redheads usually be gin their moults in late June. They remain in a partial state of eclipse plumage until early autumn, and full winter plumage is usually in place by November.
The adult female redhead is generally brown with a white breast. She lacks the reddish head and neck of the male but has the same body conformation and profile. Both sexes weigh in at about two and one-half pounds. The eye of the female is brown with a pale ring around it, and there is also a pale streak behind the eye.
During migration periods, the redhead may be found from coast to coast. The principal breeding range extends from the north-central states to the central provinces of Canada.
Spring migration of redheads through Nebraska usually occurs in March. The timing of migration is such that they arrive on the nesting areas just as the ice is breaking up. The fall migration is usually well underway in October.
The nest of the redhead may be almost completely constructed several days before the first egg is laid. It is a well-constructed, deeply hollowed bowl of reeds lined with down, located in the vegetation near deep water.
The female appears to take the initiative during the courtship activities, but the male is a vigorous de fender once he has been selected. The call of the female during courtship is a "quek, que-eek" which the male responds to with a call which is an al most perfect of a cat's "meow" or a tone from a violin string. Clutch size may vary from 10 to 15 pale, olive or cream-puff eggs. As many as 27 eggs have been found in one nest. Clutches of this size are probably the results of the efforts of more than one female, however, as redheads, not unlike the cowbird, often lay eggs in nests other than their own. The eggshell is exceptionally hard and tough. The fe male does all of the incubation which takes from 24 to 28 days.
Vegetation makes up about 90 percent of the redhead's diet; more than any of the other diving ducks. Leaves and stems of aquatic plants are preferred over the tubers and root parts. Baldpate and coot are often observed feeding with redheads. These birds stay close by in order to attempt to rob the redheads of food brought up from the depths. The relatively small portion of the diet made up of animal foods consists of small mollusks, snails and insects.
The redhead has suffered serious setbacks during the past 30 years. The principal breeding range is located within the agricultural areas of the United States and Canada, and such "progressive" activities as reclamation projects, agricultural practices and settlement have taken their toll of the required sloughs, ponds and marshes needed for nesting habitat. Because of the over-water nesting habits, the recent serious droughts experienced in the Canadian provinces further reduced habitat and thus the population.
Few or no restrictions were placed on the redhead in the hunter's bag through the 1957 season. In 1958 and 1959, restrictions were imposed, followed by a complete closure on red heads in 1960 through the 1963 seasons. Since that time there have been various attempts to reduce the redhead harvest, including complete closure again in 1972.
It is doubtful that the average water fowl hunter will ever again have the tremendous pass shooting described by some of the "old-timers" on the between-the-lakes flyways in Nebraska's Sand Hills. The redhead and canvasback were favorite birds of the market hunter of times past because of their size and table qualities.
Even without that heavy pressure, the redhead will have to be managed carefully because they are so sus ceptible to changes in habitat caused by man and nature. Waterfowl man agers hope that this can be done so that the redhead may always have a place in the hunter's bag.
FAIR WEATHER AND FOWL
(Continued from page 8)our blind, the number of birds seems to be completely dependent on the weather. If nice and sunshiny, with very little wind and warm temperatures, there will be few if any ducks. On the other hand, if it's a day not fit for man nor beast, you practically have to stand up and shout to keep ducks out of the decoys.
On days when the weather is more like spring than winter, ducks head for the big reservoirs in the southwestern part of the state. But on days when the cold north wind leaves no doubt about the season and snow or ice pelts your numb, frig id face, the ducks move into the river.
The weather had been beautiful the previous week and we were concerned, but Lonnie still held hope. He explained that hunters just upriver from him had downed eight mallards the morning before, and earlier in the week, following a recent ice and snow storm, he and a friend had taken limits.
I got the impression from talking to Lonnie that he knew more about ducks, their habits, and wildlife in general than the average 17-year-old. The night before he had shown us pictures of Canadas and ducks he, his younger brother and his dad had gotten the previous year. He explained how he set the decoys-an art I have never understood-with a confidence you only get with success.
Bob and Lonnie had set up quite a spread on a portion of the river they have permission to hunt. The blind is quite a distance into the river, and during the summer they "dozed" a path through the thick brush, and also built up the tow head on which their blind is located.
Lonnie explained: "We've had high water every year since we built the blind, and if we didn't use the dozer, I doubt if we could continue to use the blind."
The blind sits on the upstream point of the towhead, and Lonnie pointed out where they had placed wire to stop the erosion caused by high water. Being in the middle of the channel, the towhead normally sits in deep water. This hinders decoys, so Lonnie had strung two stands of hogwire upstream from the blind. The wire slowed the current just enough to permit sand to be deposited behind it, creating a pool of ankle-deep water which to me looked perfect for a spread of decoys.
Lonnie ran the whole show. His dad took an attitude that I hope I can someday take with my boy. No doubt he helped Lonnie in the past, but now he can sit back confidently while Lonnie sets up the spread and does the calling. Lonnie showed us where he wanted the decoys and we began placing them. We put out a couple dozen goose decoys more as decoration than anything, because few geese are taken in that area anymore.
It takes a lot of work to set up a blind, but Bob and Lonnie had done a good job. The pit was set into the sand, and willows were used to cover it. There were propane heaters and plenty of room for four persons.
Bob explained the heaters: "I like to be comfortable. When I hunted the river farther west as a kid, I don't think I have ever been colder than when we sat in the blind for hours, getting so stiff we could hardly shoot when ducks finally decided to check out our decoys."
After spreading the decoys, we crawled into the blind to wait for shooting time. Only the rustling of water lapping at the edge of the towhead broke the silence. Slowly the eastern sky turned golden, then red, and sounds of nature ushered in the new day. Far off, coveys of quail began
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their whistling to the morning and winter birds of various kinds filtered across the river.
"We should be getting the early flight soon," Lonnie said. "If we don't get any ducks through early, we should get them when they return from the fields," he added.
We all slid down into the blind when a flock broke over the towhead east of us, but the diving ducks continued their rapid flight upriver not more than 10 feet off the water.
Bob and Lonnie had both told us of some trouble they had been having with another blind about a half-mile up stream. They complained that the people who used the blind sky-busted ducks, and most of the ducks Bob and Lonnie had a chance at were those that came from the east. Hunters all over complain about those who blast away at ducks out of range.
"Get down," Lonnie whispered.
He began calling to a big bunch of mallards that had just popped into sight east of us. We all crouched low, and as I peered up, the flight passed directly over the blind. They circled and began a pass back east. Lonnie kept up his calling, giving the long call of the hen and the short "quack" of the drake occasionally mingling in rapid chatter of the hen.
The bunch broke in heading into the west wind, but suddenly flared to circle once more.
"We should have taken them," Bob said.
We watched intently as the flock broke into two bunches, one heading west up river, the other circling south to make another pass over our decoys. Six drakes and one hen swung low over a towhead south of us and began heading for the decoys spread out in front of us.
"Take 'em," Lonnie shouted just as the ducks began to flare.
It has always amazed me how, in your concentration, you never hear the other guns going off. I never heard Lonnie's shot that pulled feathers on the lead drake I was sighting on. The ducks began scattering, but none were falling. I pulled on the second drake in the bunch but missed, and out of the corner of my eye I saw the
Trading Post
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drake Lonnie had hit, right himself and begin laboring for altitude. How I missed I'll never know, but miss I did. Swinging back left and up, one bird appeared to be still in range, and just as I pulled the trigger the realization hit me —a hen.
Down came the hen, thumping on the towhead not more than 10 feet from the blind. Dutchess, Lonnie's Chesapeake Bay retriever, had an easy time recover ing that one.
"Boy, that was some terrible shooting," Bob exclaimed.
"How many times did everyone shoot," I asked?
We all had fired three times. Twelve shots and one duck is sad shooting, but we all laughed at our inadequacy.
"Who shot the hen?" I slyly asked, looking at Steve.
"I think Steve got it," Lonnie quipped.
Steve just shook his head and chuckled. After several moments of silence, I finally admitted ownership of the hen.
"I don't know how that drake stayed up," Lonnie said in amazement. "I thought he was coming down for sure and started pulling on the others."
"I was pulling on him when you clobbered him, and I thought he was coming down too," I said, and quickly explained all the factors involved in my missing the cripple.
We continued to wonder at our lousy marksmanship while discussing the last flock. That has always been something about hunting I have particularly enjoyed—the conversation. Inevitably, the hunters will talk of how they missed or hit, talking for minutes about something that takes only seconds to occur.
That is part of the beauty of the mind and nature; the mind is like a camera recording the swift movements of nature, such as ducks setting in for a landing. I pity people who never see the wonders of nature, those who never get out on the hunt to capture forever in their minds nature's moving picture. The total picture of every hunt isn't retained, but I find myself in contemplative moments recall ing some particular exposure from years past, and it becomes real again, passing in view as if run on a screen on the back of my eye. I pity even more those who don't have the opportunity nor desire to do so, yet they would stop all others from taking part in the hunt.
Another flight moved toward our decoys but flared before coming in, so Lonnie decided to move the decoys. It was apparent that something wasn't right, and when that happens the ducks won't come in. We watched as Lonnie rearranged the decoys, fully expecting another flock to come in with him in the middle of the river.
After Lonnie returned to the blind we watched a flock circle the blind upriver from us.
they got a drake and a a 10-gauge, wasn't it?"
"They'll get clobbered this time a round," Lonnie said.
Sure enough, just as the lead drake made what probably was his last pass over the decoys, we watched the bunch flare and one drop before the reports of the shotguns reached us. Just as the birds reached the safety of height, one more bird folded and the loud boom of a 10 gauge broke the silence.
We sat and watched as the men and one dog left the blind to retrieve the downed birds.
"Looks like hen," I said.
"That was Steve asked.
"It had to be because nothing else would have reached that high," Bob replied.
A merganser suddenly broke over us and landed among the decoys. We watched as it settled down, ruffling its tailfeathers as if expressing relief. The bird began taking water into its beak and stretching its neck, then with head vertical, downed the water. After several quick drinks, the bird raised up and beat its wings, then settled down on the water and churned around the edge of the decoys.
"Get down, here comes another bunch," Lonnie shouted.
The flock came in from the east and began circling like the earlier bunch, but flared and split into two bunches. One flock made another pass lower than before.
"We should have taken them," Bob advised.
"Well, say something then," Lonnie replied.
We watched as the ducks skirted our decoys and made another pass into the wind. They were all drakes and their green heads glistened in the sun. We raised up just as they came in with their webbed feet spread and their necks craned down, their heads turning from side to side.
Lonnie's first shot downed the lead drake and my first shot crippled the second one. I watched in amazement as the bird rose up after taking the shot head-on. I fired twice more but the bird just would n't come down. After everyone was done shooting, we stood and watched the wounded drake lose altitude, then drop onto the bank.
Dutchess was into the water retrieving. I don't know how she got out that quickly but she appeared to get into the water before the birds hit.
"How many times did you shoot, Steve?" I asked.
I didn't," he replied.
"You lie. Let me see your gun," I said.
Sure enough, it was empty. We had all fired our usual three shots, making a total of 24 shots at the two bunches. Twenty-four shots and three hits.
We sat and talked about fishing and hunting and other outdoor subjects for about an hour without getting any more practice. The sun had warmed us and we began shedding clothes. We saw several big bunches of geese coming in from the south, but they all swung west up the river. They milled in the area about a mile from us, but soon passed out of sight. "Probably heading fot the lakes far ther west," Bob said.
Later, flocks of ducks began filtering back after feeding in fields south of the river, but unfortunately for us they all chose to come in just west of us, into the next blind, and we watched them get the shooting.
Steve had taken off work and decided he better get back, so he and Bob headed out. Lonnie said he wanted to stay because sometimes the geese, after coming into the river, head east around noon. I stayed with him, but the geese never returned. It soon became apparent that duck hunting was done for the day, so we picked up decoys and headed home.
"It's too bad we didn't do better than we did," Lonnie said.
"Well, the ducks were there but we couldn't hit them, so we don't have any one to blame except ourselves," I replied.
We both agreed that even though we didn't fill our limits, it was a beautiful day of hunting. It's always a good day for hunting-some days are just better than others.
Relive Nebraska's colorful past!
limb the spiral staircase and step into the
1880's, where you'll see the tools, garments
and gadgets of yesteryear. A living, breath
ing history book...something for every
member of your family. Spend a day to remember
at the Stuhr Museum...where Nebraska's pio
neer heritage lives for tomorrow. Open 9-5 week
days, 1-5 Sundays. Write for brochure and tour
information.
U.S. Highways 34-281 Junction, Grand Island, Nebraska 68801
