Copyright NEBRASKAland Magazine/Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, all rights reserved.
(Upper) A Pine Ridge scene in northern Nebraska. (Lower) Note the small tree on the rocks, showing how nature strives to forestate the earth.
ONE thousand young men are now engaged in work at Nebraska State Parks, Recreation Grounds and timbered areas.
These thousand men, divided into five camps, were secured for Nebraska through the efforts of Governor Chas. W. Bryan, who is also Chairman of the Game Commission. Two of the camps are working under the supervision of the National Forestry Service and three under the National Park Service and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. Those under the Forestry Service are located at Crawford and Chadron, while the three under the Park Service are located at Louisville, Fremont and Benkelman.
The Louisville camp, called "Camp Roosevelt,,' in honor of the President, is working in the Louisville Recreation Grounds. Here the Game Commission controls some 19 0 acres, of which there is over fifty acres of water contained in nine sand pits. There is considerable timber on this tract, most of which is overgrown with brush and has not been open to the public. The work to be done here is the building of trails, clearing out undergrowth, building camp and picnic grounds, planting and transferring trees, building shelters and bridges, leveling off uneven ground, cleaning out of drainage ditches etc.
The Fremont Camp is to be found at Davenport City Park and is known as "Camp Bryan", in honor of Governor Bryan who secured the camps for the Cornhusker State. Work here will be done on two recreation grounds, one on the Lincoln Highway, containing some 160 acres and one south of the Union Pacific Railroad which contains about 14 6 acres. These tracts also contain a number of sand pit lakes where excellent fishing is to be had. Here the work will consist of building of camps, picnic grounds and beaches, planting and transferring trees, marking and fencing boundary surveys, making spawning beds etc.
The third camp is located near Parks in Dundy County and has been named "Camp Morton," in honor of J. Sterling Morton, founder of Arbor Day. This tract is small but will be made into a lake of some fifty acres. This will require the building of a large dam, as well as development of recreational facilities around it. Other work consists of riprapping dams and dikes at the Rock Creek State Fish Hatchery, which is nearby.
If the work at Fremont, Louisville or Parks is not great enough to keep the men busy, it is likely that other work will be undertaken. Some of this work can be done from the established camps. Work to be done at the Gretna State Fisheries and the Memphis Recreation Grounds can be handled by the Louisville camp.
The camp at Crawford is being handled by the U. S. Forestry Service, with Clayton Watkins, U. S. Extension Forester, in charge. This camp is devoting most of its time to forest improvement culling, fire breaks, insect control and disease eradication.
The fifth camp is located at the Chadron State Park and while it is also under the supervision of Mr. Watkins and the U. S. Forestry Service, the work is being done for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. Here the Chadron State Park will be improved. Trails are being built, water supply enlarged, trees trimmed, brush cleared, cabins built etc. It is believed that when present plans are carried to fruition that this park will be one of the finest in the middle west.
The Commission has engaged the services of Carl Taylor of Omaha, a well known landscape architect who is directly in charge of the work. Each camp has a superintendent and a number of foremen to carry on the wort. Mr. Chas. Fowler is in charge at Fremont, Mr. W. F. Dunn at Louisville and Louis Trexler at Parks.
If these camps are continued next summer it is quite likely that work will be done at Valentine, Nebraska, McCook and at other points.
THE prime purpose for which the Game and Fish Department of the State of Nebraska was originated was that of game protection and in fact, until recent years this continued to be the main function of this department. With the increase of population and the growth of interest in wild life, the state found itself confronted with an entirely new condition.
The conservationists realized they were facing a rather devastating situation. This created in the minds of those interested in the wild life of our great outdoors, a desire not only to protect as had been the main function of the department, but to propagate wherever possible, all species of game and fish in order that complete depletion of our supply of wild life might not occur.
The Department became engaged in restoration work, but only in a minor way, and necessarily so, for sufficient funds were not available. This was adjusted when the Legislature of the 1929 Session originated the present Game, Forestation & Parks Commission and placed at their disposal all moneys derived from the Department's activities, except the fines that are assessed for game law violations, this money being turned into the school fund of the County in which such fines are assessed. This is as we think it should be, since the Counties in which our cases are tried must be reimbursed for 1jhe expenses attendant to prosecution and sometimes imprisonment of game law violators.
The Commission then found themselves confronted with the problem of formulating a program of a lasting as well as a constructive nature. After much consideration and study, a definite program was mapped out and the proper foundation for the carrying out of this program has been laid in the past two years.
A state wide survey has been under way to determine the feasibility of securing desirable locations for recreational grounds, public shooting grounds and game refuges.
A number of desirable projects have been added to our holdings in the short time that the Commission has been functioning, increasing our total acreage to approximately eight thousand acres.
The upland game problem in Nebraska has been partially solved, through the introduction of the Ringneck Pheasant. These were first introduced into a few Counties in the central part of the state about 1915 and in a few years these counties were overpopulated with pheasants while the other Counties were without. Due to the ingenuity of our present Secretary, Frank B. O'Connell, thousands of pheasants were trapped in these counties at a very small expense, and were distributed to all parts of the state. These have multiplied rapidly and it is now estimated, we have several million pheasants in Nebraska.
Several thousand Hungarian Partridges have been imported from Czecho-Slovakia and liberated in suitable localities and an effort will be put forth from year to year to add additional birds to our present stock. The habits and food of the Hungarian Partridge are very much the same as those of our Native Quail and we believe will be more acceptable to the farmer than the Ringneck Pheasant.
The Prairie Chickens and Grouse have dwindled now to a comparative few, but the closed season during the past two years seems to have resulted in an increase in the number of these birds according to reports received by the Commission.
A number of quail, imported from Mexico, have been added to the remnant of native Quail now left in Nebraska and wild turkeys have been placed on our several game and forest preserves and an effort is being made to restore this, the most noble of all our game birds.
Many improvements have been made in the past two years in our state-owned
Many Nebraska sportsmen join the Commission in stocking game and fish. Upper picture shows pheasants being planted near Waterloo. (Lower) Salvaging small fish from a pond about to dry up.
THAT it is possible to catch big bags of fish in Nebraska, even in a year when weather conditions are not altogether favorable, is proved by some of the ardent fishermen and fisherwomen whose likeness is to be seen on this page.
The big boy in the upper right hand corner who is so occupied is Earl C. Danker of Riverton. Mr. Danker took this brook trout in Thompson Creek near Riverton, believe it or not! It weighed two pounds, six ounces, and measured nineteen inches in length.
Next in order (second picture from top) is G. H. Nichols, better known as "Old man Nick", famed sportsman of northern Nebraska, with an evening's bag of crappies taken from Hackberry Lake, Cherry County. This lake has been filled with water by the Game Commission and promised to again become a mecca for Nebraska anglers.
The third picture from the top shows a fine bag of bass—to be exact 22% pounds of 'em. They were taken in Crystal Lake, near South Sioux City by Carl Slemaugh of Oakland.
Now comes the real Fisherman—that is the real fisherman for "tall" stories. The fourth picture showing the big cat is the likeness of Chas. Wagner and Roy Green, both of Diller. This tremendously big catfish weighed exactly seven pounds! Hardly needless to mention Green and Wagner know something about trick photography.
The fifth picture shows what the lady anglers can do. It shows a party of outdoor lovers at Trout lake, Cherry County, and we are told that each person, big and little, had a hand in getting the fish. Well they better have had, or the game warden would have been to visit them before this!
Last but by no means least in the way of big fish is the son of H. J. Dollinger, Secretary of the Scottsbluff Chamber of Commerce and western Nebraska booster. "Dolly" says this trout was taken in his own county all by himself. By the expression of his son, we'd venture to say it weighed considerable.
While these pictures show good bags there are of course thousands of other fishermen throughout the state who have taken a goodly number of the finny tribe. However, the fishing in Nebraska especially during the early part of the season, has not been as good as in other years. This was due to very changeable weather and long spells of exceptionally hot weather.
Generally speaking, crappie and sunfish have been taken in considerable numbers. The catfish have been quite plentiful. The bass have not been striking as much as in other years.
While fishing with the grasshoppers for bait at Lake Pibel recently, Carl Johnson hooked a 95 pound catfish on an ordinary line, the Belgrade Herald tells us. He waded in after the fish. A 20 pound catfish was also caught at Pibel lately. In a sand pit south of Central City W. W. Stewart landed a Bass weighing 6 % pounds.
THREE hundred years ago our hardy ancestors established the white man's civilization in America. The original Americans, resisting the encroachment of the white man, were called savages.
In some respects it would seem that the Indians were pretty thoroughly civilized before our forbears landed here. At least they could not be charged with wholesale mishandling of natural resources, of which water is the most essential of all.
Recently the daily newspapers have been full of accounts of entire villages inundated and swept away, human beings trapped in their homes and drowned like rats in a rainbarrel, and millions of dollars worth of property needlessly destroyed.
Why all this waste of life and property? Was it man's fault, or was it an act of God? These questions can be answered with one short sentence: It has largely been man's own fault. We have not had sense enough to anticipate that if we continue to run counter to Nature's inexorable laws we must suffer the consequences.
Instead of preventing or reducing the frequency of devastating floods, we have actually caused them. We denuded our forests, put drainage ditches through our thousands of natural storage reservoirs, straightened our meandering rivers. We have made highspeed sluiceways out of the network of drainage ditches and straightened rivers. Instead of flowing away gradually throughout the summer as of yore, surplus rainfall is now rushed off to the lower reaches of our rivers to drown out our neighbors and destroy their homes.
Most of our devastating floods of recent years are man-made right on the headwaters of the myriad streams that form the main rivers. And where floods occur regularly you can bank on it that droughts likewise occur with appalling regularity. And what a terrific toll droughts take! We actually burn the candle at both ends.
Floods not only destroy human life and property on the lower reaches of our rivers, but they carry away millions of tons of our richest topsoil, the very lifeblood of agriculture and our livestock industry.
When President Roosevelt decided to put at least 250,000 idle men to work on reforestation projects as a relief program he did more to bring home to the people of the United States the interdependence of trees, water and humanity than any president had ever done. Throughout the land there has been a new awakening on the subject of conservation.
Water is by far the most important of our natural resources. Water is indispensable to mankind as well as to livestock and wildlife. We can't have water without trees, and we can't have trees without water, so you see how inseparable trees and water really are.
Grass originally took the place of trees on our vast plains and prairies, but that has been replaced by cultivation and overgrazing which laid bare the topsoil. And bare soil does not hold moisture. The underground water table in the Plains and Prairie states and provinces has dropped anywhere from thirty to sixty and more feet. Unless water is conserved on the Plains and Prairies they may become as uninhabitable as the Sahara Desert.
The water restoration movement was given new impetus recently when five North Dakota officials drove all the way to Washington—over 18 00 miles— to solicit aid from the federal government. They sought to put North Dakota's allotment of 15 0 0 men to work building small dams all over that state as part of President Roosevelt's conservation program for idle men. They fortified their claims with definite projects which would employ more than 1,000 men for the next six months, thereby adding over 9,0 0 0 acres ,of water to North Dakota's scant supply. That will be a very helpful farm relief program, and what a lot of new waterfowl breeding grounds and fish producing areas that would add, too.
North Dakota's Senators and Representatives took the initiative in getting the congressional delegations from Texas to the Canadian Border together for a conference. It was found that every Plains and Prairie State was similarly interested in using its quota of unemployed men to conserve water to reduce floods, to prevent erosion, to store water for domestic and farm uses, and at the same time greatly benefit wildlife. Those states need 50,000 new small water projects right now.
Yes, many thousands of small water areas can be created in the Plains and Prairie states, and when we consider the fact that engineering experts claim that by impounding only 31,000,000 acre-feet of water devastating floods will be a thing of the past in the Mississippi Valley it is easy to see what a godsend such a water program will be. It will store water where it is needed, and keep it from flooding out the neighbors down where it becomes the dreaded monster.
But don't wait for the government to act. Get busy on a water conservation program of your own. There should be one or more lakes or dams on every one of more than 6,000,000 farms and ranches in the United States and Canada. You can dam those ditches on your own land; you can build water retaining dams in those former sloughs, and you can impound water in those draws. Every acre of water will help to pull agriculture out of the present slough of despond.
Some of the older nations of Europe have long since learned the value of many small water reservoirs. There many of the farmers dyke their lands so that they can produce fish and cereal crops alternately on the same ground. Lands so dyked are worth $20.00 an acre more than lands not dyked.
The Izaak Walton League of America and the American Game Association have constantly worked to bring about the restoration of water areas for the purposes already enumerated, also to increase the game and fish areas and to furnish more recreational opportunities.
Those of you who live along the smaller streams can build many low dams, from one to two feet in height,
With budget appropriations slashed a third or more in four important Federal bureaus that exercise tremendous influence over the conservation of wildlife throughout the United States, Sportsmen and Conservationists are voicing their alarm, according to a bulletin of the American Game Association. These bureaus are the Biological Survey, Fisheries, the Forest Service and the National Park Service.
"Every conservationist in America is heartily in favor of President Roosevelt's stand for drastic economy in the federal budget, but the necessity for eliminating or reducing fundamental machinery, especially research activities, is viewed with alarm," Seth Gordon, president of the Association said.
"The Biological Survey and the Bureau of Fisheries have never had sufficient funds for basic work," the statement points out, "and now with the budget reductions it looks as though these bureaus will be compelled to eliminate or seriously curtail basic functions of particular interest to the hunter and fisherman.
"The Biological Survey will receive about $1,000,000. of the $1,356,000. appropriated for the 1934 fiscal year, a cut of 27%. This will be 44% less than the 1933 appropriation, and 55% less than the 1932 appropriation. This means temporary furloughs or dismissals for some of present numerically inadequate game protectors, the superintendents of wildlife refuges, scientific workers who have been studying wildlife diseases and supervising game management experiments. It means less experimental work. A large reduction is contemplated in the staff on predator and rodent control.
"The Bureau of Fisheries will be compelled to operate with $1,315,000. of the $1,765,000. appropriated for 1934, a cut of 26%. This will be 33% less than the 1933 appropriation, and 55% less than the 1932 appropriation. This means drastic reduction of hatchery operations, and reversion to the obsolete method of stocking helpless fry and small fingerlings; the dismissal of scientific workers and other valuable trained personnel.
"The Forest Service suffered a cut of 23% below the 1934 appropriation, and a reduction of 43 % below that of 1932; the National Park Service suffered a 25% cut below the 1934 appropriation, a reduction of 53.5% below that of 1932.
"Building an organization to do sound conservation work is a slow process at best, and to dismiss experienced, especially trained personnel will be a terrific blow to the cause of wildlife restoration. It is hoped that these functions can be restored by the next Congress," Mr. Gordon concluded.
Crows and stray cats are enemies of all bird life. Destroy the nests of the crow and do not turn out kittens or drop them along the highways.
THE "Recreational Industry", of which the "tourist business" is only one item, is of growing importance in every state in the Union. I Few realize its value in "new money" income with widely distributed benefits amounting to many hundreds of millions of cash income annually.
The best advertised states, as shown by U. S. Census figures, are the leaders in increased wealth and population. It is also proven that many cities, towns and communities have escaped bankruptcy by fostering the Recreational Industry in times of depression.
The old saying, "If business interferes with pleasure, stop business" is not true with tourist trade because here business and pleasurable recreation harmonize to a most profitable degree.
Some facts may be of interest. These come to us at random and are believed to be reasonably accurate.
Colorado considers that tourists spend $25,000,000 a year in that state.
Florida averages over the years 1925-1930 inclusive $285,000,000 (this is a great advertising state).
Minnesota states in 192 9 they had 1,677,538 tourists who spent $87,708,700; in 1930 1,4 61,865 tourists with expenditures of $76,708,290; and in 1931 1,452,492 visitors expending $75,766,610. They also state that 10% of the state revenue from gas tax comes from tourists.
Wisconsin shows 4,699,714 persons entered the state by car in 19 2 9. The total expenditure that year was $134,659,470, with a gas tax on the above of $1,105,042.52. Fishing, scenery, and vacations accounted for 51 % of the visitors.
The New England states show an equally interesting story.
The annual cash income from the recreational industry in six New England states is reported as $500,000,000. The assessed value on property used solely for recreational purposes is $550,000,000. Taxes paid on recreational property are $15,000,000. Total amount of advertising, including state monies and private expenditure is $500,000.00 1-10 of 1%.
The vacationist's dollar is said to be divided as follows:
There is a general impression that the hotels receiving the most returns should contribute most liberally. These figures show retail stores and restaurants receive a larger return.
Vermont shows that in 1928, the average tourist spent $77.16; in 1929 $60.00; in 1930 $54.00 and in 1931 $4 3.20. Reports from real estate brokers show that out of state people expended $429,600 in purchase of Vermont property, a considerable amount being for summer homes. They estimate 400,000 cars enter the state with 1,200,000 passengers. In the last two years this state has used the sum of $30,000 for advertising, certainly excellent returns for such a small sum.
These figures may be dry as dust but are very important in these times when efforts must be made to increase all business and revenues to state.
Many species of ducks are still at a seriously low ebb, though the status of waterfowl on the whole is somewhat better today than two years ago, the poorest season we have ever experienced, says Paul G. Redington, Chief of the Bureau of Biological Survey, United States Department of Agriculture, in a statement issued July 10 on the Bureau's waterfowl findings during the last two years. The statement is as follows:
Continuing the fact-finding program of the past several years with regard to the status of waterfowl in the United States and Canada, the Biological Survey made extended field investigations during the fall and winter of 193 2, and the spring and early summer of 1933.
During the seasons 1931 and 1932 waterfowl had reached the lowest point on record, through culmination of unfavorable conditions, including serious and long-continued droughts in many of the most important northwestern breeding areas. This made it necessary to restrict the hunting season to a single month in 1931, and to 2 months in 1932. Many species are still at a seriously low ebb, but the status of waterfowl on the whole is slightly better than in 1931. This is due to some increase in snow and rainfall, consequent improvement in the food supply, and to saving the breeding stock by reducing the kill during the last two seasons. This statement, it should be emphasized, is based upon a comparison of the present with 19 31, the poorest season that we have ever experienced.
Some areas normally favorable for waterfowl have shown good concentrations of birds. Others have been less satisfactory. The most important concentrations during the winter and late autumn of the 1932-33 season, taking all kinds of waterfowl into consideration, took place in western Lake Erie, in central and southern Illinois, in Louisiana, in Texas, on Mattamuskeet Lake, N. C, in South Carolina, and on Chesapeake Bay, in the East; and in Montana, Utah, Washington, and California, in the West. These numerous local concentrations of ducks and geese might easily give the impression that the birds were generally more abundant than was actually the case.
While ducks and geese as a whole are now in somewhat better condition than last year, increased numbers are confined largely to a few species, which for the most part have extensive breeding ranges. Among these the mallard, pintail, black duck, baldpate, Canada goose, and the blue goose, are most in evidence. Ducks with more restricted breeding territories, including the bluewinged teal, lesser scaup, bufflehead, gadwall, shoveller, canvasback, redhead, and the ruddy duck are in many localities fewer than during the previous season. In other localities they are just about holding their own, and where they do show a slight increase they are still in a state so precarious, that an unfavorable nesting, hatching, or rearing season, or combination of other unfavorable circumstances, might easily lead to disaster. Possibilities of such unfavorable conditions are indicated by reports of excessive temperatures and low rainfall during June in the northern part of the Great Plains region of the United States and adjoining southern parts of the Prairie Provinces of Canada.
The wild antelope, once almost extinct in Nebraska, is returning to the panhandle. Herds of 5 0 to 100 of the fleet-footed animals have been reported by ranchers near Sidney.
One rancher reported that the antelope were so tame that children played with the animals in the streets of Lodgepole.
The antelope herds have increased under protection of state game laws and ranchers who will not allow the animals to be shot. Some poaching has been reported.
Tlie Nebraska Game Commission hopes to eventually have good pheasant hunting in every county except possibly those where the prairie chicken is found.
It is planned to report some ten or twelve counties in southeastern Nebraska next spring. Some 5,000 birds will probably be trapped in certain counties where they are numerous and these will be placed out for breeding stock.
Three years ago nearly 50,000 birds were trapped and redistributed. From this stocking of birds came thousands of increase until today over 7 0 counties are opened each year to hunting.
Each year the Nebraska Game Commission finds it necessary to seine thousands of small fish from ponds and streams about to dry up.
This year the work came in June rather than in July and August as in previous years. This was because of the extreme dry weather in June.
Several million fish are salvaged in this way each year.
The Secretary of the Nebraska Game Commission was honored recently by being one of twenty leading game authorities throughout the nation to be called to Washington to confer with Secretary of Agriculture Wallace and officials of the Biological Survey regarding the migratory waterfowl situation during the year.
It is quite likely that the 1933 open season in Nebraska will be about the same as during 1932. That would provide 6 0 days of hunting during October and November with a bag limit of 15 a day, 3 0 in possession.
Dr. F. B. Garrison with a 24pound bass taken near Oakdale. Note the Doctor has his prize all ready for the pan.
Not only is the Nebraska Game Commission improving several of the state recreation grounds through the use of Civilian Conservation funds, but it is carrying on scientific work in the Sand-pit lakes as well. A study is being made of the aquatic vegetation and fish food found in the pits. This will be compiled and made use of in future stocking of fish.
It does not pay in the long run to violate game laws. Here are some of the convictions during the early part of the summer. It is to be hoped that these parties will stay within the law hereafter and cooperate with the state in conservation of our outdoor resources. No one gets any pleasure out of making arrests:----
Isaac Eaton, Beatrice, Fishing without Permit, buying and changing figures on pernr't after being checked by warden, Fine $15.00, Costs $4.80.
Cleve Knerr, Beaver Crossing, J. L. Hobbs, Goehner, Stump Fishing, both fined $10.00 and costs $4.80.
Dan;el Scott, North Platte, Shooting insectiverous birds for bait and having short fish in possession, Fine $15.00, Costs $4.70.
Jens Jensen, Cotesfield, operating fish trap, Fine $15.00, costs $4.70.
J. L. Davidson, Hastings, Having 1 5 short bass in possession. Fine $25.00, costs $5.00
A. J. Leonard, Hastings, 1 2 short bass in possession, Fine $25.00, Costs $5.00.
Earnest Linduer, Amherst, operating fish trap, trap contained 84 catfish, Fine $75.00, Damage $15.00, Costs, $4.80.
Arnold Wendt, Staplehurst, operating fish trap, Fine $25.00, Costs $4.80.
Theodor Kipp, Beatrice, Fishing with dip net. Fine $10.00, Costs $4.80.
Steve Longwell, Craig, Operating gill net, Fine Fifteen days in jail.
Leonard Stewart, Clinton Stewart and Edward Fahrenbruck, Crete, Seining game fish, Fine $10.00 each arid costs $2.30 each.
Chas. M. Stewart, Grand Island, killing pheasant during closed season, Fine $25.00, damage $10.00, Costs $5.20.
John Sass, Roseland, Killing pheasant during closed season, Fine $25.00, Costs $6.70.
Otto L. Platow, Sutton, Killing one pheasant during the closed season, Fine $25.00, Costs $5.60, Damage $10.00.
Fred Peters, Roscoe, Possession of 7 ducks during closed season, Fine $25.00, Damage $10.00, Costs $6.00.
Ted Stevenson, Decatur, Unlawfully possessing and selling geese, Fine $25.00, Costs $1.50.
Harry Brown, Tekamah, Killing one goose during closed season, Fine $25.00, Costs $5.00.
Ed. Ellison, Bradshaw, Killing one goose during closed season, Fine $25.00, Costs $6.75, Damage $25.00.
Vaughn Tyler, Central City, 9 geese in possession during closed season, Fine $25.00, damage $25.00, Costs $19.50.
Rodney Nicholson, Gibbon, 6 geese in possession during closed season, Fine $25.00, Damage $25.00, Costs $4.80.
Adolph Juranek, Edholm, Hunting quail, Fine $25.00, Costs $5.70.
Louis Brezina, Linwood, Shooting 3 quail, Fine $150.00, damage $30.00, Costs $5.70.
Gerald Krutz, Schuyler, Illegal seining in Platte River, Fine $25.00, Costs $7.00. Judge gave him extra fine of $25.00 for not stopping when ordered by officer.
Bill Hajek, Schuyler, Illegal seining in Platte River, Fine $25.00, Costs $7.00.
The Nebraska Game Commission along with most other state Game Commissions has suffered a decline in revenue received through the sale of hunting, fishing and trapping permits.
The revenue earned during the first six months of the last three years is as follows:
While it is impossible for the Commission to buy any real estate or develop sites at this time, none of the regular activities are being neglected. In some cases certain work has been temporarily postponed, but in the main the more essential activities are being carried forward.
The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission believes in keeping well within their budget, even though it means postponing some things they would like to do. At all times a nice balance is being held in the State treasury in order to meet all bills promptly.
The birds of prey include the carrionfeeding vultures, the fiercely rapacious hawks and eagles, the fish-loving osprey, and owls of various habits. The vultures, of which the familiar black and turkey buzzards are examples, are carrion feeders and will disappear from communities where all offal is properly disposed of, but in some localities they still have plenty of work to do. The charge that they are instrumental in distributing hog cholera and other livestock diseases is based chiefly on suspicion. It is not true that they disseminate the germs of these diseases in their droppings, and the fact seems to be that buzzards, if a factor in spreading stock ills, are a minor one.
Hawks and owls, though not closely related, may be considered together on account of the similarity of their feeding habits. Feeding chiefly upon living animals smaller than themselves, they naturally prey sometimes upon some of the domesticated kinds, particularly poultry. This has given them a bad reputation with farmers, so long established as to amount to traditional prejudice. Scientific investigation of their habits shows that only a few species of hawks and only one owl feed chiefly, or even largely, upon birds, and therefore to any great extent upon poultry. The birds of prey correctly regarded as chiefly injurious include the sharp-shinned, Cooper's, and duck hawks, the goshawk, and the great horned owl. The bird hawks fly swiftly over trees and bushes and make sudden darts upon their prey, and from this behavior and their color, three of the species are often known as blue darters. The hawks that are ehiefly beneficial differ in flight from the darting hawks, either soaring at a considerable height or hovering over places where they are seeking prey. The great horned owl, which, like most of its relatives, feeds at night, can capture only poultry that has not been properly protected. When prevented from doing this, the horned owl is largely beneficial rather than injurious.
The remaining species of hawks and owls, more than 50 in all, have useful habits. They feed on a great variety of rodents and have a tremendous effect in controlling the numbers of these pests. Their staple food consists for the most part of meadow mice, but it includes also many other destructive rodents, such as rabbits, ground squirrels, prairie dogs, pocket gophers, and house rats and mice. The barn owl is one of the most useful birds of this group. Its food is easily studied by examining the pellets, made of the hair and bones of its victims, which accumulate about its roost. These indigestibles are ejected habitually by all birds of prey, but are scattered too widely for collection and study except by species having restricted roosting sites.
In 675 barn-owl pellets collected in Washington, D. C, were found the remains of 1,119 meadow mice, 452 house mice, and 134 house rats, together with a sufficient number of other small mammals to make an average of almost 3 to the pellet, and probably to the meal. In 592 pellets collected in California were found skulls and other traces of 261 pocket gophers, 74 field mice, 184 pocket mice, 144 deer mice, 50 harvest mice, 230 kangaroo rats, and 215 house mice.
These items make it clear that the barn owl is constantly doing work of great value to agriculture. Its services are typical of those of hawks and owls in general. Owls as a group have long been persecuted by man, but never has persecution been more unjust. However, the hawks and owls are not the only sufferers, for when their numbers are greatly reduced in any community, farmers will be forcibly reminded of the fact by a great increase in the number of destructive rodents.
For the information of those who are interested in the nature of the history of the disease we quote from "The Birds of Minnesota" by Roberts:
"A so-called duck disease, responsible for the wide spread destruction of waterfowl in western marshes, has been known for many years. Other water and shore birds have, however, been indiscriminate victims of this malady. Until recently the general concensus of opinion has been that the sickness was due to alkaline water and the disease was therefore called alkali poisoning. E. R. Kalmbach of the United States Bureau of Biological Survey studied outbreaks of this disease during the
A Sandhill Camp for Bass Fishermen
C. L. Clark shows how it's done in Nebraska during October each year.
The dry spell in June and July throughout Nebraska was a boon to the upland game bird, but a disaster to waterfowl and fish. The dry weather not only aids the pheasant and quail in their nesting but also provides an abundant diet of insect life. On the other hand, the drying up of pot holes and small ponds cause young dusks to die and the disappearance of fish unless salvaged.
Nebraska foresters are now at work at Louisville, Fremont and Chadron, and soon will be on the job in Dundy County. From the way the working is progressing it would seem that Nebraska citizens will have a pleasant surprise in store for them. This work should give Nebraska one of the finest parks and two of the best recreation grounds in the middle west.
Does the tourist business pay? Here is some interesting data on the business in Wisconsin and New Hampshire. Here is what Wisconsin says
"The tourists in 1931 bought 74,4 51,170 gallons of gas on which they paid the state a tax of $2,978,046.80 (taken from State Highway report). They stayed in Wisconsin an average of 16.51 days. If each tourist ate one egg a day, they consumed over 80,000,000 eggs; figuring lx/2 pounds of butter per person for 16 days would mean that over 7,000,000 pounds of Wisconsin butter were used; if they ate vegetables at two meals they would have consumed over 60,000,000 pounds of Wisconsin potatoes, peas, cabbage, beans, etc. Estimating that two children to the car used one glass of milk a day, they will have used some 7 5,000,000 quarts of Wisconsin milk. These same tourists ate over 250,000,000 meals in the state. These figures do not include the additional eggs, butter, cream and milk that goes into ice cream, etc.
Tourist Business in Wisconsin for the year 1931 amounted to $140,233,275, based on a period of 100 days, not including the hunting seasons."
And here is what happens in Vermont:
"(From Biennial Report, State of New Hampshire, December 31, 1932, State Development Commission)
One should keep in mind the following program of the Nebraska Izaak Walton League. It contains some excellent plans for every conservationist:
To develop opportunities for the enjoyment of the great outdoors as an essential part of the character building and the spiritual and physical development of our people.
To urge elimination of pollution of waters in Nebraska by educating the respective communities to the necessity of cleaning up their own communities by installing modern disposal plants and by working toward legislation which shall control the pollution situation throughout the state, thus safeguarding public health and conserving aquatic life.
To encourage the planting of trees and the carrying on of a state-wide program of education to the end that natural Nebraska wild flowers may be retained and increased as symbols of the natural beauty of our state.
Encourages the adoption of a system of Public Recreation Grounds and the beautification of the urban and rural school grounds of the state.
Cooperates with the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Camp Fire Girls and 4-H Clubs.
Endorses the present Game, Forestation and Parks Commission and pledges cooperation in all matters pertaining to fish and game administration.
To conserve our water resources, to discourage unwise drainage and to promote measures for the prevention and control of floods.
Sponsors a state-wide refuge system for the conservation and perpetuation of our wild game and the establishment of fish ponds for the raising of fish.
To cooperate with the federal and
state governments in the impounding
of waters and the stabilization of the
larger streams to the end that there
To restore and transmit to posterity the outdoor Nebraska of our ancestors.
It may seem a far cry from the ponderous operation of the huge National Recovery Act to the recovery of better hunting and fishing throughout the United States, but such is the case, according to the observations of conservationists, a bulletin of the American Game Association says.
Among many other activities, this Act includes public works for flood control, the prevention of soil erosion and for sewage treatment plants—all highly beneficial for the restoration of wildlife.
Provisions of this Act and its financing benefits—the Federal government contributing all the funds for certain classes of projects, and for others a dollar for every two dollars furnished by the State or municipality—will enable many states to proceed with badly needed flood control work, the prevention of soil erosion, and the purification of waters.
Sportsmen are hailing these provisions of the Act with glee; state game and fish commissioners are either preparing projects and plans to submit to their respective State Administrators for the Federal Government, or else are making tentative surveys to ascertain their needs along these lines.
With the prevention of floods incalculable numbers of game birds and animals and game fish are saved; better still, according to conservationists, their environments are preserved from destruction, thus allowing of continuous flow of reproductive cycles.
Too, maintaining standard water levels makes for better fishing, and for better nesting facilities, particularly for waterfowl and shore birds; creation of reservoirs will add to wildlife habitat.
Prevention of soil erosion ties into flood control in that many of the same measures that prevent soil erosion also prevent rapid runoff of waters and thus prevent floods.
Soil erosion has ruined some of the best wildlife environment on this continent, conservationists point out. With the erosion of the top soil, cover and food vegetation are destroyed and wildlife either is forced to move from the areas or perish. Such movement forces over crowding on other areas and diseases break out, decimating the species affected.
Practicing conservation at the point of a hook, sportsmen can save an incalculable number of small fish this season by first wetting their hands before touching the impaled fish and by handling them ever so gently in disgorging the hook, and letting the little fellow swim away, according to a bulletin of the American Game Association.
Never THROW a fish back; the shock alone often kills it.
Although no definite figures have been compiled as to the mortality of fish released from hooks, it is the observation of veteran fishermen that nine out of ten will live if they have not been hooked in a vital organ—in most cases, the stomach—and are gently handled with wet hands and replaced in the water so that they may swim away.
If the fish is handled with dry hands, the mucuous membrane, or "slime" as most fisherman call it, is broken. This slime forms a protective coating about his body much as axle grease is used to form coating on a swimmer to keep cold water from reaching the body.
Once the slime is broken, fungi and injurious bacteria attach to the bared places, and, in the course of time, destroy the fish through disease. If the hands are thoroughly wet—or better still hold the fish under water while disgorging the hook—there is little likelihood of disturbing the slime coat to the extent of allowing disease or fungi growth to develop.
Fishermen in ever-increasing numbers are using the barbless hook, or else filing or pinching the barb off of hooks, to make it easier to release fish they catch. Most fish are hooked lightly through the lips or cheek—except where gang hooks are used. The single barbless hook can often be released without touching the fish; in most cases, if the angler gives the fish a little slack line he will throw the hook (as many fishermen have learned to their chagrin when they were trying to land a big one, even on a barbed hook!)
"If you want Nature to grow, then Get the Crow!" is the slogan being adopted by thousands of sportsmen throughout the United States, according to a bulletin of the American Game Association. Officials point out that the sportsmen can help the farmer as well as himself by thinning out the ever increasing crow population now, before the nesting season begins.
Examination of stomach contents of crows shows that during the nesting season Ee is one of the most destructive agents to nearly all forms of bird life, and to the farmer's grain crops, scientists declare.
Unfortunately, naturalists point out, the crow has no enemies to speak of in the scheme of nature. Only certain owls will attempt to reach his foul carcass. Therefore there is but little check upon his increase.
Farmers testify to his depredations upon their crops and young poultry, and they are after him. Despite the efforts of man to keep the crow in control, his tribe is increasing by the millions and is threatening to wipe out several valuable species of wildlife— particularly the wild ducks.
He is smart. Locating a duck nest by following the female, the crow summons others of his tribe and they attack, drive the duck from the nest, and eat her eggs or fledgelings.
Gus Colberg, of Yale, Michigan, writing in to the American Game Association,, seems to have solved the problem of thinning crows in his vicinity. Instead of relying on the noisemaking shotgun as so many hunters do, Mr. Colberg shoots the marauders with a 22 rifle—which doesn't frighten them away from a stuffed owl used as a decoy. The crows, according to Mr. Colberg, are so furiously engaged at fussing at their ancient enemy that they do not seem to notice the noise or think it odd that one of their number tumbles off of a limb every few minutes, testimony to Mr. Colberg's ingenuity and marksmanship. He Kills them by the hundreds, much to the satisfaction of sportsmen and farmers, the bulletin points out.
A Bird to the Acre is destroyed every Spring by mowing machines throughout the United States, according to an estimate of officials of the American Game Association who are attempting to eliminate this appalling loss by getting farmers to adopt the "flushing bar." This device, affixed to the mowing machine, travels several feet ahead of the knives and flushes the ground nesting bird from the nest in time for the operator to raise the knives and save the nest—and the adult bird—by leaving an island of cover around it; in most instances the bird returns to the nest and continues laying or incubation.
As examples of the huge destruction
of ground nesting birds, particularly the
different varieties of quails and pheasants, an Ohio farmer reported that on
his small farm seven quail nests containing a total of 98 eggs were
destroyed during mowing season last
year; another reported a like
There are two types of flushing bars coming into use now; one bar of fivesixteenths inches of "soft" iron that is affixed with a plate to the tongue of the mower back of the doubletree; the bar is then bent downward so that it will ride a few inches above the ground, and carried outward and forward some five feet in front of the knives; it is then bent inward and the end carried to the names of the horse where it is tied through a ring in the end of the flushing bar. This bar works splendidly. It has been adopted as standard equipment by several of the more progressive mowing machine manufacturers. The other flushing bar consists of a light bamboo pole tied to the neckyoke and extended out in front of the knives. Burlap sacks are tied to the pole in front of the knives; the sacks should be weighted slightly to hold them down; the pole is supported by a strap extending from the hames to the outer end.
Lake Andes Wave.—The thousands of dead fish that lined the shores of our lake from last winter's freezes and slushy snow together with the scarcity of spring rains to raise the level of the water, has made Lake Andes a veritable stink hole and when the wind blows from any direction some one living on or near its banks must suffer the stench that arises. Complaint has been made to the game and fish department of the state; to county commissioners, boards of health and to every one who might have power to help clean up the disgusting mess, but as yet no one seems to want to take the initiative. The proposition is too big for Lake Andes to handle even with the cooperation of the several nearby towns. The lake in the past by virtue of its good fishing, has earned treble the money now needed to bring it back to its former condition. Appeals to state politicians at Washington have been made in the past but evidently to deaf ears. Many messages have been sent recently from several sources, making emphatic appeals for immediate relief. Kill the crow and preserve wild bird life for the future.
The following order, issued by the U. S. Bureau of Biological Survey, opens certain sections of the Crescent Lake Game Refuge (Garden County) for fishing.
The order reads as follows and is published here for the information of all fishermen.
Under authority of regulations 1 and 7 of the regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Agriculture on M(ay 7, 1930, for the administration of Federal wild-life refuges, the following areas in the Crescent Lake Migratory Bird Refuge, in Garden County, Nebraska, are hereby designated as recreational areas for the use of the public under the conditions hereinafter prescribed:
All the lands contiguous to Crane, Hackberry, and Island, . Lakes included within the following descriptions: For Crane Lake, NE % NE% sec. 10; W V2 NW %, and NWVi sec. 11, T. 2 0 N., R. 44W.; for Hackberry Lake, Lot 7 and B% SE 14 sec. 6, and lot 1 sec. 7, T 20 N., R. 44 W.; and B y2 SE % sec. 1, T. 20 N„ R. 45 W. of the Sixth Principal Meridian; for Island Lake, E % sec. 4. T. 20 N.,. R. 44W. of the Sixth Principal Meridian.
1. Recreational areas.—Permit is not required for entrance upon and temporary occupancy of the above-described areas for the purpose of fishing, camping, and other nonhunting recreational uses: Provided, that persons entering the refuge shall not make camps except at sites designated by the supervisor or protector of the refuge; they shall start camp fires only when necessary and they only at such points as may be specified by such officer, and shall completely extinguish such fires when no longer needed, and shall smother with earth or extinguish with water all embers and beds so that there shall be no danger of reignition. Special care must be observed to prevent lighted matches, cigars, cigarettes, or pipe ashes from being dropped in grass or other inflammable material. Persons camping within recreational areas must keep camp sites in a clean and sanitary condition; they must burn combustible rubbish on camp fires, and place all other garbage and refuse either in garbage cans or in pits provided at the edge of the camps. Garbage or refuse must not be dumped in the lakes or in places on the refuge not designated therefor.
2. Private operations.—No person shall engage in any business, erect or maintain a building, or operate a boat or raft for hire, except under permit issued by the Chief of the Bureau of Biological Survey. Such permit shall be valid only for the period and uses specified therein, an shall be renewable only at the discretion of the chief of said bureau, who will establish such fees for permits or for renewals thereof as he shall deem proper. Permittees shall keep the boats and rafts they are authorized to operate for hire in good repair and safe condition at all times.
3. Fees.—A person granted a permit to operate boats and rafts for hire under these regulations shall establish a schedule of rates of pay for the service on an hourly, half-day, and per diem basis, and shall submit such schedule to the Chief of the Bureau of Biological Survey for approval. The permittee shall publicly post ' such schedule of rates, when approved, in such manner and in such places as the supervisor or protector may direct.
4. Fishing.—Persons authorized to fish under the laws of the State of Nebraska may do so without permit in such lakes and waters of the refuge as are open to fishing under State law and regulation, either from boats or rafts or from lake shores within the above-designated recreational areas: Provided, that the use of live bait is taking or attempting to take fish in any of the waters of the refuge is prohibited; and Provided further, that no live fish, frogs, turtles taken elsewhere shall be liberated in the waters of the refuge without a permit from the Chief of the Bureau of Biological.Survey, except that permit is not required for planting game fish or game-fish fry by or under the direction of the Nebraska Game, Forestation, and Parks Commission or the United States Bureau of Fisheries.
5. Routes of travel.—Persons entering the refuge for permitted uses, including camping and fishing, shall use only such established routes of travel as may be designated from time to time by the supervisor or protector in charge.
6. Firearms and disturbance of wild
life.—The carrying or being in possession of firearms on the refuge, and the
7. Revocation of permits.—Any permit issued under these regulations may be terminated at any time by agreement between the issuing officer and the permittee; it may be revoked by the issuing officer for non-compliance with the terms thereof or of these regulations, for non use, or for violation of any law or regulation applicable to the reservation or of any State or Federal law or regulation protecting wild life, or the nests or eggs of birds; and it is subject at all times to discretionary revocation by the Secretary of Agriculture. Maintaining a nuisance by a permittee, operating a concession where disreputable activities are permitted, or charging in excess of approved rates for boats, rafts, or services, shall be sufficient cause for revocation of a permit.
The Herald editor, accompanying Al French and Eldon Werber, altar two previous Sunday disappointments because of rains started out early Sunday with Mr. French at the steering and driving apparatus of a speedy Model A and within one hour and thirty minutes debarked upon the shore of Lake Pibel, a state owned recreation ground.
After the debarkation had been made the party proceeded to the large hotel building to secure some information and a set of oars for one of the boats which was one of a dozen lying at anchor within a stone's throw of where parking of the car was made.
Loading of the boat with piscatorial paraphernalia Mr. French was assigned the position of anchor man, having charge of the heavy contraption attached to a chain whose purpose is to hold the boat from drifting. Mr. Werber took to the business end of the husky pair of oars and the third member of the party, this editor, took his place—the only one left unoccupied— at the rear of the boat and acted as direction guide.
With seaman-like fashion the party shoved off from shore and the sport that would tickle the insides of a dyspeptic ruler began. Following the direction secured from the keeper at the hotel the boat was directed to the spot where he said the fish had been found to be not only numerous but anxious to take the hook that morning.
Reaching this pre-destined spot Mr. French heaved the heavy iron contraption that was described as an anchor and baiting of the hooks with the fat and juicy worms that Mr. Werber had dug up the night before for the occasion, began.
Not many moments were fleeting when Mr. Werber gave a high pitch announcement that he had hooked one and was accordingly given the pewter cup for having landed the first fish in the party. Not long after that Mr. French began rocking the boat when expending his efforts to obtain his equilibrium after having heaved his initial catch—a bullhead—dangling from the line of his pole.
The editor—yes, he caught some too —but not so early—for it became apparent to him after a futile hour that river fishing was all wrong in Lake Pibel. Drawing up his reel so that the worm on the hook barely reached the bottom of the lake, the tugging of the fish at the bait was transmitted to the reel which was necessary before any catches could be made. This change made and the fish began to leave the water at the end of the pole and line. Sometime the fish were so eager to take the bait that they would swallow bait and hook up to near the sinker.
A mess of fifty inhabitants of the finney tribe were the extent of the day's sport for this trio. A like number had to be returned to the water because they were found to be under size. The catch consisted mainly of perch, with a good sprinkling of good sized bullheads. These latter took more fancy to the prowess of Mr. French, as he garnered the greatest in number.
Lake Pibel is a beautiful spot. The lake is fed with springs abounding the shores and is said to maintain an even level. It is easy of access connected with a fine graded road from Spalding. It was stocked last summer and no large-sized fish were to be caught at this time for the reason that the stocking has not given the fish the length of time in which to develop big size.
In another year this recreation spot in the midst of the sandhill section of the state should prove to be a fisherman's paradise, for the fish are there and will bite because they will be hungry from the lack of soil erosion that contains many worms.
The early settlers of this part of Nebraska never dreamed that the time would come when it would be necessary for the state to conserve the game resources of the country. There was game of all kinds in abundance. Buffalo roamed the prairies in vast herds; there were wild turkeys and prairie chickens and quail everywhere; great flocks of ducks and geese visited the lakes and streams in season and these streams also abounded in edible fish. The supply seemed inexhaustible, and it was many years before people began to learn that such was not the case. The ruthless slaughter of wild game resulted in some of the varieties becoming practically extinct, and this was contributed to by the fact that a highly cultivated country no longer remained a suitable habitat for certain species of birds and animals. Laws were finally passed to protect game and a commission was established to have charge of the enforcement of those, laws. But great difficulty has been encountered in the enforcement thereof. Men who are honest and good enough citizens otherwise, are lawabiding until it comes to hunting or fishing. Because game wardens are few in number and the likelihood of getting caught is small, they will not hesitate to violate laws that were enacted, for the good of all, not only of this generation, but of generations to follow. Game laws were passed to conserve one of the great natural resources of the state and not to annoy hunters and fishermen. He is a poor citizen who does not obey those laws. Hunting or fishing without license; disregarding bag limits or closed season regulations or otherwise violating the provisions of the game laws is a sneaking, selfish and altogether disreputable offense.
The Nebraska Fish and Game Commission is co-operating with McPherson County lake owners and with fishermen in making better places to fish in our county. According to recent reports the Reid Lake, north of Flats, will be open to people wishing to fish, there being no charge other than for the use of boats and cabins. The former parking charge will be done away with this year. The Commission will keep this lake cleared of all coarse fish and re-stock it from time to time. At present Reid Lake offers good Perch, Crappie, Blue Gill, Bass and Bullhead fishing and will no doubt be the most popular lake in the county this summer.
or add deflecting devices which will retard water runoff. Such work will greatly increase the fish carrying capacity of your streams.
If you want help on your water conservation or your fish producing problems write the Izaak Walton League, Chicago, Illinois, or the American Game Association, Washington, D. C.
Literally millions of birds and animals are pairing now for renewal of life, and their offspring for the most part are foredoomed to death within the year, according to a bulletin of the American Game Association. Scientists have been at work checking the natural history of several species throughout the year. Dr. Gardiner Bump, superintendent of the Bureau of Game of the New York Conservation Department, has announced findings on ruffed grouse, said by some to be the King of Game Birds.
Dr. Bump announces that 5 7 per cent of ruffer grouse die in the egg, even during the upgrade of the grouse cycle; all o£ nature seems to increase or diminish by cycles extending over various periods of time. These eggs, Dr. Bump found, were destroyed mainly by predatory creatures, principally crows, snakes, rats and even ants, which swarm into the shell as soon as the baby bird pips it, and destroy the little fellow, actually eating him alive! His mother is powerless to prevent it.
Of the hatched birds, 23% die in the first three months from inclement weather, inherent weakness, predators and miscellaneous minor causes. Eight per cent die as adults from predators.
Here is the most enlightening fact of all—only 3 % of the adult grouse are killed by hunters! officials of the association point out. In the minds of many it has always been taken for granted that the hunter killed more birds than all other instruments combined.
Nine per cent of the adults, according to Dr. Bump's survey, live into the second year and thus carry on Nature's replenishment.
While this survey was confined to the ruffed grouse only, it is believed that such results as Dr. Bump found will approximate the same losses of most other game birds, the bulletin states.
lakes and a number of lakes have been added to our possession. Dams have been made and spillways have been added, making it possible to maintain a more uniform water level, thus improving the lake from the fisherman's point of view.
Pollution of streams is one thing that the Commission as well as the Department of Health has to contend with, and no game fish should be planted in waters that are polluted. This should be an iron-clad rule and a general cleaning up of the streams would result.
When one considers that a large per cent of the people that buy permits to fish in Nebraska reside in the eastern half of the state and are confined to fishing in our streams and rivers in that part of the state, the waters of which are the best adapted to bullheads, catfish, crappie and sunfish, it is not hard to understand why the Commission is advocating a greater production of these fish.
A great advance has been made in the past few years over the old way of raising fish. Instead of dumping the fry or baby fish into the streams and losing a very large per cent of them as was formerly done, they are put in nursery ponds and held (there until they are a year old and then put into the streams and as a result, a very small per cent is lost.
To say that a thing cannot be done and content one's self with not attempting to carry out proper and reasonable experiments can be taken as an indication of the lack of proper initiative, but that is one thing that is not lacking in our present Game Commission as they have laid the foundation to meet the needs of the present as well as the coming generation and only through such type of management and the use of plenty of foresight can Nebraska reasonably expect to hold its rank as a foremost state in conservation.
That "the crow is a terrible menace to waterfowl" is being proved by school children of western Canada who have helped local authorities make a survey of wildfowl nests on the nesting grounds, according to a bulletin of the American Game Association.
"As president of the Saskatchewan Pish and Game League," Mr. A. E. Bence wrote to the Association, "I feel it my duty to draw the attention of your Association and all sportsmen of the United States, to the tremendous destruction of game birds and particularly ducks by the American Crow.
"Overwhelming evidence has been submitted to us which convinces our League that the crow is a terrible menace to waterfowl. Unless something is done we are of the opinion here in this province—one of the principal breeding grounds of the duck on this continent — that it will be a matter of only a few years before it will be necessary to prohibit the shooting of ducks," Mr. Bence said.
"A check made by the children of one of the rural school districts of duck nests showed that out of twenty-four duck nests observed, seventeen were destroyed by crows. I personally observed some duck nests," Mr. Bence continued, "that were destroyed this year and found duck egg-shells dropped by crows on roads in the vicinity of marshes. I have been further informed by numbers of farmers of the methods of the crow in attacking the nests. Two or three crows will attack the duck, one after another, until they finally drive her off and that is the end of that setting.
"The crow has increased in alarming numbers. There are at least five times as many crows in this part of the prairies now as there were twenty-five years ago," he concluded.
Crows destroy not only game bird eggs, but eggs of all species. What little good the crow may do in eating certain insects is offset by the potential millions of birds it destroys in the egg, these birds being insect and weed destroyers and of great benefit to the farmers of both countries, officials of both Associations point out.
Officials of both Associations agree that one of the best ways to keep the ever-increasing crow under control is to wage ceaseless warfare upon them when great numbers concentrate in the United States during the wintertime.
summers of 1929 and 19 3 0 and succeeded in demonstrating the nature of the disease by transferring it from sick to well birds. As soon as the nature of the disease was demonstrated the causative germ, Clostridium botulinum, was quickly isolated in two different laboratories. This bacterium grows on decaying vegetation in the absence of oxygen. These conditions are admirably met in shallow, stagnant waters underlaid with decaying muck and a surface growth of oxygen-consuming microorganisms. There the botulinus bacillus grows and produces a powerful toxin. Water and shore birds or even upland birds consume both the toxin and the bacterium. The toxin poisons the nervous tissue and produces paralysis. The bird soon becomes unable to fly. Death ensues in from a few hours to several days after the onset of the symptoms. Many sick ducks removed from infected areas will recover. Botulismus has been known for a number of years in domestic chickens, ducks, and swans, in which it is called "limberneck". Human beings occasionally develop a similar disease from eating improperly canned foods."
Birds, as well as man and the forests, are benefitting by the Federal unemployment relief program, says Paul G. Redington, Chief of the Bureau of Biological Survey, U. S. Department of Agriculture.
Three camps of the Civilian Conservation Corps, he explains, are improving refuges established and maintained by the Federal Government for the protection of birds. One of these, the Blackwater Migratory Bird Refuge, near Cambridge, Md., is a breeding ground for black ducks and blue-winged teal. Mallards and pintails also concentrate on the Blackwater marshes during the migration season, and many shorebirds find sanctuary there. The other two refuges now being improved by the Conservation Corps are used by the birds principally during migration and in the winter season—Swanquarter Migratory Bird Refuge, in North Carolina, a notable resting ground for wild fowl, including swans, and St. Marks Migratory Bird Refuge, in Florida, an area frequented by Canada geese, ducks, sanderlings, and other shorebirds. St. Marks refuge comprises 19,403 acres; Swanquarter 8,803; and Blackwater, 7,6 51 acres, and all were established under the terms of the Migratory Bird Conservation Act in furtherance of treaty obligations for the protection of birds that migrate between the United States and Canada.
To facilitate administration of these refuge areas, the approximately 2 00 men in each of the conservation camps are making roads and trails, building cabins and boat landings, and clearing boundary lines. They are erecting lookout towers, clearing fire lanes, and at strategic points are making caches for fire-fighting tools. The headquarters sites are being improved, and telephone lines will be extended to some of the lookout towers.
To make the refuges more attractive to the birds, plans are under way for establishing ponds by constructing a number of small dams. At St. Marks refuge the camp will also construct equipment to be used in the bureau's study of the migratory and other habits of wild fowl. Through banding operations the Biological Survey is determining the routes traversed by Canada geese to their various northern breeding grounds. With the required equipment, officials and cooperators at the refuge will capture the wildfowl, attach metal bands to their legs, and release them. The records then made, together with reports from sportsmen and others who later kill or capture the banded birds, will yield valuable information on the times and distances of the migratory movements of these birds, and on the relations of the banding areas to other localities frequented by these species.
"Besides helping in the conservation of the Nation's resource in wild fowl, this unemployment-relief work," says Mr. Redington, "will be of great educational value to the conservation-corps workers and to the public. Through actual experience in wild-life conservation and through talks, motion pictures, and printed information provided for them, they will gain an understanding and appreciation of the value of our natural wild-life resources which they can share with their families and friends."
Unless holding a permit as in this act required, it shall be unlawful for any person to trap or otherwise take any fur-bearing animals, or for any person sixteen years or older to hunt for, kill, shoot at, pursue, take or possess any kind of game, or take, angle for, or attempt to take any kind of fish from the waters of this state or possess same.
It shall also be unlawful for anyone to do or attempt to do any other thing for which a permit is herein provided, without first obtaining such permit and paying the fee therefor. Any violation of this provision shall constitute a misdemeanor and subject the offender to fine of not to exceed $100.00 except for trapping in violation of this section for which the punishment shall be a fine of from $5.00 to $500.00 or imprisonment not exceeding six months or both fine and imprisonment.
Offenses Relating to Game and Birds IT SHALL BE UNLAWFUL:
(a) To shoot from any public highway at any bird or animal protected by this act.
(b) To hunt for any of such birds or animals with a spotlight or other artificial light;
(c) To hunt or kill or attempt to hunt or kill any water fowl from any boat or water craft propelled by sails or electric, gas, or steam power or from an aeroplane or hydroplane;
(d) To use any rifle or swivel-gun or shotgun larger than ten gauge in hunting any game birds, or to trap, snare, net, or attempt to trap, snare, or net any game bird or birds;
(e) To take or needlessly destroy the nests or eggs of any game bird or birds;
(f) To hunt or kill or attempt to hunt or kill any game bird or birds earlier than one-half hour before sunrise or later than sunset.
Vacation time is close at hand. Trees are greening, fish stories have started and the "itching heel" to hike out to the hills, the lakes or a good fishing stream are signs.
Nebraskans trek to the mountains, the Minnesota lakes, a few to the Ozarks, and some go to California. A few find their recreation and enjoyment of rubbing elbows with nature right here in the home state.
The people of this state know more about the vacation lands of other states, we'll venture, than they know of their own Cornhusker state. Yet Nebraska abounds in natural beauty.
There are few beauty spots that will equal those offered by the Niobrara river and the Pine Ridge sections of Nebraska. And the trout fishing is excellent.
Thanks to a live state game, forestation and parks commission, Nebraska has developed her natural beauty spots and sportsmen's paradises.
This year, resolve to see Nebraska, then go south, west, north or east.—
THE HIGHWAYS ARE STREWN WITH THE REMAINS OF OUR FEATHERED FRIENDS KILLED BY THE CARELESS DRIVERS OF MOTOR CARS. With no inconvenience the destruction of our useful game birds can be avoided. You are now confronted by mother birds and small upland game leading their chicks and young across the highway.
HONK YOUR HORN AND DRIVE SLOWLY; a second's delay will be enough. Give them a chance. This careless slaughter which has now reached alarming proportions is frowned upon by all true sportsmen.