Volume 12 NOVEMBER, 1953 Number 11 IOWA SLEEPERS AND SNOOZERS ------.* • • + * * • • • * • By J ohn l\ladson FOX AND COYOTE E ducatio n Assistant TRAPPING Old man woodchuck labored slowly up the hill, breathing heav By Tom Berkley ily and stopping now and then to \.r cn G:u u e 1Inn ager rest. He was hog-fat now that .E late September had come, and with Coyotes and foxes are htghly in each passing day he grew lazier. !braska, telligent and can adapt themselves .n figur· Although the sun still swung high quickly to changes in their sur in the south and the noontimes roundings. They are able to live UX CITT were warm, something in his dim in close contact with man, often mind spoke of winter. So, rolling at man's expense. Both animals with fat, he entered his hillside a re members of the dog family and tunnel late one afternoon and left their habits are similar, as are the the last of summer behind him. methods used for trapping them. In a daze the old 'chuck moved Sets that will take coyotes will to the end of a long passage to a often take foxes, and fox sets may chamber almost filled with dried take coyotes. grass. With the last of his wake If there is any real secret to fulness he scraped dirt from the successful fox and coyote trap wall of the sleeping chamber and ping, it is locating the trap set in packed it at the chamber's en the proper place. Time and effort trance, sealing himself from the are wasted if the trap is not set in main tunnel. Hts energy spent, he an area regularly used by the rolled into a ball and slept. animal. He was so tightly curled in his Both coyotes and foxes are dog sleep that even his lungs were like in their habit of establishing compressed, and breathing became scent posts places used for uri only a trickle of air through his nating along their regular routes nostrils. His pulsebeat slowed, of travel. These scent posts are and his body temperature dropped used regularly by resident animals forty-five degrees. More than a and are also visited by other ani sleep, it was almost death, a spell mals that are traveling through that would be broken only by the the area. After depositing urine south winds of early March. upon the scent posts the animals Above the 'chuck's den at the always scratch in the ground. This pasture's edge, a thirteen-striped behavior is a means of communi ground squirrel had retired a cation used by the animals. The month earlier. During the sum habit is the undoing of many wise mer the little federation squirrel predators, since sets made at a Jim Sherman Photo. (so called because of his thirteen scent post are highly effective. Although Br'er Possum is a typic:a l snooze r, he ofte n w a nders out during c:old weather stripes) had become so fat that These spots may often be found a nd litera lly " freezes his t ail off. " This Is t he or igin of tha t popula r expression. his belly almost touched the along the routes of travel by locat Everyone in Iowa will be watch ground. Although he had frol ing the scratches made by the ani TO THE DEER HUNTER ing our first modern big game sea icked in the broiling sun of July mals after urination. Sometimes son. Here are some suggestions and August, the heat had somehow they may be located by the odor This is Iowa's first deer season for its success: become oppressive by the first of of the urine, for it may smell in 75 years. Its success or fatlure September, and the ground squir strong enough to be detected by is in your hands. 1 Ask permission before entering land to hunt. rel retreated to the coolness of his man. Iowa deer bunting, like all hunt burrow until the following March. When a natural scent post can ing, depends on good farmer- 2. Determine the location of all Three-fourths of this squirrel's not be located it is necessary to set sportsmen relations. Most farmers livestock on the land on which life is spent in sleep. In his deep up an artificial one. This must be welcome sportsmen who conduct you are hunting. est slumber his heartbeat slows made near the travel lane of the themselves as gentlemen and 3. Check and doublecheck your from two hundred beats a minute coyote or fox or in an area that is show consideration for the land target before shooting. Make to only five. He is safe from win being used by the animal as a owner and his property. An acci sure of a good backstop. Don't ter in his nest of grass, for the hunting ground, den site, or rest dent involving livestock may bar shoot toward farm buildings. temperature in the home burrow ing area. The scent post is estab hunters from an entire area. The 4. Do not park in farm driveways, is far above that of the world out lished by using urine taken from same is true of gates left open, blocking them. Close all gates side. But even so, the ground an animal or purchased from a broken fences, and rudeness and be careful of fences. squirrel has a built-in thermostat toward landowners. (Continueq on page 18~) (Contin\led on pn~e 180) (Continued on page 183) Page 178 IOWA CO N SER VATI O NI ST - Iowa Conservationist HOLLOW TREES Published Monthly by the IOWA •• 'v .'\ ••ON COHMISSION B.' Oa\id H . Thompson East 7th and Court--Des Moines, Iowa and R o bf>rt~ ;)Iann (No Rights Reserved) I You may have heard the ex WM. S. BEARDSLEY, Governor of Iowa i pression: "They couldn't see the BRUCE F. STILES, Director forest for the trees.'' There was JAMES R. HARLAN, Editor a time, especially in Germany, JOHN MADSON, Special Writer \'l.'hen foresters grew trees as farm- EVrL "l N -n AN '\. s a P EaJor ' ers grow cabbages: thousands of MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION acres covered with just one kind I E G TROST Cl , rrr an F· •rt Dodge , planted in long rows that were J, D. REYNOLD~. V11::e Cnau-rnan.... Creston C. A. DINGES ...... Emmetsburg lwpt free of all seedlings, under GEORGE M. FOSTER ...... Ottumwa brush, dead or injured trees and FLOYD S. PEARSON ...... r...... Decorah MRS. EMMETT HANNAN..... Council Bluffs everything but perfect specimens JOE STANTON ...... Des Moines For a while these plantatwns pro duced astonishing yields of lumber CIRCULATION THIS ISSUE 51.500 and the Germans boasted of them s.ll:" Ir I on I .. ~ a year as models of "efficiency." The fact Three years Sl.OO that they supported practically no Enlerod a I r at r at the wildlife only a few birds, no food post ofhce in Dew •lliome:J, 1owa September 22. 1947, under the Act of March 24, 1912. for deer, and so forth- was con Subscriptions TN:c>lved at Conservallon temptuously dismissed. Commtsston, East Seventh Street and Court Suddenly the soil turned "sick." A v<>nue, Des Momes 9, Iowa Send cash, ch!:<:k or money order. Insltt pests s\vept through them · like forest fires. They withered and died Finally the Germans • SHIPPING FURS turned to the planting of mixed fore::;ts, including "worthless spe OUT-OF-STATE cies such as beech and birch, where natural reproduction and under Iowa trappers are reminded growth was permitted. They put that there are certain state laws up nesting boxes to attract the governing the out-of-state ship many kinds of birds that help con ,, ment of furs. " So whe n dad gives hi s lad a gun It follows that in the gift of trol harmful insects. They actually Included." imported and propagated some selU A permit is required for sale of * * • ~ ~ • species, including owls. They and furs out-of-slate. It is unlawful a real good gun But when you planted earthworms in the soil. stac for any person except a licensed GUN PALS make the presentation of the gun, They found that woodlands which ph~ fur dealer to ship, transport or sell Wish I could have my way give yourself to your boy in the comprise a natural community of to t any skins or hides of any fur-bear- every boy would get the privilege deal. a great Yariety of li>ing things \\'or ing animals defined m th1s chapter to own and use a real gun, and I In all of this life of ours there was more productive and gave less succ to dealers or buyers outside of don't mean a popgun or a BB gun. is no more beautiful picture than trouble than artificial plantings. A Iowa unless .he first o~tam fro~ I mean a good 410 shotgun or a that of a father and his son trudg They became apostles of Natur obta ing away as pals and partners in the comm~s~wn a spe~tal pernnt. good .22 calibre rifle If I know ~cllut:; - a natural forest. We know SUln going a-hunting.- .lla11chestc1· lag authonzmg such shtpment. Iboys (and I think I do) there are nov.. · that wildlife is valuable for Ph~ D emocrat-Radio. Applications for permit tags two things ultra-vital in a normal more than meat and fur, or to pro ba~ may be obtained from county re- boy's life- first, his dog, and sec VIde sport for the hunter, or as Ob corder offices, or write to the ond, a gun There's a combina A ringneck pheasant has been something sacred to the long \'ea) State Conservation Commission in tion that's full of meaning a boy, known to fly three miles, but the haired few who write sentimental O\'et Des Moines, giving your name and a dog and a gun. It's as natural average flight is only about 200 or essays and poems about "naytch ruul address, numbers and kinds of as the sunshine, the earth and the 300 yards.- J M. ah." er , furs you wish to ship, name and water. Some of the most useful, valu &!aJ address of the fur company to But before the boys I'm thinlting Pheasant cocks haYe been found able and interesting animals of .'0~> " ~hom you wish to ship,. and your about can have a gun, they must starved in winter by theu· long our American woodlands are miss CO\'f license number or stale tf trapped prove themselves cnlltlcd to a tails, which froze to the ground ing when there are no trees with fene on own lancl without license. gun and they must be able to dem- and imprisoned them. J . M. dead limbs or hollow trunks. Honey she * onstrate that they k now how to (Continued on page 181) turn ----'• ~ • • ¥ use a gun intelligenlly and safely. • llluc Every boy past the age of twelve tO\\ years who can pass tests in how ser, to safely use a gun and whose Phe1 character and reputation guaran or PI t ee the legitimate employment of a gun ought to have a good rifle ~:~~ or shotgun. grot I'm a firm be he\ er in the father a f ~ son hunting combination The the father who genuinely loves his son in r~ will give to his son a mighty lot F'i telll Iof companion::;hip. Fathers who 1 don't love their sons seldom mani ~ea r fest any concern about the activi By ties of their sons So when dad clo~ 1 gives his lad a gun, It follows that hau in the gift of the gun the dad is able included. Unless the dad mstructs hayt the lad, unlPss the ATIO't of the wounded deer can be extremely J ·ay !9 dangerous, and may attack you Cedar he • Tt- with antlers and hooves. -on the .ie Jar ASK THE FARMER FIRST "hwa,-o • )USe i'l NOT FOR YOUR HUNTING SUC -at -H r A£ CESS there is nothing more im- tlor at C portant than your relations with _ rd ' your farmer host. In a state that ~T\ is 97 per cent private property, " in · l.locK you will be doing most of your High- hunting as a guest, and your fu ~-just ture bunting depends on what kind ce Sta of a guest you are. ;hwa)·' est f Asking permission to hunt is not only a legal necessity; it is a mat 0~-· .-,n B • INSERT HERE ter of common courtesy. No gen- il al Do not prac:t ic:e with the seal, for if it bec:omes loc:ked it c:annot be undone. tleman enters a strange house )koboji 4 * * * ' * * * * * * * without asking. No real sportsman T0 the Deer Hunter . • . Do not let it alternately freeze hunts on private land without ask- and thaw. This ruins the meat. · (Continued from page 180) mg. pull out with intestines. Separate 10. Checking stations will be lo- By asking the farmer first, you'll cated near many deer hunting enjoy your bunt more. A lot of liver and heart and discard the Jlm Sherman Photo. rest of the offal. Split pelvic bone areas. Conservation Commission posted farms will be open to you, Size 32 hook shown in c:omparison to a personnel will be glad to give you and the farmers can give you some c:ommon bookmatc:h. :n and and remove all organs exposed. 6. Hang in shade to drain. Re any information you desire. good tips on the location of game. * * shoot Hunt Safely! You may even receive a standing ,:rs will move bloodshot meat, and prop YOU TIE FLIES? TIE The rifled shotgun slug has an invitation to bunt there whenever )r any chest and abdomen open to hasten ONE ON THIS HOOK! cooling. Wipe body cavity dry extreme range of about 600 yards. you please. with cloth or paper, but never It is a heavy, large calibre bullet, When you ask the farmer's per The size 32 hook shown here lDwill mission to hunt, ask him to join to 15 wash out with water. and is capable of killing a bunter with a common book match will 7. If you have a long trip home as easily as a deer. you. Leave your car in the farm never catch a record trout, but it's .e slug yard, out of the way, and find out inches. or if weather is hot, it is best to It is expected that the major interesting to examine if your eyes skin and quarter the carcass. Rub Iowa deer ranges will have many the location of livestock in the are good. About an eighth of an :Is will fields. Close gates after using inches, salt into the meat and wrap in hunters, and great care must be inch long, it is one of the smallest cloth. If you must transport on taken in shooting. Unlike rifle them and be careful of fences. commercially made hooks in the fficulty Watch where you shoot and above yards fender, wrap cloth about exposed bullets, which often explode on world. meat to protect against road dirt, impact, the rifled slug's low veloc all, remember that one rude, care Two of these Norwegian hooks less hunter can blackball sports 1 slugs heat and insects. ity prevents this, and it will rico were recently given to Lacey Gee 8. After skinning, tack hide up chet instead. Make certain of your men in an entire district. of the Wapsie Fly Company by a !SOU it Be courteous, considerate and · slugs in shade, scrape off flesh, and let target and the area behind the salesman who claimed there were dry. If you do not intend to have target. ask the farmer first. You'll have only fifty of them in the United .llle its more fun this season and you'll be A re it tanned, sell it to your local meat The red identification tag issued States. packer or hide dealer. The U. S. to hunters should be regarded as laying the groundwork for many The little hook is gold-plated Uy i.lll· seasons to come. ICY· Armed Forces need deer skins for only minimum protection. It is and has no eye, but is flattened at d with garments. You wlll be paid for advisable to also wear at least 50 the end of the shank. A tiny bit -t your the hide and help the defense ef per cent red hunting clothes. Avoid Hollow Trees • • • of fluff is glued to the hook and :hat is fort. solid brown or gray garments. (Continued from page 178) it is used with a horsehair leader. ;. BE 9. Let the carcass cool at 40 de When you shoot a deer, ap bees and other bees, wasps, the It is said that in Norway trout up grees for a week before storing it. proach it with caution. A badly hibernating butterflies, moths, cer to two pounds are caught on this • * .. • * * * * tain mosquitoes, spiders, snails, fly. In some European countries tree frogs, and many other kinds such flies are fastened to a lead .n tbe of insects, lower animals and er in "gangs," an unlawful prac ~wbere fungi are found in such places. A tice in Iowa. u DlaY list of some of the higher animals Hooks as small as No. 24 and .81.) that nest, den or find shelter there, No. 26 are not uncommon in this [eat and perhaps food, includes: rac country, and are often used for Jations coon, possum, deer mouse, all the golden trout in mountain lakes at ,ons: tree squirrels, all the woodpeck high altitudes. kJ}ife. ers, chickadee, tufted titmouse, the teet of nuthatches, brown creeper, blue- comb at the foot of a tall red oak bird, three kinds of wren, crested in the woods back of Punkin s dead! flycatcher, photbonotary warbler, Knob. Deer mice are fond of us b)' chimney swift, purple martin, tree honey and sometimes rob a hive on and swallow, starling, house sparrow, in midwinter. Sure enough, on the screech owl, barn owl, barred owl, next balmy sunny day there were fe fi\'e t sparrow hawk, and eight kinds of bees streamiDg ID and out of a cbe5t. ducks- wood duck, bufflehead, hole up on the trunk of that tree. blood American goldeneye, Barrow's Not far from there is a hollow goldeneye, fulvous and black-bel- linden \\'here possums and a family lied tree ducks, hooded mergan- 1of flying squirrels have their dens. sers and American merganser. Farther on, there is a big soft A good way to learn what lives maple on the bank of a small in such trees is by sauntering creek. Leading to it, in the snow, through the woods in winter we have seen raccoon tracks and, Squirrels prefer the holes made on the bark, their claw marks and when a small limb is broken off a few hairs. That must be the and decays back into the trunk. varmint that scared our "missus" Woodpeckers drill holes in dead half to death when he stuck his limbs and excavate a nest cavity head up out of the garbage barrel. which is frequently used the next Learn to saunter. Natura non year by other kinds of birds. One facit saltu,m.-Forest Preserve Pl a c: e your shots within the sha ded a rea for c:lean, quic:k kills. day we spied some chunks of honey District, Cook County. Page 182 IOWA CONSERVATIONIST - YEARLY PARK ATTENDANCE IN IOWA COST OF MAINTENANCE AND OPERATION PER PARK VISITOR 1946 1947 1948 1949 19~0 19~1 19~2 1946 1947 1948 194 9 19~0 19~1 19~2 .. 5 t------1--t--f--+-+-+---1 a: (/) 0 4 ..... z 15¢ 0 (/)- -...J - ...J > )<: -::E 3 a: z n."' - a: 1011' lLJ lLJ ...J n. n. 0 2 ..... lLJ (/) n. 0 l) 5~~' Iowa's yearly stat e park a ttendance increased t o over 4,000,000 people by the e nd of 1952 as shown on the above graph. Iowa now ranks eighth in the nation for total state J 'I park a ttendance, surpassed only by New York, Illinois, California, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Thousands of tra ppers ha ve learned to successfully tra p fox and coyot es a t the Conserva Oklahoma and Oregon t ion Commission's trapping schools Iowa falls far be low the national average on money available for cost of maintenance • • • • • • • and operation of st a t e parks as graphically shown here Figures were taken from a com· I en manure, or chtcken manure pilation of st a t e park statist ics by the United States Department of the Interior. Trapping ... mixed with peat moss litter from (Continued !rom page 177) the floors of chicken houses. These by removing enough snO\.\.' so that proach the bait ot:er the trap, commerctal source, such as the 1 National Scent Company, Chil materials must be completely dry the trap will be CO\-ered by about rather than coming to the bait howee, Mtssouri This scent has or they w1ll cause the traps to be two mches of snow Waxed paper from the rear and avoiding the set. proven successful m Iowa, and is frozen in The ch1ckcn manure is used under the trap and also After locatmg the exact spot for a good chotce for the beginner. and litter mixture have the advan over the pan and under the jaws the set, spread out a ground cloth Coyote urme attracts both coyote tage of covering up a foreign odor After the set has been made, hu- and wtth a trowel rug a hole two and fox, while coyotes are not that might be on the traps. The man tracks should be brushed out I inches wide and five inches deep strongly attracted by the urine of odor of the chicken manure seems for a distance of about two rods at about a ·15 degree angle at the fox. to appeal to both fox and coyote from the set. base of the grass clump or gopher Travel lanes of the coyote are To the dry dtrt that has been Another effective snow-covered mound selected Now dig a shal 0 collected, one quart of calcium set is the blind trail set, placed in low hole directly in front of the most often on open ridges, mead tor chloride per eighteen quarts of dirt a trail used by coyote or fox. The bait hole large enough to take the ows and open pasture lands. Per Tracks, digging, dens, ammals that may be added Thts mixture should traH should be approached from trap and stake or trap and drag, only be used with well treated fi\'e have been killed by the predators, the side and the traps placed 10 the whichever is to be used. Only one ~lee or seeing the coyotes themselves traps, as it will cause untreated trail, covered with waxed paper trap is needed Secure the stake steel to rust badly It may be used tel! will show 1f the area IS used. In ana two mches of snow Human or drag in the center of the trap \.Vith waxed and dyed traps with tracks should be brushed out. hole and set the trap so that the daJ traveling, the coyotes commonly be use tratls of cattle or sheep, farm good results as an efieclive anti . pan "'ill be six mches from the One of the most effechv~ of all , bait hole The jaws are placed so work roads, often traveling freeze. A fox sets IS the famous d1rt-hole that the animal will step over the through dry washes and ditches. One of the snow-covered sets ere~ that w1ll take both fox a nd coyote batt set The set should be made hmge of the jaws and not over the onh It is open areas such as these that • is the scent post set. Once a nat near a gopher mound, a low bush outside of the jaw which would be 11)'> scent posts are found or estab or clump of grass where tracks hkcly to throw his foot from the " lished by the trapper. ural scent post is located in the the snow and a trap is set th1s method and droppings indicate the pres- trap. hoq The fox spends much time hunt ence of fox. ing mice and other rodents in old is quite effective The trap is lo The ground under the trap lOS( meadows, pastures, open fields, cated in the tracks made by the If the set is made near a gopher should be firm and level and about Sho: mound or bush, the fox will ap- along hedge fences and in weed animals. The trap bed IS made flush with the surrounding ground. cte1 patches. He also uses work roads, * • • * A pan cover of waxed paper should fort stock paths and dry washes -~.,.--~------...,.--..--..----;e,.--...... ,.:'l"r'-~ be used under the trap and jaws d!'o• through fields for his travel lanes. and over the pan in freezing hts Tracks, dtggings, droppings and weather. Using a sifter, cover the E other signs will show when the trap w1th one-half inch of fine dirt, llliiJ animals are using these areas. smooth with a twig, and the set is httl Trapping foxes and coyotes in ready to ba1l. Baits with the great soil! Iowa is often difficult because of est appeal to the fox seem to be aw• the alternate freezing and thaw the flesh of housecat, muskrat. htu ing m wmter In spite of this it rabbtt, mouse or chicken. The set li b is possible to successfully trap may be further improved by mak mal both predators if a little extra ing fox tracks in the dirt, and by Of effort 1s taken. scratchmg around the bait bole so he F1rst of all it is wise to have a the completed set wlll look as if a\\ supply of dry dirt on hand. The an animal had buried a tasty tid- ha 1 bit in the hole. dtrt hole bait set, the scent post ~ set and the trail set may be used sl~e One nail on each bind foot of the during freezmg weather Each set )-.Ill bea\ er has long teeth on one edge, must be remade after thaws or Iller forming a fine comb. It is said freezing rains, for the traps will coul be frozen down In add1bon to dry that the beaver uses this nail to free its fur from mud and burrs. h'nl dirt, Se\.eral other materials may Slee be used successfully to cover the JM. h1s traps but are satisfactory only 1\1)1 The fox squirrel is the largest when the traps ar·e cleaned, waxed Oa~ and dyed. Some of these mate of all the squirrel in North Amer Rex P<'ndry J•hoto. 1' rials arc chaff from straw, chick- Trappin!J know-how plus a fe w simple tools guarantee the fox trappers success. ica. J. M. an,t IOWA CO NSERVATI O NIST Page 183 or . summer, the possum is a tired I 'OR amm al. H e may winter in a hol low tree or in an old squir rel's CRAZY nest. Or, he may just share a bur row with an animal too lazy to GRAPES! care, usually a skunk. The pos sum brings his own bedding, curl A Pottsvi 11 e ( P ennsylvania) mg his tail on the ground, filling the loop with dead leaves and newspaper recently ran a story on dragging it into the burrow. Al the evils of alcohol and the trans gressions of game birds. T he though he sometimes gets out of paper also ran a photograph of an bed during the winter, he will re inebriated cock pheasant lying in main completely inactive and tor an apparent stupor beside a bunch pid for weeks during cold weather. of fermented grapes. The same pattern is followed by the skunk, raccoon and badger According to the story a man becoming very fat in the summer from Deer Lake, Pennsylvania, found the bird staggering about and fall and then wint ering in a after a grape-gorging spree. The snug den. They do not hibernate . , pheasant was nursed through a and wtll even eat if something hangover and was eventually r e turns up. Skunks, particularly leased in a game refuge. males in late winter, may require temperatures of below zero to The newspaper explained that keep them at home. m the fall when frosts nip the tnd of Like his bigger cousin, the bear, grapes, warm sunshine during the .al state day causes them to ferment. If a ylvaria, the raccoon becomes drowsy in pheasant finds them, there's a early winter, but does not hiber good chance he'll get higher than nate. His respiration, metabolism a Gaw' gia pine. and heartbeat are not lowered like a woodchuck's and as the winter MORAL: If you're a pheasant, trap, wears on, the 'coons may even go eat grapes in the fall. You'll sleep e bait on hunting trips for mice and it off in a safe game refuge while be set. other small animals. your teetotaling friends get shot >Ot for The squat, rug-like badger also during hunting season.- J. M. 1 cloth dozes in the winter, insulated with Ie two Photo. fat and warm fur. L ike the wood ; deep Three·fourths of the "squ'' nt•' es •" l'I f e 1s· spent .'" d eepest hibernationJ. i m ThSh~rmanen his heart OLD OSCAR s 1ow s fro~ t wo hundred to only five beat s per minute. chuck, he may wall his bedroom at the ¥ ~ * ,, off from the main tunnel to avoid * * * • • I didn't realize when I toured 5opher world. winter drafts, and like the bear, Of Iowa Slee pers ... the Conservation exhibit at the L shal· There are other animals that skunk and 'coon be makes short of the (Continued from page 177) state fair that Old Oscar , the gian t for emergencies. If the den tem join them briefly, but they do not forays to the outer world, seeking ke the sturgeon was on his death bed. perature drops a deadly four or attain the near-death of the true food. drag. One couldn't help but be aware, five degrees below freezing the hibernators. These, for want of a Many of the reasons and mech Jy one however, of the fact that he and sleeper IS awakened, and his body better word, are the snoozers. anisms of hibernation are still un stake his many wild f riends were doing temperature rises almost imme known to science. But an old e traP Old Br'er Possum, a traditional a great job m focusing the eyes diately. If he slept on, there would southerner, also occurs widely in farmer once put the whole thing at the in a nutshell during a discussion of thousands of people on conser be death by freezmg. the north. He is a typical snoozer vation here in Iowa. 01 the of woodchucks. Across the t·iver m a limestone He often wanders out of his warm ,ced so "What's the riddle," he snorted. Interest m this exhibit at the crevice, hangmg up in bed is the burrow, hollow tree or nest dunng r the . , "Why shouldn't a groundhog sleep fair is almost unbelievable, which only flymg mammal a bat. Dur- cold weather. T h1s is a mistake, ·er the all winter? He ain't got nothing is a healthy sign. As long as peo ing the summet days be slept in and he literally gets his tail frozen ,uid be else to do!" ple show such enthusiasm, they the safety and darkness of this off. The naked tail of the possum 101 the can be reached through a conser ~orne crevice, fattening on .flying does not have much protection Late in the pheasant season, vation education program. And msects at night. As the days against a January cold snap, and when Mr. John Public becomes shortened, the temperature in the many animals are trapped or shot when it seems there isn't a bird left in the cornfields, try hunting aware and concerned and in-the crevice dropped to thirty-five or that have only stumps where their know about conservation problems forty degrees and the bat became bandy, prehensile tails once were. open plowed ground. Although it wouldn't seem that there'd be the conservation cause will pro drowsy, finally falling asleep like His sleeping quarters may be pheasants there, plowed fields are gress at a much faster and efficient his neighbors. almost anywhere, and are never sometimes very productive.- J . M. rate. Palmer Erickson, J r., Jewell .Except for a breath every five invested with much labor. Winter Record. mmutes and a rare movement the * * :;: "' * little flier might be dead. 'But ...,..,. somet1mcs in his deathlike coma he - ~wakens briefly, even drinking a ~1ttle water if it is ava1lable. And, 1f his crevice grows too chilly, he • may fly long distances in search of warmer quarters Otherwise, he sleeps the winter through, awakening with the first spring hatches of flying insects. Below, on the valley floor, these ~leepers have been jomed by the . of the Jumping mouse. In the late sum mer he bad grown so fat that be ~edge. iS Slid could hardly hop on his kangaroo's hind legs, and finally gave up il to na sleep1ly and hit the sack. Safe in . burt'S· his bunow below the frostline he will sleep until sp1 ing with' no danger from foxes, hawks or owls. T hese are the true sleepers, the Beneath winter's feathe ry blanket of snow host s of !i'!ing c':ea ~ur es sleep peacefully Old Oscar, the fa mo us rock st urgeon, d ied t he last d ay of his 28t h Stat e Fair. He was animals that seldom see the winter a wa1 t1ng spnng s wa rm ing suns. 53 yea,.s old a t the t ime of h1s deoth. Page 184 IOWA CONSERVATION I ST I hot in northern Iowa, too." Sure ECHOES FROM It does, but air temperature can THE PAST be high without fatal results to pheasant embryos. But high air The honey of the wild bee was temperature, combined with the almost as valuable to the settlers high ground temperature of dry, as ambrosia and nectar to the sun-baked earth, does a deadly gods. The honey bee was not a job In Missouri some of the best native but came into lhe woods pheasant range is in the basins of from domestic hives Vnlike the streams draining Iowa. It is housefly and rat, howe\ er, which thought that the heavy alluvial followed settlement, the bee, by soils of these river "alleys hold reason of its swarming and mi moisture and coolness longer than grating tendencies, was usually a the uplands, and also furnish more hundred or more miles in advance top cover to protect nests and of the frontier, and the product of earth from the burning June sun. its labors, found on all sides, was In experiments a continuous ex one of the most sought after treas posure of pheasant eggs to tem Volu ures which the woods could yield peratures of 103 F. have killed Woods near prairie regions were Ihalf the eggs before they could especially well pro\ ided with honey f hatch. At higher temperature mor- because of the great variety of the tality increases, until at only a flowers. Flagg said that Illinois three-hour exposure at 120° F. all bad more honey than any other s pheasant embryos will perish at place 10 the world Bee trees were any stage of incubation. as much hunted as big game, and Quail eggs, on the other band, · more valuable. On sunny winter are more resistant to high tem s days when snow co" erect the peratures. One study showed that g round, frozen fallen bees gave a between 78° and 83 F. there was certain clue; in warm weather the In t his sout h Iowa nest bot h pheas'f~1~~!~n~ t~~t~~ .e ggs we re laid . The pheasant eggs 0 a drop in the hatchability of buzzing sound of the htve revealed * 4 • ... pheasant eggs but an increase in any the location. Transient Pheasants .. . 1true of quail, whose coveys may the hatchability of quail eggs. life .fi thod of loca move north for a time but are cut A more SClen t1 c me - C"oP lflUC I from page 179) This may be why quail adults and Abot tion called for a little box, glass adequate moisture throughout the back sharply every few years, lim- their eqqs thrive m southern Iowa, can if available, and a bit of honey or year iting the bulk of our quail popu- where pheasant adults can also that sweet. B ees gath ered tbetr · cargo From what we've sa1d so far, lations to southern Iowa But in thrive but their eggs cannot. abou from 1·t and the1r · fl·ghlI home was don't get the idea that pheasants the case of quail, the limiting fac- Across the entire northern part of Tins noted, then the b ox and a f ew Cap - are entirely lacking in southern Lor in most of northern Iowa is the United States an invisible bar and tive bees were carrie· d some d'sI - Iowa. It's just that they don't severe winters and winter food rier of climate marks the southern mals tance to one side and as the bees thrive over such broad areas as problems. What is the limiting boundary of the pheasant flocl
TO the DEER HUNTER Ing Our First Modern Big Game Sea Icked in the Broiling Sun of July Mals After Urination
