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Volume 8 JANUARY 15, 1949 Number 1 STATE PARKS HOST TO MILLIONS ------·----. * * * * * • • • • • * Ten Cents P er P ers on I s Total Cost FOX TRAPPING T o S tate In 1948 THE HILL RIMS B y Wilbur A . Rush By ,Ja me!> R. Harla n Uio e ri n t c nde nt o f P n r " :o. .\.:-. , h.ta n t Director Thirty years ago a Des Moines The State Conservation Commis sion is requesting the Fifty-thir d • grade school kid, "Squirrel" Ed wards, caught a fox on the edge of General Assembly to appropriate town and for months his school $7,577,290 for the state parks and yard sobnquct was changed to recreation areas in 1949 and 1950. "Fox" Edwards. We Elmwood $645,290 is requested to operate school kids smce kindergarten days existing facilities and $6,932,000 for had been fed on fox propaganda improvement of facilities in the 87 through Aesop's Fables. Somehow state parks and for development of we believed, like the Indian who ate additional areas. a brave foe's heart in order to in Analysis of the requested appro herit his courage, that "Squirrel" priation for park maintenance bad absorbed the deceased animal's funds reveals it to be far below the sagacity. national average for state and na Those were the days when Hard tional park upkeep. Figures re ing's Magazine, the trapper's bible leased by the information service of of the times, gave the rare "cen the Department of Interior show tury" fox trappers who caught one the national average cost per park hundred fox per season fwl page visitor to be 25 cents. photo spreads and column after col Iowa's state pa rk syst e m pla yed host to more tha n two a nd t hree·fourths million v isitors Compared to this, Iowa spent in 1948, eight thousand of w hom were rugged outdoor c:a mpers. J im She rman Phot o. only eight and a fourth cents per r umn of type. Always the "century man" was park visitor for both capttal im from some far away wilderness in provement and maintenance for the Maine, New York, or other eastern OFFICERS REVIEW 1948 FISHING SEASON fiscal year ending June 30, 1948. If the maintenance appropriation re- s bathwick. To us city school kids, fed on Aesop's pap, the century Tabulation of reports received I 111 ,, phenornl·nal for catlish during quested 1·s granted by the leg1·s- trapper shared the hero's throne from state conservation officers th~ toa1·1) r11nt of the season trom lature, costs for the parks in 1949 :llaquoketa nam on down, I i mit with King Arthur, Daniel Boone, throughout the state after the close cnlches the 1·ule rather than the ex- and '50 WI'll sttll be well under the ) Sergeant York, and all the other of the fishing season reveal what ception Bass only fair thl·ouf;h most 25 cent national average cost when j the fisherman already knew some- of the summer. The \Vnpslplnicon boyhood idols of the time was poor until fall when snwllmouth based on the 1948 attendance fig- 1 limes angling was excellent, some- ha:-;s started. hittinJ:?. Trout tbhing ures in Iowa's parks. Even today, for many of us the . f · d t' .1s a whole Just fn1r, althoug-h the fox trappe1 has retained his air of t lmes aJr, an some tmes poor. lwt ter fishermen thought it w·as I The use of Iowa's parks con- e romance and mystery. My eyes Taken as a whole, the reports g-ood. Trou~ streams ,·er;\· heavily tinues to increase year after year · d' t 1948 t 1 t fisht!d, makmg t1·out h a t• de r to · I. popped when I heard of Bill ·Nel m 1ca e was a eas average catch." During- the first 11 months of 1948, son's record' I had to go see. with more fishermen trying their J
MARIJUANA IN THE WILD tex tured, the panels require a mini There is widespread misinforma mum of sanding and edge trim tion about the narcotic efLct of ming. From then on they are han hemp that grows so abundantly on dled as though they were normal the bottomlands m many parts of lumber. T hey can be sawed, nailed, the state. planed just as easily. But in sev A recent paragraph in the Vin eral respects, Prespine goes wood ton T1mes under the head, "The one better. P aint adheres more Editor's Plow Chair," states: smoothly; no grain lines mar the "Benton County could go on an smooth surface. Better still, the awful binge just by stepping out panels have ten times more re the door and grabbing a handful sistance to denting than natural of wild hemp, the marijuana plant wood panels. whose 1 e a v e s and flowers are It is Prespine's long range future I smoked by the depraved for the that is most exciting. Here is a kick. Marijuana is growing in pro process based on a waste material, fusion in this county this year, the inexpensive and present in such • big weeds which resemble Christ abundant quantities that ma n y mas trees rising s1x or more feet mills have had to fire their boilers • in the air " inefficiently to rid themselves of it. There is about as much "kick" log raft in a boom in the Mississippi Rive r at Clinton from a photograph made In 1895. H ere is a "synthetic" wooden panel to be had smoking the leaves and State De partment of History and Archives Photo. equal to and, in many respects, fl owers of hemp grown in Iowa as ,, * "' * * * better than natural. there is in smoking corn silks, cof * * * * W hat will be the shape of th e fee grounds, or baled hay, and not SAWDUST GOLD lions and mechanical problems m illing industry when its hundreds .• as much as in smoking tobacco. Icombmed to give research men of sand-dune-like piles of sawdust find more profitable, useful em ( Editor's Note: Thzs article is briefed many nostalgic memories of ·once- • • * • * • from "Monsanto Magazine" and is of In inexhaustible forests and plentiful ployment? Suggested immediately terest to Iowans because of its reco/lec are additional "synthetic" boards uon of Clinton's lumber boom days and pre-war lumber supplies, but fin::.tlly because of the Importance of a new zndus the research problem was solved. which are wider, which can be tnal product based on a true conservation pnnczple-wise use of a natural resource.) Next came the step f rom labora molded like plastics, which with tory to production. The method varying resin content might have Prodigal man has wasted pyra that has finally evolved begins w1th amazing strength and surface mids of sawdust s i n c e he first the normal waste of a quality mill toughness. Coun ter tops, intricat e learned the art of turning sawlogs which must d1scard all but top architectural moldings, sub-floor into lumber. I n timber-rich Amer grade lumber for its doors, mantels, ing, wall paneling, countless uses ica, this unused resource mattered trims, sash and other woodwork. suggest themselves. So well-found little until lumber demands outran From the trimmers, s a w s and ed economically is the sawdust I our forests' ability to replace the doweling machines a steady flow of resin panel that regardless of lum drain. unwanted wood which formerly ber's availability now or later, As vast forest areas disappeared went only to the powerhouse fur manufacture and use of the new and lumber piles dropped lower. n::tces now goes into the production material 1s expected lo expand. far-sighted I u m b e r m e n looked of Prespme panels. No one can hazard a statement that the art of turning woodwaste speculatively at t h e i r sawdust In the manufa~ture of the new mounds. into fine wood panels will even tu product, woodwaste is chewed into ally g row into full-blown lumber In the dawn of the age of syn fine sawdust, mixed with a syn revolution. Yet many do believe it thetics, acute lumber necessities thetic phenolic resin, then with will revise traditional mill-working mothered invention! Most recent of heat and pressure formed mto a practices in plants throughout the f these lumber "inventions" and one molded panel. Hemp bears an a bunda nce of fl eshy seeds country. tha t drop throughout the winter, a nd upon of the most promismg is Prespine, which multitudes of winter birds banquet . Remarkably smooth a n d even So it is that the order is again Ada Hayden Photo. announced recently by Curtis Com- changing 10 Clinton. Perhaps it is panies, Incorporated. This "syn- * :c * * * * * fitting that the town, once one of * * thelic" wood panel, made from the sawmill centers of the nation, ) Iowa's hemp plant is botanically woodwaste and resin, opens a path may become the bub of a modern lmown as Canniba., sativa. Plant to a previously untapped lumber day renaissance in the industry chemists advise that th1s plant source. when grown in the far south does to wh1ch it owes much of its lively Established in 1866, Curtis be youth. ) contam narcotics and is sometimes gan manufacture of sash, doors, l grown in Latin Amenca for pro and other millwork. To Clinton's NOW IT'S BE AVERS INVADING ductiOn of illegal drugs. booming sawmills came limber LOVER'S LANE IN WAVERLY The plant when grown in tern from Minnesota and Wisconsin via pet ate climes contains almost none the Mississippi T h i s unexcelled What will they find next in of the narcotic properties present water artery which hnked Clinton "Lover's Lane" here in Waverly? in the plants of the hot, dry coun with the northwoods made the Iowa Last week it was a deer now a tries. town one of the largest mill towns colony of beavers has been re Om hemp plant is not a nox in the world with plentiful lumber ported within the city limits in the 0 ious weed under the state weed at its back door. By the turn of hollow below the old lime quar ry. law. It is not difficult to control by the century, however, the timber With so many beavers putting in culling It bears large quantities stands of Minnesota and Wisconsm their appearance in Bremer and of small seeds that cling tightly, could no longer fill the log booms Butler counties, and with deer shattering onto the crust of the for the mills m Iowa. more plentiful than at any time in snow dut mg winterllme, provid As one by one, the columns of the last 50 years, this area appears ing exceptionally fine winter feed m1ll smoke d1::;appeared from Clm to be developing into the kmd of for all the winter seed eaters. If ton's sky, it became necessary fo1· "happy hunting grounds" the In anything goes on a "jag" from our manufacturers to have luml er dians used lo dream about. Iowa "marijuana" plants it will be shipped in from other mills. Anyway, there must be some- the tree sparrO\'I.'S 01 cardinals, The search for a way to mal{e 1 thing atout the atmosphere in mourning doves or bobwhites, and sawdust-resin board was begun Lovers L::me that gets 'em! it will be because they over-ate Outwardly a relatively simp 1 e \\'a' erly D<>mocrat. r during some river bottom banquet. problem, wood technologists found and not from the effects of any they had sawed off a knottier 'l'he nanll' "IJeaver" conH•s from an t S'!wdust gold , formerly wast e in t he lu m· old Eugli:-;h word "IJevet·" and it i~ I narcotic properties of our hemp c h u n k than they had at first ber endust.ry, climbs a conve yol' on Its w a y ll>elit>\ I'd that the name IR Intended plants. to becomin g Pr espln~ wood pa nels. Mon· to dt!signale the color fot• which this thought. Unsolved technical ques- santo Ch~m l c a l Compa ny Photo. animal Is nott'd. 100 IOWA CONSERVAT I O N IS T
1 and relea~ing beavct throughout the state. I n adchtion to this, rac coon and other fur-bearers a re re leased tht·oughout Iowa. SHOTS Many thousands of dollars are spent ea ~" h yeat in the acquisition "Wing Shots" almost expired at and development of public l':lnd, bitth last month The only question lake, and marsh at·cas. which pro received was f 1 om Itvm Glau. vide additiOnal habitat for fur Denison. Iowa It is printed below bearers and which c.an only result with an anS\\'et by Ray Beckman, in additional revenue for trappers Chtef of I<'tsh and Game If you ' Stx thousand dollars 1s allocated have questions on any phase of to the Iowa Cooperative Research conservallon, send them to the Unit at Iowa St1 I e College for Stale Conservation Commission, game stud•es, part of which is used Attention "Wing Shots." Ques- for studies on fur-beal'ing animals. tions of local interest only will be This is in addition to the many sur answered by mall Questions of veys and investigations conducted general interest will be answered by om own biology section in the in the "Conservaliomst." Fish and Game DivisiOn Fur-bearing animals always te- Denison, Iowa l ceive an import1nt place in out· Route 3, educational program ~lost of our December 20, 1948 exhibits include both live fur-bear ing animals and tanned skms. Dear Sits • "\~hog Shots" ts JUst what \'\'e For a long time the Conservation need m the "Iowa Conservationist." Commission has believed that the Many outdoorsmen have questions trapper has not paid his full share they would hke to have answered. of the cost of the game conserva I also have one tion program but has benefited di What is done with the thou reclly by increased fur crops made sands of dollars that trappers pay possible by expendttme of the for hcenses and trap tags? I know hunter's and fisherman's hc.onse some IS used for a few rat marshes dollar. " but what is being done for the Than!ting you for your letter, I mink, beaver, s lwnk, coon, etc, am Io w a kee ps an aeeurat e count of f urs t aken by tra ppers. The five-ye ar t otal, 1943-47, Sincerely yours, I Yours very tntly, was three and one-t hird mil li on animals valued at t en and one·third million dolla rs. Irvin Glau. Ray W. Beckman, Chief • • ... Dear Mr. C lau: Division of F ish and Game. * * * * * I am glad to answer your recent THIRTY MILLION try's trappers and farmers, the inquiry addressed to "Wmg Shots," Service said. It yields an average AROU N D 10\\'A annual income of about $500,000,- "What IS done wtlh the thousands FUR SKINS PRODUCED Marlm Hinrichs of Rockwell Ctty 000 to the retail fur trade. of dollat s that trappers p:1y for is drinking bitter tea these days. hcenses and trap tags?" YEA RLY IN U. S. Most recent statistics on total All dunng the duck hunting sea fm-animal catches indicate that Revenue received from trappmg son. he failed to bag a smgle one hcenses and l tap tags for t!:te past American fur trappers and fur LoUistana, \V1sconsin, Ill i n o i s, and was twitted right mernly by fatmers produce about 30 million Pennsylvania, Ohio, 1Iichtgan, and nine years has averaged $16,835 per his wife. The other mornmg as year Last year it was $11,061. pelts each year, according to the Mmnesota are the country's lead Mrs Hinrich was out walking she U S. Fish and Wildlife Set vtce. T his money IS placed m the Fish ing fut producing states. had to dodge to a void a ftymg and Game Protection Fund. It is Frank G. Ashbrook, m charge of Iowa keeps an accurate count of duck The duck landed a few feet used, together with hun t ing and the service's wild fur animal in futs taken by trappers and had a away Mrs. Hinnchs caught 1t and fishmg hcense fees, fot administra vestigations, explamed that l h e five-year total, 1943-47. of 3,315,006 presented It to het husband figure represents a five-yeat aver ammals valued at $10,345,7 44.24. tion of the Ftsh and Game Dtvsion Rumors of "ghost squll'rels" m of the State Conservation Commis age of the annual fur catch in the Although the United States IS the cemetery at \Vaukon were par United States. Lack of statistics sion. Thts admimstrat10n mcludes tially verified last week, whe n one of the chief fur-producing protectiOn, propagation, research, from some of the states and dif countries in the world, it does not Harold Smith caught one of the ferences in state methods of ob land and marsh acquiSition and de critters a white-bodied, red-tailed produce enough furs to meet more velopment, and education, all of taming production reports from than half its own demand. sqUirrel. fur trappers made it tmposs•ble to which are designed to promote bet Near Mystic, a purebred bird ter h unting, fishi ng, and trapping. release specific, nation-wide fig dog, "Sam's Air Liner," found a ures, he said. AN OTHE R E EL STORY The $17,000 contributed by trap covey of quail as he crossed a rail pers each year falls far short of Muskrat rates h ighest in wild An eel in the Halsingborg Mu road track and froze "on point," fur production. The average year seum, Sweden, is more than eighty paying the trappers' share of ex just as a Burlington train rounded penses. ly take ranges from 18 million to five years old. It was captured by the curve. Sam, ll ue to hts t rain Last year $262,300 was budgeted 20 million pelts. Opossum is next t wo boys from a nearby creek in ing, held his point and ched beneath htghest, with an average yearly 1863 and given to the museum for conservatiOn officers' expenses the wheels of the tt am. He was in canying out the law enforce take ranging from two and a half where it has lived continuously in owned by Ernest Talbert. Du million to th ree million. Other im public view. This eel, which has ment program throughout the buque Tel<'gra ph Hera ld. state The $11,000 contributed by portan t fur-bearing spectes: skunk. outlived both of tts captors, is said tr·appet s in license fees was far two million to two and a half mil to be the oldest fish in pomt of from bemg enough to pay the cost B IR D TOW N S lion pelts; raccoon, one million to years of aquarmm ser vice found of time spent b} conservatiOn of Northern Iowa has two towns, one and a half million. foxes, 900,- anywhere in the world. Currently, ficers on patrol work on fur-bear Curlew and Plover, that perpetu 000 to one m illion; mmk, 700,000 1t IS suffering from a cancerous ing animals ate the names of two bu·d families Lo 800,000. growth whtch the ichthyologists Considerable time and effort are that once mtgn.led through Iowa About one-sixth of total U S. are not able to cure.-:\l aryla nd spent on fur animal management. and Minnesota by the millions fur production is obtamed from T idewater News. One important phase has been bea curlews and plovers. These two ammals raised in captivity. Almost 425,000 pelts are harvested yearly J.;al'ly French explorers cnlleu the vet management Beaver only a towns were named by an early rail sl;:unl< "Bete Puante" or "stinking few years ago were extinct in Iowa road president who hunted curlews by fur farmers from minks and \wast," proiJahly after the accounts and golden plover in that part of their mutations, and almost 250,000 given ol it IJY F. Gabrie Sagard and now they may be found in all 'l'hC'odall in 163ti in his Histori de of the counties m the state and the state which was originally a from silver foxes and their muta Canada. they arc quite numerous in many level prairie dotted wth ponds and tions. The average annual raw fur crop \\'ilulife is a product of the land locahtie:->. Thts program nccessi s m a 11 swamps. RuthH ' n Free . anu as patte1 ns of land use change, tnted live trapping, transporting, l'ress. is wor t h $125,000,000 to the coun- 1 No do w11ullfe 1,opul nlions. IOWA CONS:E:RVATION I ST 101
written many stories about deers edge of the cornfield at a distant F ISH BRI NGS ITS OWN H OOK on information from B. I. Severson, point our sight of the cornfield Editor, "Iowa Conservationist" the conservation officer. would be better. We had looked so Dear Mr. H arlan : intently at the field from our first Deer Creep Out I have had many strange and vantage point that as the darkness Now we were invited to see wild unusual experiences while hunting came on, we could almost see im deer creep out of the woods at sun and fishing, such as seeing a snake aginary big objects feeding in the down and feed on a 17 acre corn charm and catch a good sized bull field. field surrounded by woods. It is a frog, catch a hell-diver on a trot field that has been picked, but there We circled deep back through line, kill Lwo ducks with one shot is enough feed left to attract the the woods. Then suddenly as we wh1ch were flying in opposite direc deer and the farmer says he'll not were far from the view of the corn- tions (unintentionally) while they plow the acres until next s pring field, we heard a crashing, thunder- crossed in flight, catching (at two so the wild animals may have the ing noise as though a herd of ele-. different times at least) a fish feed this winter. phants were crashing through the which was swallowing or eating Our party followed the corn rows woods and out into the cornfield a another fish that I had already toward the growing darlmess of the block away. We stood transfiXed. caught on a hook, etc., but while far woods and looking over our Our hearts sank. Why weren't we these are somewhat unusual they shoulders, saw the blackness of back at our first vantage place? are all very probable and have pos other trees silhouetted against the It couldn't possibly be anything sibly happened to other hunters red of the evening sky. Bending else but the deer and here we were and fishers. But I recently had the tall w e e d s talks apart, we a good ha lf block from view of the one that I imagine never happened " Quietly unannounced a I i g h t colored climbed a fence and selected a spot cornfield. When we moved, the dry before and more than probably fawn c: ame nosing its ways across the corner I m the woods which would secret leaves and the twigs underfoot will never again happen accident of the fie ld t oward us." us from view but still give us good made loud noises which we were ally. • • • • vision of the field . sure would frighten the deer away September 1st, this year, my son Then we waited! And waited. but we decided to make our way Lloyd H . Jr. and I were fishing in DEER VALUE Silently-or rather talking in back to our old place, noise or no a private lake of which I am a hushed tones. The red faded out of noise. Arriving there, nothing was member and we had baited a trot If You Like It the sky. The farmer's dog howled in sight. line and were running it when we in the distance. We h e a r d the By l\largarct P ollock The moon now had risen higher took off a 22-inch channel cat squawk of an occasional pheasant. in the sky, spotlighted the field. (thr ee pounds) which had gra The Clay County farmer said, Through the de.epen.ing da.rkness We waited and waited and waited. cwusly furnished his own hook. "Come on out some night just be- came the farmer s vo1ce callmg h1s Hoping against hope but sure that The dorsal fin had become dam
fore sundown and see our wild J hogs. we'd m i sse d our opportunity. aged or deformed in some way and deer. They come out of the woods A full . moon crept upward from THEN, quietly, unannounced came the lip end of about one-half inch along the river al sundown and the hor12on and shone through a light colored fawn nosing its way was bent over in a perfect hook across the corner of the field to- about twice lhe size of a large feed in my cornfield. Last night branches of n.aked Lr.ees ..we grew 1 the neighbors and their children completely Silent, h stemng and ward us. He came quite close and darning needle hook. This hook saw ten deer there." watching. Our ears and eyes were although there was a screen of had become engaged, not with the We accepted the invitation straining as we watched the edge weeds between us and the baby hook on the dropline, but through hoping against hope that we'd of the woods along the cornfield. deer, we felt as though we could the loop which held the fish on the really see some of them. We've We grew more a~d more doubtful almost stretch out a hand for him dropline. The enclosed sketch is been wr1ting for years about other . that we were gomg ~o see deer. to lick. Then the baby turned, as near as I can illustrate it. The people seeing them around here Our hopes had been h1gh that we without knowing we were there fleshy s kin which protrudes on the even way back when Cornwall w 11 ~ might see ten like the neighbors and returned quietly to the woods. rear side of the dorsal fin (the top son startled the community with had seen the night previously. As Spellbound, we waited silently of which was entirely gone) fur the story that he'd seen a Wild deer the time wore on .we'd hav_e gladly for more action. We thought we nished a sort of safety catch to at our Okoboji lakes; and a httle settled for the s1ght of JUSt one could hear other animals in the close up the open end of the hook. later when Alden A very and Don deer. dark woods. After many minutes, My theory 1s that the fish was f Burington announced that they had About Give U p the deliberate plod, plod, plod of pulling at the bait on the hook I j seen one cross the road in front of We about gave up hopes. But slow moving hoofs came toward next to this one and just backed their car near the Louder Bridge we decided if we circled back us. We turned silently without into the loop which was about one just north of the Woodcliff. We've I through the woods and up to the moving our feet to peer into the and one-half inches long, for there , direction of the plodding hoofs. is no way he could have engaged 1 • ) • • • Through the woods came a big himself while swimming forward buck deer. Tramp, tramp, tramp! as the deformed hook was open to Impervious to our presence, he the rear. That in itself makes it passed within 40 feet of us and con- the more spectacular for if it were linued through the woods. The open to the front it would have sound of his hoofs disappeared. been more easily engaged with We waited silently. Probably anything in which it came into ten minutes passed. Then from the contact. • distance into which the buck dis- The fish had no mark of a book appeared c am e the deliberate on h1s body nor m his mouth of "plod, plod, plod," growing louder. any kind. He could have been This time, he came even closer to caught just as he was without the us and passed on into the direction hook being on the line. from which he had originally come. I showed this fish to several peo He had moved through an opening ple here and have preserved the m the trees flooded with moonlight bent fin, but no one except my son and a lmost as light as day. and I actually saw the fish on the A baby deer and a great big line. Many of my good friends buck 1 We couldn't ask or hope for here look at me very questioningly d more but we waited and waited when I tell them this "fish story" We were about to return to the and I am afraid that some of them farmer's house when a medium at least doubt the statements. :stzed doe with a dark coat moved I my::-elf wonder if this bas ever out of the trees and into the corn- happened before or will ever again field just in front of us. We a(!cidcntally watched and watched until she had Sincerely fed and picked her way into the (s) Llo~d H. Black Decatur County Ref!order By fa r the greatest Villue of deer In Iowa Is esthet ic: . Their cont inued lnereilse will soon distance. A watch in the party, pose a m<~ J or game management problem, {Continued on page 103) L<•on, Iowa 102 IO WA CO N S E R V A T I O NI S T - inf!. Bullheads stocked in Corydon, l •' rnnk Tue ker, Cn od . Catfis hing ~ood, ing fnlr, northern pike poot. Trum mouth, sil\'f·ts nnd walh·~·t·s head • ull Lake-big bullheads In fair Officers Review . • • lat·gt•st c atfis h at·outHl 12 pounds thE\ list. Sn~:dlmouth cnme back many ;; to Jn. \lore cnr·p lis lwrmen numbers d u r 1 n g the fall. Little some but didn't sPe a limit. Hull (C'ontimad from p.lgt• :1;) Siou~ River -cat hshing fa1r to good, lng peak. Eight hundred and forty out t h b yPHt, t s p••cia lly mnr., worn lwnds came h;H"l{ strong, Fishing hi "''· .\IJnno\\ s plt•ntiful, f rugs s<·arce wallt•)es pour Hl\er very low. \\'est started off gootl l'at·ly and \\as good r nine walleyes taken from boats at Branch Des l\loint.ls River - all fish one livery during October, Jarge!'t 11 all !'umrner· dtw to an "' t•n pool I Ing vet'Y pont \\"ater vet·y low and stage This \\us caused hy a dr\ pounds, dozens !I and 10. C:ood bull • • * • • hl'fl\'ily poliUtt·d. Fish and minnows t head fishing. Crappies not on a par· sumnH•r and thP engiJH'C'I'S dltl not I dit•d this fall. Elk. Yirgin and Hush ha\'1' so much w.lt!'t' to Jllny with. Wtth last year. Silvers Jli"O\'idcd lots lakes- hulllH:ad hshing poor. Rush lll!and streams fll'•' not :=:o good, too of sport-rathPr' small. C':tlfishlng on and Elk hea\ lly infestt!d with carp. tht• Little Sioux Hi\·er ""' y good low, e\'eryone going to ~hl'. c 11•1 :\Tis llan c;ret•n Sluugh-good bullhead sissippi. Trout tnir F1shllli-:' g-ood ag \in. :\!any large walle\ ••s taken fishing." in vit'inity of Linn Gro\'l " at the p r esent tinw if you t•an stand { h arlie Adatn,..,o u , <'OCt : "Fishing \ , J~ . l\f <•,lnhon, C arro II n u d thC" c•old" (.rt•ene: "C'atti hing good, as usual in the \\'ap 11 not as good as last Jitn G rCA il r~, 1.~ 1111. 0-.t•(• ola. 11 1111 )'<·.n. .:\Iissis IJlf>l River has hc~n low B 1 s better· th tn a\erage Carp fai r O' Brien: 'Ot tIt \\hole t Jun..:- Ill this summer· aud clear. C:ood catches to t.,nod Some "all eyes reported tht Bit.. Rocl' d.d Rig- Sif 1x ' 1s no '' hi<"h t~ ~-, r~ unusual. Low water ot walleye ptl • average on largemouth bass and Officers RevleW. . . bluegill. Carp constituted the best fishing on the De::; ::\Ioines River, (< ontn 11• ol from pa~c 102) catfish were only fair. In the city reserYoir at Bloomfield best results f"o.>rlar I:l\·"1" ''as loWt!l" than t h ey were reported on blueg-ills and buil- l 1-r rcmt>lllh<'l heads. Fair catch on la1·gemouth." Don h.rlt•hlt>, \\ nrrt•n anti 'lnl"ion : Frank Tellier, Duhuqut>: "Pole < ttl-i hin~ "' 'nd in th£ ri,_ers and line fishing in the l\I1ssissippi u. o\\ ''ntH tall. Carp fish_mg lon the whole was much betll?r this I"PnHtlnNl g-o.o•! .tlu·o~l~ho~ t the s:;a- , year ::\lore panfish were talcen. Also ~o n . A l~t ol 1.11 J{• h,ts~ '\ere cau,.,_ht • quite a few white perch. T-ate in 111 July 111. l nk" ,\h~~u :L lll . Crap!'les 1 the fall striped bass hit very WE'll and hlu••P •11" nt lr :•sl the lal ge!: but were small. Catfishing not as on<'s, \\ tn ~do\\ to Jut In this lake g-ood as last year On the inland \\ ''"" ';\ \ "hh~. Jn" 11 111111 John<;on: streams catfish take was :- the hills. for the red fox in open pastures and worn out fields and for the gray fox in brushy or tim bered areas. Key sets where fox were taken day afler day were taken al "crossings" mystenous to the amateur. Even thes<' sets were definitely under the h11l crest, well up out of the valley on the o.;1de htll. Blll is a shal'p student and a storehouse of fox knov.·ledge \Vhen questioned on fox food habits be made the followmg statement· 1 "Rabbits and mtce, when both are available, make up the bulk of fox diet. When rabbits are scarce as they are here now, mtce are lhe Vo1 prmcipal ammal food of fox. In the summer a vixen with cubs will 1a1se cam with a farmer's chtckens and once she has the chicken steal ing habit she will continue as long as th1s food IS available "Red fox do little if any harm to quali but do lake an occasiOnal Mrs. Bil l Ne lson proudly d is plays a sample of her hu sba nd's beautifully ha ndled red and pheasant. The gray fox, more cat- gra y fox pelts. I like than the red, does take some * quail, espec1ally m the late sum * * • * mer when the young are about I know al least one trappe1 who three-quarters grown " could tak<> 500 fox per season nght The simple bait hole set t akes fox and coyote with unbelieva ble case. Bil l Nelson here m Iowa tf he \'>'orked real sq shows one of the set s In which he t ook 167 fox In 28 d ays by this method. \Vhen I told Ttapper Nelson the story of how "SqUirrel" Edwards bard " lli • * * * • became a local hero when he caught re a fox, he laughed a hltle and said, C:L E -\N TILLAGE :lDd Fox Trapping . . . 1 mixed into the sot!. A sheet of linl waxed paper is placed in the de- "Any youngster who can catch a One modern farm practice I op (rontinueci 1ron tn~c ~li) all a wtde assortment of scents and pression in front of the bail hole dozen skunks can catch a dozen pose ts "clean ttllage." I'm agamst fox wtth less effort tf he has a lit at lures, a postage stamp size trap- and the trap firmly seated .on the it because it doesn't provide pro the ping booklet, personal trappmg in- w a x e d paper. Next a p1ece of tle know-how. As he becomes a tective cover for wildlife. I like to little m o r e expenenced he can su~ structions, and by raising gladiolas waxed paper IS placed ov.er the trap see some thickets and brush patch the during the off-season pan but under the trap Jaws. eastly c a t c h 50 before freezing es on a farm, for then I know my weather. \Vhen he whtps the cold tba We left Farmmgton at freezing Pulverized dirt, taken from the friends, the song and game btrds, pe weather set there is almost no lim the rabbits, sqUirrels, and other dawn, Nelson, one of h1s student bait hole and m1xed with anti it to the number he can catch. One to trappers, ConservatiOn Officer Ecli freeze, is sprinkled over the trap wild forest-and-meadow creatures hundred fox per year ain't what Benson, and I Bill's traps were set The \\hole are a then is neally can find haven. Decorah Public ~ -he used to be " in h1ll territory on Rock Creek, ten brushed w1th the fork tines so that Opinion. ea9 As Benny and I shook goodbye elas miles northeast of town the area concealing the trap is CO VI with Bill, the modest trapper had a '' ol'id [JI'n!luction of wood in l!liG Fifty yards from our parked car flush with the surroundmg land. far-away look in hts eye and said, was 1,41 O,OOtl cubic meters ol round fror on a timber pasture trail was the A ranctd piece of treated bail wood, wcig·hing- 1,000,000,000 metric ank "Fox trapping is great sport, and tons. first set, containing a beautiful lit- the s ize of an egg is placed m lhe cat tie gray fox. Il was dispatched bottom of lhe bait hole. A "call ~ * • to 1 mercifully qutck by a sharp rap on scent" IS placed on a weed stem * * * * * * * * Iller the nose and a compression of the nearby, a drop of "gland scent" on et1 unconscious animal's lungs by Bill's the hp of the bait hole, then the im an~ foot, and the trap reset. mediate area around the trap liber- alU The first trap and all the rest we ally s prinkled with fox urine It vistted were bail hole sets with cer- When Br'er Fox, workmg hts fiar tain refinements, most 1mportant way through the area, generally twe of wbich was the use of an anti- traveling just under the hill rims, ::.qu freeze. gels a whiff of the call lure he dia1 Bill's antifreeze, a secret sold comes to the set site to investigate. swc with his little trapp10g booklet, Gellmg closer he scents the rancid laii was a white powder mixed 10to the broil in the hole which he hopes to U.s~ sot! in which the trap was set. He take out, not to eat but to catty a said he knew half a dozen ways to little d1 stance away to roll m ~~~ keep a trap working in the ground If all ts 10 order as he approaches , .,..,...... ,. tr after freezing weather but believed to shove h1s nose into the hole 10 -~~-=.-~·'-'~ 1 this method was best of all, allow- the ground, the trap springs, and .-~ ~~. ... _,.. mg the trap to spring smoothly the fox 1s caught by a front fool. even in tempera tures as cold as 20 Trapper Nelson, in makmg hts degrees below. sets, traps an area of about a mile In making the bail hole set, square each five or six miles up the Trapper Nelson proceeds about as valley F'ox follow definite trailf: follows: W1th a carving fork used and crossings that the experienced as a digging tool, a sl3.nted bole trapper or hunter knows by in about eight inches deep and four stincl, almost as well as the fox. inches in diamcte1 is dug: at the The hunting areas of a fox are same time he loosens enough dirt about four or five mtles square in front of the hole to conceal a consequently, most of the fox in a number two under-spring trap The vtc inity come within range of one trap stake is then driven mto the of Bill's othferous sets. soil underneath the trap A hberal In observmg location of most of Fox set s arc gene rally made a few ya rds be low the crest of hills. Here is a gray foil In supply of antifreeze is sprinkled in Bill's sets, they definitely followed a typical set lo cation for gra ys. One-third of a ll fox t il ken in this a r ea were of this the bottom of lhe trap bed and a pattern just under the crest of s pecies.