Hunting—An American Heritage

D. IRVIN RASMUSSEN

TAKE a boy hunting, and you will 14 million visitor-days on these publicly relive an experience long forgotten. owned hunting grounds. Around two- You will see the woods, streams, forest thirds of these users were primarily in- animals, trees, and all outdoors in a new terested in big game hunting. And the re- light. No, not exactly in a new light, but maining group hunted a wide variety of it will be new to you because you have for- small game that includes waterfowl and gotten something that you once thought upland game birds and mammals. you would never forget. Many of these hunters combined their Take a boy hunting and you will see, hunting trips on the national forests with smell, and wonder as you did long ago camping, travel in wilderness, horseback as a boy when you first became acquainted riding, sightseeing, or with other outdoor with the world of the great outdoors. recreational activities. Through your young companion's eyes Hunting and fishing on all the national you will once again thrill to the clean air, forests are regulated by the fish and game the jump of the heart as a ruffed grouse or conservation departments of the re- explodes from its hiding place in brightly spective States. This involves the issuance colored leaves, the ghostlike appearance of licenses that permit hunting and fish- of deer in single file as they make their ing and the enforcement of State game soundless way through the forest. Your and fish laws and regulations. jaded senses will come alive as you once again wonder at the quiet and the beauty Habitat for Wildlife of a forest covered with new-fallen snow. Where will you hunt? Well, the U.S. The role of the Forest Service in wild- Department of Agriculture has a vast life management is to provide and man- hunting preserve that is managed just for age the habitat or home on which the ani- you. For you and for all of the 197 million mals are dependent. This includes land citizens of this great land. and water areas for both game and non- There are 154 national forests and 19 game animals. The objective is to produce national grasslands located in 41 States the optimum food and cover that the that make up the national forest system. different wildlife species require. It includes a total of 186 million acres. Trained biologists are employed to pro- This is an area of a little less than 1 acre vide the skills which are needed for pro- for every man, woman, and child in the fessional wildlife habitat management as United States. These lands, with their an integral part of the overall forest multi- wildlife resources, comprise the finest, ple use program. Roads, trails, and camp- most widespread, and accessible aggregate grounds are built and maintained to help of public hunting grounds that are avail- able anywhere. These are yours to use and enjoy along with all other citizens. D. Irvin Rasmussen is Director, Division of In 1965, hunters spent an estimated Wildlife Management, Forest Service. 62 distribute the hunters throughout the vast If you wished to go to a national forest hunting areas. to hunt Dall sheep, it would be on the The legal harvest of big game in the alpine mountain peaks of the Chugach national forest system in 1965 was ap- in Alaska; for Alaska brown bear, the proximately 604,000 animals. About 85 Tongass or the Chugach; the Coronado percent of all these animals were mule, and Tonto in Arizona have a near mo- whitetail, and blacktail deer. Another 10 nopoly on the peccary. percent were elk or wapiti. The remain- The Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, al- der of the harvest included moose, prong- though they are not truly abundant any- horn antelope, bighorn and Dall sheep, where, present a very rugged challenge to mountain goat, bison, black bear, Alaska hunters on some 24 national forests in brown bear, grizzly bear, peccary, and the Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Colo- European wild boar. rado, where a limited number of permits In addition, a total of some 14,000 wild are issued every year. turkeys were taken by hunters in 22 States Small game which is found on national during 1965. This take of wild turkeys forest system lands consists of a wide was the highest for any of the years for variety of both mammals and birds. Mil- which records exist. lions of these game animals are taken each year. They include practically all the na- 30 Percent of Big Game tive forest, grassland, and desert game species in the United States. Your national forests accounted for In addition, waterfowl are present both about 30 percent of the Nation's annual year long and during the hunting season total big game harvest. More specifically, in numerous areas. In the North Central these lands produced over 80 percent of States and Mississippi Valley—as on the the elk, bighorn sheep, and mountain Shawnee in Illinois, the Chippewa in goats, nearly 60 percent of the mule deer, Minnesota, and the Mississippi National and more than 35 percent of the bears, Forests—water impoundments have been peccaries, and blacktail deer for the developed, and other management prac- Nation's hunters. They also yielded 13 tices and improvements have been in- percent of the pronghorn antelope and stalled to provide resting, feeding, and 11 percent of the whitetail deer harvest. nesting for both ducks and geese. We are often asked, "Which national forest has the best deer hunting.?" or "Where are my chances best to get a Packing out an elk above a fog-shrouded canyon in Flathead National Forest, Mont. deer.?" There is no single answer beyond this—deer and other game are where you find them. You can find and legally hunt either mule or whitetail or blacktail deer on each and every national forest. On 30 of these forests, there are both mule and whitetails. Mule deer can be hunted on over 90 national forests in 14 of the Western States and whitetails on more than 50 forests in 38 States. No other big game animal is as abundant or as widespread in distribution as deer, although the black bear is hunted on at least 120 national forests. Elk provides hunting on almost all of the national forests in the Western States —with the exception of California and Nevada. Moose hunting is limited to Alaska and to certain forests in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah. 63 has one or more small game species that are hunted with enthusiasm by visitors ■ y'^;j. iV ^ ' to the forests and the open ranges. In our Southern States, the bobwhite quail, the mourning dove, gray and fox squirrels, raccoon, and red fox all have their enthusiastic and devoted followers. A recent nationwide survey indicates that more shotgun shells are used in hunting 3- ',/*^^ '.-^x bobwhites than in hunting any other of 'i^i^V ' "Y S our game species. In certain wooded areas of the South, •'ï Midwest, Northeast, and especially in the ' -'éir^ÎifM rural Appalachian region, the gray and fox squirrels continue to be the preferred small game, unchanged since the pioneer days. The challenge presented in hunting rufïed grouse amid the colorful fail foli- #'1 age of the Northeastern and Lake States ranks this as "tops" in outdoor recreation for hundreds of thousands of hunters each succeeding year. The valley quail rates "tops" in popularity in California. In Arizona, this honor iMM mr.V , -■¿.;-3<ÉiLic goes to the Gambel's quail. On national Bow hunting,f where odds favor the quarry, forests in Montana, you can make your is gaining in popularity. This hunter is in choice of the blue, spruce, ruffed, sage, or Dixie National Forest, Utah. sharptailed grouse. In the State of Alaska, it is the ptarmigan. Introduced exotic game birds have also Rabbits, with the cottontail as the most become well established in certain loca- popular species, attract more hunters by tions to the point that they are providing far than any other small game animal. a large amount of hunting each year. Cottontails make their home primarily in Examples are the chukar partridge in fields, fence rows, and brushy areas; the several of the Intermountain and Pacific jackrabbits prefer the open rangelands; Coast States, and the Hungarian or gray and it is the snowshoe hare that resides in partridge in the grassland areas of the the woods and provides most hunting on Dakotas, Montana, and Wyoming. The the national forests. Hunting of snow- Chinese pheasant, a bird primarily of the shoes with energetic and noisy beagles is cultivated fields, is hunted on 10 of the a regular midwinter activity, often at 19 national grasslands. temperatures close to zero, in the north However, the native forest and grass- woods of Michigan and Wisconsin and land species provide the primary attrac- New England. tions for some 4 million visits by small A major hope for continuing all the game hunters. These include eight species pioneering elements of our American of grouse, six species of quail, three kinds tradition of hunting will depend on the of doves, four kinds of tree squirrels, and future management of the millions of several kinds of rabbits, as well as rac- acres of publicly owned forest and range- coons, foxes, and opossum. Of all these lands. Here, with scientific wildlife man- game birds and mammals, only the agement, these lands can yield annual mourning dove and cottontail rabbit are crops of big and small game for millions found throughout the 48 contiguous of the Nation's hunters as part of a bal- States. Yet, each section of the country anced land use program.