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STATE LIBRARY

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OkWt^orna-- »l*@ DECEMBER 1952

"'" *• :,'i^3i*"?*" PUBLISHED MONTHLY EXCEPT AUGUST BY Published Monthly Except August By The OKLAHOMA GAME AND FISH DEPARTMENT Room 118, State Capitol Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

For Hunters, Fishermen, Trappers, Naturalists and Wildlife Conservationists. STATE Out-of-State subscriptions $1.50 per year. Free upon request to Oklahoma residents. OKLAHOMA Circulation, this issue 26,000

Entered as second-class matter September 19, 1947, at the post office at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, under the Act of August 2\, 1912.

JUANITA MAHAFFEY ALDEN KIMSEY Editor Assistant Editor

WALLACE HUGHES LARRY GAFFNEY MRS. JACKIE CANTRELL PAGE Art and Photography Photography Circulation A Mink for Joe 3 Oil Field Tragedy 5 There's No Reason For It! 6 Sandhill Crane 8 Of Drouth and Good Sportsmanship Conservation Salesmen on Wheels 12-13 The Press Says 14-15 THERE ARE serious lessons in conservation and good sportsman­ This Month With Your Game 8 ship to be learned this autumn of 1952 from the state's most perilous Fish Workers 16-17 drouth in recorded weather history. Arrests for October 18-19 No one but the man who loves his hunting and regards it as his Ranger Personalities 21 number one outdoor sport, can appreciate what it meant to him to Mail Box Gleanings 23 have to give up his hunting, or at least to be faced with that prospect as this is written in mid November. For on November 5, 1952, the The Muskrat 24 Governor of the State of Oklahoma issued a proclamation and order VOL. VIII NO. 12 banning all hunting statewide because of fire hazards in tinder dry fields and woods. Administrators in the state game and fish department have faced COVER trying times since the order was issued. Yet they are in full agreement by Wallace Hughes that ruling out the hunting seasons was the most logical answer to a condition unparalled in the department's history. Telephone calls and letters by the hundreds have deluged the" state capitol offices — some praising, some ridiculing, some furiously protesting, the closing of hunt­ ing seasons. Arguments for and against have been presented in quantity. Other states, faced with the same dry weather problems, have taken COMMISSIONERS various steps. Several closed seasons altogether, as did Oklahoma. Others Gov. Johnston Murray Ex Officio Member closed and then reopened when rainfall came to relieve the fire hazard. Dr. W. K. Haynie, Durant Chairman Some permitted hunting as usual with all gunners urged to carry along Rev. C. C. Morgan, Fairfax... .Vice Chairman James W. McMahan, Okemah Secretary fire fighting equipment. Seasons were postponed, shortened, or ex­ George F. Schuitz, Medford Member tended to fit individual circumstances. Arthur Hal), Elk City Member One thing is certain — hunters and administrators alike are con­ Maurice Finkiea, Warner Member Louis M. Burtschi, Chickasha Member vinced that the weather is an all important factor in determining wild­ Dan Tankersley, Oklahoma City Member life plenitude or scarcity. It is a mighty force in controlling the quality — good or bad—of hunting. Keyed up earlier in the year by predic­ ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF tions of bountiful wildlife crops, hunters were ready for what was to have been the best hunting they had enjoyed for years. But field fires E. W. Dahlgren . Director A. D. (BobJ Aldrich Assistant Director took their toll. Drouth ridden uplands, though not burned, are poor O'Reilly Sandoz , Game props for even the best of hunting dogs and marksmen. Much food M. C. Ward Fisheries and cover for birds and animals has disappeared. Game technicians may O. L. Curtis Federal-Aid be able to estimate the loss of wildlife to fire and drouth, but no one Juanita Mahaffey Public Relations Hazel Reams Office knows at this time to what extent quail, furbearers, wild ducks, deer Clay Boyd Enforcement and other game species have suffered. Permission to reprint is granted provided proper Now, if ever, Oklahoma hunters have their chance of a lifetime to credit is given. Oklahoma pictures and contribu­ tions are welcome and will be published when prove themselves good sportsmen by "taking it on the chin" and giving possible. Address communications to Oklahoma;'}l up their hunting for one season. Restoring what the drouth and fires Game and Fish Department, Oklahoma City, Okto. have ruined will be another big task facing the state game and fish de­ partment and those same good sportsmen through the coming year. There is still a fervent hope that good rains may come in time to allow reopening or extending the 1952 hunting seasons. What­ Member Society of Associated ever lies ahead for the hunter these next few weeks cannot destroy our Industrial Editors Affiliated with faith in Oklahoma as a great state for the outdoorsman in normal International Council of times. Happy holidays to you all! . . . Juanita Mahaffey. Industrial Editors A Mink for Joe

By ALDEN KIMSEY

watching for mink tracks in the mud while waiting for him to open on a trail. "Hurry now! Joe! Hurry now!" Olin calls repeatedly as he moves along the creek banks. He chants this call like a tobacco auctioneer sell­ ing his wares. But the only thing Olin is selling is Joe — on the idea of catching a mink, fast. Last year during the 1951-52 season Joe scored twenty-one times. During the past four years, the six-year-old Joe has killed around two hundred mink. "I didn't hunt as much last season as I ordinarily do," Olin says. "Usu­ ally I get around thirty mink. There are eight other mink hunters that I know of who get between twenty On Wewoka Creek near Holdenville, Olin Jones watches his dog Joe work on a cold and thirty mink each season. You mink trail. If Olin finds a fresh track he fires the .22 rifle and Joe hustles in on the ask how much would I take for Joe? double to take over from there. Brother, he's not for sale!"

the little varmints from beneath tree ^PoE MADE IN THE neighborhood roots along the creek bank. And he MONEY AND MINK of four hundred dollars this year. usually takes along a .22 rifle in case He's doing all right. In the last four Joe puts the mink up a tree or runs years he totaled close to three thou­ one past. From experience Olin has i ECAUSE IT IS VERY much in de­ sand dollars. To appreciate this you found that mink like Johnson grass It must realize that Joe works only two fields and aren't always found close mand by young ladies and even older months out of each year. And he to water. Several times he has gotten ladies, mink costs money. Mink fur doesn't pay income taxes regardless a pay-off shot when a wise old mink is pretty to look at. Its scarcity and of what his income amounts to. circled by out in the middle of a field. price tag boost its owner into social, During the remaining ten months of However, he is usually forced to dig financial, even political prominence the year Joe lays around comfortable them out of a hole in the ground on occasion. in the shade and once in awhile strolls where Joe has treed them. A mink A good mink coat can cost you out toward the cow pasture just to keeps several back doors open to his anywhere from the price of a new make sure a stray coyote isn't fool­ den and is likely to escape through automobile on up to the down pay­ ing around. You see, Joe isn't lazy one of them. ment on a small Oklahoma oil field. and he isn't a tax evader. He's just a Although Wewoka Creek is his If you've got the dough and the in­ common old blue-tick hound that regular hunting ground, Olin covers testinal fortitude in sufficient quanti­ has learned to "tree" the high-priced a radius of thirty miles around Hol­ ties, there's no telling what you could mink for his boss, Olin Jones. Joe denville, Oklahoma. His method of pay for a mink coat. Whatever you takes his pay in beef bones and dog hunting speaks for Joe's capabilities pay, it'll be plenty because it takes food. as a mink killer. Olin doesn't show a lot of mink to go around Minnie On mink hunting sorties, Olin car­ Joe where to go but follows the big even if she is of stylish proportions. ries a long-handled shovel for digging blue-tick at a reasonable distance, (please turn the page)

OKLAHOMA GAME « FISH NEWS — DECEMBER. 195 2 PAGE 3 ized an average price per pelt of about $15 or a total of $77,820 for the season. This is not counting the con­ siderable number of mink pelts sold to mail order houses outside the state. In the season December, 1951 - January, 1952, mink pelts made up 3.7 per cent of total Oklahoma furs handled by resident fur dealers. While in a minority as to the number of furs taken, mink comprised 52.9 per cent of the total value of all furs. So you can see that financially the mink is Oklahoma's most important fur animal, bringing in more than half the profits of Oklahoma trappers and fur hunters. Racking up an almost unbelievable amount of money in the 1949-50 season, mink accounted for 73.8 per cent of the total fur profits. The season which would have opened on mink December 1 of this year has been closed by the State Game and Fish Commission. Mink populations in Oklahoma have been reported to be on the decrease. The mink, bless his costly hide, is well deserving of a closed season during which he may increase his numbers.

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Leo Sims of the Sim's Grocery ond Pro­ duce Company, Holdenville, looks over some of the extra large mink hides which Olin and Joe caught last season. Top mink prices brought seventeen dollars. Average was fifteen dollars per hide.

Mink- (Continued from preceding page)

Olin Jones of Holdenville with Joe and a properly stretched mink pelt. Joe treed this one under some tree roots on we­ woka Creek. It is a small female mink and brought around ten dollars on the 1951-52 market.

A full length mink coat may have fur in it from sixty or seventy different mink. Starting at the beginning when the mink is still kicking around on some creek bank, let's see what the trapper gets out of it. Last year 5,188 mink pelts were handled by resident fur dealers in Oklahoma (figures taken from fur dealers' reports to the State Game and Fish Department). From these mink Oklahoma trappers real-

PAGE 4 w,IL D DUCKS dead because their oil-soaked feathers prevented their flight to feeding grounds, are shown in the photograph at left. These were but a small portion of some 200 in similar plight counted by Ranger L. E. Crawford, Lawton, on basil sediment pits or ponds near an oil refinery at Cyril, Caddo County, No­ vember 6, 1952. The ducks had died an ago­ nizing death of slow starvation, encased in their heavy coatings.

This is not the first time that wild ducks and geese have perished when they mistook slush pits in the Oklahoma oil fields for fresh­ water ponds. And, although these wildlife tragedies usually cause a furore among con­ servations and bird lovers, Crawford points out that there are many other damages to soils, plantlife, waters and wildlife caused by oil field pollutants. Such damages are less spectacular in the eye of the public, though actually they may have far greater evil implications in the total conservation picture.

Crawford, who is one of three special pollu­ tion-control officers in the employ of the state game and fish department, has made special studies and hundreds of photographs in recent years, where pollution has washed its ugly way across and into many Oklahoma acres and streams. Many oil companies, he states, could salvage waste oil for use in road construction and other purposes. Sometimes the slush pits are burned off to dispose of waste oil where it is not feasible to salvage, but too often the pits are allowed to stand brimful until a heavy rain comes to overflow the waste oil into the nearest stream bed. Oil Field • WICAL OF photographs which Crawford makes in pollution trouble spots when he is preparing a case for prosecution, are these two made in Carter and Stephens counties, Ranger Tom Sparks of Marlow assisted in the cases and in the photography. The picture at right shows drilling fluid run­ ning down a small dry tributary of Wildhorse Creek, 10 miles east and 4 Tragedy north of Duncan. A court conviction resulted in the payment of a $200 fine by the offending oil company in this instance. Crawford and Sparks have seen many instances where unleashed drilling fluid has killed rabbits, squirrels, quail, and any wildlife whose flesh comes in contact with the putrid substance. Needless to say, fish life and all plant growth in the path of such pollutants die also. The picture below is a circulating or "working pit' full of waste oil. It was photographed 40 feet from Caddo Creek in Carter county. An oil well was completed and the pit left in this condition, ready to overflow when the first heavy rain comes to wash the contents into the near-by stream. Here again, the pit might have been pumped out and the oil salvaged for refining or for roadbed oiling, or it might have been burned off to insure against run-off into the stream.

OKLAHOMA GAME 8 FISH NEWS — DECEMBER, 1952 PAGE 5 Land Judging Contests Originated At Oklahoma's Red Plains Conservation Experiment Station Near Guthrie In 1941. Contests Conducted In Every County Of The State Since Then Have Convinced 42,000 Participants About Run Down and Unproductive Land - -

By LARRY GAFFNEY

they had marked as they judged the just how much you know about land A WEAK SUN TRIED vainly to fields. The sun had crept past the classes and conditions. break the chill of the mid-day air as center of the sky and the judging "Now it's time to eat. Right after the slender young negro student strode was now at an end. lunch we'll have a few more things across the hard surface of the open In the midst of the group stood to tell you, and the awards will be field. Stopping, he dropped to one Edd Roberts, soil conservationist made. Then we'll know who has knee beside a freshly dug hole and from the Extension Service, Okla­ learned the most. Now if each of you scooped up a handful of the rich dirt. homa A. & M. College at Stillwater. will pass your score card to your Slowly he let it sift through his fin­ "Boys, may I have your attention, instructor, we'll go get those sand­ gers as he noted its texture. Then he please?" The murmur quieted and wiches." bent even more and peered into the Edd continued. "You boys have been While the young farmers of to­ foot-wide excavation. He straight­ selected as the best in your home morrow are eating lunch, let's go back ened with a knowing smile and pulled schools and clubs. You've been taught and see just what they did during the a card and pencil stub from his jacket the care and treatment of land and morning. This contest, sponsored by pocket. On the card he made several what can happen if it's not cared for the Extension Service, is designed to marks. properly. You have had the oppor­ promote the idea of land conserva­ Rising to his feet, the youngster tunity of giving your own ideas on tion among the youth of the state. joined a buzzing cluster of nearly this land today — so we can find out On other days of the same week, one hundred other boys of his own race, ranging in age from eleven to seventeen, who stood on a slight rise in the field. They, like himself, had come with their coaches from four counties to take part in the third an­ nual land judging contest for Negro boys in Oklahoma. They are held at the Red Plains Conservation Ex­ periment Station a few miles south of Guthrie. Two groups were repre­ sented that day, October 21. Part of the boys were members of 4-H and the others belonged to NFA, the New Farmers of America. They all held score cards which

A. T. McCARGO is a bit puzzled as to A what classification he should attach to ^^ the soil in his hand. Mason Clark (left) and Robert Williams seem very sure as they mark their papers. All three boys belong to the Langston Chapter of the NFA.

^. EDD ROBERTS (extreme left), soil conservationist from the Extension Service, A. & M. College, gives instructions to a group of Land Judging contestants at the Red Plains Conservation Experiment Station, Guthrie ... (All photographs by Larry Gaffney) J. C. LANDERS, Guthrie Chamber of ^. Commerce, presented the individual award ribbons and then posed with the two top winners of the day. Taking first place for their respective groups are Eugene Patton, .•>^B 4H (left), of Guthrie, and Robert Williams, NFA (right), of Langston.

ANY SCHOOL would be proud to have this pennant in its hall or trophy case. Calvin Starks, Eugene Patton and Arthur Davis are the boys who will carry home first team honors for the Negro 4H clubs. The winning trio hails from Favor High School in Logan County.

And he really did have something to say. He told them things that afternoon. Things about care of the land. Lots of it they had heard be­ fore, but there was plenty more that was new to them. And Edd didn't depend on words alone. He showed them the charts and pictures from the table. He showed them how proper maintenance of their land would pay off in larger and finer crops and that meant more money in the bank. But then he also pointed out that there are some advantages to taking care of your land that you can't meas­ ure in dollars and cents. Such things white members of the farm youth or­ Vegetative controls list crop im­ as good cover for quail along the ganizations went through the same provement; strip cropping; proper fence rows, brush piles for rabbits procedure. grasses or legumes; no burning; con­ and wooded areas for squirrels. Such trol of brush, trees and grazing; prop­ Three fields had been selected for things as the young farm boy trap­ er planting and harvesting of trees; their observation and holes had been ping muskrat, mink and possum for and leaving certain areas for wildlife dug in each so the subsoil could be their hides. These we can't put a alone. viewed. Judging was based on the price tag on as we do crops and do­ surface texture of the soil, subsoil Recommended fertilizer and soil mestic animals. permeability, depth of the surface soil amendments are lime, gypsum, phos­ ". . . and," Edd concluded, "you and subsoil, slope of the field, erosion phate, potash, nitrogen and manure young men, you farmers of tomor­ by either wind or water, drainage of or compost. Many of these are used row, have studied these things and the field and classification of the land in combination. learned them. Now you must prac­ as to capacity. At the bottom of each Well, the meal should just about tice them and build up the land and card was space for the student to state be finished by now. And here comes keep it up. Preserve it for yourselves his recommendations for treatment Edd. He's calling them all together. and for future generations. In most of the field in question to bring it Everyone, student and coach alike, cases there is no excuse nor reason to back to top productivity if possible. has found a spot where he can relax. allow land to become run down and Mechanical methods of treatment There's Edd up front, standing be­ unproductive. include contour farming, terraces, hind a table piled high with charts "Follow closely what you have proper drainage and control of gul­ and pictures. Looks like he's got learned and it won't happen. There's lies. something to say. just no reason for it . . ."

OKLAHOMA GAME 8 FISH NEWS DECEMBER, 1952 PAGE 7 Sandhill Crane

By EARL WALLACE* other parts of water plants are taken JESS THAN fifty years ago, great readily. Domestic grains, even pota­ V-shaped lines of Sandhill Cranes are a challenge to all those that ap­ toes, and wild fruits are a preferred swung down the sky lanes over the preciate the alertness and intelligence diet, while small fish, frogs, tadpoles, prairie states, sending their wild reso­ of the truly wild creatures of the snakes and rodents are consumed in nant cries to the four winds. It was Universe. great numbers. While on the open the voice of the wilderness, unterrified While feeding or at rest, it is never prairies, insects, beetles and grass­ and untamed, protesting the settling for one moment off guard and every hoppers are eaten along with tender of the lands that were theirs from all sound and movement is surveyed grass shoots. time past. with suspicion lest it be a stealthy The nest of this Crane is usually Since then, their numbers have peril threatening destruction. built on the open prairie about marsh­ steadily decreased until now it is a A variety of food is acceptable to lands or ponds, but sometimes on a rare sight to even see a single speci­ this resourceful bird. Seeds, roots and hummock in the open water. It is men, much less one of the large flocks. A few, however, still persist to fol­ low the ancient trails of the great hordes that beat down the winds to either their summer or winter homes. The call of the Sandhill Crane sounds something like the syllables "Kr-roo," repeated several times in a rolling, resonant tone. It has a deep musical quality unlike that of any other living creature. Its carrying power is mysterious and remarkable, with a certain tremolo effect that drifts with the wind long after the last bird has disappeared in the dis­ tance. Like the eerie call of the loon, this cry is truly the voice of the wild, defiant and untamed. This wary creature is a bird of the open plains and marshlands and, yet, in spite of its decreasing numbers, sometimes appears—particularly dur­ ing migration—in flocks of fair size. Majestically it travels with a power­ ful and well-sustained flight, making it one of our most impressive birds. Ordinarily, the Sandhill Crane feeds in the flat lands but, often, it frequents corn and grain fields in search of choice foods. Upon select­ ing a feeding or resting ground, much spiralling and circling, over wide areas, takes place before the final lighting. This is perhaps done in the way of inspecting every covert where enemies might be hiding. Its keen eye can instantly detect any form of danger and its wariness and caution

* Commissioner. Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. Reprinted from Kentucky Happy Hunting Ground, November. 1952.

PAGE OKLAHOMA GAME: 8 FISH NEWS — DECEMBER, 1952 a bulky structure, loosely thrown to­ tress, he taxies on the ground for gether with building materials of SANDHILL CRANE several feet and finally becomes air­ seeds, grass and small sticks. In the Grus Mexicana borne. With wide circles, he climbs center is a small depression in which skyward until only a speck in the far Other Names: Brown Crane, Upland ordinarily two, but sometimes three, Crane, Field Crane, Southern Crane. distance. eggs are laid. These are fairly large Description: Entire plumage leaden It is said that the Indians of the and are of an olive buff color, marked gray, with brownish patches on back plains states became so proficient in all over with spots of dark brown. and wings. Upper half of head has dull red warty skin covered with short imitating the call of the Crane that Upon arrival at the nesting grounds black hairy feathers. Height about 4 they could call large flocks to within in the spring, they go through clown­ feet with wingspread of 6 to 8 feet. Long sharp bill; long stilt-like legs. bow range without this cautious crea­ ish performances as if trying to outdo Tail feathers inclined to be plumey. ture detecting the deception. one another in awkwardness. With Range: Pacific Coast and southwest, Many experts are of the opinion long springy leaps, they droop their nesting from the Gulf States northward that hunting has had little to do with wings and twist and turn in ridicu­ through the Mississippi Valey to Mani­ the decimation of the Sandhill Crane, lous high stepping dances, working toba. Winters in Gulf Stream and Mexico. believing that the thorough wildness themselves into a fever of excitement, of his temperament is not capable of all the time uttering deep gutteral accepting the advance of civilization croaks and whoops. This is a part and that, from pure dejection and of the mating ceremonies which is crippled with a broken wing, or restlessness, the Sandhill has failed to participated in by the females with otherwise, the Sandhill Crane be­ breed. as much enthusiasm as that of their comes an ugly antagonist for man or prospective husbands. In the end, beast. Many a hunter's dog has writ­ In the passing of this impressive each pair flies away to their summer ten his demise by attacking a wound­ species, the nature lover has been home and begins the duties of raising ed Crane, only to have the long robbed of one of the most thrilling a family. rapier-like bill driven through him spectacles — that of a flock of Sand­ with lightning quickness. hill Cranes migrating southward with Within a few hours after hatching, wide, sweeping circles, sending their the young leave the nest and follow Many an oldtime hunter has spent wild call through the hazy stillness their parents through the day, trying the last years of life with one eye of Indian summer. their beaks on whatever seems attrac­ blinded by the pierce of the Crane's tive. They are not able, however, to beak, when trying to silence a crip­ Child of the wilderness and the ex­ gather enough food and the parent pled bird. panses of the wide prairie, with ample bird subsidizes their efforts by feeding In taking off from the ground, es­ intelligence for perpetual endurance them by regurgitation. pecially when frightened, the Crane as a species, the great Crane has re­ The Sandhill Crane's flesh is excel­ presents an advanced lesson in aero­ fused the civilization of man and will lent for the table and this possibly ac­ nautics. When approached by his soon be written off, along with the counts for his diminishing numbers. chief enemy, man, he surveys the in­ Passenger Pigeon, Heath Hen and Carefully concealed hunters once truder for a few moments and then, Great Auk. watched their feeding grounds and with long strides and flapping wings, Its passing robs humanity of one killed them in untold numbers. When accompanied with a wild cry of dis­ of Nature's most interesting children. BALD EAGLE KILLED WHAT HE THOUGHT was a "big chicken hawk" after one of his hens turned out to be a big bald eagle for young Elton Goodson, 1 3, who lives a few miles north of Chelsea. The lad picked up his trusty .22 rifle when he saw the big bird and took aim. Down it came, hen and all. The eagle measured exactly 7 feet from wing tip to wing tip. What Elton and his dad also discovered after the unfortunate incident was that the bald eagle is fully protected by federal laws as the national emblem. Federal Game Man­ agement Agent Bill Ricker of Muskogee got word of the killing and promptly investigated. He now has the eagle in his possession, awaiting instructions for disposal from U. S. Fish and Wildlife administrators. Elton, his dad and brother, brought the eagle to town and several people saw their first bald eagle stretched out in front of the Chelsea Reporter newspaper offices. Chelsea Reporter Photo.

OKLAHOMA GAME e FISH NEWS — DECEMBER, 1952 PAGE 9 Nationally Known Conservation Educator Visits State

DR. E. LAURENCE PALMER of Cornell Uni­ versity, Ithaca, N. Y., was one of the speakers at the Oklahoma Education Association's an­ nual state teachers' meeting in Oklahoma City, October 31. Dr. Palmer is pictured here (at left) with Mr. Earle Emerson, superintendent of schools at Coalgate, Oklahoma, as the two visited the offices of the state game and fish department's information-education section on that date. Dr. Palmer is now serving as Education Di­ rector of the National Wildlife Federation, Washington, D. C. A series of class room con­ servation leaflets which he published monthly for years at Cornell, are now made available to schools nationwide from the Federation. His simple presentation of conservation facts and factors, often using soils and plant growths just outside the doors of the building where he speaks, to illustrate his points, are splendid teaching aids. Dr. Palmer's "Fieldbook of Natural History" which may be had at $7.50 from the National Wildlife Federation, is his best known work. Mr. Emerson is well known among biology- teacher circles in Oklahoma and also for his leadership in Oklahoma's summer conservation workshop for teachers a few years back. He has done much to encourage the teaching of conservation in the public schools of Oklahoma.

Hunting Banned Statewide As Drouth Aid MINK SEASON CLOSED ALL HUNTING statewide was banned November 5 by THERE WILL BE no open season on mink this year, a proclamation and order of Governor Johnston Murray. by order of the state game and fish commission. If current The measure was taken as a result of numerous letters from hunting bans are lifted, the trapping of other species will sportsmen, cattle growers and land owners in many parts proceed as scheduled, December 1 to January 31 inclusive. of Oklahoma, who felt that range and grass fires might However, the Governor's order of November 5 to stop all be controlled largely by keeping hunters out of the field. hunting in Oklahoma until the drouth is ended, applies The state's worst drouth in history has made the fields to trapping and hunting of furbearers as well as all other and woodlands highly vulnerable to fires, and already species. thousands of dollars worth of fire damage to grazing lands Last season (1951-52) a total of 5186 mink pelts and wildlife habitat has occurred. was sold by trappers in Oklahoma, bringing an average On November 15, however, the duck hunters were price of $14.14. Other sales of the state's five leading allowed back in the field and the state game and fish de­ fur species were as follows: Opossum 79,303 pelts aver­ partment will ask authorization from the U. S. Fish and aging 31 cents each; Skunk 25,221 averaging 92 cents Wildlife Service to extend this season an additional 10 per pelt; Muskrat 15,339, at an average of $1.10 each; days to make up for the closed period. This, if granted, Raccoon 10,124 sold at an average of $1.01 each. The would legalize duck hunting in Oklahoma to and including total pelt sales reported by the state's 153 licensed fur December 26. buyers last season was 136,910 netting $147,536.80 to the trappers. As this issue of Oklahoma Game and Fish News goes to press, all other seasons are still closed and it is under­ stood will only be re-opened if general rains come to re­ WHOOPING CRANE BREEDING GROUND FOUND lieve the fire hazard in fields and woodlands. Also, the Two U. S. FISH AND WILDLIFE Service biologists officials of the department are considering an extension of apparently have discovered the breeding ground of the al­ quail season, if rains do come, to give the hunter an equal most extinct whooping crane in the marshes of the Great number of days as he would otherwise have had if the Slave Lake in Canada. The location of the breeding season had opened as scheduled on November 20. grounds of these great birds, of which only about 30 re­ main in North America, has long puzzled ornithologists. KOREAN HUNTING LICENSES, peace time, that is, Robert Smith of Medford, Oregon, and Everett L. Sutton, carry the following: "Hunting in public streets, shrines of Aberdeen, South Dakota, made the discovery last sum­ and temples is not permitted. Firing at buildings, people, mer. The birds winter each year on the Texas coast, par­ cattle and street cars is not permitted." ticularly at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.

PAGE 10 OKLAHOMA GAME 8 FISH NEWS — DECEMBER, 195 2 Ducks Banded in Oklahoma Travel Far STILLWATER IKES GIVEN NATIONAL AWARD DUCKS BANDED in Oklahoma travel great distances, SANBORN CHAPTER of the Izaak Walton League of records from the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service continue America, Inc., has won another national championship, to prove. And some of them live to ripe old ages as water­ the James Lawton Childs memorial award for 1951. The fowl life spans are measured. same honor was won by the Stillwater chapter in 1949. Seven reports of ducks killed or recaptured this year The award goes to the chapter which has the most out­ and leg-banded in other years in this state, have come to standing record in achievement of wildlife conservation Oklahoma Game and Fish News. The oldest was a pin­ goals in a calendar year. Announcement of the 1951 tail drake banded at Mohawk Park, Tulsa, March 8, 1945. award was made in September at the Chicago fall meeting It was live-trapped for the second time July 28, 1952, of the national officers of the league. Two Stillwater Ikes, at Goose Lake in Saskatchewan, Canada, where the old Randle Perdue, national vice-president, and Ted Wool- band was replaced by a new one. The pintail was then worth, national director, were present. The Childs award released and probably has by now found it way south to entails a cash payment of $100 and a large bronze plaque. Oklahoma once again. . . . Stillwater News Press. Four other ducks, all mallards, banded (two) in 1947, 1948 and 1949 respectively, were killed near Ana- Conservationist in Civil Defense Job huac, Texas; St. Joseph, Missouri; Dauphin, Manitoba, E E. VINCENT, Stillwater, well known to most Canada; and Trinity, Texas, respectively. All were out Oklahoma sportsmen-conservationists through his out­ of the Mohawk Park, Tulsa, banding station. As long standing work in wildlife conservation and the Izaak Wal­ suspected, the travels of waterfowl banded at this north­ ton League of America, has taken on a new job in the east Oklahoma location, indicate that some ducks entering Civil Defense program. Because he will be in direct contact that part of Oklahoma are of the Mississippi flyway. Once with sportsman club groups, state game rangers and others it was believed that all ducks in Oklahoma followed the who can help in community safety programs, the announce­ central flyway. ment by Vincent of his new work will be of interest to Two Salt Plains (Alfalfa County) banded ducks, all outdoorsmen in central-eastern Oklahoma, the area were reported in the latest recoveries. One was a mallard he will work. drake killed September 8, 1952, in Saskatchewan, and Vincent's job will be one of public relations. He banded at the Salt Plains station December 13, 1948. The will be the first contact man with a community where other was a male scaup banded March 26, 1952, and shot the Civil Defense officials feel that organized effort will September 10, 1952, twenty miles east of Edmonton, Al­ be beneficial to the public at large. Defense units in such berta, Canada. emergencies as fires, tornadoes, drownings, floods, etc., are Duck hunters are reminded to report all leg-bands the types to be organized by the Stillwater conservationist. discovered on waterfowl killed this season. By their co­ Vincent feels that he can offer all Oklahoma outdoorsmen operation in this information, the Fish and Wildlife Serv­ something worthwhile in their planning for community ice is able to continue studies of the migrations and life betterment in his new Civil Defense job, which came as histories of the birds of North America. an appointment from Governor Johnston Murray.

State's First Negro Sportsman Club Organized

IN JUNE of this year several enthusiastic negro men of Chickasha.. Oklahoma, wanted to organize a sportsman club to promote wildlife conservation-education among their people. Thus the Valley Park Rod and Gun Club was formed.

Already the club has released some 400 quail in the Chickasha area. They are pro­ moting a turkey shoot just before Christmas. At Christmas they are going to have a tree and Santa Claus to give free gifts to under­ privileged children, and will also give a special gift to one who has been confined to a wheel chair. Next Spring the club plans to sponsor a fishing derby.

The club now has fifty members. Five of them in the picture are (left to right): Robert Brown, treasurer; James Givens, vice- president; "Doc" Baker., president; Dr. R. M. Hairston, club physician; and R. C. Alex­ ander, secretary. . . . Staff Photo by Bill Schumacher.

OKLAHOMA GAME S FISH NEWS — DECEMBER, 1952 PAGE ll _^ THE BIG 34-foot wild- ^^ life trailer swings through western Oklahoma enroute to a Boy Scout camp. Fully equipped, the trailer exhibit weighs 14 tons and cost the state game and fish A Picture Story department $17,500. In 26 months it has shown to over one million people. WITH "CONSERVATION NEEDS YOU — You NEED CONSERVATION" as their by­ word, a varied assortment of the Oklahoma Game and Fish Department's super salesmen tour the whistle stops, one-room schools and villages, bringing home the need for wildlife and natural resources conservation. In a scant twenty-six months this troupe of con­ servation sellers have traveled close to 25,000 | BYRON AND ODELL miles, or the distance around the world. ^^ hand out booklets Dressed in fur coats, feathers and brilliant which give detailed informa­ scales, they have appeared with a fanfare of tion about saving soil and tape-recorded hill-billy and jazz music be­ wildlife. These booklets are published by the game and fore more than a million school children, fish department and especi­ youth groups and adult citizens of Oklahoma. ally written for school County fairs, impromptu street showings, children. sports shows, fish fries, and old settlers' re­ unions—they've made them all. The crowds loved them, even though not a word was spoken by a single member of the troupe.

A real salesman could hardly do better. Bambi the deer captivated the crowd's fancy with his beautiful spots and large brown eyes. Sissy, the groundhog, sat on her haunches, balanced upright like a trained puppet, and ^ IT WAS parents' day munched a carrot. Bobby the bobcat had ^^ at scout camp George a spine-tingling growl for everybody, in­ Thomas near Apache, Okla­ homa. Byron Breedlove, sec­ cluding his caretakers, Byron Breedlove and ond from the right, tells the scouts about wildlife con­ servation.

THE CAGES are taken from the trailer and displayed now and then at sports shows, AT A CHICKASHA street showing a couple county and state fair, and of school boys get acquainted with Bambi W sometimes at television the deer. Expressions on their faces |^ broadcasts. • indicatemsm* that it is their first deer. ; Salesmen f END OF THE DAY finds 6eeU Odell feeding the animals. Sandy the wolf gets special privileges and eats close to the can opener. Both Odell and Byron, in late November, ALDEN KIMSEY were transferred from their trailer jobs to other assign­ ments in the state game and fish department for well Odell Orr who emcee the show, put on mov­ earned rests away from their ies and explain about wildlife conservation. constant traveling the past two years. In Odell's place Animal-salesmen for the wildlife trailer Muriel W. Robinson of Oke­ mah was assigned to drive are gotten from game rangers, local zoos, ref­ the big trailer and supervise uge managers, fish hatcheries, and often from properties and equipment. individuals who want to put their pets on Rejoining the unit to replace display. Byron and Odell are constantly on Byron as educational lec­ turer-supervisor is Bob Jenni, the lookout for new "actors." They are still Tulsa, lately returned from searching for a man fast enough to catch a two years' army service. road-runner, or rugged enough to live-trap Jenni started with the trailer a porcupine. The badger is another tough when it first went on the road in August, 1950 customer to corral. The one now on the as did Orr. trailer was raised in captivity after being dug from her den as a baby. During a showing, much to the amusement of the spectators, PREDATOR AND PREY are Sally the badger flops on her roly-poly back displayed side by side. Visi­ and keeps time with her feet to the boogie- tors to the wildlife trailer can observe animals which they woogie which blares forth from the loud­ might never see in the wild. speakers. The traveling "zoo keepers" are still wishing they might What animals are on the trailer? Any devise a way to keep in fish, animal, snake, bird or amphibian native captivity a beaver; or that someone might donate an to Oklahoma is a likely candidate. At pres­ otter, once native but now ent the trailer has a deer, raccoon, badger, extinct in Oklahoma; and skunk, opossum, coyote, hawk, owl, several that fish, snakes, frogs, sala­ quail and pheasants, squirrels, bobcat, red manders and turtles were not so perishable in and gray fox, groundhog, prairie dogs, and extreme heat or cold. various fish and snakes.

ON OFF-THE-CUFF lecture in botany is all a part of Byron's day. When making an indoor appearance, con­ servation movies are shown. By making a request, any AT THACKERVILLE SCHOOL, south of group interested in conserva­ Marietta, Bill Schumacher, Chickasha, re­ tion or the outdoors may get gional public relations supervisor, pinch-hits the wildlife exhibit in their for Byron. He chalk-talks the boys and community during the sum­ girls into some basic knowledge of W mer. In winter it is wildlife conservation. scheduled at schools. Dry Oklahoma Pheasant Experiment Fishing Ban

THE LAWTON CONSTITUTION — Raging HEAVENER LEDGER—State Game and Fish MCALESTER NEWS - CAPITAL — Fishing prairie fires, the ugly offspring of Oklahoma's officials released 43 adult pheasants in Le­ is banned in Lake McAlester for two months worst drought, destroyed thousands of acres Flore County (first week in October) as an ex­ because some fishermen couldn't be good of grass and timberland yesterday and today periment to see if the large game birds will sports. The lake is closed until January 1 survive and reproduce in this area. Matt and the threat of still more destructive blazes Whisenhunt and Tom Hooper, game techni­ by action of the city council. City employes increased. . . . Associated Press, October 28. cians from the McAlester game and fish office, recently placed the complete output from brought the pheasants from the El Reno State municipal hatcheries in the lake. There were Spectacle Game Farm, and along with Game Ranger lots of pretty bass, ranging from five to Homer Johnston, Gyp Haley, and County Com­ eight inches. The fish started striking at ADA EVENING NEWS—A few miles south missioner Owen Lockhart, the birds were dis­ nearly every hook thrown into the water. of Tishomingo a truly magnificent natural tributed on several county farms. And lots of hooks were being thrown. As spectacle unfolds twice daily. If it is a clear, a result, the fish were being carried away in sunny day, any observer who happens to be Captive Armadillo large numbers. Some fishermen were keeping in the vicinity of the Federal Wildlife Refuge the little ones as well as the larger ones. We MCALESTER NEWS-CAPITAL—-Death can see an unforgettable sight. Early in the suppose some fishermen will violate the rule claimed a young armadillo — unnatural to morning and again in the evening, they may and go to the lake fishing. But, we'll say these parts — at the southeast division offices witness literally thousands of geese trading they'd better not. First, there'll be some of the Oklahoma Game and Fish Department back and forth between the waters of the ref­ officers around to watch for such things. here. The animal was found October 19 near uge and the grain fields . . . The peak year And, second, it wouldn't be very sportsman­ Wagoner by Lawrence Stacks, construction for the refuge, 1951, saw 12,000 geese and like— would it? . . .Hugh T. German. some 98,000 ducks tabulated at the sprawling worker. It was taken to the game and fish 13,500 acre area . . . Local hunters should office. Placed in a cage, along with some be thankful for the refuge. It actually pro­ hay, officials said the armadillo wouldn't eat. Fish Dynamiting vides better shooting for them. Were it not This is the second armadillo to be brought to the game and fish offices here. The other MCINTOSH COUNTY DEMOCRAT, CHECO- for such a place, the ducks and geese under TAH—A dynamite blast on Deep Fork river heavy hunting pressure, would remain at was killed some weeks back in the Redden area, east of Stringtown. west of Checotah, October 15, may claim the the big lake only a short while before wing­ life of Tommy Smith, 40, of Bakersfield, ing on south. The feed and unmolested water Calif., who was visiting relatives in the Pierce holds them in this area for weeks. Fish Delivered community. Smith had gone to Deep Fork PURCELL REGISTER — Fishing in Mc­ river along with Charley Peel at a point one Give and Take Clain county should be much improved in mile north of Warrior school to dynamite a year or two if the thousands of bass, blue­ the stream for fish. The two men blocked DURANT DAILY DEMOCRAT — Just like in off the river with rocks to prevent the stunned everything else, except possibly politics, there gill and channel catfish released in October are two sides to this posted-land and no- survive to attain legal length. Two large fish from floating downstream. Peel had hunting proposition. If you're a hunter, put state hatchery trucks arrived Tuesday noon gone down the river to make a further inves­ yourself in the farmer's place before you pop with a load of fingerlings for McClain county tigation of a fishing hole, when he heard an off about the stingy old so-and-so who runs farm owners who had applied for fish to stock explosion. He ran back and found Smith you off his land. The chances are that same farm ponds. More and more farm ponds and unconscious on the ground. His left hand farmer's experiences with hunters who have had been blown off and two holes were in preceded you have been most unpleasant. So, lakes are being built each year and stocked with fish to provide recreation as well as his abodmen. Smith's right arm was also with hunting season at hand, it behooves both badly injured and his face was covered with the hunter and the farmer to give a little, take food. These also attract ducks in the fall for a little, and try to get along. the hunting enthusiast. small cuts. The dynamite exploded in Smith's hand. . . . The blast was similar to one sev­ Howling Success Wasted Wildlife eral years ago in which a Checotah man was killed on Deep Fork. GRANITE ENTERPRISE — The Western DUNCAN DAILY BANNER—Three crows, Oklahoma Wolf Hunters' event held the past 226 mud hens and two dead ducks have Deer Hunt Envisioned week (early October) was truly a "howling" been left where they fell by duck hunters at success. An estimated crowd of 2,000 people Clear Creek Lake. And the hunters who left TULSA TRIBUNE — Northeastern Oklahoma attended the affair at the Hood ranch north­ the ducks and mud hens violated a federal deer hunters may have a chance to stalk deer west of Willow for the three-day session. game law which carries a heavy penalty. in the Spavinaw hills within the next three There were 600 dogs entered in various con­ Caretakers at the lake warned hunters shoot­ years. A. D. Aldrich. assistant state game di­ rector, has said. The deer population in the tests. A pair of dogs sold for $500 during ing mud hens by mistake, thinking they had a Spavinaw area has increased 60 per cent, and event. Watch September, 1953, for another duck, must take them home. They're good the area is rapidly becoming one of the best show of equal or even better interest. eating, they added. deer sections in the state.

PAGE 14 OKLAHOMA GAME 8 FISH NEWS — DECEMBER, 1952 Changed Purpose Stiff Penalties Urged On Cooking Mudhens ALTUS TIMES-DEMOCRAT — If we were STILLWATER DAILY NEWS-PRESS — At LEXINGTON SUN — Coots or mudhens to ask the nation's 20 million or more nim- this time the land owners or those leasing have been limited to ten per day. Gosh, I rods why hunting and fishing is their favorite farms get ready for the immigration of hunt­ remember when we used to kill mudhens and outdoor pastime we would no doubt get a ers. Some hunters get along just fine with leave them to dry in the sun. They are now variety of answers. The majority would farmers and ranchers. Others, and they are to be killed only to eat — they're good eat­ probably indicate that they hunt and fish to too many, barge right through a man's fields ing if you know how to fix them. I will per­ "get away from it all" to relax. That's or pastures without permission. Oftentimes sonally give $5 to the subscriber who sends quite a change from the answer we would fences are broken and livestock either killed in the best recipe for cooking mudhens. have received to such a question in grandpa's or injured. Some hunters still have the belief This contest will be open from now until day. In the early days the majority of the that they have a right to hunt any place the last day of the season. Just write out people fished and hunted for one purpose they please, and of course that is not true. your favorite recipe for cooking mudhens and only — to obtain fresh meat for the table. Just the other day two Oklahoma citizens send them to me care of this paper. Who Meat is easily available now, but today hunt­ were fined $50 each in Colorado for shooting knows, I might even publish some of them. ing and fishing is even more important. The into a herd of antelope on a reservation. Here If I get any mudhens, by golly, I'll even try shift in our mode of living has been an ex­ at home county judges and justices of the some of the recipes. treme one. In the early days there was ten­ peace have handed out stiff fines to hunters dency toward too much physical exertion, but found guilty of trespassing, and that is as it today the problem is just the reverse. We live should be. Certainly judges would hand out Farm Pond Fun too fast. Ailments increase. Hunting and stiff fines or even jail sentences to those who RUSH SPRINGS GAZETTE — Today as we fishing is a tonic. . . . Plug 'n Trigger, by would enter your front yard and hold a drive over Oklahoma we see literally hundreds J. Fred Eder, U.P. Outdoor Expert. picnic without your permission. Hunting is of fish ponds. These offer a splendid oppor­ a great sport, one enjoyed by thousands when tunity for family and neighborhood enjoy­ Suggestion the excursion is properly conducted by first ment. It will be real fun to pull out grand­ gaining permission of land owners. mother's old iron pot and go down beside OKARCHE CHIEFTAIN —Duck hunters this the pond for a fish fry. If the fish refuse to year are urged to have their duck stamps Dry Lake cooperate, a chicken fry is a good substitute. when venturing out on opening day of the Think through ways in which your family season. And with water as scarce as it is. it SHAWNEE AMERICAN — The little lake can play together. Make your family one might be a good idea to take along your own which lies north of McLoud on land belong­ water — for the webfoots to land on. that works, worships, plays and stays to­ ing to George Ketcheshawn (pronounced gether. "George") is drying up and hundreds of Sooners ! pounds of fish seem to be doomed to a water­ Praying For Rain ENID EAGLE — Saguache, Colo. (AP) — less grave. Under state supervision, an at­ Two Norman, Oklahoma, men were fined tempt is being made to move the game fish ALVA WEEKLY RECORD —The lush wheat- $2,727 each and sentenced to 30 days in jail to ponds and lakes, but the rough fish are fields that greeted the ducks and geese last here yesterday for violating Colorado's big being given away. Anyone wanting to get season are missed and most of the maize his hands on a nice large fish can have all and kaffir has been harvested as a food sup­ game hunting laws. Justice of the Peace Leo ply for hungry cattle. So each day finds the Welton levied the penalties against Lloyd he wants for almost nothing. Just see George (you know who) and for 25 cents you can farmer and the hunter eyeing fragments of Luna, 3 7, and Merrell Metts, 28, after both clouds with askance, inwardly praying for rain pleaded guilty to illegal hunting charges. Each fish to your heart's content. State Game that will be the answer to a lot of woes and man was fined $2,500 for killing five deer Ranger Bill Rose is assisting in the fish recla­ problems now confronting this section as the out of season Monday and Tuesday — before mation. drouth grows into record-breaking proportions the season opened Wednesday — on Marshall already having eclipsed the drouth of 1936. Pass between Sargent and Salida; $100 for Drouth and Ducks hunting without licenses; $100 for deliberate PURCELL REGISTER —The drouth through No Excuse waste of meat; and $25 for failing to tag Oklahoma is expected to cut heavily into the game. Luna and Metts were arrested by Earl number of waterfowl that usually take this OKMULGEE DAILY TIMES — Anybody Downer, chief district game warden at Monte route to south Texas or Louisiana. The South who violates the hunting laws must expect to Vista, who said the men took the saddles and Canadian river is dry as a bone and this pop­ pay if he gets caught. Some Okmulgee coun­ hindquarters of the deer, leaving the rest to ular hunting spot will be useless until rains ty violators have been getting the book rot. Game and fish department officials said cause it to flow again. thrown at them in Muskogee county. One man paid a fine and costs of more than $69 the penalties were believed the heaviest ever Growing Fish assessed in the state for a deer hunting vio­ for shooting doves with a borrowed shotgun lation. LAWTON CONSTITUTION—A Fisherman's he thought was properly plugged, but was­ Paradise is in the making on the Chubby n't. Another paid about as much for hunt­ Lewis farm near Loveland where specially ing without license and shooting on a rail­ It Could Happen Here stocked ponds are producing bass, crappie and road right-of-way. There isn't much excuse for anybody hunting without a license. Once HEAVENER LEDGER — Two Oklahoma catfish in quantities. Tiny bass which were hunters who admitted killing five deer before put in one pond last May are already near- in a while a hunter forgets to take his license Colorado's 195 2 big game season opened last ing the pound and a half mark. Lewis isn't with him, but game rangers usually are will­ Wednesday, were in jail the first of the week going to let anglers have a crack at the bass ing to check further in cases of that kind be­ after being tagged with the largest fines ever — there were 300 of them originally — until fore making arrests. . . . The Night Watch imposed in Colorado for violation of game next spring. by Joe N. Croom. laws. The two pleaded guilty and were fined $2,725 each and sentenced to 30 days in GAME HOGS YOU MAY KNOW if {lac* Witetelt jail for killing five deer before the season opened, for hunting without license, for de­ HEY PAL.' YOURE A YEAH.' I KNOW-BUT THIS Bid liberately wasting meat, and for failing to THE "LAW-ABIDING lCOUPLE OVER THE LIMIT.' COCK BIRO AN' HEN 60T UP tag game. . . . Our first impulse is to cry T06ETHER OM MV WAV IN. AND OPPORTUNIST" STARTLED ME-fWK KWOW> HOW out "we wuz robbed," just because the fel­ ir is DOU'TCHA ? lows live out of state. But with more He doesn't go out of his way thought, we can all see how disgusting it is to violate and would be very for two men to go out and kill five deer, offended if you accused him of which they can't possibly use — thereby de­ priving other hunters of a chance at a kill. theft. Basically, he's not a We haven't even considered that the two "bad egg", but add his kind all slipped out before the season and would not- even buy the usual hunting permits. . . . up and they spell: Law enforcement like that in our courts "GAME HOG"! might mean better hunting and fishing in Oklahoma. It could happen. Reprinted from OUTDOOR AMERICA. Official Publication. Izaak Walion League 0! America, Inc.

OKLAHOMA GAME 8 FISH NEWS — DECEMBER, 1952 PAGE 15 This Month u)Oh yvwi GAME & FISH Uohk&M

Lake Studies Waterfowl Census HASKELL CITY LAKE, 15 surface acres, was included AERIAL SURVEYS of every flood-control lake in the this month on the fisheries' division work list for treat­ state have been conducted the past month and will con­ ment to improve fishing. Approximately one-half of the tinue at periodic intervals through the winter, as a part lake was treated with fish poison to reduce overpopulations of the Oklahoma Game and Fish Department's wildfowl of fish discovered earlier in the year. This type of lake census work. MONTE DODSON, Oklahoma City, is in management is becoming increasingly popular to create charge. This is one of the Pittman-Robertson (federal aid) good fishing. projects initiated annually so that administrators may RECENT INVESTIGATIONS at Cushing Country Club know how many ducks, and at what seasons, use Okla­ revealed a bass shortage there. Numerous crappie and other homa waters and feeding areas. On October 17 a large pan fish showed up in investigations. Checks of fisher­ goose flight was noted through east and central parts of men's catches showed most catches consisted of red-ear Oklahoma. Duck migrations were sporadic with no no­ sunfish. Recommended — stocking of 800 advanced bass ticeable mass movement through that month. Mergansers fingerlings to be stocked this fall from state hatcheries. were notably missing in October migrations. Because of the drouth, duck populations during the month were much lower than in 1952. Dry Ponds, Fish Salvage

MAYO MARTIN, Southwest Oklahoma regional fish­ Soon To Be Published ery biologist, reports that many farm ponds in the area have dried up and others are extremely low. Martin and A FARM POND BULLETIN is scheduled for early pub­ ARTHUR MANNING, Superintendent of the Medicine Park lication by the Oklahoma Fisheries Research Laboratory State Fish Hatchery, have salvaged fish from many of these at Norman. Its aim is to present to pond owners and ponds so that a new fish population can be stocked when sportsmen management practices applicable to Oklahoma. the present drouth ends and the ponds refill. The Laboratory is maintained cooperatively by the Uni­ versity of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Game and Fish Latest On Lexington Lake Department under direction of DR. ED LEONARD. COMPLETION OF a new public lake on the Lexington Game Management Area will soon become a reality. The CONFISCATED DEER earthen dam will impound approximately 46 surface acres at spillway level. Before the lake fills, the state game and fish department's division of fisheries, under supervision of H. C. WARD, will install brush shelters and mark the locations for the convenience of fishermen. Two other lakes are on the refuge. They have surface acreages of three and seven acres. Fishing is permitted on the smaller one and the seven-acre lake is to be opened for fishing in early 1953. Duck hunting is permitted on both by per­ mission of the area manager, EARL INGERSOLL.

More Raccoons Trapped RACCOON TRAPPING and moving to new locations has been a part of the federal-aid to wildlife section's work this autumn. During the month past, trapping activities were transferred from the Wichita Mts. Wildlife Refuge near Lawton, to the Lake Murray State Park area near Ardmore. Trapped and moved from the Wichita Refuge were 178 raccoons. In October another 76 raccoons were GAME RANGERS who patrol southeast Oklahoma's deer range taken from Lake Murray area. The animals were trans­ know that it is not an easy matter to catch a closed-season hunter ferred to the Cherokee County Game Farm, the Cookson "with the goods." Rangers O. J. Lindley, Cloudy (at left), and At- Hills Refuge, and to an area near Durant. Trapping has wood Thompson, Antlers, had a photograph made of their evidence slowed down considerably since frost and freezing weather when they recently arrested a resident of Kosoma, Oklahoma, with ripened persimmons and provided other natural foods for a deer killed in closed season. The out-of-season hunter paid a the raccoons. This means that they do not take to baits $50 fine plus court costs and forfeited his game to the rangers, who in turn gave the venison to the Boys Training School at String- placed in traps as readily. town for table use.

PAGE 16 OKLAHOMA GAME B FISH NEWS — DECEMBER, 1952 Plane Patrol to Aid Wildlife R. D. GRAY, state game ranger at Buffalo, stands beside one of two new planes purchased recently by the Oklahoma Game and Fish De­ partment for use in enforcement of game laws and in wildlife censusing. The plane here pic­ tured is a Cessna 170 equipped with two-way radio for communication between the air and ground workers. Said the Harper County Journal, Buffalo, who supplied the photograph: "Organized in 1909, the State Game and Fish Department has grown rapidly, and so have the needs, not only in manpower, but also in mode of operation. And, growing with the department since 1935, R. D. Gray, state game ranger, has kept pace." Gray has been flying for the state game and fish department since 1945. His first plane was a Piper Cub. The Buffalo ranger's regu­ lar patrol consists of Harper and Ellis counties to fly over all sections of the state. A second ment and based at Oklahoma City was placed — the flying is extra. He is on call at all times plane owned by the game and fish depart­ in use the past month.

Fire Patrol Perry Conservation Day FIRE PATROL on state game refuges has been a major JOHN L. STEELE, employed in the game and fish activity during the month past and will be a highly im­ department's quail habitat improvement program, took portant part of the work until rains come. One fire entered part in a recent "Soil and Wildlife Conservation Day" the Cookson Hills Refuge and burned about 100 acres celebration at Perry. He prepared a wildlife plant exhibit before it was brought under control. In most refuge areas of mounted and free plant specimens and gave an illustrated the ground is too dry for plowing and planting of fall talk on plants at a meeting of sportsmen, farmers, business wildlife food patches. Fire guards have been established men and Soil Conservation District men. Steele illustrated and rigid patrol by extra help maintained throughout all his talk with 35 mm Kodachrome slides of wildlife plant­ state game refuges. ings on a Noble County farm which stirred up many favorable comments on the state game and fish depart­ New Ranger Film In Production ment's part of the show. PRODUCTION OF a new educational movie by the state The men in charge of habitat plantings for wildlife game and fish department's division of public relations are doing an important job in the game and fish depart­ was begun this month through facilities of the University ment's overall program. Because their work is less spectacu­ of Oklahoma. The film will be about one year in the lar in the public eye than others such as law enforcement, making and will be entitled "Wildlife Guardian." It public relations, etc., we sometimes fail to properly appre­ will depict the work of the state game ranger, not only as ciate the importance of their work. as law enforcement officer, but also as an educator, a con­ sultant in good farm practices for wildlife, an instructor Magazine Completes Eighth Year in fishing and hunting, and many other aids which he OKLAHOMA GAME AND FISH News, the game and renders. Nearing completion in the department's movie fish department's monthly magazine, completes its eighth producing program is another film entitled "Whitetail year of publication with this issue. It has grown from a Trail," the story of the whitetail deer in Oklahoma. Early circulation of 5,000 to 25,000 under editorship of JUANITA 1953 release of this film is foreseen. MAHAFFEY. The staff, too, has grown from one to five Dove Kill Low in those eight years. Circulation is being increased in 1953 to include every school in the state, many of which have WILDLIFE SURVEYORS in the state game and fish been receiving the magazine by request for some time. department dove census project report an unusually low Workers in the State Game and Fish Department are con­ kill of doves during the season last September. From stantly urged to submit copy on their individual work hunter-questionnaires circulated during the season it has and accomplishments for possible publication in the maga­ been ascertained that the average number of doves killed zine. Good photographs are always welcome also. Keep­ and crippled per hunter was 17.58 for the season, slightly ing a monthly magazine rolling is a never-ending job that lower than 1951 's figure of 20.46. Early migration of cannot be sidetracked for others that become increasingly doves this year is believed to be the reason for the reduced important in the public relations section. kill. Game Census Rangers Arrest 105 Despite the ban on hunting statewide, employees of STATE GAME RANGERS finished the month with a the game division are running their regular autumn censuses total of 105 prosecutions of game and fish law violators. on various game species. One of the big questions to which Only two of these were dismissed by the courts without they seek an answer is what effect the prolonged drouth punishment. Fines and court costs totaling $2652.40 were has had on wildlife this year. paid by the other 103 persons involved.

OKLAHOMA GAME 8 FISH NEWS — DECEMBER, 1952 PAGE 17 Prosecution Record, Game and Fish Law Violations, October, 1952

County Defendant Charged With Disposition

1—Alfalfa Edwin Brune, Cherokee, Okla. Shooting pheasants in closed season $30 fine S $7.25 court costs 2—Alfalfa Carol L. Gainey, Pond Creek, Okla. Fishing without license $10 fine S $7.25 court costs 3—Alfalfa W. Williams, Cherokee, Okla. Fishing without license $10 fine S $7.25 court costs 4—Alfalfa Mrs. W. Williams, Cherokee, Okla. Fishing without license $10 fine S $7.25 court costs 5—Alfalfa Loren L. Lathrop, Enid, Okla. Fishing without license $10 fine S $7.25 court costs 6—Beckham W. C. Brewer, Mayfield, Okla. Hunting without license $10 fine S $8.50 court costs 7—Beckham James Oxford, Mayfield, Okla. Hunting without license $10 fine S $8.50 court costs 8—Bryan Glenn O. Thomas, Durant, Okla. Hunting without license $10 fine S $6 court costs 9—Bryan Lewis Petty, Guthrie, Okla. Fishing without license $10 fine S $3 court costs 1 0—Bryan R. L. Smith, El Reno, Okla. Fishing without license $10 fine S $6 court costs 11—Bryan A. W. Nolan, Ardmore, Okla. Fishing without license $10 fine S $6 court costs 1 2—Caddo James Hammons, Chickasha, Okla. Illegal taking of game fish by telephone $25 fine S $24.80 court costs shock 1 3—Canadian W. C. Mead, Okla. City, Okla. Hunting migratory birds with $25 fine S $8 court costs unplugged gun 14—Canadian Stacy Halstead, Okla. City, Okla. Hunting migratory waterfowl with $25 fine S $8 court costs unplugged gun 15—Canadian Harman Eddings, Okla. City, Okla. Hunting migratory waterfowl with $25 fine 8 $8 court costs unplugged gun 16—Canadian Joe W. Geis, El Reno, Okla. Hunting without license $ 10 fine 8 $3 court costs 1 7—Canadian Linn A. Famham. El Reno, Okla. Hunting doves with non-plugged gun $25 fine 8 $3 court costs 18—Canadian Carl Lee Brown, Midwest City, Okla. Hunting doves with non-plugged gun $25 fineS $ 1 0 court costs 1 9—Carter W. C. Bailey, Ardmore, Okla. Shooting doves from public road $10 fine 8 $5.50 court costs 20—Carter L. D. Rhodes, Ardmore, Okla. Shooting doves from public road $10 fine 8 $5.50 court costs 21—Cherokee James C. Hartness, Gideon. Okla. Possession undersized game fish $10 fineS $7.50 court costs 22—Cherokee Carl Pierceall. Muskogee, Okla. Shooting ducks from motor boat $25 fine 8 $10 court costs 23—Cherokee Fred Edson, Muskogee, Okla. Running ducks with motor boat Dismissed 24—Cherokee Lee Long, Tulsa, Okla. Shooting ducks after hours $25 fineS $10 court costs 25—Cherokee Melvin Long, Tulsa, Okla. Shooting ducks after hours Dismissed 26—Cherokee C. M. Hayes, Muskogee, Okla. Possession undersized game fish $10 fine S $ 10 court costs $10 fineS 27—Cherokee Eli Coxey. Hulbert, Okla. Gigging in closed season $ 1 2 court costs Fishing without license $10 fineS $8.50 court costs 28—Choctaw A. Prichard, Grant, Okla. $25 fineS 29—Cleveland William Bradshaw, Norman, Okla. Shooting ducks with unplugged gun $15 court costs Shooting ducks with unplugged gun $25 fineS $10 court costs 30—Cleveland Bill McCrady, Norman. Okla. Hunting on lands of another without $10 fineS 31—Cleveland Neal J. Grover, Norman, Okla. $7.50 court costs permission 32—Cleveland James C. Ingram, Norman, Okla. Hunting on lands of another without $10 fine S $7.50 court costs permission 33—Cleveland Ross M. Puckett, Wanette, Okla. Hunting on lands of another without $ 10 fine S $ 10 court costs permission 34—Cleveland Robert Cobb, Okla. City, Okla. Hunting on lands of another without $10 fineS $10 court costs permission 35—Comanche West Jackson, Jr., Temple, Okla. Hunting without license $10 fineS $10 court costs 36—Comanche El wood Rice, Mt. View, Okla. Hunting without license $10 fine S $10 court costs 37—Comanche John Isom, Ft. Sill, Okla. Killing deer in closed season $100 fine S $16.50 court costs 38—Cotton B. L. Sullivan, Lawton, Okla. Hunting without license $10 fine S $7.50 court costs 39—Cotton William Shelton, Lawton, Okla. Hunting without license $10 fineS $7.50 court costs 40—Craig F. O. Deselm, Tulsa, Okla. Killing quail out of season $50 fineS $13.10 court costs 41—Creek Johnnie Farmer, Drumright, Okla. Fishing without license $10 fine S $11.50 court costs 42-—Delaware Tom Prater, Grove, Okla. Exceeding bag limit of black bass $10 fine S $7.50 court costs 43—Delaware Norman Graham, Grove, Okla. Exceeding bag limit of black bass $10 fine S $7.50 court costs 44—Delaware Kenneth Powers, Tulsa, Okla. Possession undersized game fish $10 fine S $7.50 court costs 45—Delaware Earnest Harrison, Tulsa, Okla. Possession undersized game fish $10 fineS $7.50 court costs 46—Delaware W. L. Leatherford, Tulsa, Okla. Possession undersized game fish $10 fine S $7.50 court costs 47—Delaware Lynn O'Neal, Tulsa, Okla. Possession undersized game fish $10 fine S $7.50 court costs Hunting without license $10 fine S $7.50 court costs 48—Ellis James Morton. Packsaddle, Okla. Fishing without license Dismissed 49-—Garvin Cleburne Stone, Pauls Valley, Okla. Hunting without license 50—Greer Bob Uptegrove, Willow, Okla. $ 1 0 fine S $7.50 court costs Shooting geese out of season $25 fine S $8.00 court costs 51—Haskell Kenneth Cleveland.Stigler. Okla. Hunting without license 52—Haskell Rufus Kemp. Whitefield. Okla. $10 fine S $7.50 court costs Shooting geese out of season $25 fine S $8.00 court costs 53—Haskell J. B. Hamlin. Stigler, Okla. Illegal seining of game fish 54—Johnston Ed Chaney, Tishomingo, Okla. Dismissed after paying $3.50 court costs 55—Johnston J. W. Richards, Tishomingo, Okla. Illegal seining of game fish Dismissed aftr paying $3.50 court costs 56—Johnston Luther Pettit, Ravia, Okla. Fishing without license $10 fine S $8.50 court costs 57—Kiowa Conrad Kvan, Ft. Sill, Okla. Hunting ducks with unplugged gun $25 S $9.50 court costs 58—Kingfisher Robert E. Newer. Loyal. Okla. Killing ducks in closed season $25 fineS $9.25 court costs 59—LeFlore C. H. Jones, Talihina, Okla. Taking undersized bass $20 fine S $8.00 court costs 60—-Lincoln Joe Martin. Okla. City, Okla. Hunting without license $ 10 fine S $ 1 0.55 court costs 61—Marshall Mrs. H. J. Battenburg, Norman, Okla. Fishing without license Case dismissed after purchase of license 62—Marsharll Harry Battenburg, Norman, Okla. Fishing without license $10 fine S $8 court costs 63—Marshall R. H. Bing, Ardmore, Okla. Fishing without license $10 fine S $8 court costs 64—Marshall W. H. Martin. Shawnee. Okla. Fishing without license $10 fine S $8 court costs 65—Marshall Wayne Youngblood, Okla. City, Okla. Hunting without license $10 fine S $8 court costs 66—Marshall Gene Callaway, Durant. Okla. Fishing without license $10 fine S $8 court costs 67—McCurtain H. McClain, Garvin, Okla. Killing deer in closed season $50 fineS $3.50 court costs 68—McCurtain M. C. O'Neal, Idabel, Okla. Fishing without license $10 fineS $3.50 court costs 69—McCurtain J. W. Prince, Idabel, Okla. Netting in restricted area $25 fine S $3.50 court costs 70—Mcintosh Noel E. Story. Eufaula. Okla. Fishing without license $10 fine S $8 court costs 71—Mcintosh Loyd Pitts. Checotah. Okla. Fishing without license $10 fne S $8.50 court costs 72—Murray Loren Butler, Norman. Okla. Hunting without license $ 1 0 fine S $ 1 1 court costs 73—Muskogee R. W. Henson, Taft, Okla. Hunting migratory waterfowl after hours $25 fine S $10 court costs 74—Muskogee Connie Hopson, Muskogee, Okla. Hunting migratory waterfowl with $50 fine S $10 court costs unplugged gun

PAGE 18 OKLAHOMA GAME S FISH NEWS — DECEMBER. 1952 Prosecution Record, Game and Fish Law Violations, October, 1952 County Defendant ,. . Charged With Disposition 75—Noble Hunting migratory waterfowl with $25 fine S $9 court costs Raleigh Brackett, Okla. City, Okla. unplugged gun 76—Noble Hunting migratory waterfowl with $25 fine S $9 court costs E. M. Brackett, Okla. City, Okla. unplugged gun Hunting without license $10 fine S $9 court costs 77—Noble John E. Moore, Stillwater, Okla. 78—Okfuskee Hunting without license $10 fine S $8.50 court costs 79—Oklahoma Jeff Castleberry, Stroud, Okla. Fishing without license $10 fineS $8 court costs 80—Okmulgee W. D. Thompkins, Okla. City, Okla. Pollution Little Deep Fork $133 fine S no costs 81—Payne Wilcox Oil Co., Okmulgee, Okla. Fishing without license $10 fineS $11.25 court costs 8 2—Pottawatomie Jim Holdridge, Stillwater, Okla. Hunting without license $10 fineS $8.50 court costs 83—Pottawatomie Edgar Dixon, Shawnee, Okla. Fishing without license $10 fine S $8.50 court costs 84—Pottawatomie Roosevelt Thomas, Shawnee, Okla. Gigging game fish $10 fine S $8.50 court costs 85—Pottawatomie Alfred Harmon, Okla. City, Okla. Hunting without landowner's consent $10 fineS $8.50 court costs 86—Pushmataha Bob Godsy, Okla. City, Okla. Poss'n green deer hides in closed season $50 fineS $8.75 court costs 8 7—Pushmataha Otho Taylor, Talhina, Okla. Killing deer in closed season $50 fine S $8.75 court costs 88—Pushmataha Rubin Crist, Kosoma, Okla. Hunting without license $10 fine S $7.50 court costs 89—Pushmataha Jessie King, Okla. City, Okla. Hunting without license $10 fine S $3 court costs 90—Roger Mills Roy Sutton, Kiamichi, Okla. Hunting without license $50 fine S $3 court costs 91—Roger Mills G. W. Jones, Phillips, Texas Hunting without license $50 fine S $3 court costs Elmo Sanders, Borger, Texas 92—Sequoyah Seining without license $10 fine S $8 court costs 93—Sequoyah L. L. Drew, Vian, Okla. Seining without license Herbert Drew, Vian, Okla. $10 fine S $8 court costs 94—Sequoyah Using an illegal seine $ 10 fine S no court costs 95—Sequoyah Herbert Drew, Vian, Okla. Seining without license Johnny Mack, Vian, Okla. $10 fine S $8 court costs 96—Sequoyah Using an illegal seine $ 10 fine S no court costs 97—Sequoyah Johnny Mack. Vian, Okla. Taking undersized game fish Andrew J. Madigan, Warner, Okla. $10 fine S $8 court costs 98—Sequoyah Taking undersized game fish $10 fine S $8 court costs 99—Sequoyah Edwin E. Bunce, Tulsa, Okla. Taking undersized game fish Tom J. Carpenter, Henryetta, Okla. $10 fine S $8 court costs 100—Texas Hunting ducks without duck stamp $25 fine S $10.50 court costs 101—Tulsa Jimmie Moyer, Guymon, Okla. Fishing without license S. T. Myers, Tulsa, Okla. $ 10 fine S $ 10.20 court costs 102—Washita Fishing without license $10 fine S $8 court costs 103—Woodward Oliver Wayne Jennings, Clinton, Okla. Shooting ducks with unplugged gun Richard Betzen, Woodward, Okla. $25 fineS $10.50 court costs 104—Woodward Killing quail in closed season $25 fine S $10.50 court costs 105—Woodward Eddie Gonzales, Woodward, Okla. Killing quail in closed season Thearl Williams, Woodward, Okla. $25fineS$10.50 court costs

Trumpeter Swan Population on Upgrade AMERICA'S LARGEST waterfowl, the trumpeter swan, tional Park, and restoration efforts were begun by the appears still to be on the come-back trail with the latest Federal Government. Refuges were established and birds census figures showing a total of 571 birds, an increase of since have been transplanted to several western national 36 over last year's count. In 1935 only 73 birds could be wildlife refuges where new nesting colonies have been found. The trumpeter swan was once found throughout most of North America, but its numbers were greatly re­ formed. Larger flocks breed in Alaska and Canada, but duced by relentless market hunting and destruction of its most of these birds rarely reach the United States, prefer­ breeding habitat. In 1937 small flocks were discovered ring to winter in open patches of water where swift cur­ at Red Rock Lakes in Montana and in Yellowstone Na­ rents prevent the formation of ice. Stranger in Oklahoma

NOW AND THEN a wild creature strange to these parts is captured, killed or trapped by an Oklahoma hunter, and people wonder ever after haw the animal came here, far from its native range.

Such was the case when farmer E. W. Met- calf, who lives four miles east and three south of Marlow, Stephens county, trapped what ap­ peared to be a young ocelot on his farm along Rush Creek, in early October this year.

Ranger Tom Sparks, Marlow is holding a native Oklahoma bobcat skin beside that of the ocelot for comparison. The bobcat is the nearest relative to the ocelot that Oklahoma has. Metcalf and his neighbors believe that there may be a whole family of the "strangers" running loose in the vicinity. There have been reports of dogs, horses and cattle killed there since Metcalf caught the ocelot in a number 4 steel trap, and many big cat tracks have been seen. . . . Staff Photo by Bill Schumacher.

OKLAHOMA GAME S FISH NEWS — DECEMBER, 1952 PAGE 19 Raccoon Moving Day

TWENTY-EIGHT RACCOONS were just ready to be released in new surroundings in Bryan county as the photograph at right was made. They were trapped in Carter county by Bernard Randall, game and fish department trapper in the federal-aid section. Taken from the Lake Murray state park area near Ardmore, the raccoons were moved into timbered areas along the Lake Texoma shore line.

INSTRUMENTAL in securing the live- trapping and transplanting of raccoons in the project was Dr. W. K. Haynie, Durant, at left in the photograph, chairman of the State Game and Fish Commission. Randall stands beside Dr. Haynie in the picture. The release project was instituted as an aid to the Texoma Fox, Wolf and Coon Hunters Association, which had just concluded its annual fall meet in late October when the photograph was made. The animals were placed where hunting and running of raccoons will be legal as designated by the state game laws. . . . Durant Weekly News Photo.

Sponsors Cartoon Contest charcoal, scratch board, water color, or any other standard medium suitable for reproduction in newspaper or maga­ THE NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION is offering zine, and the theme of the drawing may be soil conserva­ prizes totaling $700 to the high school student who can tion, forestry, water pollution control, flood prevention, create a cartoon character which can be used to tell the protection of wildlife or plant life, or any other phase of story of conservation. This contest replaces the annual natural resources management. Contest rules and other conservation poster contest which the Federation has spon­ information may be obtained by writing to the Cartoon sored for 15 years. Competition will be divided into jun­ Contest, National Wildlife Federation, 3308 Fourteenth ior high and senior high school groups. Students anywhere Street, N. W., Washington, D. C. in the United States are eligible. Federation officials say the contest was inspired by the success of "Smokey Bear," the THE UNIVERSITY of Colorado now offers a regular cartoon character developed by the U. S. Forest Service four-year college program in conservation education. The in its campaign to prevent forest fires. student receives training in both conservation and educa­ Entries may be a caricature of an animal or person tion. Many of our conservationists are ill-equipped to or the personification of an animal character. All entries educate the public, and many well-meaning educators don't must be original in design and copying from another artist know what the score is with respect to conservation. Proper is forbidden. The drawing may be in pen and ink, pencil, training in conservation education is vitally needed.

ODDITY IN CATFISH "WHISKERS"

FISHERIES TECHNICIANS of the Oklahoma Game and Fish Department happen on to na­ ture's oddities among the finny tribes now and then as they go about their jobs of removing fish from overpopulated lakes and farm ponds. Here is one that surprised them at the Joe N. Moxley lake nine miles west of Ardmore where fish were removed by rotenone recently.

The split barbel on the channel catfish's right jaw was the first of its kind anyone concerned had seen. The fish, which weighed 7 Vi-pounds, was normal in other respects. Ninety per cent of the fish removed from the 80-acre Moxley lake consisted of carp, shad, buffalo and large channel catfish. All fish were removed and restocking by state fish hatcheries is to follow. . . . Staff Photo by Bill Schumacher.

PAGE 20 OKLAHOMA GAME S FISH NEWS — DECEMBER, 1952 Li*?'

•::•••••••-••'••••••••• •-.:••:.:..., -"•••:•-•• . •::•- .:..:^..:.::'.:.,- ' ' •••'• "l.aicia -.:;: k^INCE HIS APPOINTMENT as game moved to Davis, Oklahoma, when he ranger more than a year ago, Bruce was one year old. During school years Oakley has been assigned the job of Bruce worked in his father's meat pollution control officer in the south­ market. Later he opened up his own east district. He is in charge of six­ locker plant at Durant and managed teen counties. Bruce got his pollution it for many years before selling out control and game ranger training the business. under supervision of L. E. Crawford, Oddly enough, it was through his veteran game ranger of Lawton. locker plant that Brace first got in­ The main source of pollution in terested in becoming a game ranger. Brace's district are improperly con­ From time to time the game rangers structed oil wells and abandoned coal stored deer there which had been il­ mines. However, most companies are legally killed by violators. At one Ranger Bruce K. Oakley building their new wells so that no time Bruce had as many as twenty- Durant, Oklahoma salt water gets into streams and lakes. five deer at his plant, waiting to be distributed to various state hospitals According to Bruce, most of the usually appreciated by amateurs on and orphanages. trouble comes from old wells, brought the lake, Bruce gives it when in his in back when nobody thought a good Another place Bruce got acquainted estimation it may save a life. fishing stream was important. As for with the game rangers was out on the abandoned coal mines, there is Lake Texoma. Fond of fishing, he Besides his pollution control work, still a problem. Sealed off at the sur­ had his own inboard motor boat and Bruce serves as a regular game ranger face with concrete plugs, the mines spent all his free time on the lake. and always helps out wherever he began to pollute farmers' water wells In 1946 Bruce organized the Durant may be. Last season found him en­ and the farmers lost no time in dyna­ Boat Club which now boasts a mem­ forcing the game laws at the Antlers miting the plugs. So now in south­ bership of 125. Also he became an deer checking station. eastern counties, some of the old active member of the Coast Guard Bruce and his wife, Henrye, live in mines are pouring sulfuric acid into Auxiliary at Lake Texoma. Durant. They have one daughter, what were once excellent fishing Rescue work on the lake fits in as Mary Joe, living in California. Dur­ streams. Bruce has found it next to part of Bruce's job. Several times he ing her school years Mary Joe was impossible to prove ownership of the has been called on to help find a Miss Durant of 1946 and football old mines since they have changed drowned or missing person. And queen of 1947. hands many times. To be permanent­ more than a few times he has gone ly sealed, the mines would have to Bruce takes part in various com­ out of his way to caution hunters or be cemented deep down below the munity affairs. Also he belongs to fishermen in overloaded boats or to layer of solid rock. the Bryan County Sportsman Club, warn them about going out on rough the Fox and Wolf Hunters Associa­ Bruce Oakley was born in Little water. In most instances he got little tion, and is a 32nd degree Mason. Rock, Arkansas, and his family thanks. But though advice is not . . . Alden Kimsey.

Farm Pond Dry? Here's Chance To Improve It Duck Stamp Sales In State Exceed 50,000

OKLAHOMANS WHO OWN farm ponds that have gone OKLAHOMA RANKED 17th among the 48 states in dry during the drouth this year, may utilize the situation the sale of federal duck stamps for the year ending June to improve their ponds. While dry, the ponds can be 30, 1952. A total of 50,843 stamps was sold in this deepened and enlarged and silt removed from the bottom. state. This represented an increase over the 1950 season when 43,390 duck stamps were sold in Oklahoma. Silt is harmful rather than beneficial to water bodies. The enlargement will increase the surfaces and thus benefit fish The trend upward was nationwide. All previous life since most fish foods are produced in the upper one sales records for the $2 federal duck stamps, required of foot of water. Future food facilities also may be improved all waterfowl hunters over 16 years of age, were shattered. A total of 2,167,767 stamps of the 1951-52 issue was by planting legumes in the dried-up bottom area. Tanks sold nationwide. Wildlife officials usually accept the duck and ponds may be restocked in 1953 with desirable fish stamp sales as a fair indicator of waterfowl supplies and species by applying to the state game and fish department. good or bad hunting.

OKLAHOMA GAME S FISH NEWS — DECEMBER, 195 2 PAGE 21 Unrecognized Game Bird? Conservation Education Awards

MORE EXTENSIVE crow shooting as a sport could SPECIAL AWARDS in conservation education were well replace the promiscuous roost bombing now widely given recently to Walt Disney for his motion picture "Na­ practiced in the opinion of Dr. E. E. Good, a member of ture's Half-Acre," and to the American Association of the Ohio Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit who re­ School Administrators for its book "Conservation Educa­ cently completed a study of the economic status and life tion in American Schools." The awards were among history of this controversial bird. The crow is favorably several given nationwide by the National Association of distributed in relation to hunting pressure, and prejudice Conservation Education and Publicity, in which the Okla­ is the major factor that prevents its more widespread use homa Game and Fish Department holds membership. The as a game bird. The crow is alert and not only offers Association held its annual meeting in Galveston, Septem­ a challenge to the hunter's wing-shooting ability, but its ber 21-24. flesh is rewardingly palatable. "Nature's Half-Acre" was produced by RKO Radio The crow, says Dr. Good, must be judged beneficial Pictures, Inc., in 1951, and has been shown in theaters or harmful to man's interests on a local basis, for its food nationwide the past year. "Conservation Education in habits vary widely with the locality, the season, and the American Schools" was the 1951 yearbook of the Asso­ availability of food. Crow predation on waterfowl may ciation which produced and copyrighted it. The book be especially serious at times in some areas, but its influence is available at $4 from the American School of Adminis­ on upland game birds is much less. A bulk of their insect trators, 1201 Sixteenth Street, N. W., Washington 6, diet was found to consist of crop destroying caterpillars, D. C. beetles, and grasshoppers. Crow control, according to Dr. Good, must always remain a local endeavor since the The purpose of the annual NACEP Awards is to birds return year after year to the same locality. Because stimulate the growth of the conservation movement they are migratory to a degree, little effect upon summer through education by recognition of outstanding activi­ populations can be expected from roost bombing carried ties in the field of conservation education and public re­ out in winter. Hunting during the nesting season, when lations. crow predation and crop damage are most serious, is the most effective means of ending local complaints of damage CONSERVATION daily becomes more important in and can provide fine off-season sport to hunters. . . . Wild­ our lives. Not only as to natural resources, but as to life Management Institute. human liberty which has been called the greatest resource of all. Only through increasing respect for conservation UNDER USUAL DESERT working conditions, the max­ in all its forms can we cope with the forces of evil which imum time between drinks for the average camel is eight will destroy first, the great natural resources of freedom; or ten days. If it were not required to work during this then dictate the terms and use of every other resource. . . . period, it could probably last longer. John F. Clagett, Washington News.

FELINE FELICITY YOU CAN RUB YOUR EYES and look again, just as Oklahoma school kids who view the live animals on the Oklahoma Game and Fish Department's traveling wildlife exhibit are doing these days. Uhm-hmm, that's right. It's an ordinary old black-and-white tabby cat of the domestic variety eyeing all disbelieving viewers defiantly as it shares quarters with a southeast Oklahoma bobcat (the wild variety) in a cage on the trailer exhibit.

The pair came from Antlers, Oklahoma, where Ranger Atwood Thompson last Septem­ ber accepted them from a family who had made pets of the two cats since they were tiny kittens. Now the two are inseparable. The Game and Fish Department decided they should not be separated when the Antlers family wanted to donate their pets to the mobile ex­ hibit. The two cats made a trip via Mistletoe Express from Antlers to Muskogee during the state fair there last September, when they joined up with other animal "troupers" in the educational exhibit. . . . Staff Photo by Larry Gaffney.

PAGE 22 OKLAHOMA GAME S FISH NEWS — DECEMBER, 1952 if ## X7IW&™J WmMCW* M ^* iW.# 5 JL4JSU;- --' te^"

AGREES WITH DR. ESCHMEYER MORE BIG BASS Shady Point, Oklahoma Platter Flats Camp, Rt. 1 October 9, 1952 Calera, Oklahoma Oklahoma Game and Fish News: November 10, 1952 I was just reading "Fish Conservation Ideas Change" and the Oklahoma Game and Fish Department: suggestions that Dr. Eschmeyer points out on size limits was just Just to clarify our records, our own black bass honor roll follows: what I was getting at when I wrote you some time ago, about little J. A. Daugherty, 9 lb.-7 oz. and 9 lb. 4 oz.; Bob Arnold, 8 lb.-9 oz; bass being treated rough at Wister lake here in LeFlore county. I fish Henry Moncrief, 8 lb.-2 oz.; Floyd Magnus, 8 lb.; "Lee" Anderson, there quite a lot and anybody can fish there and three out of every 8 lb.-1 J/2 -oz.; J. A. Daugherty, 8 lb.-12-oz. Can you beat that from four bass you catch will be from 6 to 8)4 -inches long. There were one fishing camp? 480,000 little bass put in the Wister lake in 1949 or 1950. This is MRS. RUTH MITCHAM the reason I think that the size limit should be cut smaller so they would be thinned out. Of course most all sport fishermen will throw WILDLIFE EXHIBIT AT A COUNTY FAIR back those small ones anyway. Hugo, Oklahoma R. L. PHILLIPS September 17, 1952 STIFFER PENALTIES—BETTER FISHING Oklahoma Game and Fish Commission: On behalf of the Choctaw County Fair Board and the Chamber Okemah, Oklahoma of Commerce, I want to thank you for bringing your very wonderful Route 1 exhibit to our County Fair. The rangers were most cooperative in every October 7, 195 2 way and each one is an excellent public relations man. Thousands of Oklahoma Game and Fish Department: people witnessed the exhibit which was the finest educational exhibit My sincere congratulations to Ranger Claude Goin, Okmulgee, on our fair grounds. for his fine job on cases 75, 76, 77,78,79 of the August arrest record. Yours very sincerely, We are close enough to really appreciate his work. Dynamite and MURL R. ROGERS, Sec'y-Mgc. poison have been used entirely too much and have done much to ruin Choct?.w County Chamber of Commerce this area as far as good fishing is concerned. I would rather imagine that the stiffer penalties and the work of Mr. Goin will cause a de­ PUTS INFORMATION TO GOOD USE crease in unlawful fishing. Manchester, Oklahoma Yours sincerely, October 25, 1952 E. V. HERD, JR. Oklahoma Game and Fish Department: I enjoy your magazine and wish to compliment you for such FAVORS LAW CHANGE a splendid publication. I try to put the conservation articles to good Henryetta, Oklahoma use. For example, pond building, shelter belts, and planting lespedeza October 7, 195 2 and clover. During the last two years I have established six ponds Oklahoma Game and Fish Department: on the land that I farm. Even the small ones hold water a long time Commercial fishing, if properly supervised by proper officials, on for the wildlife. the larger lakes of the state might be helpful to certain kinds of fishing, Sincerely, let us say for bass, but there seems no excuse for allowing it on most R. F. LlVENGOOD of the small streams. The so-called rough fish are what you fish for on Deep Fork, Grand, the Verdigris and Arkansas rivers, and many ENJOYS PICTURES others like them. On these streams there are plenty of people who Okmulgee, Oklahoma want to fish for carp, drum, buffalo and all kinds of catfish, and November 11, 195 2 especially for catfish over two feet in length, and called rough fish in Oklahoma Game and Fish News: , the law concerning commercial fishing. There is no over supply of Enjoyed the front cover of the November, 195 2, issue and have these fish in any of these streams, and nature will take care of the streams without commercial fishing. Commercial fishing has absolutely placed it under the glass top on my desk; also the two dogs from ruined every stream of the state where it has taken over. The reason page 7. is simple: The commercial fisherman uses nets, seines, "telephones" Yours truly, and other devices to make his catch. He cannot make it a paying LORD HILLMAN business under the law, and therefore in many cases xhe resorts to the Oil - Gas Royalties "telephone" and other illegal means to make his catch. It is the same NATURE OUT OF BALANCE? old plan used when we caught quail in nets and pot shot them on the ground. I will appreciate it if you will publish this as an answer to Heavener, Oklahoma some articles written in favor of commercial fishing. Let us see that October 8, 195 2 this law is changed at the next legislature. Oklahoma Game and Fish News: Just finished reading the Cottontail Rabbit story by Lester Giles Very truly, in your October issue. Where he concludes his story by saying "Where F. C. HELM the cottontail is at home, Nature is likely to be in balance." I am afraid Nature is badly out of balance here in LeFlore county. You HELPS IN SCOUT WORK can walk for hours in the woods and fields without seeing a rabbit. Chickasha, Oklahoma I went out last winter when snow was on the ground, walked for Route 1 hours and saw very few tracks, other than fox and cat. I am a K.C.S. conductor working from Dequeen north to Watts. We lose October 22, 195 2 quantities of wheat along the track out of leaky cars. You don't see Oklahoma Game and Fish News: any quail along the track until after you get over Rich Mountain I am really impressed with your magazine Oklahoma Game and going south out of Heavener. The same applies to the Arkansas West­ Fish News. It is great to keep up with the work and accomplishments ern between Heavener and Forester, Ark. No quail until we get south of the Game and Fish Department through this publication. The of Bates, Ark. What has Arkansas got that Oklahoma has not? I nature sketches help a great deal with Scout work as well as with was born in the Chickasaw nation and have been here since before it hunting and fishing. Enclosed is a small donation which I am sure was a state. I have long since quit hunting. I still fish and spend many will be put to good use! enjoyable hours in the woods between trips and I see more deer than Sincerely, rabbits. ONEITA FREY C. W. COATES

OKLAHOMA GAME S FISH NEWS — DECEMBER, 195 2 PAGE 23 POSTMASTER Okla. Game and Fish Dept. Oklahoma City 5, Okla. State lA*rary

^^puennUion (P/eda*

I give my pledge os an American to save and faithfully to defend from waste the natural resources of my country — its soil and minerals, its forests, waters, and wildlife.

* MUSKRAT

TUB MUSKRAT IS A WATER-lNHABIT/NG JZODENT NEAP. THE SIZE OF A SMALL. CAT - /T /S ONE- OF OOP MOST VALUABLE FORBEARING MAMMALS/ PORING THE 1951-52. TRAPP/N& SEASON OVER. /S,000 PELTS WERE TAKEN BY OKLA HOMA TRAPPERS AN£> SOLD AT AN A VERA&E PRKE OF •*/. IO PER. PELT - THE fiAUSKRAr RANKS SECOND TO THE MINK /N TOTAL YAUlE OF PELTS TAKEN BY STAT* TRAPPERS ANP THIRD 3EHIND THE OPOSSUM ANP SKUNK IN NUMBER OF PELTS TAKEIV- TRAPPIN& SEASON /S OPEIY FROM DECEMBER. 1ST TO sJANUARr BIST- J-RAPPERS MOST//AYE BOTH A TRAPPING AlYD HUNTUV& JUCEA/SE

ymt* RATS CALLED "/CITS

MOSRRATS ARE COMPETNTOlV F&S. THE RABBITS WHEN IT COMES 70 /NCe&4S/A& THE TRIBE - THEY MAY RA/SE 3 7t> S IITTERS PER YEAR - ASUMBERNHSr FXa*/ (, TO 9 BA»y RATS PER E./TTSR

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OF ARE FOXES, MUSKRAT MEAT WHENEVER THE OPPORT^NlTf ARISES- MOSKRATS ARE VERT QUARRELSOME ANfoA^ff 7HEA7SELVES ANP ALL BUT A PEP Y FEW CARRY SCARS FROM SAVAGE BATTLES- WITH THEIR. OWN K/ND

THE MUSKRAT S EXISTENCE- DEPENDS ON WATER - IT MOST HAVE A SUITABLE AC&UATTC HABITAT f&RBurrtEOOPANO HOME- ITS MAW EOOJ> CONSISTS OF Soars, BULBS, STEMS, LEAVES $ SEEDS OF WATER PLANTS- rr WILL ALSO £AT &RAW, MUSSELS,FRO&S ANO FISH - THE HIND FEET OP THE MUSKRAT ARE BR0AP,FLAT A/VD A4RT/- ALLY WEBBED- THEY MAKE EXCELLENT PADDLES FOR SWIMMIMS - (T's TAIL. /S UNIQUE HV THAT IT IS PLATTE/YED VERTICALLY FOR USE AS A POPPER WHILE SINIMMIN& - OH- BEFORE WE FOR&ET — MUSKRAT'S APE £50OZ> TO BAT- COOK THEM AS YOU IA/OULP SAO/RR£Z.~ CHILL. THE COOKEP MEAT ANP EAT COLD . WITH CHILI SAUCE OR CATSUP - TOM! Yi¥ifl