CHAPTER IX 



INFLUENCE OF MAN 



By Frank C. Edminster 



AS A GROUSE HUNTER 



Number and Per Cent Bagged — The Hunter Take — Average Bag, Seasonal and 

 Daily — Crippling Loss — Total Hunter Kill — Success PIatio — Effect on Grouse 

 Abundance of Man's Hunting. 



AS A HUNTER AND TRAPPER OF PREDATORS 



Number and Per Cent Taken by Hunting — As a Trapper of Fur Species 



AS A FARMER 



Clearing of Land — Maintenance of Openings - — Pasturing of Livestock — Other 



Domestic Stock 



AS A LUMBERMAN 



AS A CONSERVATIONIST 



Laws — Commercialization of the Take — Seasons for Hunting — Bag Limits — 

 Methods of Take — Predator Control — Refuges, Sanctuaries and Land Posting. 



EFFECT OF MAN'S AIDS ON GROUSE 



The Axe and Plow — Fire — Automobiu:s and Highways — Guns, Traps and Snares — 

 Grouse Dogs 



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SUMMARY 



The total hunter kill in New York State was found to approximate 17 per cent of the pre- 

 hunting season grouse population. This total kill may be divided roughly into five-sixths 

 birds retrieved, or hunter "take", and one-sixth cripples, shot but not retrieved, (p. 373). 



The average seasonal bag of grouse per grouse hunter has varied from .95 to 4.9 birds per 

 hunter in New York State, (p. 3751. 



The daily bag of grouse hunters on check areas was about one-third grouse per actual hunt- 

 ing day of 5?4 hours. Only one in four was found to have taken one or more grouse in 

 tlie average day's hunt. (p. 375). 



The normal success ratio of grouse hunters varied from 7 to 11 per cent of grouse flushed 



