PLANNING COVER IMPROVEMENTS 627 



provide the necessary space for indicating cover and other details. It is usually possible to 

 secure aerial photographs which, properly interpreted, will also provide the line of demar- 

 cation between the major variations in cover, as well as picture graphically the general 

 layout. 



If printed lightly these may also be used to advantage as a basis on which to project plans 

 for covert development. 



Even though these are available, a strip survey or at least a reconnaissance is still neces- 

 sary to determine cover type composition and density, and to secure the incidental data 

 on other items already mentioned as desirable. 



Usually, however, cover type boundaries are best secured by establishing base lines from 

 which, by means of compass and pace, a series of survey lines are run across the area at 

 intervals sufficiently frequent so as to allow such details as changes in cover type or density 

 occurring between the lines, to be sketched in. The compass direction of each course is en- 

 tered on a rough field map, as are the distances along each course at which the features noted 

 occur. 



It is, of course, necessary to determine the cover types to be recognized before mapping is 

 actually started. In New York all grouse cover has been divided into twelve major types*. 

 These, singly or in combination, furnish the four items — winter shelter, spring breeding 

 grounds, summer feeding grounds and fall feeding grounds — one or another of which is most 

 likely to be deficient in otherwise good grouse habitat. 



As the survey progresses, it is helpful to transpose the field notes to the final map and 

 the accompanying descriptive record at frequent intervals. Details from soil, topographical 

 or aerial surveys may then be incorporated. Once one becomes reasonably proficient, from 

 100 to 150 acres can be mapped in a day depending upon the number of details noted, the 

 amount of open land and the complexity of the cover. 



Analyzing the Covert in Terms of Grouse Needs 



The field reconnaissance, with or without a map. compli'ted and the notes on cover, game 

 and predator conditions brought together, the next step is to analyze the data to trace out 

 present conditions and to find just what measures are required to bring the covert up to full 

 productive ca|)acity. The Investigation firmly believes this to be in large part a matter of 

 improving the cover and of controlling the harvest so that the surplus but not the seed stock 

 shall be taken annually. The overall aspects of control, including seasons and bag limits, are 

 discussed in Chapter XVII, p. 673. leaving the location and designing of seed stock refuges for 

 discussion here. Likewise the role and suppression of predators, diseases and other factors 

 are considered in the same chapter, since they represent control measures rather than covert 

 design. 



Recognizing Cover Deficiencies 



The problem in determining cover deficiencies is to visualize the cover actually existent, to 

 decide whether or not it provides an adequate number of spots where winter shelter, spring 

 breeding grounds and summer and fall feeding grounds adjoin or lie close to one another 

 and to redesign the covert to accomplish this end where such is not already the case. It is 

 worth reiterating here that the number of grouse a covert can support is dependent largely 

 on the frequency with which these ideal locations occur. One has but to turn to figure 64 



» See Chapter HI, p. 120. 



