518 



Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin 



Vol 23, Art. 5 



central and northern zones. It is said 

 that squirrel dogs were more widely used 

 in Illinois when the season closed later 

 than in 1944. 



The writers believe that the data pre- 

 sented in table 23 are too few and selective 

 to be accepted at their face value. There 

 is reason to suspect that they are based 

 on returns made by the more successful 

 hunters. The strikingly uniform bag of 

 slightly more than one squirrel per hour 

 in all zones and for both years represents 

 a very high index of hunting success. The 

 writers suspect that the true index of suc- 

 cess falls between 0.5 and 1.0 squirrel 

 bagged per hour. 



The uniformity in success per unit of 

 effort in the three zones may be explained 

 by the relationship that exists between the 

 number of hunters and the number of 

 squirrels in each zone. Just as there is a 

 progressive decline in the acreage of squir- 

 rel range, and consequently in squirrel 



numbers, south to north, there is likewise 

 a decline in the number of squirrel hunt- 

 ers. This circumstance would make for 

 more or less equal hunting pressure and 

 consequently success, as is indicated by the 

 data. 



It is not known how accurately crip- 

 pling losses are indicated in table 23. On 

 the basis of the writers' observations and 

 the opinions of many experienced hunters, 

 the figures are conservative. The great- 

 est source of error probably lies in the 

 number of animals hit but giving no indi- 

 cation to hunters of having been wounded. 

 Such cases are not listed in the tabula- 

 tions. There is evidence based on skulls 

 and bones found in tree cavities that an 

 appreciable number of wounded squirrels 

 reach their dens and die there. 



The habit of shooting into leaf nests is 

 more or less common in Illinois. Allen 

 (1940, 1943) in Michigan has shown this 

 to be a wasteful and altogether undesirable 



Table 23. — Average number of squirrels bagged, hours of hunting, squirrels bagged per 

 hour and crippling losses, as reported by 236 Illinois hunters, 1940 and 1941. 



Zone 



Number 



OF 



Hunters 

 Reporting 



Average Number 



Squirrels 



Bagg&d 



per Hunter 



per Year 



Hours ot 



Hunting 



per Hunter 



per Year 



Squirrels 



Bagged 



per Hour 



Cripples Not Bagged* 



(Per Cent of Total 



Known to Have Been 



Hit) 



Fox 

 Squirrel 



Gray 

 Squirrel 



1940 



Northern, 

 Central. . 

 Southern . 



Total or Average 



18 



30 



110 



158 



14.8 

 18.4 

 19.7 



18.9 



13.2 

 16.7 

 17.9 



//./ 



1.2 

 1.1 

 1.1 



1.1 



8.1 

 12.6 

 12.6 



12.0 



10.5 

 12.8 

 15.7 



15A 



1941 



*Crippling loss ill 1941 not tabulated by tpecies on hunters' return forms. 



J 



