524 



Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin 



Vol. 23, Art. 



acres of woodland. Hawkins (1937) es- 

 timated that individual squirrels consumed 

 about 2 pounds of shelled corn per week. 

 A practical feeding station is shown in 



fig- ^2. . . 



Winter feeding projects are relatively 



easy to organize among sportsmen and con- 

 servationists, but such activities are also 



sound open seasons on fox and gray squir- 

 rels in Illinois. 



The Illinois squirrel season has always 

 begun early and lasted long, and the bag 

 limit has been liberal. Despite heavy 

 hunting and extensive habitat depletion in 

 the state, squirrels, particularly fox squir-^ 

 rels, have maintained appreciable popula- 



Fig. 42. — A practical winter feeding station — standing corn adjacent to a woodlot and 

 hedgerow, Champaign County. 



easy to neglect during severe weather. A 

 feeding program, if it is neglected during 

 a critical period, especially after squirrels 

 or other game have been concentrated by 

 feeding during mild weather, may do more 

 harm than good to the animals. 



Hunting Seasons 



The regulations under which squirrels 

 are hunted are among the most important 

 factors in their management. One of the 

 ultimate objectives of this study was the 

 determination of dates for biologically 



m\ 



tions. This circumstance attests eloquent- 

 1}' to high quality in much of the Illinois 

 squirrel range. A comparison of the 1944 

 season in Illinois with seasons in other 

 central states is given in table 26. 



Of the midwest states, only Missouri 

 and Kentucky, with 153-day and 84-day 

 seasons, respectively, had longer open 

 seasons than the central and northern 

 zones in Illinois. Only Missouri had an 

 earlier season than the southern zone. 

 The daily bag limit in- the midwest states 

 was rather uniform, table 26, and appar- 

 ently satisfactory. Only Michigan had a 



