problem in regard to the Horseshoe Lake Game Refuge soon after 
this refuge was created. "The question of whether public refuges 
should be surrounded by public shooting grounds is frequently 
debated. Horseshoe Lake in Alexander County, Illinois, is a 
good place to study the question." 
The present food resources of the Horseshoe Lake 
Game Refuge are insufficient to winter more than 10,000 geese, 
and probably only 5,000 can be accommodated to best advantage. 
When the corn crop and wheat browse on the refuge are exhausted, 
and occasionally before this occurs, the flock feeds on unhar- 
vested and sometimes standing grain in the surrounding country- 
side -- occasionally at a considerable loss to farmers who do 
not rent their fields to hunters. 
The breakdown in wariness that has occurred is per- 
haps more serious to the future of the Horseshoe Lake flock 
than the reduction of its size. It is <a that the steps 
necessary to reestablish wildness in the flock are (1) estab- 
lish refuge areas on nearby islands and bars of the Mississippi 
River or on lands adjacent to the river; (2) disperse the geese 
from Horseshoe Lake to these bars and islands, i. e., drive them 
back to their original habitat; (3) insofar as possible, reduce 
contact between humans and the geese. 
In past years when the geese used the river bars they 
retained their natural wildness; coincident with their almost 
complete dependence on the refuge for food and grit, they lost 
= 1ll1- 
