206 Game Survey of the North Central States 



lakes, from which the ducks cannot be driven by shooting, is also a powerful at- 

 traction. Estimates of the maximum resting population on the Illinois River 

 lakes were given me by the State and Federal wardens as follows: 



Crane Lake 3,000,000 ducks 



Clear Lake 3,000,000 ducks 



Meredosia Bay 500,000 ducks 



The more rapid decline of the shooting in Missouri as compared with Illinois 

 may be ascribed in large part to the accidental absence of large lakes. 



Small lakes and marshes are of course equally good as rest grounds if de- 

 liberately set aside and enforced as yearlong refuges. The slow spread of effective 

 action on this well known fact is one of the most disappointing things encountered 

 during the survey. There seem to be well over 600 clubs in the region, but as 

 nearly as I could determine, only nine have set aside refuges. I learned of eight 

 refuges on farm ponds, and 20 effective refuges established by States. A sum- 

 mary of refuges appears in Table 45, and the locations of the important refuges, 

 in all States except Minnesota and Michigan, appear on Map 17. 



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. This lake, upon being threatened 

 with drainage, was purchased by the State at $73 per acre, and the whole lake 

 (2,720 acres) set aside as a refuge. From 1,000 to 1,900 geese, and an equal 

 number of mallards, were counted on the lake by N. R. Huff at various times 

 during the winter of 192829- The goose shooting in the surrounding fields is 

 said to have been improved a hundred per cent by reason of the refuge. But so 

 did the demand for such shooting. Commercial preserves have taken up all the 

 shooting rights on the lands surrounding the lake. 



Sportsmen's associations in various States are now competing for the estab- 

 lishment of Federal refuges financed under the Morbeck-Andreson Act. Some of 

 these States have absolutely no refuge system of their own. It does not seem to 

 occur to them that a vigorous local refuge program should be one of the best argu- 

 ments for Federal help, or that large Federal refuges are fully effective only 

 when the surrounding region is well covered by numerous small local ones. These 

 small local refuges are the State's responsibility in any event. 



This situation is merely one manifestation of the need for a waterfowl sur- 

 vey which should map the lines of flight, the distribution of present and prospec- 

 tive waterfowl areas, the intensity of shooting, the presence or absence of acci- 

 dental refuges, and thus determine a system of Federal, State, and private refuges 

 distributed to meet the needs of the situation. The existence of such a Statewide 

 plan would tend to assign responsibility among the various agencies, and tend to 

 prevent one waiting on the other to start something. 



Co-operation in Law Enforcement. No description of waterfowl con- 

 ditions in the region could fairly omit to mention the apparent lack of co-operation 

 on the part of some States in the enforcement of the migratory bird laws. There 



