208 Game Survey of the North Central States 



Limits of any kind on some commercial preserves and toll farms are probably 

 poorly observed. 



There is a general verbal agreement that shooting starts at 9 o'clock. This 

 enlightened practice is evidently generally observed. 



Illinois River shooting practices are of course not representative of the region 

 as a whole. Questionable practices are more prevalent there largely because of 

 the greater opportunities to profit by them. The Illinois picture has its reverse 

 side, described under the caption on refuges and rest grounds. 



Cripple-Kill Ratio. What ratio exists between ducks actually bagged, and 

 cripples or lost birds destroyed in bagging them, but not recovered? Are modern 

 ducking equipments and practices tending to raise or lower the crippling loss? 



The latter question, though of vital importance, cannot be answered because 

 we cannot turn back the pages of history. The former could be answered by 

 systematic observation. It should be no harder to apply research to the behavior 

 of hunters than to the behavior of birds. 



Some thinking sportsmen sense this need of finding out what we are doing 

 to the birds. Dean Swift made a cripple count on Lake Koshkonong, Wisconsin. 

 The lake is 3 by 9 miles. For several seasons, after the wind had been blowing 

 from a certain direction for not more than two days, he traversed the downwind 

 shore with trained springers, and counted what they picked up. He never found 

 less than five cripples per mile, and as high as a dozen per mile on the same 

 stretch of shore 2 days in succession. Unfortunately he was unable to determine 

 the ratio of ducks crippled to ducks killed on the lake. 



Two "pushers" on the lower Illinois River estimated the cripple loss as 33 

 per cent and 50 per cent, respectively. This is for mallard shooting over live 

 decoys in flooded timber, with plenty of ducks, and in a locality having a lower- 

 than-usual ethical code; the worst possible combination. 



In jump shooting on the upper Mississippi bottoms I estimate the crippling 

 loss with a good dog as 15 to 20 per cent. 



On Rio Grande sandbar shooting in New Mexico my five years' written 

 record averaged 13 per cent. 



Charges and Land Value. On Illinois River commercial preserves $10 

 per man per day has been the going toll charge since 1914. This is now being 

 raised to $15, or $25 for two men, with a limit kill often guaranteed. This 

 higher rate is apparently established on the lower river. With as high as 10 

 guns per pen, this means a gross revenue of up to $150 per day per pen. One 

 variation of this new rate is $1 per duck. 



Rentals and Sale Values of Duck Lands. The shooting on $10 land 

 in the Jonesboro section on the Mississippi rented, in one instance, for 10 to 20 

 cents. On the Illinois no rental figures were obtained. 



Sale values of duck lands in the Beardstown sector, in farm-sized blocks, run 

 from $150 to $300 per acre. At the mouth of the Illinois, duck lands run nearer 



