Waterjowl 



209 



$50. A maximum price of $400 is sometimes reached in the Beardstown area. 

 Dry land pens have sold for as high as $100 per acre in the 40-acre blocks. 



In southeast Iowa, the Burlington Basket Company finds it profitable to 

 practice forestry on a series of Mississippi River islands, and thus to assure sus- 

 tained production of veneer logs for its manufacturing plant, partly by reason of 

 ducking rentals yielded by these islands. 



Even the "wilds" of the Mississippi Lowland Belt in southeast Missouri are 

 said to be in a rapid state of transition to a paid shooting and club basis. The end 

 of free public shooting of waterfowl on the private lands of the north central 

 region is clearly in sight. Only the public lakes and streams remain open so 

 open that many of them are duckless. 



Table 43 summarizes sample toll rates and duckland values found during the 

 survey. 



TABLE 43. Charges for duck shooting privileges and duck lands 



Locality 



Toll charges 



Sales of land per acre 



Lower Missouri River goose bars 



Upper Missouri River goose bars 



Southeast Missouri Goose stubbles . 



Bates County, Missouri 



Kankakee River, Indiana 



Lower Illinois River, standard rate 



Marshall County Illinois, baited dry 

 land 



McHenry County Illinois goose pits 



La Salle County, Illinois 



Mouth of Illinois River 



Bear Lake, Minnesota duck pass 



$4 per day 



$10 per day with guide 



Up to $20 per day with 



guide 



$1 per day 



$0.50 per car 



$15 per day or $1 per duck 



$15 per day. 

 $15 per day. 

 $5 per day_. 



$150-$300 in 

 size blocks 



farm- 



$100 in 40-acre blocks 



$0.50 per day. 



$50 



Table 44 shows how deflated land values since 1918 have left many drained 

 lands with a lower sale value and a heavier carrying charge than undrained lands 

 of the same original character but still suitable for ducks. The disadvantage of 

 drainage of course is offset more or less by the reduced risk of crop loss, but this 

 risk is not absent it is merely reduced. The levees still break occasionally. It 

 is at least an open question whether drainage of good land has brought an 

 economic gain to the landowner, and a certainty that drainage of poor land has 

 not. 







Distribution of Refuges and Clubs. Table 45 summarizes by States 

 the distribution of various special classes of waterfowl areas. Incomplete infor- 

 mation is indicated by question marks. All of the figures are approximate only, 

 since many questions of definition, too long to discuss here, enter into any such 

 enumeration. 

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