1931 — BIENNIAL REPORT — 1932 



Page Eleven 



It Easier for the Sportsmiae 



By Sid .1. Coffee, Missdiila, President Montana Automobile Association 



INKED so closely as to 

 be almost inseparable, 

 are the sports of fish- 

 ing and hunting with 

 good roads in Mon- 

 tana. To thousands 

 of tourists and a ma- 

 jority of home folks, 

 smooth highways would be meaningless 

 and valueless unless they offered acces- 

 sibility to regions where fishing is un- 

 paralleled and hunting is good. Dur- 

 ing its existence, the Montana Automo- 

 bile Association has been alive to this 

 close connection between highways and 

 wild life sports and has conducted a 

 certain part of its work and publicity 

 on the basis that this . relation is a 

 valuable agent for bringing tourists to 

 this part of the northwest. 



Montana, which is a state of dis- 

 tances, has a reputation renowned for 

 sports found outside city limits. Her 

 most beautiful lakes are those far up 

 in the mountains, the best fishing is in 

 the bubbling mountain streams and the 

 most suitable camping and hunting 

 grounds often lie miles from a town. 

 Montanans are in the habit of entertain- 

 ing, not only themselves, but their out- 

 of-state guests and visitors on fishing 

 and hunting trips to spots which, be- 

 fore the advent of the automobile and 

 roads, were all but unknown and in- 

 accessible to even the most enthusi- 

 astic of sportsmen. The combination 

 of the automobile and good highways 

 is a chief reason for many Montanans 

 becoming interested in such sports. To- 

 day men speed in cars through north- 

 western wilderness where once they 

 plodded patiently on foot. 



During the last two years a good 

 part of the $21,000,000 which the state 

 has used for road development and 

 building was devoted to bettering and 

 building highways, mostly in the moun- 

 tain and forest regions. Places reputed 

 unexcelled as hunting and fishing 

 paradises and known much further 

 than the boundaries of the state are 

 being made attainable for motorists and 

 tourists who are wild life devotees and, 

 as time goes on and the mileage of 

 oiled and improved highways here adds 

 up with the expenditure of highway 

 funds, spots hitherto unknown to fish- 

 ermen and hunters will be annexed by 

 them. 



A country, like an individual, has a 

 personality aud certain characteristics. 

 The Treasure State has long been rec- 

 ognized as an unmatched part of the 

 northwest for out-of-doors recreation. 

 Waterways here offer superb fishing 

 and hundreds of well-stocked streams 

 lie within the radius of the state while 

 certain areas of Montana are abund- 

 ant with a profusion of game life for 

 deer, elk, bear and feathered hunting. 

 Equalling this lavish gift is the nat- 

 ural beauty of the earth and sky — no 

 country offers a more ideal setting for 

 these sports. A combination like this, 

 conforming to a standard of perfec- 



Good Roads, Good Sport 



The Montana Automobile As 

 tion is a statewide non-profit 

 club affiliated with the A. / 

 Chief functions of the asso( 

 e moulding of legi; 



to 



Montana highways and to attract the 

 motorist from other states to travel 

 in and through Montana. It renders 

 an assortment of special services to 

 its members scattered throughout the 

 state. 



tion, should draw a full share of tour- 

 ists and travellers who seek thrills with 

 beauty or beauty with thrills. 



Bolstering Nature's lavishness are 

 Montana's highways and roads. Latent 

 sport possibilities are being opened by 

 the annually increasing development of 

 the state's roads and one now motors 

 freely to hidden haunts of fish and 

 game. 



The true spirit of the west, that of 

 hospitality, is genuinely exemplified in 

 the ever-mounting mileage of improved 

 roads being added to the state's high- 

 way system. Tourists' enthusiasm and 

 desire for good hunting and fishing are 

 irresistible only when roads to equal 

 the degree of excellence in these sports 

 are offered. 



Good roads, now approaching mod- 

 ernization, traverse the state east to 

 west and north to south. Access to 

 the forests and mountains, which con- 

 stitute about a third of Montana's large 

 area, is a realization now that develop- 

 ment within the last two and three 

 years of an entire modern highway sys- 

 been approximated. 



tern 



Out Door Ethics Code 



Your outdoor manners tell tlie 

 world what you are at liome. 



What belongs to the public isn't 

 your own— play fair. 



Kespect (he property of rural res- 

 Idenls ;isk heiore using it. 



Save fences, dose grates and bars, 

 go iuound planted fields, 



1)0 your shooting only where ab- 

 solutely safe see clearly before 

 pulling Oie trigger. 



Kespect the law— take enough le- 

 gal fish and game to eat, then quit. 



Protect public h e a 1 1 h— keep 

 springs and streams clean. 



(lean up your camp and don't 

 liiter the highways with trash. 



Carelessness «i(li fires is a crime 

 againsi liiiniaiiil.t pritciil them. 



Leaw flu\Mrs anil slirui)s for 

 others to eii.ioy iielp keep outdoor 

 Montana beautiful. 



The Hungarian 

 Partridge 



In general appearance and body con- 

 formation, the Hungarian partridge of 

 Montana resembles bob-white quail. 

 However, the "Hun" is nearly twice as 

 large as the quail, weighing from 12 to 

 14 ounces. The Hungarian, as in the 

 case of quail, is a timid bird and con- 

 sequently a peaceful one. 



Incubation of Hungarian partridge 

 eggs is from 21 to 23 days. The aver- 

 age nest contains about 16 eggs. Nest- 

 ing sites picked by Hungarians often 

 are along the edge of ditches, along 

 grassy side-roads or in grassy fence 

 rows. If suitable locations cannot be 

 found elsewhere, Hungarians some- 

 times nest in hayfields and rough pas- 

 tures, or other spots where there are 

 quantities of old long, dry grass of the 

 previous year's growth. 



Hungarians prefer rich, fertile, flat 

 or gently rolling land of clay loam. 

 They seldom are found on high rolling 

 or hilly land and are found in these lo- 

 cations only when their natural ranging 

 grounds are within easy flight. 



These birds should receive the en- 

 couragement of every agricultural com- 

 munity for they are a distinct benefit 

 to farmers in their feeding habits. Their 

 food consists chiefly of insects, weed 

 seeds and waste grain. During spring 

 and summer their diet is believed to 

 consist chiefly of insect life. Fall aud 

 winter months find them feeding on 

 ragweed, foxtail, black bindweed and 

 many other noxious weeds. Zoologists 

 have estimated that approximately SO 

 per cent of the Hungarian's diet is weed 

 seed, the balance being made up of 

 fallen grains. 



Coloration of the Hungarian par- 

 tridge is light steely gray, darkening 

 as it proceeds from the neck to the 

 body, until the gray nearly disappears 

 in a maze of copper, white and black 

 markings. Underparts are dull, yel- 

 lowish white. Their dreaded enemy is 

 the Cooper's hawk. At nights the 

 "Huns" form in a loose ring similar to 

 that used by quail. When disturbed 

 they seem to flush simultaneously, each 

 bird taking to the air at the same in- 

 stant. Sportsmen find them one of the 

 most difficult shots of all game birds. 



BEAVEKS BOTHER NOKWAY 



It is claimed that American beaver 

 imported into Norway have proved to 

 be a nuisance. They are now so nu- 

 merous that their dams have flooded 

 meadows, undermined roads and weak- 

 ened bridges and farmers have peti- 

 tioned for a repeal of the protective law 

 accorded these animals by the Norwe- 

 gian government. 



