8 BULLETIN 794, U. S. DEPAKTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



concern to the sportsman, who would have no game to shoot were 

 the birds exterminated. The sportsman therefore is vitally interested 

 in game protection, and should be among the first, as in many places 

 he is, to insist on proper protection for the objects of his sport. So 

 far as the sandhill region of Nebraska is concerned, it is evident 

 that comparatively little effort and restraint on his part will pro- 

 duce excellent and desired results. It is necessary to protect the 

 young birds in autumn by enforcing the law until the open season, 

 and it is particularly necessary to preserve the breeding grounds 

 and protect the birds there in spring and during the breeding 

 season. In other words, the prevention of spring shooting is abso- 

 lutely essential to the preservation of waterfowl in Nebraska ; other- 

 wise there will undoubtedly soon be an alarming decrease in the 

 numbers of wild fowl, and possibly even the extermination of many 

 of the species, at least in so far as they may be considered breed- 

 ing birds of the State. With proper care, however, there should be 

 an abundance of waterfowl for the continued future enjoyment of 

 the sportsnian. 



HUNTING GROUNDS. 



Autumn shooting of waterfowl in Nebraska is of three kinds — 

 lake, pond, and river. Of the first mentioned, the best is to be found 

 in the lake regions of Brown County, eastern Cherry County, central 

 and northern Cherry County, Garden and Morrill Counties, and at 

 various scattered lakes in the central and western portions of the State. 

 Pond shooting, while possible over more or less of the State, is at 

 its best in the region comprising Adams, Clay, and Fillmore Counties, 

 in the southeastern part of the State. River shooting is best on the 

 Platte Eiver between Ashland in the eastern part of the State and 

 North Platte in the west-central section, particularly between Schuy- 

 ler and Shelton in the eastern portion of the State. Hunting on 

 the Missouri and on some of the smaller streams is of much less 

 importance. 



WATERFOWL HUNTING IN THE AUTUMN OF 1915. 



Hunting conditions in Nebraska during the autumn of 1915 were 

 somewhat unusual. This was due to at least two causes: the ab- 

 normal rainfall throughout the spring, summer, and the greater 

 portion of the autumn; and, secondly, the accompanying mild fall 

 weather, both in Nebraska and in the regions much farther north. 

 The excessive rainfall not only raised the level of most of the larger 

 lakes and filled the streams of the State, but it also greatly increased 

 the number of small temporary lakes aiid ponds. Thus the ducks 

 found abundant water almost everywhere in the sandhills, as well 

 as in the wet valleys. This resulted in a much more general dis- 



