OREGON UNIT--LEADER APPOINTED SEPTEMBER 21, 1935 
4 field study was made of severe winter conditions (not a normal expectation 
aa the winters are usually mild) in Oregon for two winters, and these were found 
not destructive to smail game. Food for winter was studied and found adequate in 3 
feet of snow, a depth recorded only twice since 1900. Other findings were as 
follows: 
The weather at hatching time is a big factor in limiting bird population. 
The hunting kill is found one of the bisgest causes of low population in 
relation to a stock too small to meet the demands. 
The kill by automobiles on highways at numerous critical points also takes 
heavy toll of game birds. 
The Unit helped to rearrange the curriculum in the Department of Fish, Fur, 
and Game Management, at the Oregon State College, to make it more thorough, 
applicable, and broed enough to give a good background for professional training. 
Intensive instruction was given to more than 600 4-H boys for one week in 
conference and direct contact with them has been maintained ever since. The Unit 
will instruct the 4-H girls this season. It is building slowly but soundly in 
educating farm boys and girls to aid in (a) protecting wildlife, (b) propagating 
important species, and (c) getting individual farm censuses of game semi-annually. 
The Unit proposed a policy of management by the Game Commission, based (a) 
on natural reproduction as the permanent basis of sustained yield; (b) on artificial 
propagation as an aid in restocking areas of critical population; (c) on the band— 
ing of all game birds released from game farms to permit study of the effects of 
hunting, the results of migration, adaptation to environment, range, and efficiency 
compared with natural reprodiction; and (a) on the building up ‘of the quail popula- 
tion by closures and transplanting from over-stocked coveys and areas. As soon as 
populations are sufficient shooting interest now lacking in quail will be built up 
to take the drain off of other species by working on a plan to get an accurate 
accounting of the annual shooting kill in Oregon. 
In a deer sex-ratio census of Oregon, with 55,800 deer tabulated, the ratio 
was found to be 1 buck to 4 does. 
Thermographic record was made of nesting wild Chinese pheasants to use as a 
guide in improving the technique of artificial incubation. The work is incomplete 
as yet, but suggests that temperatures now used often are too high, resulting in 
inferior chicks. Records show that atmospheric heat directly influences the 
temperature of eges in the nest. 
Time wes devoted to range-management problems; to public~ and private-guided 
Zame management on the 18,000—acre Squaw Butte area; and to work with stockmen in 
developing an attitude and program of benefit to wildlife. 
IOWA UNIT--LEADER APPOINTED SEPTEMBER 24, 1935 
Advance was made on the life history and management study of Mearns!'s 
eottontail rabbit, particular effort being concentrated on pellet-count techniques 
and on studies of cover, form-building habits, and food. 
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