MONTHLY WI ID LIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Vol. 1, No. 10 
Page 2 
Waterfowl populations were below normal for the period. Mallards 
and diving ducks appeared to be behind schedule, and blue-winged teal departed 
abnormally early. In most places, ducks appeared to remain only a day or two 
after a flight before continuing in migration. The rapid turnover in migrants 
apparently occurred because of the paucity of native duck foods in most lakes. 
Because of the abundance of coontail at Anderson Lake, near Browning, 
and at Stump Lake, near Grafton, these areas had the largest preseason duck 
populations. On October 16, there were 5,000 widgeon at Anderson and 9,500 
at Stump Lake. 
Excessive shooting pressure on these two lakes drove the ducks from 
their confines. By October 29, there were only 650 widgeon and 150 mallards 
on Anderson Lake, and none on Stump Lake. However, 6,000 widgeons from Stump 
Lake had shifted to Gilbert Lake, a refuge area 2 miles away. 
W-56-R-3 G. Sanderson 
Live-trapping was continued on the Allerton Park study area in Piatt 
County during October. Sixteen raccoon captures were made representing eight 
different males and seven different females. Nine of these were caught and 
marked for the first time. 
Fifty-one opossum captures which were comprised of 15 different males 
and 17 different females were made. Twelve of the males and 10 of the females 
were first caught and marked in October. Ten had been marked in previous 
months. Three dead opossums were picked up on the road bordering the study 
area, two of them with tags. 
Because the raccoon and opossum hunting season will open on November 
1 in the Northern Zone, live-trapping has been discontinued for this year, and 
a brief summary of the 1958 live-trapping is given. During 1958, 103 different 
raccoons were handled 163 times: about h2 raccoons per square mile. Twelve 
of these were marked for the first time in 1957; the others were marked in 
1958. One hundred and eleven different opossums were handled l5l times. Eight 
of these were marked in 1957, and the others were marked in 1958. Opossums 
were trapped at the rate of Ij 5.3 per square mile on the area in 1958. 
One hundred and eighteen young opossums were toe-clipped in 1958 
while still in their mother’s pouch. Fifty-three young-of-the-year were later 
live-trapped of which 19 per cent had been toe-clipped. It is calculated that 
625 young opossums were produced on the 1,565-acre study area in 1958, or one 
per 2.5 acres. There were 1.16 litters per female with young and an average 
of 8.0 young per litter. 
Twenty-eight furbuyers in 21 counties were visited in order to obtain 
their cooperation for the collection of bones during the raccoon hunting and 
trapping season. 
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