AREA GROUND SURVEY 
Determination of Area of Influence 
In connection with the managed public hunting done on the refuge from 
1953 through 1960, information was gathered on flight lanes, distance of 
feeding flights, extent of potential shooting outside the managed area, etc. 
Information was gathered both by State and Service personnel, from the 
ground and from the air, and provided a good basis for arriving at some idea 
of the primary area of influence of the Horicon Refuge goose flock. 
1959 Field Surveys 
Based on check station information and general knowledge of distribu- 
tion, it was considered for several years that about 50 percent of the total 
kill of Horicon birds were killed in the State-managed blinds, and the other 
50 percent outward from that area. 
In the fall of 1959 it became apparent that perhaps not enough was known 
about the harvest from the flock and since the annual kill had been steadily 
increasing, the need for more precise information became more important. 
Accordingly, a plan was set up to obtain kill information from private hold- 
ings and hunting clubs around the refuge and to pinpoint more accurately the 
area of influence. Forms distributed to nearby landowners, lessees, and 
private hunting clubs (appendix F) provided space for the landowner or club 
to record the total geese taken from their lands each day. Because the plan 
was set up just before the opening of the hunting season, it was not possible 
to cover as much area as desired, but as many farmers were contacted as 
possible. Provision was made to pick up the forms once each week so that at 
the end of the season it would be possible to more accurately estimate the 
possible total kill from the area. In arriving at total kill, all records 
from the State Managed Public Hunting Area were included. These check sta- 
tion records show close to 100 percent of the kill from the managed area. 
To this, the data obtained from nearby landowners were added, and a total 
kill was calculated. It was found that the minimum harvest from the Horicon 
flock was about 26,000 geese. It further developed that the State-managed 
blinds did not account for half of the total kill; but rather that only 
about one-third of the kill occurred in State blinds, one-third from the 
immediate periphery, and one-third farther back from the refuge. 
Establishment of Harvest Quotas 
At the time of the 1960 midwinter inventory, the Mississippi Valley 
Canada goose population showed a drop nearly 37 percent below the 1959 inven- 
tory figure, and drastic steps were suggested to safeguard further serious 
decimation. Accordingly, harvest quotas were set up. 
The 1960 Wisconsin kill quota of 7,000 Canada geese under State and 
Federal regulations was confined to Dodge and Fond du Lac Counties surround- 
ing Horicon Refuge, and Juneau County in which Necedah Refuge is located. 
It has since been necessary to revise the closure zone around Necedah to 
