pene 2A5 0 DU B.O:N2 6.0 LL E TIN 2 
the poison will kill a quail. Laboratory tests by James H. Dahlen of the 
Alabama Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit indicate that this poison is 
ten times as toxic to quail as toxaphene, and four times as toxic as either 
dierldrin or Lindane (BHC), two new sprays which are also gaining in 
popularity. Fortunately, only 1/1000 of an ounce of 2.5 per cent dust is 
needed to kill all crop pests. The danger to wildlife lies, as in the case of 
DDT and other insecticides, in its promiscuous use by individuals who feel 
that a pound of prevention is better than an ounce of cure. 
Gl pal i 
West Virginia Quietly Drops Buck Law: A number of state fish 
and game administrators are casting envious glances in the direction of 
West Virginia. At a recent meeting of the Conservation Committee, a regu- 
lation was readily approved which makes deer of either sex legal game in 
all counties open to deer hunting. 
The ease with which this regulation was adopted and the calm with 
which the sportsmen of West Virginia accepted the news are in marked 
contrast to the near-hysteria which grips some hunters in the “old” buck- 
law states whenever the sanctity of the female deer is questioned. Al- 
though ‘West Virginia only recently became a deer hunting state, her 
fish and game administrators have carefully avoided the pitfalls into which 
others have fallen in the matter of deer management. The buck law has 
been used intelligently as a tool to build up herds to harvestable propor- 
tions but is now being dropped before the numbers of the deer outgrow the 
available food supply and before agricultural damage becomes prevalent. 
More important, the sportsmen and the public at large have been sub- 
jected to a well planned educational program designed to give the salient 
facts of intelligent deer management. 
The West Virginia Fish and Game Commission is to be complimented 
for its progressive action and for avoiding mistakes made by some of its 
neighbors who have been fighting for the last 25 years to get the public 
to accept sensible deer management programs. 
Whitetails Mature Early: One reason why deer are able to increase in 
numbers so rapidly that the herds outgrow the ability of the range to sup- 
port them is indicated in an item from the Missouri Conservation Com- 
mission. An autopsy on a nine-months-old fawn, killed by an automobile, 
showed that it was carrying a 100-day-old embryo. This means that the 
deer had bred successfully when little more than five months of age. Granted 
a little luck, she could have become a grandmother at the ripe old age of 
two. 
ft ft fT 
Water Levels Influence Turtle Predation: Evidence that fiuctuations in 
water levels play an important part in regulating losses of waterfowl due 
to predation by snapping turtles has been uncovered in an intensive study 
of this trap-jawed reptile by the Maine Cooperative Wildlife Research 
Unit. 
In 1949, a year of normal water levels, 13 of 32 turtles trapped on 
