AMERICA’S GAME ANIMALS

Evening Star, Issue 22720, 6 August 1937, Page 10

AMERICA’S GAME ANIMALS

A HEW CENSUS All game animals within our nation’s ■borders are being counted during the present era of restoration as methodically as the human beings who make up the census rolls, says a writer in the ‘ New York Times.’ However, the habits and habitats of wild life are such as to require other methods than ringing front door bells to obtain its numerical record. Aeroplanes, blimps, saddle horses, sleds, snow shoes, boats, and automobiles are used by the censustakers.

Aeroplanes are employed for nationwide surveys of migratory water fowl and for the counting of game animals, including buffalo in certain of our national parks and forests in the west and Alaska. Elk have been counted by this method in the Teton National Forest in Utah. Likewise, the censustaker has looked down from a plane on big horn sheep in Mount M'Kinley National Park, Alaska. An aerial count of antelope and possibly deer is being planned for a range area in the west, including Lassen and Modoc Counties in California, and adjoining area in Nevada and South-eastern California.

Given an expert pilot, an intimate knowledge of the country, and some knowledge of the habits of animals to he counted, both speed and accuracy are claimed for this new procedure. The count of elk offers perhaps the best example of the efficacy of the system. The winter season is chosen because of the tendency of the elk to bunch together on a wind-swept plateau where the snow cover is blown from the ground and winter forage available. The animals on the feeding grounds can he counted from sleds, hut to complete the count of animals scattered at a distance it previously was necessary to spend weeks on snow shoes. The initial aeroplane flight over Teton National Forest covered 1,830,944 acres in 18 hours. There 11,256 elk were counted from the air and 8,600 from sleds. Recently 674 elk were counted in the Cache National Forest in Utah in 6h 35min of flying time. So far the aerial counts have been confined to large animals against a snow-covered background, although all species within vision are noted. An accurate count requires that the pilot follow a systematic route and cope with such hazards as dangerous air currents and jagged contours.. In the region Of California, where it is expected to conduct the next count, the aerial photography method will be used ■to obtain an exact census on ft range populated by about 10,000 antelope. If the same weather conditions prevail then the count may include deer, The aerial method ordinarily is not adaptable to deer, which stay under cover during the day and coine out to feed only at night. However, snows drive them out in the open.

Studies are constantly being made fo discover the means which will provide the most accurate count for a definite species of bird or animal. For instance, within the past year Dr Paul L. Errihgton, of lowa State College of Agriculture, perfected a method of counting quail by their tracks in the snow. Simple as such a procedure may sound, if is actually the result of a long period of scientific observation. The survey follows four geographical paths across the United States—• namely, the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards, the Mississippi River basin, and the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains. Calm, clear weather is essential. While every type of aircraft is used, the army blimp has been found to serve the purpose most ideally. In the blimp it is possible to fly low and slowly. A short time ago a large number of the aircraft employed by the Biological Survey for game counting in that region were withdrawn for emergency use in other sections of the country. They were replaced by navy planes borrowed from' the base at Pensacola, Fla. Populations of waterfowl are reported to have been on the decrease for the past 30 to 50 years, and according to Frederick C. Lincoln, director of the surveys, the count last year for the first time indicated an upward trend among migratory fowl. The population of game in the national forests has also risen. A 100 per cent, increase within a 12-year period has brought the present count to 16,500 antelopes. There are also 55,000 black or brown bear; 5,270 grizzlies (including Alaska brown bear); 1,291,300 deer; 117,900 elk; 6,180 moose; 18,500 mountain goats; and 12,900 mountain sheep. The game animals on the biological preserves and refuges now number 1,000 buffalo, 3,000 elk, 2,500 deer, 334 sheep, and 4,000 antelopes. In our natural parks and monuments we have 2,100 black bear, 475 grizzly bear, 17,500 elk, 2,300 white tail deer, 19,800 mule deer, 1,200 moose, 3,500 caribou (in Alaska), and other less prominent species. Reports are just reaching the Washington headquarters of the Biological Survey of the results of the second annual survey of migratory waterfowl. This is the most extensively organised game count in this country and includes the use of the greatest number of aircraft, as well as boats and motor vehicles. Ground, water, and air counts are conducted simultaneously to check results. The counts are in units of hundreds or thousands, and are not intended as an accurate census.