Outdoors in Georgia [Oct. 1973]

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Outdoors
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October, 1973

BOARD OF NATURAL RESOURCES
James Darby
Chairman
Vida!ia~1st District
William Z. Camp, Sec.
Newnan-- 6th District
Leo T. Barber, Jr.
Moultrie-- 2nd District
Dr. Robert A. Collins, Jr.
Americus-- 3rd District
George P. Dillard Decatur-- 4th District
Rankin M. Smith Atlanta-- 5th District
Leonard E. Foote Marietta-7th District
Henry S. Bishop Alma-8th District
Clyde Dixon Cleveland-9th District
Leonard Bassford Augusta-- 10th District
Jimmie Williamson Darien-- Coastal District
Donald J. Carter Gainesville-- State at Large
Wade H. Coleman
Valdosta-- State at Large
James D. Cone Decatur-- State at Large
A. Calhoun Todd, Jr.
Macon-- State at Large
--
EARTH AND WATER DIVISION Sam M. Pickering, Jr., Director ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION DIVISION
R. S. Howard, Jr., Director
GAME AND FISH DIVISION
Jack Crockford, Director
PARKS AND HISTORIC SITES DIVISION
Henry D. Struble, Director
OFFICE OF PLANNING AND RESEARCH
Chuck Parrish, Director OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES
James H. Pittman, Director
PUBLIC RELATIONS AND INFORMATION SECTION
H. E. (Bud) Von Order), Chief

Jimmy Carter
Governor
Department of Natural Resources

Joe D. Tanner
Commissioner

George T. Bagby
Deputy Commissioner

FEATURES

Wildlife Profiles: Squirrels

Aaron Pass 2

Pre-Season Game for Deer Hunters . Aaron Pass 5

Game Bird of the Future

Ron Odom 9

Educated Deer at Berry College . . . Aaron Pass 15

Sinking of the Tampa

Tina Carlson 18

A Quality of Water

T. Craig Martin 22

Scouting For Deer

Bob Wilson 26

DEPARTMENTS

Book Reviews

29

Outdoor World

30

Outdoor Calendar

32

FRONT COVER: Gray Squirrel. Pen and ink sketch by Liz Carmichael Jones. BACK COVER: Fall colors at Anna Ruby Falls. Photo by H. E. (Bud) Van Orden.

Outdoors
ip georgia

October, 1973

Volume II

Number 10

Outdoors in Georgia is the official monthly magazine of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, published at the Department's offices, Trinity-Washington Building, 270 Washington Street, Atlanta, Georgia 30334. No advertising accepted. Subscriptions are $3 for one year or $6 for three years. Printed by Williams Printing Company, Atlanta, Georgia. Notification of address change must include old address label from a recent magazine, new address and ZIP code, with 30 days notice. No subscription requests will be accepted without ZIP code. Articles and photographs may be reprinted when proper credit given. Contributions are welcome, but the editors assume no responsibility or liability for loss or damage of articles, photographs, or illustrations. Second-class postage paid at Atlanta, Georgia.

MAGAZINE STAFF
Phone 656-3530
H. E. (Bud) Van Orden
Editor-in-Chief

Bob Wilson

Editor

Liz Carmichael Jones . . . Art Director

.... Jim Couch

Staff Photographer

Bob Busby . . . . Staff Photographer Linda Leggett . . Circulation Manager

Dick Davis Aaron Pass T. Craig Martin Karen H. Stroud Joe Cullens

Staff Writer Staff Writer Staff Writer Staff Writer Staff Writer

EDITORIAL

An Outdoorsman for All Seasons....

Seasons come and seasons go but there is no clear cut definitive time when the sportsman should stop fishing and start hunting, or stop hunting and start fishing. Oh, there are set dates in the regulations that tell us when we can and when we can't all right, but the real outdoorsman is the one who enjoys a little of both, as
long as both are in season. Deer hunting season for firearms hunters of-
ficially opens October 20th in Game Zone VI
and on November 3rd in Zones I-V and by then practically all sportsmen will be gripped by
hunting fever, that is, all except the real sportsmen.
You see, through most of October and into

November comes one of the best periods of fishing for largemouth bass, crappie and bream in middle and southern Georgia, not to men-
tion the peak of the salt water fishing season. So,
why not do a little fishing during hunting sea-
son?
Sure, the summer months are over, but have you ever camped out in the North Georgia mountains in the fall when the leaves are burst-
ing into brilliant rainbow colored patches spreading across the mountains in unending beauty?
What's best in one season might even be better during another, and you can find out if you're really an "outdoorsman for all seasons."

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Wildlife
Profiles: s,qutrreL

By Aaron Pass
Art by Liz Carmichael Jones
Probably no form of wildlife is better known to more people than the familiar gray squirrel of city parks and suburban backyards. While it
may seem to stretch the point to class-
ify this bandit of townhouse bird
feeders as wildlife, it is genetically
the same animal as any squirrel from
the deepest river swamp or most re-
mote mountain wilderness. The gray squirrel (Sciurus caroli-
niensis) has a statewide distribution, and there is virtually no area of suitable habitat that does not harbor
some resident grays. The fox squirrel (Sciurus niger) occupies a more restricted range in the piney woods of south central Georgia. These two species are the largest and best known of the tree squirrels in the state. The
diminutive red squirrel or chickaree (Sciurus hudsonicus) occurs on a very restricted area in extreme northeast Georgia, and the flying squirrel (Glau-
comyns volans), while both numerous and widespread, is nocturnal and is seldom seen. Thus the word "squirrel" normally conjures up the image
of the ubiquitous gray or colorful fox
squirrel.
Squirrel populations seem to be increasing in direct proportion to the
increasing areas of suitable habitat.

The rural-to-urban population shift and the decline of farming have re-
sulted in an increase in total forest
acres in the state. The adaptable squirrel has lost no time in capitalizing on this expansion of habitat.
Living quarters for the squirrel
tribe consist of two main types. Hollow den trees furnish the necessary protection during the winter months and often the first litters of the season are born there in early spring. In the summer, squirrels construct cool leaf nests which are often little more than wads of leaves stuffed into the fork of a branch. Some leaf nests are more elaborate, with an opening leading to an interior compartment. This type of nest is often used during mild winter weather in the south.
As are all wild animals, squirrels are afflicted by parasites, but do not seem to suffer greatly from them. It
is very common for a squirrel to host
fleas and/or ticks and be in perfect health otherwise. Mange, or scabies, is caused by a skin mite and seems to become more prevalent during periods of stress, such as late winter, when the squirrel is in a weakened condition. The most controversial squirrel
parasite is the larvae of the botfly,
commonly called warbles or "wolves". The larva burrows under the ani-
mal's skin and there develops a large grub. These parasites are unsightly, but in no way affect the squirrel's
edibility.

In the way of predators, there is no single species which seems to specialize in predation on squirrels, although most will take a squirrel when opportunity presents. That doesn't happen too often since the squirrel is a skilled acrobat- in the treetops and an accomplished runner on the ground. When cornered, the squirrel is no pushover and will bite viciously. Foxes, owls, bobcats and racoons may
all take the occasional squirrel, but none of these is considered a significant predator.
The large broadwinged hawks, such as the redtail and red-shouldered, are
perhaps the top squirrel predators.
They will wait patiently for an unwary squirrel to appear and pick him off when he ventures along an open branch. The weasel is an effective climber and since he is small enough to enter the den holes and tough enough to cope with whatever he finds there, the weasel may be a significant
nest predator.
The squirrel diet is composed
principally of the products of hard-
wood trees. Fruit, or "soft mast" is the mainstay of summer, being replaced by nuts in the fall. The sur-
plus nuts are buried by the squirrels to serve as food caches during the lean months of winter. In the early spring, with stored nuts running low, the squirrels turn again to the hardwoods and feed heavily on the swelling buds. The foregoing diet of the

forest squirrel is by no means exclusive of the farmer's produce when a
cornfield is conveniently located near the squirrel woods. Squirrels are not
averse to a bit of protein when the opportunity presents itself in the form
of grubs, insects or a bird's nest containing eggs or baby birds.
Mating is normally accomplished in late December and early January. Gray squirrels mate indiscriminately, but fox squirrels show a tendency to pair off during the breeding season. The young are usually born in early May, naked and blind. The average litter contains two to four young. The young squirrels usually make their first excursions from the den when they are about six weeks old, and are
able to make their own way in the
world at about three months.
There are many similarities be-
tween gray and fox squirrels in terms of food habits and general appearance. Both species are members of
the huge mammalian order, Rodentia, the gnawing animals. Squirrels, like all other members of this order, have
the characteristic large incisor teeth
which are specialized for gnawing. These teeth continue to grow throughout the animal's life and are kept at a manageable length and sharpened by constant wear against the opposing set of teeth. Both species are tree dwellers and exhibit the typical rodent body shape, but with a bushy tail. It is in the specifics of appearance that the two species differ.

The gray squirrel is aptly named

for his most dominant color, a silvery

gray due to white tips on the hairs.

The body and tail of this species are

banded in colors of black, gray,

brown, and white. The long tail hairs

have six distinct color bands ending

in white tips. The chest, throat and

belly fur is white. Gray squirrels

average about 20 inches in overall

length with the long flowing tail mak-

ing up about half.

In habitat the gray is a squirrel of

the "big" woods, preferring large

stands of mature timber. They seem

to have a particular affinity for creeks

and branches and concentrate near

these areas.

The fox squirrel is larger than the

gray, averaging around 25 inches in

total length. The coloration of the

fox squirrel is extremely variable and
may be black, gray or "red". The

red refers to a rusty yellow-orange

color phase that is normal to fox
squirrels. The underparts may be buff

or the brighter orange-yellow with

the back grizzled with the same rusty

A cast.

grizzled "salt-and-pepper"

phase is also common, as is a solid

black phase of the fox squirrel. The

best field expedient to differentiate

between fox and gray squirrels is the

tips of the tail hair. The presence of
white tips indicates a gray. When

cooked, the bones of gray squirrels

are white; fox squirrel bones are pink.

The fox squirrel prefers a more open habitat than the gray. He is most

at home in small wood lots inter-
spersed with open country, or along
tree lines which may border a drain
or creek between two fields. Because of this the fox squirrel has greater opportunity to sample the farmer's crops which it does with great regu-
larity.
In some respects the squirrel seems a lowly fellow, a vulgar commoner in comparison to the more exotic species of wildlife. Although he is denied the prestige of rarity or the glamour of a remote and restricted habitat, the squirrel has had considerable influence in the heritage and traditions of our nation. For the earliest settlers, squirrels were an abundant source of food. Mountain tradition holds that squirrel broth will break a fever, and, of course, the "mighty oaks from (which) little acorns grow" often owe their existence to the squirrel who buried the acorns. The hillbilly with his squirrel rifle is an enduring cultural heritage from Davy Crockett to Sgt. York.
Even today squirrels are a popular and important game species. Traditionally they are the favorite quarry of small boys with .22's, but it is not unknown for an older hunter to take to the squirrel woods seeking to recapture happy memories of younger
days. There are many reasons for the popularity of squirrels as a game
species, but perhaps the most important are the abundance and avail-
ability of the species.

Pre-Season Game...
For Deer Hunters
By Aaron Pass
Photo by Aaron Pass

There was scarcely a sound in the autumn woods, aside from the slight
rustlings that marked my passage
down the narrow game trail. Pushing
aside branches which could not be
stepped around, I tried to move as quietly as pos'sible. Wool pants and jacket would have been ideal for quiet movement, but this early in the season such trappings would also have been
unbearably hot. Careful walking was the order of
the day, even through the pines where a thick carpet of needles deadened

much sound. Just at the edge of the pines was my goal, a small hardwood draw with a tiny creek, now down to
the barest trickle in the early fall. Stopping just inside the concealing pines, I dared not venture further onto
the dry, fallen oak leaves which would
make stealth impossible. My stand
overlooked the draw, and I knew that those oak leaves would make any movement there audible.
After but a few minutes wait there was a rustling in the leaves from the left, about fifty yards up the draw.

The source of the noise was out of sight, and from all indications, what-
ever it was had no desire to move my
way. The notion of attempting a stalk was appealing but while still wrestling with the temptation, there was another disturbance from the right and much closer. Having turned to face the original noises, I slowly twisted around and glimpsed a quick movement in the
brush. Still unaware of my presence, my quarry moved into the open. The
rifle came up, the crosshairs steadied, and with the crack of the shot, the
gray squirrel pitched forward into the
leaves.
Moving quickly so as to give the animal no chance to escape if only wounded, I retrieved a plump gray squirrel taken cleanly by a head shot. Dropping back into the pines, I moved quietly, and as quickly as possible, up the hollow toward the original noise.
Selecting another likely looking stand, I soon added another squirrel to the bag, almost undoubtedly the first noisemaker.
Both squirrels were in prime condition and were quite fat from the abundant acorns in the little draw. I field dressed them immediately for flavor's sake and turned homeward. The two squirrels had been the substance of a fine afternoon in the autumn woods, and were soon to be the main ingredi-
ents in a squirrel stew (with dumplings), and would eventually lead to some excellent venison.
Yes, V-E-N-I-S-O-N; deer meat--
the stuff you get when you butcher a
deer. How do two squirrels add up to
venison? Well really it's quite simple
when you think about the many simi-
larities between deer and squirrel hunting. In fact, the two pursuits are virtually identical aside from the dif-
ferential in size of the animals, the
caliber of weapons used to hunt them, and that squirrels never grow antlers and deer seldom climb trees.
Both deer and squirrel are animals of the forest rather than the open field. Both are often found around oaks, for both species dearly love acorns and white oak acorns in particular. Both are most active early and late in the day. Both can be hunted with either a rifle or a shotgun, and by either stalk-
ing or sitting. And finally, both species
can be as easy or as difficult to bag as

Photo by Aaron Pass

the hunter cares to make it. Of course, no analogy is perfect and
this one is less so than most. As in the antlerless squirrels and non-climbing deer, there are many habits and traits unique to the individual species. The deer relies mainly on its ears and nose as a defense, having mediocre eyesight. Squirrels, on the other hand, use mainly their ears and eyes for warning of impending danger. There are many other differences of course, but it is the many basic similarities which are important to this article.
If the three opening paragraphs
sound much like the beginning of a
story about a deer hunt, fine, you've got the point. It is in the areas of basic woodscraft and hunting marksmanship that deer and squirrel hunting are so similar. Unfortunately, it is shortcomings in both ol' these areas that cost untold numbers of hunters an un-
believable number of missed opportunities at deer each fall. Think for a moment about the deer you saw last

season, and then contemplate the number that you might have seen if you had just been ... a bit more alert, able to move more quietly, more adept at interpreting what you did see and hear. In the same vein, did you miss your shot last year? If the answer is yes, that pretty well speaks for itself.
Just as it takes a sailor some time
out of port to get his sea-legs, the av-
erage hunter needs some practice to be able to see, hear, and move quietly
-- in the woods to get his "woods-legs."
The average hunter is like most everybody else, tied down to a job, family and civic responsibilities with precious little time to do his thing. Senses clogged and deadened by the accumulation of workaday detail, about the
only time our average hunter really
has to walk quietly is when he comes home particularly late from bowling or playing cards. To think that one
can suddenly transform himself into a
silent wraith in the woods on opening day is just as naive as thinking of one-

self as an immediate replacement for
Tommy Nobis, the next time that star

mediately in warm weather), and a sturdy pair of boots or work shoes is

linebacker throws a kneecap.

required. Insect repellent will make

Don't kid yourself that you can any hunt more pleasurable, particu-

sharpen up your woods and hunting larly for the sitting hunter. It is ex-

skills by taking hikes and going to the tremely difficult to concentrate on

range. These are good beginnings but they are a far cry from the real thing.

hunting under a cloud of mosquitoes.
A good dose of sulphur will keep bugs

To put on that final edge you must away, but will also alienate friends

make some real contact with a real and family. If you use enough of the

opponent, preferably in a situation stuff, your hunting buddies will prob-

that resembles a deer hunt as much as ably buy you some commercial bug

possible. For this purpose squirrel dope.

hunting can't be beat. If you can pick

As for clothing, any dark colors will

up and identify the movements of a get you by; a serviceable camouflage

squirrel in the dense foliage of early suit costs little and makes a noticeable

autumn, you should have no trouble difference. Real squirrel fanatics some-

seeing a deer in November. Anyone times even go to face masks and

who can make a high percentage of camouflage gloves. This may seem a

shot on a squirrel's head should surely bit extreme, but it's hard to argue with

be able to hit a deer adequately. This, success.

plus the fact that decent squirrel hunt-

Generally speaking, finding a squir-

ing is relatively available and that the rel hunting spot is as simple as finding

season opens earlier than does the a stand of oak and hickory trees along

deer season, makes squirrel hunting a creek or branch. Recent squirrel ac-

an ideal primer for the deer hunter. tivity in an area can be determined by

It is important that your squirrel reading signs. The presence of a large

hunt duplicate your deer hunt as number of "beds" is an indication of

closely as possible. Statistically more squirrel activity, but does not conclu-

* game (both deer and squirrel) falls to sively prove that squirrels are current-

those who have the patience to " . . . ly in the area. Many of these leaf nests

also stand and wait." If you are a are constructed as temporary day beds

fiddle-footed type who can't sit still, during the summer and are abandoned

then by all means stalk your squirrels. before hunting season. Incidentally,

There's no better way to learn the shooting into these beds is illegal. Un-

rudiments (and the pitfalls) of quiet less the aspiring deer hunter sees

movement than trying to sneak up on many deer in these squirrel nests each

an alert squirrel. If you do this enough season, this method of "hunting" is

you will bag some squirrels and won't not very useful to him.

sound like a re-enactment of the

The best indication of current squir-

charge of the Light Brigade in the rel usage is the presence of nut hull

deer woods.

cuttings scattered on the ground. Since

It is highly advisable to use the squirrels prefer a bit of altitude when

same type firearm and sighting appa- they eat, look for accumulation of

ratus that you use for deer hunting. If these cut hulls on stumps, rocks, and

your favorite venison-getter is a lever- fallen logs. The more freshly cut, the

action carbine with a peep sight, so more recent the activity.

should be your squirrel gun. The du-

Alertness, knowledge, and stealth

plication doesn't have to be perfect in are the basic ingredients of the suc-

terms of weight, length, etc., but the cessful hunter. The alertness to notice

basic action should correspond. It can a movement or sound that is slightly

be quite nerve-wracking to attempt out of phase with the surroundings,

pumping another round into a bolt the knowledge to interpret what it

action while watching a big buck means, and the stealth to do some-

bound away.

thing about it, are the prime skills of

Other than the rifle, ye compleat woodscraft. Hunting the gray squirrel

squirrel hunter needs relatively little
A specialized equipment. good, sharp

will not teach you all about the whitetailed deer, but it will provide a train-

pocket knife will handle the field ing or refresher course in the funda-

dressing (which should be done im- mentals of hunting.

%.#
.

Photo by Jim Couch

Mttm

Georgia's 350,000 acres of saltmarsh provide extensive favorable habitat for
the rail with a lot of hunting room.

Game Bird Of The Future

By Ron Odom
The clapper rail, sometimes known locally as marsh hen or mud hen, should be considered by Georgia's
sportsmen as a bright spot in the future of Georgia's
wildlife resources. At a time when urbanization, tech-
-- nology and modern forest management practices -- among other things tend to reduce or eliminate much
of our small and big game habitat, the saltmarsh habitat of the marsh hen remains relatively stable. Georgia is blessed with approximately 350,000 acres of salt or brackish marshland, most of which is literally teeming with marsh hens. It cannot be denied that many threats

to the saltmarsh environment do exist, but as yet this resource has not been exposed to the misuse or misman-
agement that has characterized much of our mainland
habitats.
During the 1800's, accounts given by naturalists, such as Audubon, reflected the amazing abundance of marsh
hens. Audubon stated that "it was not unusual for an
'egger' to gather a hundred dozen eggs in one day" and
that "as many as 60 birds could be killed in four hours." Though most of these accounts probably referred to the
northern clapper rail (Rallus longirostrus crepitans), it

is probable that our resident clapper rail (Rallus iongirostrus waynei) was at least as abundant. It is highly
probable that many areas still retain populations com-
parable to those in the I 880's. Wildlife biologists have
captured as many as 80 clappers in two hours on the marsh with the aid of an airboat.
-- Our Georgia clapper rail is actually a subspecies of
the northern clapper rail though differentiation between the two is very difficult if not impossible in the
field. The northern species is known to be migratory, arriving in our marshes usually in September and returning to their northern breeding grounds in late March These movements are verified each fall by Georgia hunters that shoot birds that have been banded in North Atlantic coastal marshes. Just how many of these north-
ern birds use our marshes as wintering grounds is un-
known at this time. Research, part of which includes a stepped-up banding program, is underway seeking an
-- answer to this question. Our local populations are gen-
erally thought to be non-migratory though little data exists to verify this assumption.
Food habit studies indicate that the bulk of the clap-
per's food consists of fiddler crabs, square-back crabs,
and periwinkle snails, all of which are very common in
the saltmarsh. These primary food items all have a very hard exoskeleton that is not digestible. These unwanted particles must be regurgitated in the form of a pellet. Most feeding occurs at low tide, particularly along the
mud flats of tidal creeks and rivers. Nests, constructed of dead vegetation pushed down
into the surrounding grass forming an inverted cone,
A begin receiving eggs in late April. canopy is usually
constructed over the nest by pulling several blades of grass together to arch over the top of the nest and there usually will be a short runway constructed of matted grass, leading from the edge of the nest to the ground.
Photo by Ron Odom
L"

The medium height cordgrass is preferred for nesting as

is the zone lying within 30-40 feet of small drainage

creeks.

The average clapper nest will contain eight eggs,

though actual numbers range from five to fourteen eggs. It appears that clappers are monogomous with the males

assisting the females with both incubation and rearing

of the young. Both adults are commonly seen at the nest

during incubation and also during brooding of the young downy chicks.

The eggs, about the size of a golf ball, are grey-white

in color with rust or brown colored speckling. Incuba-

tion lasts from 20 to 24 days with all eggs normally

hatching within 24 to 48 hours. Hatching success varies from area to area along the coast. Nest losses are usually

due to predation or severe weather.

In South Carolina, studies have shown the raccoon
to be responsible for nearly 74% of all mammalian pre-

dation. Other predators include minks, crows, humans,
hawks and owls. An occasional bird has even shown up

in the stomachs of sharks taken offshore. Raccoons

probably do the most damage in Georgia since they are

so abundant in Coastal marshes. Predation by man,
though very widespread in the past, is uncommon or

non-existent today.

High tides, accompanied by high northeast winds, destroy many nests along with, on many occasions, large

numbers of adult clappers. High water alone does not

destroy the eggs since they are able to withstand complete submersion. Wave motions caused by high winds

often cause nests to break up. Significant losses of adult
birds have been known to occur in many areas after

hurricane force storms. Another mortality factor of in-

terest is loss due to accidents during migration. Colli-

sions during bad weather with television towers, build-

ings, lighthouses, and automobiles all take their toll. Dead chicks are commonly seen by Coastal residents on
many of the causeways leading to our Coastal islands.

Even more frightening and threatening, however, are the potential effects of the many forms of pollution flow-

ing into our Coastal marshes. The clapper rail is entirely

dependent on the salt marsh for survival and any whole-

sale destruction of these marshes or of the rails' food

supplies will spell out the end of the marsh hen.

Identifying the sexes in the field is a very difficult task,

since both male and female look alike. In the northern

subspecies, there is a significant difference in size be-
tween males and females. Biologists in New Jersey mea-

sure length of bill, length of middle toe, and width of bill

-- to determine sex. Generally, males tend to be signifi-

cantly larger than females

a relationship still to be

verified for Georgia rails.

The most popular method of hunting clappers is to

pole a small boat, during extremely high tides, across the

marsh grass. During these high tides an approaching

Rails build nests of dead vegetation pushed together to form an inverted cone. The nests contain from five to fourteen eggs, which are incubated by both adults for 20-24 days.

10

The baby rails are especially vulnerable to severe storms and predation by racoons, minks, crows, hawks, and owls.
Photo by Ron Odom

boat will cause the hens to flush in front of the "gunner"
who is positioned in front of the boat. It is only during
these very high tides that hunting is feasible, since rails strongly prefer to run, if possible, rather than fly and
usually fly only as a last resort. Many times they will
even revert to swimming rather than flying and surprisingly enough, they swim very well.
Other people prefer to do their hunting on a dead low
tide. On the low tides marsh hens often come to the water's edge to feed on the exposed mud flats. Drifting
quietly along tidal creeks during low water can be very productive at times and is certainly less exhausting.
A method that is increasing in popularity is that of
using a dog to flush birds. Some marshes along the coast have a firm enough bottom and short enough grass to make this method both enjoyable and productive. The use of dogs has become quite popular in some of the salt meadows of the North Atlantic states; however, most of our state's salt marsh is extremely difficult, if
not impossible, to walk on. In past years hunters hired a local "poler" to do most
of the work as well as to guide. "Polers" today are becoming scarce in Georgia and many of our modern-day sportsmen frown at the task of poling a boat through the marsh. Other states to the north have an adequate supply of guides and as a result feel their clapper harvest
is at the maximum allowable level. Considerable contro-
versy has developed about the enactment of a law, prior to the opening of the 1948 season, prohibiting the shooting of clapper rail from a power driven boat. Without the added luxury of an outboard, most hunters feel that clapper hunting is not worth the effort. It is probable.

however, that we'll see a change in this attitude in future
years.
Currently there is an effort underway to step up research on all species of rails. Georgia has initiated a banding program on the coast that will continue for another three years. Hopefully, through this program we can gather additional information on movements, mortality, brood survival, and banding techniques, in order to insure intelligent management of this resource
in the future.
New Jersey has led the way in clapper banding and
has also made great strides in census techniques. Other states have completed life history studies. What is needed now is a co-operative regional effort, including all of the "clapper" states, to focus more attention on this species. Of primary importance is the need for
additional banding data. Other basic needs are:

-- 1 ) Preservation of habitat

marsh hens are -re-

stricted to the coastal salt marshes. Any unneces-

sary filling or draining of our marshes will elimi-

-- nate a certain portion o\' our clapper resource.
2) Pollution abatement pollution running into our

marshes, if not directly affecting the birds them-

selves, could contaminate their principal food

sources, the fiddler crabs, squareback crabs and

periwinkle snail. When these food sources go. so

do our rails. (See Outdoor World, page 30, for

-- latest information on current pollution problems.)

3) Research

if we are to use this resource wisely,

we must increase our knowledge about the birds.

This would include additional banding data, sexing

I

I

r/je ra// ZieW here by Ron Odom may be suffering
from mercury poisoning found to be affecting some rails in the Brunswick area north of the Sidney Lanier Bridge. Rails from this area are not fit for hitman consumption.

and aging techniques, census procedures, and habi-

tat inventories.
If you've never tried hunting clappers, don't sell them short. You'll sweat a little and probably get your gun a little rusty, maybe the birds won't be as sporting as you are used to; but if you'll make an effort to enjoy the total hunting effort and not just bagging the birds, you'll have another excuse to head for the field next fall. The rail

birds are numerous, the weather usually is balmy, scenery fantastic, and you have about 300,000 unspoiled acres on which to hunt at your leisure.
For equipment, all that is needed is a light two-man duck boat or aluminum pram, and any gauge shotgun

that is suitable for dove or quail will do, using light loads of number 8 shot. It is unlike any other kind of

hunting you've ever tried!

This year's season began on September 10 and will end November 18. Best rail hunting tides are shown in
the table opposite. The Game and Fish Division can pro-

-- vide information on best areas to hunt. If you've never hunted the clapper

why not pick

a high tide and give them a try. You may be pleasantly

surprised.

* *v-
12

Ki

H

V

Times given are Eastern Standard-- adjust for Daylight Saving by adding one hour.

Calculations are for Savannah River Entrance. Corrections for other locations can be made by
using the accompanying tidal difference data. Merely add or subtract the correction as indicated
for the specific location.

GEORGIA

DIFFERENCES

Time

High

Low

Water Water

2707 2715

Savannah River

.... Tybee Light

Port Wentworth

.

.

-0 08 + 33

-0 15 + 41

2719 2727 2731
2733 2739 2743
2747 2749 2757 2761

Tybee Creek and Wassaw Sound
Tybee Creek entrance . . . Thunderbolt Isle of Hope, Skidaway River

-0 07 + 34 + 52

Ossabaw Sound

Egg Islands

+ 06

Fort McAllister, Ogeechee R. + 50

Cane Patch Creek entrance . + 57

St. Catherines and

Sapelo Sounds

Kilkenny Club, Kilkenny Cr. . + 31

Sunbury, Medway River . . + 56

+ Blackbeard Island

.

.

.

.

20

Mud R., at Old Teakettle Cr. . + 47

+ 02 + 09 + 25
+ 07 + 1 13 + 40
+ 13 + 42 + 19 + 43

2762 2763 2769 2771 2773
2779 2781 2785 2787
2797 2799 2807 2817
2821 2823 2825 2827

Doboy and Altamaha

DIFFERENCES

Time

High

Low

Water Water

Sounds Blackbeard Cr., Blackbeard I. Sapelo Island Darien, Darien River. Wolf Island
Champney I., S. Altamaha R.
St. Simons Sound St. Simons Sound bar . St. Simons Light Troup Cr. entr., Mackay R. .
Brunswick, East River . . .
St. Andrew Sound
Jekyll Point
Jointer Island, Jointer Creek Dover Bluff, Dover Creek . .
Cumberland Wh., Cumb. R. . Cumberland Sound
St. Marys Entr., north jetty . Crooked River entrance . . Harrietts Bluff, Crooked River St. Marys, St. Marys River. .

+ 21

00

10

1

+ 06

+ 1 12

+ 01
+ 24 + 54 + 55

+ 28 + 1 02
+ 57
+ 40

+ 15 + 1 23 + 2 09 + 1 21

+ 44 + 02 + 1 12 + 35 + 2 30
-0 05 + 28 + 49 + 40
+ 28
4 49
+ 49
+ 42
+ 15 + 1 12 + 2 12 + 1 13

OCTOBER, 1973

Day

A.M.

High Water

Ht.

P.M.

Low Water

Ht.

A.M.

P.M.

1 Mon.

11:00

7.4 11:04

6.5

4:44

5:23

2Tue. 3 Wed.

11:45
--

7.0
--

11:53 12:35

6.2 6.8

5:27 6:14

6:11 7:04

4Thu.

12:44

6.0

1:28

6.6

7:09

8:05

5 Fri.

.1:41

6.0

2:24

6.6

8:12

9:05

'6 Sat.

2:39

6.1

3:26

6.7

9:14

9:56

7 Sun.

3:42

6.3

4:21

6.9 10:07 10:43

8 Mon. 9Tue.

4:38 5:27

6.8 7.3

5:12 5:55

7.2 10:58 11:28

7.4 11:48

--

10 Wed.

6:13

7.8

6:36

7.6 12:10 12:32

11 Thu.

6:55

8.3

7:16

7.7 12:52

1:17

12 Fri.

7:34

8.6

7:53

7.7

1:34

2:02

13 Sat.

8:17

8.8

8:34

7.6

2:17

2:48

14 Sun.

9:02

8.8

9:20

7.4

3:01

3:34

15 Mon.

9:51

8.6 10:11

7.1

3:46

4:22

16Tue. 17 Wed.

10:44 11:45

8.3 11:08

8.0

--

--6.8

4:36 5:33

5:17 6:17

18 Thu.

12:15

6.6 12:51

7.7

6:36

7:25

19 Fri.

1:25

6.6

2:01

7.5

7:47

8:35

20 Sat.

2:39

6.7

3:07

7.5

9:00

9:38

21 Sun.

3:52

7.1

4:16

7.5 10:03 10:33

22 Mon. 23 Tue.

4:56 5:51

7.6 8.0

5:15 6:04

7.6 10:58 11:22

7.7 11:52

--

24 Wed.

6:36

8.3

6:48

7.7 12:10 12:41

25 Thu.

7:17

8.5

7:29

7.6 12:54

1:27

26 Fri.

7:56

8.4

8:03

7.4

1:37

2:12

27 Sat.

8:32

8.3

8:39

7.2

2:18

2:53

28 Sun.

9:10

8.0

9:15

6.9

2:56

3:33

29 Mon.

9:43

7.7

9:52

6.6

3:34

4:12

30 Tue.

10:22

7.3 10:31

6.4

4:13

4:54

31 Wed.

11:05

7.0 11:16

6.2

4:54

5:36

Moon Phases: 1 st Qtr 4th, Full Moon 12th Last Qtr 18th, N ;w Moon 26th

Day
1 Thu. 2 Fri. 3 Sat. 4 Sun.
5 Mon. 6 Tue. 7 Wed. 8 Thu. 9 Fri. 10 Sat. 11 Sun. 12 Mon. 13 Tue. 14 Wed. 15Thu. 16 Fri. 17 Sat. 18 Sun. 19 Mon. 20 Tue. 21 Wed. 22 Thu. 23 Fri. 24 Sat. 25 Sun. 26 Mon. 27 Tue. 28 Wed. 29 Thu. 30 Fri.

NOVEMBER, 1973

High Water

A.M.

Ht.

P.M.

Ht.

11:52

6.8

--

--

12:05

61

12:43

6.6

12:59

61

1:34

6.5

2:00

6.2

2:30

6.5

2:55

65

3:27

6.6

3:52

6.9

4:20

6.8

4:48

74

5:13

7.0

5:37

8.0

6:02

7.2

6:25

8.4

6:46

7.4

7:11

8.8

7:33

7.4

8:00

8.9

8:20

7.4

8:48

8.9

9:09

7.3

9:39

8.6 10:04

7.1

10:36

8.3 11:04

6.8

11:33

7.9

--

--

12:11

6.7 12:37

7.6

1:19

6.7

1:41

7.3

2:27

6.9

2:46

7.0

3:36

7.1

3:49

6.9

4:33

7.4

4:45

6.9

5:28

7.7

5:38

6.9

6:14

7.9

6:23

6.9

6:57

8.0

7:02

6.8

7:34

7.9

7:40

6.8

8:10

7.8

8:14

6.6

8:44

7.6

8:50

6.5

9:18

7.4

9:25

6.3

9:53

7.1

10:03

6.2

10:32

6.9 10:48

6.1

11:13

6.7 11:33

6.1

Low Water

A.M.

P.M.

5:37 6:30 7:28 8:29 9:28 10:21 11:12
--
12:16 1:04 1:52 2:41 3:32 4:25 5:23 6:24 7:34 8:41 9:45
10:40 11:31
--
12:26 1:09 1:50 2:30 3:09 3:46 4:25 5:07

6:27 7:20 8:16 9:10 10:01 10:46 11:30 12:03 12:51 1:40 2:29 3:21 4:12 5:07 6:05 7:06 8:10 9:13 10:04 10:55 11:41 12:20 1:05 1:47 2:29 3:11 3:50 4:28 5:07 5:55

Moon Phases: 1st Qtr. 3rd, Full Moo n 10th, last Qtr 17th, Nevv Moon 24th

13

Big Texas Valley

Ar rrnirJii'L' School

N

A Camping Area
^Xheck Station
Berry Wildlife Management Area
14

EDUCATED DEER
AT BERRY COLLEGE

By Aaron Pass
Photos by the Author
*& W

Among the ridges and valleys just
northwest of Berry College at Rome, Georgia, lies one of the most unique
wildlife areas managed by the Game
and Fish Division, a combination Management Area and Wildlife Refuge. The Berry College Area combines the concept of a wildlife sane-

17

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.

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16

Area Manager Frank Early of the Game
and Fish Division surveys Berry College Wildlife Management Area and Refuge from the cliff like precipice which surrounds the crest of Rocky Mountain.
tuary with the opportunity for regulated hunting on 25,000 acres of college-owned land in Floyd County.
The outer periphery of the tract is
-- managed in the same manner as any
state wildlife management area
for increased wildlife values with a carefully planned, regulated harvest
of game by public hunting. The core of the area adjacent to the campus is closed to hunting and serves as a
wildlife refuge. Berry College has acquired this
tract of property through a long term land acquisition program going back
many years. The property has always
been used for timber production with
the money from timber sales going to support this independent college. Berry's forest management program
is scientifically designed to provide for a long term harvest with continual increase in quality and quantity of forest resources. According to
Berry officials, "We are concerned
with the ecology, and all timber harvests are planned and regulated for environmental value preservation."
A natural progression of awareness
and concern has also led to a studied consideration of the wildlife resources in Berry's forest. Following the thought that ". . . the environment is a real factor in the education process," Berry officials contacted the
State Game and Fish Department
(now a Division of the Department of Natural Resources) for advice and assistance in effective wildlife management. According to Berry officials,
"We were initially interested in a wild-
life refuge to benefit wildlife and pre-
serve tranquility."
A thorough field investigation by

Game and Fish biologists found that
the Berry forest had abundant wildlife populations, possibly an over-
abundance of some species: "We
found a particularly plentiful deer population on the area, with a high potential for a dangerous over-population waiting for the opportunity to happen. The consequences of this would, of course, be habitat damage by the too-numerous animals and ultimately starvation for a large per-
centage of the population. On this
basis we recommended a controlled
harvest of the deer population for the benefit of the total ecosystem in the Berry forest," said Bill Collins, a
biologist with the Game and Fish Division who was the regional super-
visor at that time.
The advice consisted of the application of scientific wildlife management techniques to enhance wildlife values on the area and would include
the annual harvest of surplus animals in a legal and controlled public hunt each year. It was also suggested that
the Berry forest be managed by the
Game and Fish Division in the same
manner as other Wildlife Management Areas over the state. Such an arrangement, it was felt, would provide better control and protection for the wildlife in the Berry forest.
The Berry administration, feeling that a controlled legal hunt and full-
time patrol by a Game and Fish
Refuge Manager would help solve the increasing problems of poaching and
better protect the wildlife populations,
agreed to the arrangement. For the safety of the students and to minimize
conflicts during the hunts, a "No
Hunting" safety zone and wildlife refuge was established adjacent to the campus. Managed hunting is allowed only on the outer portions of the tract.
The entire area is approximately

25,000 acres in size. The refuge area

consists of 12,000 acres and the wildlife management area where the hunts

are held covers about 13,000 acres.

The area is mostly forest land con-

sisting of an oak, hickory and pine

mixture, with pine being dominant in

the timber management areas. The

terrain is the typical ridge and valley

land form of northwest Georgia and

there are two mountains on the area. Rock Mountain (in the hunting area)

is unusual in that it has steep sides

and a flat plateau on top. Lavender

Mountain is a long ridge and its crest

forms one of the boundaries between

the hunting area and the refuge.

As mentioned earlier, the area has

an excellent deer population although

the harvests have been low for the

past two seasons due to inclement

weather during the hunts. The area

also has a fair small game population, with squirrel being the most nu-

merous species in a forest habitat such

as Berry provides. Frank Early of Mt.

Berry, Georgia, is the area manager

and he feels that the area is a big
success. "Most of the people who

come to hunt here are local residents.

They are good, honest sportsmen for

the most part, and they seem really

appreciative of this hunting area lo-

cated close by their homes," says

Early.

Berry College officials are also

pleased with the area, feeling that

they are filling three important needs

by adopting this course of action:
"We are enhancing the environment
by specifically managing and protecting the wildlife on the area, and we

have better protection and control of

We our forest.

also feel that we are

meeting our community obligations

by providing an opportunity for pub-

lic hunting and are sharing our re-

sources with the people of the area."

17

Sinking of the Tampa

By Tina Carlson
Photos by Bob Busby

-- -- She went down with all the grace and integrity

that was

and still is

rightfully hers. The

Tampa, a ghost-like tugboat from the long-gone

days of 1890's, serenely retired to the under-

water world on Saturday, July 14, 1973. There

she will become an artificial reef, after having

seen the best of this life.

18

We set out on the "Wahoo" at 7:30 Friday
morning to pay the Tampa our last respects, but
it being Friday the 13th, naturally everything
fell through. The 14-hour towing job from Savannah to Brunswick was delayed by rough seas, so we tried again 4:30 Saturday morning.
We rode out to the site 23 miles offshore from
Brunswick with Larry Smith, supervisor of the artificial reef project, and Jack Evans, one of his assistants. The rest of his crew, Mike Younce
and Tom Burchman, spent a restless night with
the tug anchored in the Savannah River. The sunrise was incredibly beautiful as we
watched Larry's crew and men from the Atlantic Towing Company (who donated and towed the Tampa from Savannah to Brunswick) position and anchor the tug. As the men opened the
valves in the bottom of the ship and blew holes in its sides, the ocean rushed into the vacant en-
gine room. And so began the sinking of the
Tampa.
Three years ago, the Game and Fish Division
of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources began building artificial reefs in the offshore waters of the state. These reefs provide habitat for fish where once there was only a bare sand bottom. By sinking scrap materials such as
.
automobile tires and surplus naval vessels from 8 to 25 miles offshore, the Division hopes to enable small boat fishermen to harvest reef and bottom type fish without having to go 40 to 80 miles out to sea. Tired of catching trout and channel bass? Here's your chance to try your luck at red snapper, black sea bass, trigger fish, grouper and sheephead.
The project first started by sinking units of automobile tires. These units are composed of a column of eight tires connected by steel rods in the middle and concrete in the bottom. There
presently are three tire reefs consisting of 25,000 tires each off Georgia's coast: 9 miles off Wassaw Sound in Savannah, 8 miles off St. Simons Island, and 13Vi miles off Cumberland. Not only has the sport fishing been great at these sites, but the scuba diving is fantastic.
Contracts have recently been signed to add
25,000 more tires to the Wassaw reef and to put 25,000 tires down at the site 23 miles offshore of Brunswick where the tugboat was sunk. While
automobile tires have been found to be func-
tional as reef material, they are expensive. The
19

20

Division is now testing a new idea of using truck tires bound together by nylon bands. With this
type of material, there would be nothing in the system that could degrade in the marine environment. Surplus railroad cars and concrete rubble
A are also being considered as reef material. fed-
eral bill recently passed makes surplus liberty ships available to individual states for marine life conservation. Georgia has asked for two of these ships, which will be obtained from the James River Reserve fleet in Norfolk, Virginia. All superstructure and petroleum deposits will be removed, then one ship will be sunk off Savannah and one off Brunswick.
Sound like an awful lot of clutter on the ocean
floor? It's not. All this scrap material will, in
fact, provide habitat for fish much like that
found at the outer edges of the continental shelf. With time, as the reef materials settle, they will become encrusted with invertebrate life and eventually build a shelf in which the fishes can
live.
The Brunswick structure, which will be about one-half mile long and 300 yards wide, will form a composite reef; that is, the reef will be composed of different elements which will merge together to form a whole. The tugboat and liberty ship will provide the mass which will actually change current patterns and provide eddies and upwellings which will attract the fish. The rail-
road boxcars will provide protective habitat for fish, and the tires will furnish niches for individual fish and their food organisms. This com-
posite structure may ultimately form a biologi-
cally sound and long-lasting estuarine com-
munity.
The Division hopes these artificial reefs will stimulate the establishment of charter and head
boat fishery, besides providing excellent sport
fishing and scuba diving. The charter boats would specialize in trolling for Spanish and king mackerel, sailfish, and marlin in the Savannah and Brunswick areas. Head boats, with a capacity of twenty to forty people a day at a rate of
approximately $10.00 to $15.00 per person, would specialize in bottom fishing.
The Division hopes to build at least five or
six artificial reefs off the Georgia coast, but plans thorough research on the reefs currently existing or under construction before building more. Such research will determine the best lo-

cations, sizes, types of materials, construction
techniques, and depth for a given species of fish. "The main question to be answered," said
project supervisor Smith, "is whether we are
concentrating fish for harvest and depleting off-
shore areas, or whether we are creating habitat
to increase the carrying capacity of the oceans."
Data for research will be obtained by divers
going down to the reefs about once a month to
observe crustacean material and inventory the fish population on the reef. Divers also will trap and tag fish to determine residence or mi-
gratory habits.
These reefs are being built with a combination of general state funds and support from federal agencies, or matching money. Most of
the matching money has come from the Coastal Plains Regional Commision. In the three years
that the project has been in existence, the Game
and Fish Division has spent approximately $155,000 in state funds on artificial reefs.
It didn't take long for the Tampa to actually sink. The stern went down first, slowly and with
resolve. She rocked to the left, but then straightened herself as if she realized that this was to
be her last performance above the sea. We were
silent, almost sad to see such a powerful ship so
peacefully die. But when all that was left was the tip of the bow, we became excited at the
thought of the new life that the Tampa would
bring to the world below us. Now she is resting
75 feet below the surface of the ocean with steel buoys marking her location, and already she
has become a new home for an amazing variety
of underwater creatures.

21

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A lovely pastoral scene, right? Wrong. This is Coahulla Creek, a terribly polluted
tributary of the Conasauga. Pollution Control Specialist Dave Knight checks the stream's flow, while Ken Martin measures its dissolved oxygen.

Quality of Water?

Of more than 1,800 Department of Natural Resources employees, perhaps only 300 or so ever come to the public's attention. The Conser-
vation Rangers are highly visible, as are depart-
ment officials and information officers who do
a lot of public speaking, and occasionally a biologist or engineer will become known for his work on a particular project. But there remain
hundreds Upon hundreds of DNR workers whose

By T. Craig Martin
Photos by. the Author
tasks are little known and less understood; in a
series of articles over the next several months,
OUTDOORS IN GEORGIA will present a sampling of these important,' if little known, DNR
employees.
A field day in the life of a Pollution Control
Specialist from the Environmental Protection Division begins early and ends late. Take, for example, the day a three-man team from the

I
Knight examines the flow meter that enables him to check the
water speed. By measuring this speed at several points across the stream, the monitors can compute the volume of water that flows past this point.

Division's Water Quality Surveys Service recently spent examining the highly polluted Conasauga River in northwest Georgia. They left their Atlanta offices before daylight, worked through the day collecting and testing water samples from the Conasauga and its tributaries, and finally returned in the late dusk.
About three days a week are consumed this way, for the Service's monitoring unit must check some 50 stations scattered throughout the
state each month. Nearly 170 stations exist on some 52 streams, but most are monitored by
members of other state or federal agencies. The work is physically demanding, techni-

cally rigorous and, to an outsider at least, relatively tedious. At each check point, samples are collected (some to be tested on the spot, others to be returned for laboratory analysis) and the stream's flow is checked. The routine is precise and efficient, for any variation in procedure
could invalidate the results.
Field tests determine, among other things, the amount of dissolved oxygen in the stream and the level of demand placed on that oxygen.
Simply put, the stream obtains oxygen from the air as it flows along, and from microscopic plants that grow suspended in the water. The stream remains in good shape as long as the

Careful records must be kept if the data is to be accurate and
useful for prediction.

"V^.
Jk
The dissolved oxygen test takes a good deal of pouring and
mixing and shaking, as well as a keen eye to judge when the
liquid in the bottle (below)
becomes perfectly clear. Here Bob Arnsdorf runs through
the procedure.
demand placed upon that supply by organic
materials (which must be purified by oxygen) does not exceed the stream's capacity to produce and replace the vital oxygen.
The variables involved here are more than a little complex, but two important factors checked by the monitoring team are the volume and flow rate of the stream. More water means that pollutants become diluted more quickly, and any given amount of pollution makes less inroads on a large stream than on a small one. Fast streams generally replace oxygen more
quickly than sluggish ones, since they splash
and tumble in the air more. Temperature also is important, for cold water can hold more oxy-
gen than warm water. These variables, of course, suggest why moni-
toring must be done throughout the year. Stream levels rise and fall, flow rates change, and temperature varies with the season. So the monitoring crew takes to the field in every month.
Field testing is only part of the job however/

- .
.
<'

>v

LrSsfev'*"
water samples are brought back for extensive laboratory analysis in Atlanta. There, much more complicated procedures are used to check the type and amount of suspended solids, and the nature and volume of bacteria in the water.
All the data collected in field and laboratory must be organized in some meaningful way, and the monitoring team takes care of that. They analyze and interpret the material, then pass it on to others in the Division to serve as the basis for decision making.
One use of this information is in compiling
computer models of the streams. This will allow the Surveys Service's field engineering unit to predict the effect of pollution that enters a stream. This information will help municipal and industrial planners in developing waste treatment facilities.
Hot work in summer, cold work in winter; but work that must go on if Georgia's streams are
to survive man's onslaught. One of many rela-
tively invisible chores carried out by Department of Natural Resources employees.

Knight examines the outflow from Dalton's waste treatment plant. The treated water splashes against a barrier to add needed oxygen before it enters this stream, which flows into the Conasauga.
One of the reasons the Conasauga is in trouble: dyes
from Dalton's carpet mills flow untreated into this stream, and from here into the Conasauga.

--
SCOUTING FOR DEER

Photo by Leonard Lee Rue II

By Bob Wilson

So you're determined to bag a deer

A this year, perhaps even two?

few

half-hearted hunts in seasons past, to-

gether with today's meat prices, have

finally made you get serious about

hunting deer. By now you have your

hunting license, your big game license,

and your 500 square inches of fluo-

rescent orange material in the form

of an outer garment. You should have

checked your weapon on the range to make sure of sight zero, waxed or

oiled your boots, honed your knife to

a keen edge, and checked the condi-

tion of all your other equipment

especially your tree stand if you use
one. You should even have your hunt-

-- ing areas picked out one of the Wild-
life Management Areas, a general portion of national forest land, some timber company land, or a farm whose owner has given permission.
But how will you know exactly where to hunt? On which side of what
ridge is there likely to be a trophy
buck or nice fat doe? Where will you have a good field of view and be able
to see the deer before they sense you? The only way to tell is by scouting. Oh, a friend can put you on a stand that proves to be a good one, or you
may blunder upon a good spot by
chance, but successful deer hunters,
those who regularly put venison in the

freezer, often spend as much time
scouting as actually hunting.
Learning to read signs and spending a few hours in the woods before the day of the hunt will increase your chance of success dramatically. Even if you should still spend a day on your stand without a glimpse of a deer, you
will know that deer have been in the
area in the past day or two and that your spot was as good as any in the
area. You may also have the pleasure
of putting a friend on a stand that helps him bag his deer.
Good deer habitat, providing for-
ested and open areas with suitable foods, can be found in every part of

26

the state. But, just how do you know
that a particular stand should be a productive one, or stalking through a specific area could be worthwhile?
Simple. You look for sign. If you know how to read the various signs
you can get a pretty good idea of the number of deer using an area, size and
sex of the deer, and how recently they
were in the area.

Tracks

Tracks are the most obvious sign, and can be very useful. Tracks quickly
reveal the general size, rate of travel,
direction of travel, and often the time
span between the time they were made
and the time they were discovered.
Tracks may be scattered in an apparently random wandering fashion or
clumped together on a trail or around

a "salt lick."

Obviously, the size of a track is re-

lated to the size of the deer that made

it, but there is more to it than that. Big

bucks often drag their feet, leaving

faint lines for an inch or two in front

of the track. Marks of dewclaws, hoof-

like appendages above the rear of the

hoof, are usually more prominent in

tracks made by bucks than in those

made by does.

Aging tracks with any degree of ac-

curacy calls for vast experience, but a

careful examination of the track should

let even a novice put it in a "fresh,"

"half-day-old," "yesterday," or "old"

A category.

fresh track in soft earth

will be crisp, with sharp edges; the

bottom will be firm and clear of loose

debris. Depending on its location and

the weather conditions a track will dry

in an hour or two. Within six hours

the crisp and sharp edges will have

become rounded, and individual grains

of dirt will have fallen into the de-

pressed areas of the track. More time,

a night's dew and perhaps a gentle

morning breeze, will give the track a

rounded, soft appearance, almost as if

the deer's hoof had been made of pot-
A ter's clay. good hunting area should

contain old tracks as well as new ones;

and a variety of track sizes, with a few

large ones, should indicate a good

mixed herd with some bucks.

Where tracks are concerned, the

most common mistake made by hunt-

ers is attempting to hunt a deer by fol-

lowing apparently fresh tracks. I'll

have to admit this method might be

Fresh tracks are proof positive that deer have
been in the area
recently. A mixture of recent and old tracks
indicate regular use by
deer. A collection of
tracks such as this around a natural salt
lick is seldom encountered.
Where deer trails cross
fallen timber the deer's
hooves cause damage such as this. Such sign may be difficult to age, but it should be fairly
easy to tell whether
the sign was made this
year or last.
The condition of browse is a good indication of the density of the deer population. This honeysuckle shows intensive browsing in August of this year.

^ <

,-,*.'
'

27

--

possible, but more than nine times out
of ten, you'll never see the deer. And
the time you do, you'll catch a quick glimpse of that famous white tail just before it's gone: deer are simply too aware of their back trail to be crept up on this way.

Trails

Assuming you have found tracks of varying degrees of freshness where you want to hunt, the next step is to look for trails and patterns of move-
ment. Trails vary according to type of
use, and the number of deer using them. Trails can be so old and heavily used that they actually are worn into the ground like a rut, or they can be so new and lightly used that they are very
hard to discern. Don't assume that an old, heavily
used trail is the only place to hunt.
Wise old bucks may use a trail of their own some 20 to 60 feet to one side of the main trail. You may have heard of
bucks "slipping up on" hunters from
behind; and in many of these cases, the hunter was simply watching the main trail and was between it and the
buck's trail, or worse yet, on the buck's

trail.

WMA In some areas, Clark Hill

is

a good example, you'll find trails wan-

dering literally everywhere, and no

apparent main trail. This is a feeding

or browse area through which the deer

wander, nibbling on whatever happens

to appeal to them. Such trails may

lead from thickets at higher elevations

to a watering area, but in a very er-

ratic, leisurely fashion.
Make certain a trail has fresh tracks
on it before picking a stand. If there is a lot of forest debris on the trail, which makes locating a track difficult, look
-- at logs lying across the trail they
should show fresh evidence of being clipped by deers' hooves.

Browse

Browse, or food that deer should be eating, will also help you pick a spot to hunt. Deer have definite favorites,
and when such yummies as honeysuckle and sumac or white oak acorns
are plentiful, they will eat the item of
choice and ignore the rest of the menu. If you are not familiar with the types of food deer like, take a look at the
-- article. "Find the Food Find the
Deer," by Winston A. Andrews in last month's issue of Outdoors in Georgia.

In areas with a lot of deer, a browse
line may be visible on favored species,
with the choice morsels ripped off from ground level to as high as the
deer can reach. Check the branch tips of dogwood, honeysuckle, plum, black locust, and other favored deer foods closely to see if the very ends have been clipped off. After the acorns fall, look under oaks for large patches of
disturbed leaves.
Droppings Deer droppings or scat is another good indicator of the number of deer in a given area and confirms recent, as
well as old, use by deer. Common
sense should enable anyone to roughly age droppings, but a close look is nec-

essary if there is moisture on the ground.
Rubs and Scratches Rubs and scratches are signs of bucks. Rubs are bare spots on small trees and bushes where the bucks have rubbed the velvet off their antlers. Scratches or scrapes are areas where bucks have scraped off the forest litter and raked and trampled the soft earth. The exact significance of scratch areas is unknown, but a cleared area on the forest floor that has been trampled is
a sure sign of a buck. Trees and bushes selected by bucks
for rubs usually are quite small
-- three to four inches in diameter and
springy. A rub might appear on only
Photo by Leonard Lee Rue III

28

one side of a single tree, or four or five
bushes or trees may have their bark completely shredded. The extent of a rub does not seem to be related to the
size of a buck's rack.
You might indeed be able to bag a
deer this season without the benefit of pre-hunt scouting, but you can easily tip the odds in your favor by spending
a few hours in the woods looking around. Knowing what to look for is half the struggle; thinking about what you see and knowing what it means is the other half. Learning to look and appreciating the meaning of small signs in the woods is at least half of
hunting; success is perhaps the smaller
half.

BooH Review

GUN DIGEST TREASURY, 4th
Edition, John T. Amber, Ed., Digest Books, Inc., 352 pages, $5.95.

This particular Digest tome is billed

in a cover blurb as "the best from 25

GUN years of

DIGEST," and in this

case, you can judge a book by its

cover. While 25 years worth of mate-

GUN rial from

DIGEST certainly

gave Amber a vast amount of material

to select from, the selections, as best

this reader can judge, are excellent.

Whatever you find of interest in the

annual edition, with the exception of

the product listings, you will find in
excellence in GUN DIGEST TREA-
SURY.

One of the most valuable items

contained in this volume is a 27-year

index (1944-1973), listing by author

and subject all articles in the first 27
editions of GUN DIGEST and the
first six issues of HANDLOADER'S
DIGEST. Just where you are going

to be able to locate that 1952 edition

which contains the article on the
Hauck falling-block action, Amber

doesn't say.

Of particular excellence among the

articles is "Reloading Sans Cartridge

Cases," by Robert E. Corby. This es-

say on black powder shooting is far

more helpful than anything in the
BLACK POWDER GUN DIGEST.

Whatever you find to interest you
in this GUN DIGEST TREASURY,

you may rest assured that the article

will be a good one. If you usually find

a couple of articles of interest in the
annual GUN DIGEST, the GUN DIGEST TREASURY well deserves

your reading.

--BW

DEER HUNTING by Norman
Strung, Lippincott, 239 pages,
$7.95. It seems that every season brings
another book on deer hunting. Some
stress certain aspects of the subject while others attempt to cover the
whole topic. Some attempt to study
the hunting of only one type of deer, or concern themselves with only one
region. Norman Strung has chosen
to cover "the whole thing" in one gulp, which, in this reader's opinion,
is unfortunate.
A rather lengthy chapter (the long-
est in the book) on deer management begins the book. The layman and beginning deer hunter will learn enough from this chapter alone to warrant reading the book. However, anyone looking for detailed specifics on the management of deer herds in the southeast will have to go elsewhere.
Subsequent chapters deal respectively with the Whitetail and Mule Deer. These sections contain good, if somewhat general discussions of the habitat requirements, habits, activities and hunting tactics for these animals. The use of tree stands is described as as a tactic for hunting whitetail, and not even considered in the chapter on mule deer. Yet on a hunt in Colorado last month. Garth Fuller, a Georgia whitetail hunter, got a nice muley from a tree stand in what western hunters call thick timber. While the tactics Strung suggests for hunting either type of deer are good solid approaches, we found Georgia pineywoods whitetail tactics to be very effective on mule deer (60 rr hunter success, bowhunting).
It may be this reader's personal
point of philosophy that brings dis-

agreement with Strung's statements in a chapter on "Skills, Savvy and Equipment." Strung would have the hunter begin trailing a shot deer at once, and, "If after an hour or so of searching, you find neither sign nor animal, you are safe to assume that
the deer wasn't wounded that badly and has given you the slip." This might be construed by the novice to mean that one should give up after
following a faint blood trail for an hour, or spending an hour looking for sign leading from the site of a hit. Frequently, no blood trail will be found within 25 yards of a hit, and in an area cluttered with tracks, a beginner could spend his whole alloted hour cutting circles within a 20yard radius of his last sighting of the
animal. It may also take the alloted
hour to follow a faint trail a quarter of a mile. It is probable that Strung
meant sign when he said sign, as an hour's search around the spot of the last sign or sighting is certainly none too much.
In the same chapter. Strung has sound advice on shot placement, the reading of tracks, and equipment. Details on measuring racks under the Boone and Crockett Club system are a handy addition in the view of those Outdoors in Georgia staffers who get involved in the annual Georgia Big Deer Contest sponsored by Outdoors in Georgia and the Georgia Wildlife Federation. This reviewer happens to
agree with Strung in his choice of both rifles and hunting knives (.270 for open 'areas, and .30-06 for all around effectiveness; and a short widebladed knife with a drop point), which
may be neither here nor there, but
Strung gives specific reasons for the
preferences. The author also has some sound advice on sharpening knives and axes.
In regard to bowhunting, the reviewer again disagrees with some of the author's statements, but the differences are those of personal feeling and preference rather than points of
substance. And here again, the author has made many other statements with
which the reviewer is in complete accord. For example: "The popular
-- consensus is heavy on accuracy at
long ranges 40 yards and beyond. But speaking from personal experi-

29

.

ence, I have gotten most of my shots

well under that range: 20 to 25 yards

is about average, so I feel being able

to place arrows in an 8-inch circle at

that distance is an able beginning."
En accord! Provided, of course, that

practice is carried out at various

ranges out to 25 accurate, measured

yards.

The final chapter, on "Carcass

Care," is simply excellent. Strung

tells, and shows by clear illustrations,
how you can easily butcher your deer. The author also includes several

recipes, which are just about worth

the price of the book alone. Concluding with a number of uses for what

are all too often considered by-prod-

ucts of a successful hunt, "Horns,

Hooves, and Hides," Strung wraps up

his book covering the hunting of deer

in North America in admirable fash-

ion.

Out of the yearly crop, probably

only one or two books out of five on

the subject are worth reading (assum-

ing that you have already read one

and been deer hunting twice). DEER

-- HUNTING by Norman Strung is

worth reading

just don't expect

much specific advice on Georgia

piney-woods hunting. If your are well

read on the subject of deer manage-

ment, and are a fairly experienced
deer hunter, you will not find much

new, but the few tid-bits that you do come across are well worth the effort, and we all can periodically stand a

bit of review.

--BW

DICTIONARY OF SHARKS, by
Patricia Pope, Great Outdoors Publishing Co., 88 pages, $ 1 .95 (paperbound ) Whoever said "you can't tell a book by its cover" knew what he was talking about. While the cover
of DICTIONARY OF SHARKS de-
cidedly resembles a coloring book, the inside reveals a surprising amount
A of information. guide to the identi-
fying characteristics, size, color, and range of over 1 25 species of sharks, the text is well illustrated and re-
searched. Shark fishing, while a rather un-
proclaimed sport, is explored in detail in the book. Aspects such as cost

and equipment, techniques and methods of shark fishing are covered. Fillet
of shark? It may not be as strange as it sounds. The next time you think
you are eating swordfish or cod from
your local grocery store, you may actually be eating shark. Many countries
consider shark a delicacy, and Patricia Pope provides some quite interesting recipes in her book.
DICTIONARY OF SHARKS ex-
plains how sharks find food without
the help of sight, sound, or scent. It outlines various experiments which
show what types of stimulus provoke the shark's hunting activity and at
what range. An excellent section entitled "The Shark As An Aggressor"
examines some of the species of sharks which are considered dangerous and exposes different theories on what prompts a shark to attack. Also in this section are methods of dis-
couraging the aggressive shark. This book certainly will not alien-
ate the reader by being too technical or scientific; it is written on an almost elementary level. Nonetheless,
DICTIONARY OF SHARKS claims
-- to be a book for the layman, and it is. Tina Carlson
Outdoor
World
DANGEROUS LEVELS OF MERCURY FOUND IN RAILS
High mercury residues may be found in some rails (marsh hens) shot
in the Brunswick area of the Turtle River-Brunswick River reach north of the Sidney Lanier Bridge making
the birds unsafe for human consump-
tion. Several years ago high levels of mercury were found in crabs and fish in the same area.
"About a year ago we became aware of the high mercury residues
found in rails (marsh hens) taken by hunters in the Brunswick area," Jack
Crockford, Director of the Game and

Fish Division of the Department of Natural Resources said. "In cooperation with the Environmental Protection Division we did sampling studies on rails (marsh hens) and found that high mercury residues apparently are limited to birds taken in the Turtle River-Brunswick area, north of the Sidney Lanier Bridge."
R. S. "Rock" Howard, Director of the Environmental Protection Division of the Department, said "the high mercury residues found in the samplings of some rails shot in the Brunswick area last year were definitely above what is considered safe for human consumption. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has specified
that foods containing in excess of 0.5
mg/1 (or parts per million) are unsafe for human consumption. Some
rails (marsh hens) tested in the reach north of the Sidney Lanier Bridge contained mercury levels as high as
1 1 mg/1 (or parts per million)."
Crockford suggested that hunters of the rails (marsh hens) do their hunt-
-- ing in other coastal areas. Karen H. Stroud
STORING AND PROCESSING YOUR DEER
It is an unfortunate circumstance of nature that most lucky deer hunters bag their quarry at unusual
hours and often many miles from home. The successful hunter is im-
mediately faced with the chores of field dressing the carcass; lugging it back to his car and getting the skin off
the deer. Now he must set out to find
a facility to further render his awkward burden into edible portions of
steaks, chops, roasts, etc.
The next recommended step is aging the carcass in a meat cooler at 32-35 degrees for around a week, and then having it butchered to
specifications. Unless our hunter is a butcher himself and/or has access to a meat cooler, he must find assistance to complete the process. All this time the hunter is working against the time limit imposed by meat spoilage which can cheat him out of his hard-won venison.
In most cases, the hunter must rely on a commercial meat processing facility for the equipment and advice

30

necessary to best prepare his meat.
There he can find out how long his
animal should be aged and secure the services of professional meat cut-
ters who will butcher the carcass with minimum waste. Since these fa-
cilities process commercial meat, they must stay within the standards imposed by governmental inspection agencies regarding the storage and processing of wild meat.

Federal regulations apply in those
plants inspected by USDA:
-- Storage carcass should be cov-

ered with plastic or some other

protective material but the hide

need not be removed. The car-

cass should be reasonably clean

and free of dried blood, parasites,

-- and trash.
Processing

the carcass cannot

be processed at the same time as

commercial (inspected) meat.

State regulations are in effect at those plants inspected by the State Depart-
ment of Agriculture Meat Inspection
Division:
-- Storage the carcass should be
reasonably clean and hung out of contact with other carcasses and

identified.
-- Processing the carcass can not
be processed at the same time as commercial (inspected) meat or with the same equipment unless the equipment is cleaned after processing wild meat. Meat should be
packaged and labeled "For Home
Use." This is done on a custom basis under the same requirements as those for farm slaughtered domestic animals.

Meat markets and butchers are regulated by the Consumer Protection Division, State Department of Agri-
culture:
The carcass must be fully dressed when brought in and equipment must be cleaned after processing This is done on a custom basis and
meat is stamped "For Home Use."

All wild meat is processed at any
facility at the operator's discretion,
and does cause considerable trouble. Don't be surprised if the cost is rather high and some operators refuse to handle wild meat at all. The best bet is to locate one processor
who has several other deer on hand

and can economically run the whole lot at once. Always remember the processor is doing you a favor when
-- he handles your venison. Aaron Pass
GEORGIA CHAPTER OF WILDLIFE SOCIETY FORMED
Amid the current proliferation of
conservation/environmental groups, the formation of yet another one might not seem especially newsworthy except in a case of special interest or merit. Such is exactly the case of the recently formed Georgia Chapter of
The Wildlife Society which was organized at Brunswick in late August.
The field of interest, the type of mem-
bership, and the national affiliation of
this.group makes it unique among the
currently active conservation groups and clubs in the state.
The main interest area of the Wildlife Society Chapter is naturally enough, wildlife, an interest which is fed and fostered by a membership
consisting of professional wildlife
managers. Members of the Chapter in-
clude representatives of such agencies
as: The Department of Natural Re-
sources, Game and Fish Division,
U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Army, University of Georgia, and the University of Georgia Extension Service. The Georgia Chapter will be chartered by The Wildlife Society, an international pro-
fessional association specializing in
wildlife conservation, management, and enhancement.
The fledgling Georgia Chapter met at Brunswick Junior College to elect officers, establish standing committees and to discuss Chapter goals. The offi-
& cers are: Bob Ernst (Game Fish),
President; Duff Holbrook (U.S. Forest Service), President-elect; John Ober-
& heu (Fish Wildlife Service), Secre& tary; Joe Kurz (Game Fish), Trea-
surer; and Board members, Ron
Simpson (Game & Fish) and Dr.
Larry Marchington (U.Ga.). Committees include: Program, Public Relations, Non-game, Game, and Environ-
mental issues.
Besides the standing objectives of
The Wildlife Society to promote sound stewardship of, prevent man-induced damage to, and to increase awareness

and appreciation of our wildlife resources, the Georgia Chapter has adopted several goals of its own. Ac-
cording to President Ernst, "We feel
the most important roles of this Chap-

ter to be providing a base of inter-

agency support on environmental mat-

ters and to promote knowledgeable

professional management of the wild-

We life resource.

also plan to identify,

professionally examine and officially

comment on current environmental

issues and provide a fund of knowl-

edge available to other conservation

groups on wildlife matters."

The meeting at Brunswick included a one day field trip to Sapelo Island to observe activities on the R. J. Rey-

-- nolds Wildlife Refuge.

Aaron Pass

FOREST FIRMS LIST CONTACTS FOR HUNTING PERMISSION
Finding land on which he can obtain permission to hunt is perhaps the major problem facing today's sportsman. Permission to hunt on private lands is difficult to obtain, but perhaps even more difficult is finding the owner of the land to ask permission.
Many of the forest industries in
Georgia have vast acreages of land which they allow hunters to use if permission is requested. In fact, more than three million acres of industry-
owned land are open in Georgia each
year, by permission.
The Georgia Department of Na-
tural Resources, as a public service, has provided a list of forest industries to aid sportsmen in obtaining permis-
sion to hunt. The list was compiled
in cooperation with the Southern Forest Institute, an association of woodusing industries in the Southeast. Hunters are urged to respect the owners' property and to abide by any
company rules.
The Department, in publishing this
list, does not guarantee that hunting
privileges will be granted by any companies or on any lands. The list is provided to inform hunters who they
should contact to request permission
to hunt on the lands owned by the various companies. The Department also reminds hunters that they must
have the permission of any landowner.

31

)

including forest industries, before
hunting.
No information is available from
the Department as to the location of any lands of any of the companies.
Maps of these lands are available from some of the companies.
Contacts of the various companies to request information and hunting
privileges are:
Georgia Kraft Co., Wood and
Woodlands Division, P.O. 1551, Rome, Ga. 30161; also district managers, W. J. Rowston, P.O. Box 103, Coosa, Ga. 30129; T. A. Gresham, P.O. Box 272, Gainesville, Ga. 30501; Paul L. Lawrence, Rt. 6, Box 287, Macon, Ga. 31201; J. H. Colson, 625 West Taylor St., Griffin, Ga. 30223; and W. G. Carson, Oconee Development Forest, Greensboro, Ga. 30642.
Container Corporation of America, Paper Mill Division, North Eight St., Fernandina Beach, Fla. 32034; also
Ed Mathews, Area Forester, Container Corp. of America, Waycross Area Headquarters, Box 887, Waycross, Ga. 31501; Walt Branyan, Area
Forester, Container Corp. of America,
McRae Area Headquarters, P.O. Box 237, McRae, Ga. 31055; Ed Pope,
Area Forester, Container Corp. of America, Cusseta Area Headquarters, P.O. Box 58, Richland, Ga. 31825.
Gilman Paper Co., St. Mary's Kraft Division, St. Marys, Ga. 31558; also, J. G. Fendig, Manager, Timber Division, Gilman Paper Co., St. Mary's Kraft Division, St. Marys, Ga. 31558.
International Paper Co., George-
town, S.C. 29440; also Harold M. Phillips, Area Superintendent, P.O. Box A, Richmond Hill, Ga. 31324;
David Warren, Forest Wildlife Spe-
cialist for the Panama City Region, P.O. Box 2487, Panama City, Fla.
32401.
ITT Rayonier Inc., P.O. Box 528, Jesup, Ga. 31545; also, Thomas E. Evans, Area Supervisor, ITT Ray-
onier, Inc., Eastman, Ga. 31023; Luke H. Morgan, Area Supervisor,
Supervisor, ITT Rayonier, Inc., Swainsboro, Ga.; Marvin F. Williams, Area Supervisor, ITT Rayonier, Inc., Waycross, Ga. 31501; W. J. Menear, Jr., Area Supervisor, ITT Rayonier, Inc., Swainsboro, Ga.; Slen C. Campbell, Area Supervisor, ITT Rayonier,
Inc., Jesup, Ga. 31545.

Union Camp Corp., George Gehr-
ken, Woodlands Division, P.O. Box
570, Savannah, Ga. 31402. Brunswick Pulp and Paper Co., H.
Glenroy Dowdy, Land Manager, Brunswick, Ga. 31521.
Great Northern Paper Co., Mr. Anderson, Timberlands Manager, P.O. Box 44, Cedar Springs, Ga. 31732.
Outdoor
Calendar
Octo be v-
/ 2.545 <o ?fl 1 /OH )1Q>
HUNTING SEASONS
-- Deer Archery The open season for
hunting deer with bow and arrow in Game Zones I, la, II, III, IV and
V, shall be from September 29 through October 27, 1973, in any county, or part thereof, having a legal firearms deer season. Bag limit is two (2) bucks or one (1) buck and one (1) doe. Hunting with dogs prohibited except in such areas and during such times
as it may be legal under firearms hunt-
ing regulations.
The open season for hunting deer
with bow and arrow in Game Zone
VI shall be from September 29 through October 19, 1973, in any county, or part thereof having a legal firearms deer season. Bag limit is two (2) bucks or one ( 1 ) buck and one ( 1 doe. Hunting with dogs prohibited.
Notice: Archery equipment may be
used during firearms hunts, however, all hunters must abide by firearms regulations as to bag limits.
Deer Firearms Seasons
GAME ZONE V: October 20,
1973 through January 1, 1974 in the following counties: Clinch County, except that portion lying in the southwest corner of the County, bordered on the north by the Seaboard Coastline Railroad and on the east by Suwannoochee Creek, and except that portion lying north of Arabia Bay

Wildlife Area and between U.S. Highway 221 and U.S. Highway 441, which exceptions are closed: Echols County east of U.S. Highway 129 and south of Georgia Highway 187; and Lanier County north of the Seaboard Coastline Railroad and east of the Alapaha River and southeast of U.S. Highway 221. Bag limit two (2) bucks. Hunting with dogs allowed.*
October 20 through November 17, 1973 in Ware County, except that portion lying north of U.S. 82 and
those portions lying within the outer-
most boundaries of Waycross State
Forest WMA, which are closed to
deer hunting. Bag limit two (2) bucks. Hunting with dogs allowed.
GAME ZONE VI: October 20,
1973 through January 1, 1974. All
counties in Game Zone VI will be
open with the following exceptions: that portion of Charlton County lying northwest of the Okefenokee Swamp, which is closed; that portion of Pierce
County lying west of U.S. #82 and
Pleasant Hill Church Road; that portion of Pierce County lying in the northeast corner bounded on the west
by U.S. #82 and on the south by
Ga. #32, and that portion of Pierce County lying in the southeast corner
bounded on the east by Ga. #15 and
on the west by U.S. #82, which are closed; that portion of Wayne County
lying west of Jesup which is bounded
on the north by Ga. #169 and on the
south by U.S. #82, which is closed. Bag limit two (2) bucks. Hunting with
dogs allowed. The marshes and islands lying east
of the Intercoastal Waterway in Bryan, Camden, Chatham, Liberty and Mcintosh Counties will be open for the taking of deer of either sex on October 20 through January 1, 1974. Bag limit, two (2) bucks or one (1) buck and one (1) doe. Hunting with dogs allowed; however, Sapelo and Blackbeard Is-

32

lands are closed to all hunting except as otherwise specifically provided.
-- Fox There shall be no closed sea-
son on the taking of fox. It shall be unlawful for any person
to take or attempt to take any fox, within the State, by use or aid of recorded calls or sounds or recorded or electronically amplified imitations of calls or sounds.
-- Grouse October 13, 1973 through
February 28, 1974. Bag limit three
(3) daily; possession limit six (6).
-- Wild hogs Hogs are considered non-
game animals in Georgia. They are
legally the property of the land owner, and cannot be hunted without his permission, except on public lands. Firearms are limited to shotguns with
Number 4 shot or smaller, .22 rimfire
rifles, centerfire rifles with bore diam-
eter .257 or smaller, the .30 cal. Army
Carbine, the .32/20, all caliber pis-
tols, muzzle loading firearms and bows and arrows.

-- Opossum October 13, 1973 through

February 28, 1974 in Carroll, Ful-

ton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Barrow, Jack-

son, Madison, Elbert and all counties

No north of those listed.

bag limit.

Night hunting allowed. All counties

south of the above named counties

are open year round for the taking
of possum. No bag limit. Night hunt-

ing allowed.

-- Raccoon October 13, 1973 through
February 28, 1974 in Carroll, Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Barrow, Jackson, Madison, Elbert and all counties north of those listed. Bag limit one (1) per night per person. Night hunting allowed. All counties south of the above named counties are open year round
for the taking of raccoon. No bag
limit. Night hunting allowed.

Rail (Marsh Hens): September 10 through November 18. King and clapper rail daily bag limit 15, possession limit 30, singly or in aggregate. Virginia and sora rail daily bag limit 25,
possession limit 25, singly or in ag-

gregate. Legal shooting hours will be 30 minutes before sunrise until sun-
set.
Dove: Georgia has been divided into two zones for the coming dove season by a line formed by U.S. 80 from Columbus to Macon, Ga. 49 from
Macon to Milledgeville, Ga. 22 from
Milledgeville to Sparta, Ga. 16 from Sparta to Warrenton, U.S. 278 from Warrenton to Augusta.
Northern Zone: September 8 through October 27, and December
15 through January 3.
Southern Zone: September 29 through October 27, and December
6 through January 15. Daily bag limit 12, possession limit
24. Legal shooting hours will be from 12 noon until sunset.
Ducks: December 6 through January
19. Daily bag limit 5, possession limit
10. Daily bag may not include more
than 1 black duck with 2 in possession and 2 wood ducks with 4 in possession. Season is closed on canvasback and redhead ducks, brant and geese. Legal shooting hours will be 30 min-
utes before sunrise until sunset.

Extra Scaup Limit: In addition to the
scaup which may be taken in the
regular duck season daily bag, an extra 2 scaup daily with 4 in possession will be allowed on the east (seaward) side of the Intracoastal Water-
way in Chatham, Bryan, Liberty, Mcintosh, Glynn and Camden counties.
Coots: December 6 through January 19. Daily bag limit 15, possession
limit 30. Legal shooting hours will be 30 minutes before sunrise until sunset.
Gallinules: November 12 through
January 19. Daily bag limit 15, possession limit 30. Legal shooting hours will be 30 minutes before sunrise until
sunset.
Mergansers: December 6 through January 19. Daily bag limit 5, possession limit 10. Not more than 1 daily and 2 in possession may be hooded mergansers. Legal shooting hours will be 30
minutes before sunrise until sunset. In addition to the required State licenses, each person, 16 years of age
or older, who hunts waterfowl must
possess a valid Federal Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp, available from most U.S. Post Offices.

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NEW SUBSCRIPTION
Fill out form at right and mail with payment.

Attach recent magazine address label here for renewal, change of address, or Inquiry.

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Addr
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GIFT SUBSCRIPTION Show recipient's name and address in form, indicate gift signature and mail with pay-
ment.

Sign Gift Card 1 year $3.00

CHECK ONE:
2 years $5.00

3 years $6.00

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