Samuel R. Pursglove, Jr.

Control of a Fowl Cholera Outbreak among Coots in Virginia

In February, 1975, an outbreak of fowl cholera caused the death of 18,000 wild waterfowl, primarily American coots (Fulica americana), at Back Bay, Virginia. To arrest the epornitic, coots were treated with aerial application of a wetting agent, rendered flightless, collected from the water, and humanely destroyed. Over 6,000 coots were depopulated. Pertinent field observations are described for this control endeavor.

Observations on Wintering Woodcock in Northeast Georgia

During 5 consecutive hunting seasons (1969-1974), 57 hunters made 136 woodcock hunts at 27 sites in northeast Georgia. In 728 man-hours of hunting, 1,132 woodcock flushes occurred. Hunters fired 1,171 shots and bagged 308 woodcock. Forty-three birds were shot down hut lost and 20 were feathered but kept flying. Overall, 1.56 woodcock were flushed per man-hour of hunting, and hunters bagged approximately one bird ofevery four flushed. Crippling loss (in relation to total kill) was computed to be 17 percent. Although hunting opportunity and hunter success compared closely with results of...

Potentialities Of The Woodcock As A Game Bird Resource In The Southeastern United States

The American woodcock is a neglected game bird in most southeastern states. Reasons for disregarding this species include: a belief that woodcock are sparse in areas other than Louisiana and southwestern Mississippi; little knowledge pertaining to woodcock habitat; the practice of only hunting woodcock incidentally to other game; and a consensus that quail dogs cannot be used for hunting woodcock. During field activities associated with a rangewide study of parasitism in woodcock, surprisingly high populations were revealed in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Arkansas, and...