A. W. Palmisano

During the winters of 1972-73 and 1973-74 an evaluation was made ofthe effectiveness ofthe leg-hold and killing type (Conibear) trap for taking fur animals in coastal Louisiana. The leg-hold trap caught significantly more nutria and raccoons than the Conibear trap. However, the killing type trap appeared to be more effective for taking muskrats in flooded marshes. Approximately 92 percent of the animals caught in the Conibear were killed by the trap, only 15.8 percent died in the leg-hold. Thirty percent ofthe nutria taken in the leg-hold trap were undersize and released. Survival of...

A telemetric study was conducted on immature alligators (Alligator mississipiensis) on Rockefeller Refuge from 27 March, 1973 through SMarch, 1974. Thirty alligators, 17 females and 13 males. were captured, tagged. marked for identification, and outfitted with color-eoded neck-collar radio transmitters. Adirectional receiving unit was used to follow their daily movement. The size of the animals ranged from 3'6-1/4" to 5'10-3/4". Minimum home range sizes, daily activity patterns, and habitat preferences were determined for the alligators under investigation. Readings taken during the winter...

In September 1972 the Louisiana Wild Life and Fisheries Commission established an experimental alligator harvest program. The primary objective of the open season was to evaluate a complex system of quotas, tags, licenses and report forms designed to rigidly control the harvest and shipment of alligator skins. Information was also obtained on the effects of the harvest on alligator populations, food habits, tag recovery rates, body condition factors, aging techniques, reproductive biology and pesticide..and parasite levels. A total of61 alligator hunters were issued 1,961 tags. One...