Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies

The mixed hardwoods, white oaklred oak/hickory, and chestnut oak forest types were most important for gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) on an 8100 ha study area in West Virginia. The three most abundant tree species, chestnut oak (Quercus prinus), white oak (Q. alba), and northern red oak (Q. rum-a), in these forest types provided 75 percent of the nest dens and 54 percent of the leaf nests. Among 14 tree species used for nest-den trees. American chestnut(Castanea dentata) snags and sugar maple (Acer saccharum) ,,"'Cre preferred. Hickories(Carya spp.), yellow-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), and maples (Acer spp.) were preferred for Ieaf nests. Squirrels preferred trees 40+ em dbh tor nest dens. Intensive timber management would remove the mature and residual trees that provided most of the dens. Management for squirrels requires that a diversity of selected tree species be retained for dens and mast.

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 previous hunter surveys undertaken in northern areas, crippling loss was much higher than previously indicated. Using flushing rates, river or creek floodplains were preferred diurnal sites as opposed to beaver pond, upland, and mixed habitat locales. Swamp privet appeared to be favorite cover.

A telephone survey of mourning dove hunting in the Eastern Management Unit covering eight seasons (1966-1973) was carried Ollt for the Southeastern Cooperative Dove Study. The sampling frame, the survey procedures, and the precision of the results are described, and certain comparisons are made with mail surveys. Of the 210,000 randomly selected households, approximately 85 percent were contacted and information on about 12,800 dove hunters was obtained. The number of dove hunters in Management Unit households having listed telephones, the Dumber of their trips and their harvest of doves were estimated with seasonal percentage standard errors ranging between 4.0 and 8.8. For the same number of persons contacted, a telephone survey of dove hunting seems to yield less precise estimates than does a mail survey based on license files, at least partly because only a small fraction of those households reached by telephone. include dove hunters.

The acceptance and antifertility action of microencapsulated diethylstilbestrol (DES) administered in feed was investigated with penned female white-tailed deer (Odocoileus viirginianus). A switchback designed oral acceptance test at 0, 250, 500, 750, and 1,000 mg was conducted just before the breeding season. The 1,000 mg level was as well accepted as the other three concentrations, but none were as well accepted as the control. Six does were presented 1,000 mg of DES, homogenized in 1.362 kg of feed, every 17 days throughout the breeding season. Five of the six does demonstrated aversion to the compound. Consumption of 131mg or less did not prevent normal pregnancy. The sixth doe, which consumed 182 and 428mg at the first two feedings, bred again after each feeding indicating that these levels might have interrupted pregnancy. Possible reasons for the poor acceptance of DES during the breeding season are discussed.

Nasal bots (Cephenemyw sp.) were found in 107 (4.4 percent) of 2,423 white-tailed deer (Odocoueus virginianus) examined from the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Infected deer were not found in Alabama, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The parasite was most prevalent in the winter and summer. There were no significant differences in infestations between sexes or age groupings. The average infestation was 9 larvae per infested deer and only 5 deer harbored more than 30 larvae. Cephenemyia sp. did not appear to be a significant disease factor for white-tailed deer of the southeastern United States.

The occurrence and extent of European wild hog (Sus scrofa) rooting at different elevations and vegetation types in the mountains of East Tennessee were studied along trails and roads in three watersheds in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and in three watersheds in the Tellico Wildlife Management Area, Cherokee National Forest, from April 1971 through March 1972. Rooting was greatest at higher elevations in the wanner months and at lower elevations in the cooler months. The location of rooting in different \\/egetation types appeared to be related to elevational movement in response to changes in ambient temperature, to food availability, and to farroWing activity. Rooting was common in hemlock and closed-oak types during the spring, in the northern hardwood type during the warmer spring and Slimmer, and in the closed-oak type and fields during the fall and winter.

A postal survey of 1,323 game management area permit holders (5%) was made in early 1972 to detennine the utilization of game management areas for deer hunting. Responses (777) were inadequate for projecting utilization of many of the 35 state game management areas for deer hunting. Thus responses from the postal survey and from a subsequent personal contact survey, were grouped into major hunt units. Sixteen percent ofthe 777 postal survey respondents were selected for personal contact. This survey was more comprehensive than the postal survey, and provided an estimate of the number of management area deer hunters utilizing non-management areas. Estimates from the personal interview survey were uniformly higher and more variable than those projected from the responses of the same hunters in the postal survey.

Blood samples were obtained from 70 European wild hogs (Susscrofa), of which 33 were live-trapped in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and 37 were reared in captivity on farms geographically proximal to the mountains. Sera were analyzed for chloride, potassium, sodium, glucose, blood urea nitrogen, total serum protein, albumin, alpha, beta and gamma globulins. The albumin/globulin ratio was calculated. Data were analyzed for the effects of sex, age, and location by least squares analysis of variance. With the exception of semm sodium, significant sex differences were not found. With the exception of glucose, semm bio-roaming hogs were slightly higher than females. Among adult and subadult, free-roaming hogs, only the total senlm protein was significantly higher in the adults. Serum values ofmale and female pen-reared hogs were similar though the females had somewhat higher levels of total serum protein and albumin.

An air-boat was used successfully to collect raccoons in a tidal marsh. Three hundred and four raccoons were seen and collected for 68 man hours expended with the air-boat as compared to 62 raccoons seen and collected for 56 man hours expended with the John·boat. During one two-hour collection, 39 raccoons (approximately one every three minutes) were collected with the air-boat. The number of raccoons seen and collected on each tide was closely correlated to tide height.

An inventory of understory herbage and browse indicated that the forage potential of southwest Louisiana forests is riot being fully utilized. The longleaf-slash pine and loblolly-shortleaf pine ecosystems produce the greatest amount of forage, but bottomland hardwoods have the best browse composition.

The contents of 4,157 quail crops from the Sandhills Wildlife Management Area were examined. The crops were collected from hunter harvested quail during the open hunting season (mid-November through late February) for seven years, 1961 through 1967. Items of primary importance were the seeds of longleaf pine, red bay, shrub lespedeza, rye and beggarweed. A temporal examination of the data indicates that red bay was important as a source offood in late winter and during periods ofpine mast scarcity.

The impact of continuously removing gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) from upland Virginia poultry farms was studied over a 25-month period. Primary study areas were two sets offarm woodlots. Foxes were left undisturbed on one fann, and were intensively controlled for a 14-month period on the other. Demographic analysis ofrodent populations and enumeration of sympatric carnivores were penormed on both farms before, during, and after the period offox control. During fox control, weasels(Mustelafrenata) irrupted to significant (P <0.05) levels; numbers of skunks, opossums, and raccoons remained unchanged. Weasels disappeared upon the reestablishment of foxes during postcontrol. Rodent trapping yielded 631 small mammals, including 331 woodmice (Perornyscus leucopus), in 9,042 trapnights.

A computer-based educationallloit for university and inservice education is described. Students make selections from pre-punched decision cards and present these for computer analyses. They receive a printed output enabling them to improve their "play" orthe game. The units require management of deer in a southeastern U. S. county producing soybeans. The objective is to stabilize the deer population and minimize crop losses. Hunt I is a unit employed independently of past uses. After five uses ofl, students are encouraged to use Hunt II which requires correcting past mistakes as well as playing against natural variation in variables. The program is in use in a course in integrated plant pest management and wildlife techniques.

With the advent of the 1974-75 trapping season Georgia's Game and Fish Law Enforcement Section elected to place emphasis on the control and management of the fur industry within the State with one reason being to find out, if nothing else, what was the fur industry in the state. As could be expected several things were learned. Deficiencies were detected and an evolutionary process was begun to improve on the managing and control of this valuable resource. Included in this effort to improve upon the State's management and control program was a review of the laws, regulations, and methods of fifteen other states, most of which were in the Southeast. This was done in an attempt to learn of better ways to administer an effective law enforcement program and also to provide a suggested approach to other southeastern states which might find themselves in the same boat with Georgia. The purpose of this paper is to provide some insight into what has been learned.

A survey of Wildlife Law Enforcement Directors throughout the United States was used in assessing the status of anti-poaching campaigns. Thirty-five of the 45 state wildlife agencies returning the questionnaire have an anti-poaching campaign in progress. Personal contact is the medium most frequently used (34 of 35 agencies). Six (17.1%) agencies reported that they had been able to evaluate the effectiveness of their anti-poaching campaigns in eliciting the cooperation of citizens in reporting wildlife violations. Fear of involvement and of being called as a witness was the most frequently cited barrier preventing persons from reporting wildlife violations. A conservationist attitude was cited most frequently as the reason for reporting a violation. Discontinuities seemed apparent in the frequency and percent use of various media in anti-poaching campaigns.

A program (Help Our Wildlife), encouraging citizens to report vandalism and game law violations was adopted by 15 states when introduced by the National Rille Association in late 1974. An early 1975 survey showed six other states had a similar program in operation or under development.

This paper deals with the development of graphic design concepts as incorporated into a conservation agency magazine from 1966 to the present. This evolution will be presented relative to six different categories each with an individual set of typical graphics problems. They are: Logo (title block), covers, inside front cover, editorial page, interior (both print and illustration), and special graphic effects. The refinement of a coherent and meaningful graphics design in these areas typifies the evolution of the whole.

Only by isolating similarities and differences between those who strongly oppose or favor hunting can programs be developed to increase understanding about hunting as a wildlife management tool. The extremities of the continuum were studied because this is where a clearer understanding ofdemographic, adolescent experience, and attitudinal type variables can be obtained. It was found that sex, occupation, nature of the community during youth, occupation of father, and meaning of hunting lands were the important variables in determining differences.

Programs in Agriculture (Natural) Resources designed to provide vocational education for the total agribusiness and natural resource industry are being implemented through agricultural education curricula in a number of southeastern states. Vocational training programs for occupations related to fish and wildlife management exist in 8 states and will likely spread to others. These programs, if planned and implemented properly, can benefit the fish and wildlife resource. Those in the wildlife profession must be aware of developments in their state and provide leadership and expertise for directing programs toward the fulfillment of valid goals and objectives. Members in the profession cannot afford to ignore educational programs disseminating information on the fish and wildlife resources, especially those which are designed to provide vocational education.