Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies

Women have typically been underrepresented in the numbers of hunters and anglers. A 1990 workshop, "Breaking Down the Barriers to Participation of Women in Angling and Hunting," held at the College of Natural Resources at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, identified 21 reasons for their low participation in these activities. These barriers, ranging from childhood conditioning to ill-fitting equipment and clothing, have kept women from enjoying outdoor activities as fully as do men. Fourteen barriers related to lack of information. To address that problem, Dr. Christine Thomas of UW-Stevens Point developed "Becoming an Outdoors Woman" (BOW), a skills workshop focusing on outdoor skills usually associated with hunting and fishing, but including other activities as well. The weekend clinics provide education in a non-threatening, supportive atmosphere. A research project sponsored by national sports/conservation organizations surveyed the first 800 participants.

Thousands of multimedia titles are being developed for education purposes, many on environmental topics. Learning potential is very high, because if a program is engaging and interesting, people will spend many hours with it. Ariel Training Design and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service formed a partnership with 28 local, state, and federal agencies to develop an interactive multimedia educational program on wetlands in coastal North Carolina. The project is in progress. The goal is to develop a high-quality program based on solid educational principles to teach people the ecology and value of wetlands in coastal North Carolina. Existing resources, such as video, will be incorporated where possible. The final product will complement other education programs, including workshops, print materials, and traditional video. Multimedia is a challenging endeavor because of the complexity of the various components and the infinite number of ways to present any piece of information.

Covert, or undercover, investigations have been utilized by various state and federal law enforcement agencies for decades to detect and prosecute surreptitious and organized forms of criminal activity. Historically, wildlife law enforcement divisions have relied almost exclusively on overt, or uniformed modes of enforcement, both as a means of effecting voluntary compliance, and to detect and prosecute instances of noncompliance. Modern technological advances coupled with increased commercial value of many wildlife species has generated clandestine and organized illegal commercial activities which can severely impact natural resources. Recent covert operations by state and federal wildlife agencies have proven effective in combating these types of violations. Some illustrative case examples are presented.

Traditional wildlife law enforcement epitomizes the concept of community oriented policing. Many problems of supervision, performance tracking, evaluation, and uniformity in front line law enforcement operations arise because the nature of conservation law enforcement is remote in terms of territory, communication, and routine operations. The successful implementation of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission's Five Point Plan is bringing about a paradigm shift. Supervisory training, performance evaluation, and law enforcement ethics receive top priority under the plan. Communication and professionalism are top concerns for the law enforcement programs. The present agency standards exemplify management of community oriented policing.

Hunters shooting white-tailed deer from roadways, illegal in Tennessee, is a problem that, among other things, creates a bad image and publicity for sport hunting. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) has used decoy deer to help apprehend violators and combat this problem. We evaluated the use of this technique by designing and distributing survey forms to TWRA wildlife officers. We collected survey forms (N = 100) from 21 different counties. Only 17.8% of 734 vehicles that passed decoy deer during the survey periods stopped, but violations were committed by occupants of 46.6% of stopped vehicles. Violations occurred more often from slow moving (<16 km/hour) vehicles than from vehicles that were traveling at 16-48 km/hour (P < 0.001), and more often from vehicles that stopped suddenly than those that came to a gradual stop (P = 0.016). Violations occurred most often from pickup trucks with 2 male occupants of mixed ages.

In spring 1994 the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission, the state agency charged with the conservation of Florida's freshwater fish and wildlife resources, recognized the need to better involve the community with solutions to current environmental problems: more specifically, community involvement in resolving with littering problems on public lands and waters. Toward that end, the Division of Law Enforcement developed Project EAGLE (Enhancing a Great Living Environment), a half-day voluntary cleanup of some of Florida's most sensitive public lands and waterways. The initial pilot program met with overwhelming success, in terms of both removing litter from the environment and community participation. Utilizing the momentum generated by the pilot program, Project EAGLE was expanded to a statewide effort in 1995. This effort paid off with massive amounts of litter being removed from critical areas and a greater sense of community awareness and support.

Ross' goose and snow goose populations have increased in the last 20 years and now show extensive range overlap. Winter population surveys conducted by state and federal resource agencies in Texas do not distinguish between the 2 species, and their distribution and population trends are assumed to be similar. We examined the relative distributions of Ross' geese and snow geese in the riceprairie and coastal marsh regions of southeast Texas. Our results indicate that both proportion and abundance of Ross' geese in the rice-prairie have increased in the last 20 years, and that white goose flocks in the coastal marsh region are comprised of relatively fewer Ross' geese than snow geese. We suggest that aerial winter population surveys should incorporate ground surveys to address speciesspecific differences in distribution.

Flooded bottomland hardwood forests are critical habitat for mallards (Anasplatyrhynchos) and wood ducks (Aix sponsa) during winter. How these species allocate their time in such habitats is unknown, however. Therefore, diurnal time budgets of 48 mallards and 330 wood ducks wintering in such a forest were examined during a 554-hour sampling period from 19 January through 31 March 1991. Time budgets of the species differed (P<0.001). Mallards spent more time feeding, resting, and alert, and less time locomoting and perching than wood ducks. Intraspecific time budgets of mallard and wood duck drakes, hens, and pairs differed (P<0.001) as did those for early morning, mid-day, and late afternoon time blocks (P<0.001). Both species spent much more time locomoting and less time feeding than did ducks in other habitats. To compensate, mallards reduced resting time; wood ducks swam as they fed, thus locomoting and feeding behaviors were often indistinguishable.

Rice (Oryza sativa) fields are managed wetlands that have high potential value to wildlife, especially waterbirds. To better understand factors influencing use of rice fields by breeding waterbirds, we compared nest densities in waterand dry-seeded rice fields in southwestern Louisiana, May-July 1993. Densities of waterbird nests in dry- and water-seeded plots were similar (paired t = 0.69, df = 13, P = 0.505). Minimum density of waterbird nests surveyed in Louisiana rice fields averaged (±SE) 37.2 ± 4.4 nests/km2 (N = 28, range = 0-92.7). Nests of king rails (Rallus elegans, 15.9 ±3.1 nests/km2), fulvous whistling ducks (Dendrocygna bicolor, 15.1 ± 3.3 nests/km2), and purple gallinules (Porphymla martinica, 5.1 ± 1.4 nests/km2) were common, but common moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) and least bittern (Ixobrychus exilis) nests were rare (< 1 nest/km2).

Emphasis on use of moist-soil management for waterfowl has increased in recent years. One component of this form of management which is not well documented are seed yields of many native plants produced. Seed yields of 4 moistsoil plant species were measured during the growing season of 1985 and 1986 on the Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge in Mississippi. Seed yields of 3 species, Polygonum hydropiperoides (Michaux), Polygonum densiflorum (Meissner), and Rhyncospora corniculata (Gray), were measured using a specially designed seed trap. The fourth species, Ludwigia glandulosa (Walter), was measured by clipping plants from 0.31-m2 quadrats, then removing their capsules. Of the 4 species measured, P. densiflorum and R. corniculata appeared to be the best overall seed producers, producing an average of 430 kg/ha and 661 kg/ha in 1985, respectively, and 576 kg/ha and 1,091 kg/ha in 1986, respectively. P. hydropiperoides produced much less seed than P.

The Canaan Valley, West Virginia, Canada goose (Branta canadensis) flock is a discrete population that resulted from birds released in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This flock is the only flock in West Virginia that regularly migrates out of the state during winter and returns for nesting. It remains discrete even though other populations exist within 27 km to the east and west. This is the southernmost migratory flock of geese in the eastern United States. Helicopter surveys were conducted from 1982 to 1993 to estimate population size, and banding was conducted from 1977 to 1993 to examine demography and movements of this flock. The Canaan Valley goose population increased from <100 birds in 1982 to >500 by 1991. We banded 679 geese (379 adults and 300 juveniles) between 1977 and 1993.

While researchers recently have begun to examine production and nutritional quality of forage plantings for white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), little research has been done to determine deer preference of commonly planted forages. Due to lack of research, some forages are being inappropriately recommended to supply forage during times of the year they are not productive or preferred. We employed a timed observational method to determine captive whitetailed deer use of commonly planted forages from 1989-1991 at the Auburn University Deer Research Facility near Auburn, Alabama. We recorded feeding activity of 10 deer foraging on 11 cool-season and 6 warm-season forages during 227 feeding intervals.

Long-term reproductive, physiological, and population data are not commonly available for deer herds. In Texas, there is little data on populations that are not commercially hunted. Data were recorded from 943 white-tailed does (Odocoileus virginianus) collected from 1961-1992 on the Welder Wildlife Foundation. Age class, eviscerated carcass weight, kidney fat index, density, and rainfall were correlated with reproductive performance including birth dates, pregnancy rates, and counts of corpora lutea and embryos. Deer densities averaged 33/km2. Mean conception date was 22 November and 75% of the breeding occurred in November. Pregnancy rates for fawns, yearlings, and adult does were 5%, 90%, and 95%, respectively. Yearlings averaged 1.39 corpora lutea and 1.28 embryos. Adults averaged 1.83 corpora lutea and 1.68 embryos. Fetal sex ratio was 52% males.

Little is known about exotic ungulates in Florida. This study evaluated the status of this industry in Florida and its potential for detrimental impacts on native wildlife. The exotic ungulate industry in Florida was surveyed by mail questionnaires to exotic ungulate permittees, phone interviews, interviews with exotic ungulate owner/managers, interviews with law enforcement wildlife inspectors, review of permit application forms on file with the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission, and review of the International Species Inventory System list. There were 64 wildlife exhibits, game farms, and hunting preserves that maintained >6,000 exotic hoofed-animals representing 103 species and subspecies. The number of new game farms with exotic ungulates has increased dramatically in the past 10 to 15 years. The most common species are fallow (Cervus dama), axis {Axis axis), and sika (C. nippon) deer.

Hunting is a popular and traditional pastime. However, natural resource managers are increasingly called upon to defend the use of hunting as a wildlife management tool and as a source of public recreation. The purpose of this study was to produce economic information to help resource managers and the public gain a better understanding of the economic contributions of hunting, to justify conservation and management expenditures, and help shape beneficial regulatory actions. My data show hunters spent $5.07 billion in the southeastern states in 1991 and jobs supported by hunting per state ranged from 3,120 (Oklahoma) to 23,370 (Texas). Hunting also produces important state tax revenues in the Southeast with $236.1 million generated by sales tax and $34.0 million generated in income tax revenues by hunting-supported jobs in SEAFWA member states. This report quantifies the economic contributions of deer and migratory bird hunting.

Wildlife agencies are challenged to conserve wildlife populations while supporting a persistent recreational and commercial demand for the resource. Conservation of some populations may require harvest restrictions to prevent over-exploitation. Hunting restrictions are often unpopular and create confrontations between user groups and wildlife agencies. The success of conservation measures, however, rests on shaping public opinion to accept reductions in consumptive use of the resources. I discuss 2 case studies in Delaware regarding confrontational responses to harvest restrictions placed upon 2 popular species, the Northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) and the Canada goose (Branta canadensis). Most sportsmen and conservation groups supported agency actions, while a determined influential minority contested imposed restrictions and worked persistently to eliminate them.

A safe, efficient, low-manpower method of capturing Rio Grande turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo intermedia) sustainable over long periods of time was needed as an alternative to drop nets and rocket nets. We trapped 549 turkeys during a 3-year study of breeding chronology in Rio Grande turkey hens in Texas. We captured 107 birds (19.5%) using a rocket net and captured the remaining 442 birds (80.5%) using 4 x 8 x 10-ft. wire funnel traps. The funnel trap became the method of choice after its efficiency became apparent. During the last 1.5 years of the 3-year study, no more than 2 days of effort with ≤6 funnel traps was required to capture a minimum of 26 birds. One advantage of the funnel trap is that 1 person can safely trap turkeys. Another advantage is that private ranchers better accept a single trapper using a funnel trap than they do a crew of 3-5 people using either drop nets or rocket nets.

The wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) is an important game species throughout the Southeast. While many long-term research projects have provided quantitative data on wild turkey ecology, information on daily gobbler movements is lacking. Because data on gobbler mobility may affect habitat and population management, we studied gobbler movements by radio-telemetry (N = 2,775 locations) on Tallahala Wildlife Management Area, Mississippi. Gobblers (N = 48) were monitored from 1 February 1989 through 30 September 1990 hourly from roost to 1200 hours (morning) and 1300 hours to roost (afternoon) during spring (1 Feb-31 May), summer (1 Jun-30 Sep), and fall/winter (1 Oct-31 Jan). Daily mean distance moved during the morning was 2,492 m for adults and 2,412 m for juveniles in spring 1989. Daily mean distances moved in the morning in spring 1990 by adults (1,228 m) and juveniles (955 m) were significantly (P <0.05) greater.

Little is known about effects of selective harvesting on home range and habitat use of wild turkeys. Such knowledge is needed to develop sound wild turkey management plans. Thirty-two eastern wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) hens were monitored by telemetry in Wetzel County, West Virginia, from 15 April to 18 August 1990-1992. Spring home range (N = 24) averaged 532 ha; hens (N = 6) nesting in selectively harvested habitats had significantly smaller (344 ha) home ranges than hens (N = 18) nesting in unharvested forest (609 ha) (P = 0.01). Summer home range averaged 631 ha with no significant difference {P = 0.59) between hens using unharvested (N — 11) or harvested (TV = 5) stands. Although hens nested in 5 habitat types in proportion to their availability, during nesting (15 April to hatching) and brood-rearing (hatching to 18 August), unharvested chestnut oak (Quercusprinus) and bottomland hardwood and nonforest habitats were used more than expected.

Increased interest in and use of growing season prescribed burning has caused concern among sportsmen and biologists as to the potential impact on ground nesting game birds. We used radio-telemetry and invertebrate sampling to evaluate early growing season (April-May) prescribed burning to provide wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) brood habitat in the Coastal Plain pine (Firms spp.) forests of south Georgia from 1988 to 1990. None of the 14 hen-poult groups monitored were ever located in spring burns. Additionally, there was no significant difference in invertebrate abundance during the brood season between late winter (February-March) and spring burns. Our evaluation of spring burns for wild turkey brood habitat indicates that there are no benefits over traditional winter burning, and spring burning poses a threat to wild turkey nests. Alternative management strategies are discussed.

Wildlife population studies that involve marking of animals assume that the "mark" will remain with the animal for the duration of the study. Violations of this assumption may contribute to biased estimates of population parameters. Thirty-six gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) and 16 fox squirrels (S. niger) were marked with ear tags and toe-clipped to study ear tag loss in these species. Fortynine percent of all squirrels lost at least 1 ear tag, whereas 15% lost both tags. Fox squirrels lost ear tags at twice the rate of gray squirrels. Female fox squirrels lost ear tags at a rate greater than gray squirrels and male fox squirrels. Studies that depend on identification of individual squirrels may be significantly affected by ear tag loss.

Significant declines in forested bottomlands are a basis for concern about the status of swamp rabbits (Sylvilagus aquaticus) in Kentucky. Current swamp rabbit distribution was determined through staff surveys and field investigations. Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR) personnel were surveyed to document their knowledge of swamp rabbit occurrence. County maps were marked to show areas where swamp rabbits were (1) thought to currently exist; (2) extirpated; and (3) areas which had potential habitat but unknown status of occupancy of swamp rabbits. These data indicated that swamp rabbits were extant in parts of 14 counties and extirpated from parts of 13 counties. Areas were identified in 14 counties where habitat was thought suitable but status of swamp rabbits unknown. Spot searches for swamp rabbits or their sign were completed at 280 sites. Rabbit fecal pellets were found at 137 locations in 20 counties. Populations were found along 12 stream systems.