Hunting Club Research Articles

Are hunting clubs the solution to small stock depredation? The case of Ceres, 1979 and 1980

In 1979 and 1980 predators were under control on sheep farms in the Ceres Karoo. At the time, a subsidised hunting club assisted landowners with predator control measures. A farm-level analysis of data from the Ceres hunting club's logbooks reveals that four out of five farms have experienced no predator damage whatsoever. For those reporting problems, the typical loss was in the region of one per cent of the estimated turnover. Lynx (caracal), leopards and feral dogs were responsible for most of the damage. Black-backed jackals were not a serious concern, but were also more difficult to catch. Lynx and feral dogs were controlled with ease. Death of some innocent animals was also recorded. The hunting club system thus appears to be succeeding in controlling certain predators, albeit with adverse consequences to other animals. Exploratory statistical analysis establishes that livestock losses lead to increased control efforts, which in turn leads to the death of more targeted and untargeted animals. There is even some evidence that more control efforts reduce stock losses in the following year.

Shooting habits of U.S. waterfowl hunters

Exposure to high-intensity impulse noise from the recreational use of firearms is a common cause of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). Although recreational firearm users who shoot firearms without proper hearing protection are at risk for NIHL, a specific subgroup involved in hunting waterfowl may also be at risk due to their particular shooting habits. The goal of the present study was to investigate the shooting habits of this particular group of U.S. recreational firearm users. A 23-item written survey was sent to waterfowl hunting club members regarding their shooting behaviors, use of hearing protective devices (HPDs), and auditory status. Results indicated that waterfowl hunters in this study typically used large bore semiautomatic shotguns, did not consistently utilize HPDs during target practice or hunting and were exposed to multiple, unprotected shots during the past waterfowl season. Most subjects reported hunting in reverberant acoustic environments (hunting blinds). This group of recreational firearm users also reported high incidences of hearing loss and tinnitus. Information provided by this study may help hearing conservationists and hearing healthcare providers understand and better educate these shooters regarding the risk of acquiring NIHL.

The Inner Islands: A Carolinian’s Sound Country Chronicle (review)

Reviewed by: The Inner Islands: A Carolinian’s Sound Country Chronicle Heather Ward The Inner Islands: A Carolinian’s Sound Country Chronicle. Bland Simpson, photography by Ann Cary Simpson. The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, NC, 2006. 219 pp., maps, bibliographical references and index. $34.95 hardcover (ISBN-13: 978-0-8078-3056-7) “Liminal” is a familiar adjective to many coastal geographers. The word suggests “an elusive, sensually-rich threshold between two different places or states, ambiguous and indeterminate.” The “inner islands” Bland Simpson explores in this Down East travelogue could not be more liminal in space and time. Many sit mere inches above the surface of the water, their shapes shifting with incoming hurricanes and nor’easters, simultaneously threatened by rising sea levels and real estate development. Likewise, Simpson’s writing transcends genres and periods, at once autobiography, regional oral history, poetry, and modern ecological investigation. “These inner islands are not rocks, nor metals hammered hard at Vulcan’s smithy and made final for all time—they are simply mud and sands, or shells, or swamps, massed for moments mere. We may stand and stride upon them and take their measure, feel the brevity of their moments (how like our own), and perhaps feel too some sense of kinship between animate and inanimate, the kinship of all ephemera” (p. 188). Simpson carries the reader through coastal North Carolina from Currituck County in the northeast, south through Pamlico Sound and inside Cape Lookout, and to the mouth of the Cape Fear River in Brunswick County. Each of his 15 chapters celebrates one small island and its inhabitants, some well known like Harkers Island, others, like Battery Island off South-port, accessible only to nesting ibises, herons and egrets. Four maps in the back of the book possess enough detail to clarify locations without distracting from the narrative. Simpson sources his stories and acknowledges the many voices that contributed to his work in an appendix—a treasure trove for additional reading and coastal stewardship contacts. Coastal geographers will appreciate these essays because Simpson, a native of Pasquotank County, North Carolina, and creative writing professor at UNC Chapel [End Page 129] Hill, treats each island and essay as a mixture of human and natural history, seamlessly mingling people with their places and facing the resulting tension with grace. In the Permuda Island essay, for example, Simpson introduces the reader to several families of oyster gardeners. Generous quotes from the Swartzenbergs and Bernice Rice describe shellfish waters and oyster salinity preferences, proliferating yachts and development pressures, barbecue, conservation efforts, and personal tragedy. These essays border on ethnography, capturing Down East culture, even as it disappears into gentrified communities with private boat slips rather than working waterfronts. The Inner Islands and an earlier companion book Into the Sound Country (Simpson 1997) should be required reading for Down East transplants eager to understand barrier island dynamics, both ecological and political. In a chapter titled “The Curritucks,” Simpson eases the reader into an appreciation of the region’s hurricane and nor’easter history. Barrier islands and back sounds depend on hurricanes to cut inlets that replenish sands on their landward side. The islands are designed to roll over themselves landward as sea levels rise, then move seaward as ocean levels fall. Rescue parties plucked Knotts Island hurricane survivors “from the garret of a house . . . found anchored, afloat, and tied to live oak treetops” (p. 41). Coastal newcomers weary of complaints by long time residents that rising property taxes are forcing them to move inland may feel more sympathetic after reading Simpson’s story about Yankee gunners in the same chapter. Market gunning for abundant waterfowl proved big business toward the end of the nineteenth century, but Northern steel and publishing money controlled the best shooting grounds. Legendary hunting clubs decimated waterfowl populations, reducing native islanders to subsistence or “pot” hunting. The parallels to modern development pressures and attitudes toward rural folk are understated, but undeniable. Native North Carolinians and historians will appreciate the depth and details of Simpson’s history. The Lower Purchace Iles lie where the Cashie, Roanoke and Middle rivers meet the Albemarle Sound. Who knew they had names—Wood, Good...

The Johnstown Flood

A t about 4:00 PM on May 31, 1889, a wall of water and debris more than 35 ft high roared through the western Pennsylvania mill town of Johnstown, population 30,000.1 In minutes the city was annihilated. Fires among the debris added to the carnage. An accurate death count was never possible-the number of dead exceeded 2200. Johnstown lies on a flood plain at the confluence of 2 small rivers. Although both rivers had been at flood stage for several days, the deadly deluge issued solely from the gorge of one, the Little Conemaugh. The cause was an earthen dam that had given way. The south fork of the Little Conemaugh had been dammed in the early 1850s to provide reserve water for the Pennsylvania Main Line Canal, built in 1836. Earthen dams were used to create supplemental water supplies for 19th century canal systems. Many of these dams can still be found in the hills along the routes of long-abandoned canals. The train whistle was the death knell for canals. In 1852 the Pennsylvania Railroad opened a link from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, and the Main Line Canal became superfluous. The canal was abandoned and its properties and appurtenances sold to private interests. Eventually, the Little Conemaugh property came into the hands of a consortium of wealthy Pittsburgh industrialists calling themselves the Fork Fishing and Hunting Members included Andrew Carnegie, Henry Frick, and Andrew Mellon. They repaired the dam, which had been breached during its years of neglect, and built palatial lake side cottages and a 40-room clubhouse. Unfortunately, the dam repairs were not enough to hold back waters from the record rains of May 29 to 31, 1889. An estimated 20 million tons of water was released on the afternoon of the 31st. Devastation in Jamestown was complete. Those who escaped drowning, fire, or trauma were left homeless. An accurate count of the dead was impossible; bodies were discovered years after the disaster. The cleanup took more than 5 years. Among others, Clara Barton arrived from Washington DC with a team of 50 doctors and nurses repre senting the newly organized American Red Cross. The dam failure was traced to shoddy repairs by the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. Its members were never held liable. More than a century later, the flood remains the deadliest US flood, and one of the dozen most lethal floods in human history.

The Former “Goose Hunting Capital of the World”: Southern Illinois Hunting Club Owners' Beliefs, Attitudes, and Responses Associated with Shifts in Goose Migration

Waterfowl management is inherently complex, given shifting population dynamics and intensifying social and economic interests. This qualitative case analysis provides an exploratory examination of the human dimensions of waterfowl management, specifically the beliefs, attitudes, and business responses of 15 representatives from 12 goose hunting clubs in southern Illinois. The region's waterfowl hunting industry is facing progressively northward shifts in goose migration and dramatically diminished harvests. We conducted in-depth personal interviews with hunting club owners and operators, transcribed and analyzed the interviews qualitatively, and interpreted participants' responses within the local and regional waterfowl management context. Case study findings reveal that although individual hunting clubs have implemented short-term coping mechanisms, the hunting club industry in southern Illinois looks to management for developing long-term adaptive response.

Rediscovery and Recovery of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker

Rediscovery and Recovery of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker

Recent trends and harvest in Finland's brown bear population

We examined the occurrence of brown bear (Ursus arctos) in Finland by using hunter-provided observations and harvest data for 1992–2004. We calculated a simple index (bears observed/all observation cards) from observation cards filled annually by nearly 5,000 moose hunting clubs. This occurrence index was treated as a dependent variable in a mixed regression model to examine differences between regions and periods. Both region and period effects were significant. The index was highest in the eastern region of Finland, followed by central, northern, and western Finland. Trends provided evidence of population growth during the first 9 years of the study and then a slight decline in all regions. There was no two-way interaction between region and period, suggesting that trends were similar among regions. The observation index was best related to former harvest rate with 3 years' time lag. The levelling off and the recent slight decline in central and western Finland implies that the population has not met the target set by a government working group in 1996 of a substantial increase in these regions. We suggest that harvest rates should be kept at the very low levels of recent years in eastern and central Finland. In particular, females in central Finland will need to be more effectively protected before the goals set by the working group can be achieved.

Tradeable hunting obligations?a new approach to regulating red deer numbers in the Scottish Highlands?

The population of red deer (Cervus elaphus) in Scotland has doubled over the last 30 years and there is increasing concern among conservationists about the long-term impact of increased grazing on native woodlands and other sensitive nature conservation sites. Currently, the government relies on a voluntary approach to deer control, but landowners seem unable or unwilling to shoot sufficient numbers to meet cull targets. The aim of this paper is to examine alternatives to the ‘voluntary approach’ supported by insights from a mail questionnaire of landowners and recreational hunters. In principle, subsidies or taxation is possible but the Deer Commission for Scotland, the government agency responsible, has neither the necessary funding or the legislative power to introduce such a scheme. A tradable culling ‘obligations’ system on the other hand would build on the voluntary principle by allowing individual landowners to ‘trade’ culling obligations to neighbouring estates. Compared to traditional regulatory approaches, they are less bureaucratic and inefficient and have the potential to meet environmental targets at least cost as landowners can trade their culling obligation to another estate or hunting club should they wish to do so. Overall, the State's role would be restricted to setting the annual cull and the administration of the permit system for which a small charge could be levied per deer.

Tradeable hunting obligations—a new approach to regulating red deer numbers in the Scottish Highlands?

The population of red deer ( Cervus elaphus) in Scotland has doubled over the last 30 years and there is increasing concern among conservationists about the long-term impact of increased grazing on native woodlands and other sensitive nature conservation sites. Currently, the government relies on a voluntary approach to deer control, but landowners seem unable or unwilling to shoot sufficient numbers to meet cull targets. The aim of this paper is to examine alternatives to the ‘voluntary approach’ supported by insights from a mail questionnaire of landowners and recreational hunters. In principle, subsidies or taxation is possible but the Deer Commission for Scotland, the government agency responsible, has neither the necessary funding or the legislative power to introduce such a scheme. A tradable culling ‘obligations’ system on the other hand would build on the voluntary principle by allowing individual landowners to ‘trade’ culling obligations to neighbouring estates. Compared to traditional regulatory approaches, they are less bureaucratic and inefficient and have the potential to meet environmental targets at least cost as landowners can trade their culling obligation to another estate or hunting club should they wish to do so. Overall, the State's role would be restricted to setting the annual cull and the administration of the permit system for which a small charge could be levied per deer.

Willingness to Pay for Hunting Leases in Alabama

Abstract This study used a censored probit approach to estimate willingness to pay (WTP) for hunting leases in Alabama. Data were generated through a dichotomous choice contingent valuation (DCCV) survey conducted in spring 2002. After correcting for sample selection bias, we found that hunting experience, hunter's household income, number of dependents, and lack of game quality had significant impact on WTP, with lack of game quality having the largest marginal effect. The estimated WTP was $1.29/ac per hunter or $23/ac per hunting club, more than double the actual average payment of $0.52/ac per hunter or $9.36/ac per hunting club. These results suggested that landowners in Alabama could increase access fees for hunting leases. South. J. Appl. For. 28(1):21–27.

Social Capital and the Value of Hunting Club Memberships

When the state of New York purchased the Champion Lands in the Adirondack Park and subsequently terminated the leases of 48 hunting clubs on these lands, opponents of the purchase argued that: (1) a rich and unique culture was being destroyed; and (2) that the State failed to include the loss of this social capital in an economic impact analysis as specified by the State Environmental Quality and Review Act. In this study, responses to dichotomous choice contingent valuation (DC-CV) questions are used to estimate the value a member attaches to a hunting club membership. The willingness-to- pay (WTP) for a hunting club membership (beyond other hunting-related expenses) is estimated to be over $1,290, which corresponds to a total value of about $1.9 million for the 1,500 hunters in the 48 concerned clubs. These estimates should be included in a full benefit-cost analysis of the purchase, and provide useful input to the societal debate regarding future land purchases by states.

Enclosing the Floodplain: Resource Conflict on the Illinois River, 1880–1920

In 1891, as Charles Tompkins rowed his boat in the bottomlands of the Illinois River, he happened to look around and, as he recalled, a fence took me right under the jaw and knocked me off the seat into the boat. The fence had been constructed that year by the Pekin and Spring Lake Hunting and Fishing Club, enclosing a tract of about seven thousand acres of the floodplain of the Illinois River. Although Tompkins had helped build the fence, he had not yet become accustomed to the changes in the Illinois River floodplain, which it represented. It was like you would stretch a wire across the path to your house and you would come in in the night and stumble over it without thinking about it, he explained. knew this fence was across the slough, but I had been there so long I think it was there.' Tompkins's experience was emblematic of larger changes occurring on the Illinois River. For over half a century, residents of the floodplain had open access to its resources: fish and game, timber, ice, pasture, and navigation. The floodplain was a commons.2 By the end of the nineteenth century, landowners increasingly restricted public access to the resources of the Illinois River by enclosing the floodplain and claiming it as their exclusive property. Private hunting clubs and, later, drainage and levee districts, built fences and levees in the bottomlands of the Illinois River and appropriated the right to hunt, fish, and gather resources. During the period 1880-1920, the Illinois River became a battleground as the definitions of property, public rights, and the public interest were fought out.3 Just as enclosure movements of the past elicited resistance from people excluded from access to common property resources, the fishers, hunters, and other residents of the Illinois River floodplain fought enclosure of the bottomlands. As Tompkins reported, the fence that he ran into didn't stay across the slough very long before it was torn down by somebody.4

Multiple Use Management of California's Hardwood Rangelands

The importance of evaluating multiple resource values on rangelands is demonstrated in this study of California's 3.0 million hectares of oak-covered (Quercus spp.) hardwood rangelands. Production functions are derived for oak tree growth on rangelands for stands with at least 50% of the total tree cover in blue oak (Quercus douglasii Hook. & Arn.) based on oak volume per acre and site index. Forage production is estimated based on oak cover, weather variables, growing period, and site factors from data reported in the literature. Hunting revenue and cost functions are derived from a survey of commercial hunting clubs, and are based on oak cover, hunter success variables, hunter demographics, advertising, livestock density, and club size. The interrelationship of these resource values is shown in output from an optimal control model that incorporates these production functions. Oak trees are gradually cleared for situations where cattle are the only economic product, whereas a residual tree canopy is maintained for cases where firewood and hunting enterprises are considered. In addition, cattle stocking is higher and net profitability is lower for the cattle only management scenario when compared with a multiple use management scenario. The development of these multiple use production functions allows the full range of resource management options to be considered.

Myositis and death in bobwhites, Colinus virginianus (L.), due to hemorrhagic cysts of a haemosporozoan of undetermined taxonomic status.

An epizootic of myositis and death in pen-reared bobwhites occurred at a hunting club in California. The myositis was caused by myriads of elongate protozoan cysts. The cysts were in various stages of development and when mature, contained spherical zoites 1 micron in diameter. Sinuous compartments were present in all cysts. The walls of the compartments were composed of a material similar to the cyst walls. Mature cysts were filled with blood. The histologic and ultrastructural morphology of the parasite revealed the parasite to be a haemosporozoan. The parasite has numerous similarities to both Akiba caulleryi (Mathis and Leger, 1909) and organisms that cause aberrant leucocytozoonosis in other species of birds. Further studies are needed to determine if the parasite is a part of the normal parasite fauna of quail or if it represents a parasite in an aberrant host.

Helminth parasites of translocated raccoons (Procyon lotor) in the southeastern United States.

Raccoons (Procyon lotor) typical of animals released by private hunting clubs in the Appalachian Mountains were examined for helminth parasites to evaluate the influence raccoon translocation might have on parasitic diseases. Results were compared with data from resident raccoons from characteristic release areas. Translocated raccoons harbored 19 helminth species that were exotic to resident animals. Most of these exotic parasites were trematodes (74%). An additional 19 species were found in both translocated and resident raccoons, and another 5 species were present only in residents. Three of the 19 exotic helminth parasites and 10 of the 19 enzootic species found in translocated raccoons are known to have some degree of pathogenicity to raccoons, other wildlife, domestic animals or man. At present, disease risks associated with the helminth parasites of these translocated raccoons were not considered alarmingly high; however, potential problems that could not be discounted were artificial intensification of undesirable enzootic parasites on release sites or expression of pathogenicity by exotic parasites presently considered nonsignificant.

New Hope for Wildlife in Jordan

A hunting club whose main task is wildlife conservation is Jordan’s unique contribution to the task of saving the world’s wildlife. A group of enthusiastic Jordanians, backed by the King and the Government, are making great strides in getting their message across to the people, enforcing the protection laws and at the same time building up the country’s wildlife stocks.

Recommendations for the Culture of Lespedeza Bicolor

agency to test and plant this shrub extensively. Small's Manual of the Southeastern Flora (1933) lists the plant as occurring from Florida to North Carolina along roadsides, waste places and woods. However, not until the late thirties was culture of the plant undertaken on a large scale. In the spring of 1939, 1,283,485 seedlings were set on Soil Conservation Service project areas through CCC camps under its jurisdiction. Production has increased each succeeding year, with over 50 million seedlings grown in the summer of 1950. In recent years, most of the plantings have been made through state PittmanRobertson programs. Over 80 per cent of the stock is distributed to farmers cooperating in soil conservation districts. The balance goes to sportsman groups, private hunting clubs, or is planted on publicly owned land. In early trials with bicolor on farms, the shrubs were used to form a living dam across a gully or were planted on areas so eroded that native plants had difficulty becoming established. A mixture of shrubs frequently was used in these sites with little regard for the ecology of the situation. As a result, most of the plants did not survive beyond the first summer. Methods of establishing and maintaining bicolor reported here have been developed by a study of plantings made since 1942. Most of these were located near Union Springs, Alabama, and Ridgeland, Georgetown and Pineville, South Carolina. Others were studied in various Alabama and South Carolina localities in the Piedmont, Limestone

An Ecological Study of Tree Squirrels in Eastern Texas

Squirrels are an important game species in eastern Texas, being, according to Goodrum (1938), hunted more than any other game mammal or bird in the region. Much of the hunting is done in hardwood timber along the larger creeks and rivers where gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis carolinensis) are the dominant species. Fox squirrels (Sciurus niger ludovicianus) are more generally found along the smaller creeks and in upland pine and hardwood timber. Sportsmen consider the gray squirrel to be the more favored game. With the increase in the number of squirrel hunting clubs and the greater interest in the conservation and management of squirrels in eastern Texas, it has become necessary to learn more concerning squirrels and their habitat requirements in an effort to deal more effectively with problems relating to this important game species. Goodrum (1937a, 1937b, 1938, 1940) has presented a considerable amount of information on squirrels in eastern Texas, and the purpose of this study is to gain further data on certain phases of his original work. Field investigations were conducted during the period from August 1940 through August 1942, much of the work being done in connection with other field activities.

Hatchability of Pheasant Eggs in Relation to Some Known Temperatures

cause of infertility and unknown causes. In 1933 an attempt was made to determine what effect certain temperatures had upon fertile eggs. In order to test the influence of extreme temperatures on the hatchability of pheasant eggs, a setting of 26 freshlaid eggs was obtained from the State Game Farm and placed in the fieldlaboratory weather shelter, which housed a hygrothermograph and a maximumand-minimum thermometer. The eggs were held in the shelter from April 13 until May 4, a period corresponding to a part of the egg-laying period in nature. The eggs and instruments were 4 feet from the ground and were exposed to great variation in weather conditions. During this period a record of the relative humidity and temperature was kept for all hours of the day and night. During the 21 days in which the eggs were in the shelter, freezing temperatures were recorded seven times. The lowest temperature was 210F., which occurred twice; 230F. occurred once for a 5-hour period. The maximum temperature was 760F. The relative humidity varied from 14 to 97 per cent. The eggs were removed from the shelter on May 4 and incubated under a domestic hen. Only 14 of the 26 eggs proved fertile, but 13 of these 14 hatched on May 27. This test showed that pheasant eggs can undergo fairly low temperatures prior to incubation without their hatchability being affected to any great extent. To test the matter further on a more extended scale, 500 eggs (1 day's laying) were obtained from the State Game Farm on May 6. Fifty eggs were kept in storage as a criterion, at temperatures varying from 450F. to 680F. I Paper No. 19 from the Pennsylvania Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, Fish and Wildlife Service (U. S. Department of The Interior), The Pennsylvania State College, Pennsylvania Game Commission, and the American Wildlife Institute cooperating. Authorized for publication on Aug. 6, 1940 as Paper No. 983 in the journal series of the Pennsylvania Agricultural Experiment Station. 2 The Williamston Game Management Project was a cooperative undertaking under the supervision of H. M. Wight, School of Forestry and Conservation, University of Michigan. The Izaak Walton League of America, Department of Agriculture, the U. S. Biological Survey, Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers Institute, American Game Association, State College, University of Michigan, Williamston Progressive Hunting Club, and Department of Conservation aided. Particular credit goes to Harry F. Harper for his whole-hearted moral and substantial financial backing. The data presented in this paper are taken from the unpublished doctoral thesis entitled Causes of Pheasant Mortality in Michigan by P. F. English, University of Michigan, 1933.

Providence Forge Fishing & Hunting Club, Inc., et al. v. Gill. June 10, 1915. [85 S. E. 464.

Providence Forge Fishing & Hunting Club, Inc., et al. v. Gill. June 10, 1915. [85 S. E. 464.