Hunting journal, v4471

Leopold, A. Starker (Aldo Starker), 1913-1983

Unknown

Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley

Original Source

Source Material:
Image from the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Contributed by Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley. | www.biodiversitylibrary.org

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428 Pages

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A. Stahel Leopold

Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from CLIR https://archive.org/details/huntingjournalv400leop

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Hem hunt on Hemlett - Poachard Ranch August 12-14, 1977 Ken Morrish an I arrived at San Felipe Ranch at 3:00 PM, Friday. Written an how Bill and Dave had provided us with a Jeep. Two companion - Bob Breen and Bill's son-in-law from Paris, Jean Paul G.(?) -- and we set out up Henderson Ridge. Found few deer at low elevation but Ken shot a very large forked-horn in velvet, good as fat. His tines were abnormally small. Close the radio relay station we found lots of deer and Bob an I each took a good sized fork - both three-year olds. Saturday morning Ernie Arbuckle replaced Jean Paul in our crew. He went back up Henderson and worked our way to the far end of the pine ridge. Ken stalked and killed a nice 3-pointer who was peeking out of a pine thicket watching Bob Breen, who played "decoy". Ken shot off-hand at the white throat patch - all he could see - and hit it dead center. Ernie took a nice fork on the way down. Bob left at noon and Steve Chichering took his place. Again Dave sent me up Henderson which was fine with me - there were plenty of deer up there. I shot a small 4-pointer.

San Felipe Ranch Santa Clara Co. Aug 12 - 14, 1977 (cont.) Of three years, darks blue gray and very sleek. The bullet went diagonally through his chest but did not break a shoulder. The deer went down low then for a moment regained his feet lunged across a jeep trail, and over the brink of a steep wooded canyon. We found him quickly enough but it took an hour of the most exasperating work to get him 150 feet back up to the road. On the return trip toward the ranch Sherm took a standing 100 yard off hand shot at a big josh and punched him. He followed him down into a canyon and finally finished him far, far below the rim. He gutted him out, turned him over to drain, and we went home. Sunday morning, Aug. 14, Dave Packard, Ken and I went back with Sherm and retrieved his bucks. Happily we found a jeep track 1/4 mile below the buck and were able to take him out the easy way. Summarized statistics of what we saw from my jeep: Date x time Total deer seen Legal bucks seen Buck kill Aug. 12, evening 135 20 3 Aug. 13, morning 130 26 2 Aug. 14, evening 64 8 2 ---------------- --- --- 329 54 7 A ratio of 1 legal buck out of each 6 deer seen is remarkably good. Many of the bucks were

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San Felipe Ranch, Santa Clara Co. Aug 12 - 14 1977 (cont.) Three-year olds, and hanked back to the big crop of just healthy game of 1974. That was a wet year with lush vegetation and I predicted that we would see that age class prominently among the bucks of 1976 and 1977, which indeed was the case. This year at last, however, have been very poor for game viewing. They are generally small, rough haired, some still in spots, and survival is due to be poor. I have never seen the gorge so sterile as it was this very dry spring. Bill and Alve have sold all their cows except for a little herd of Santa Gertrudis at a bunch of Angus in one pasture. Stripping the range of livestock is one good reason they have a good deer population. Not many ranchers could afford & do it. Besides deer we saw the following wildlife in the three half-days: 4 bobcats 1 coyote 1 racoon 1 golden eagle 1 prairie falcon 5 or 6 coiver [illegible] quail, one only half grown. Lots of mourning doves

Yellowstone Front Trip Sept 3-14, 1977 WooDy & I took off driving at 7am Sept. 3, and reached Innis Falls, Idaho, that evening. Saw two Coyotes in a grassy pasture near Elko but otherwise no wildlife. Ate Phyllis' fried chicken in the motel room for supper. Sept. 4 Stopped at Craters of the Moon National Mon. to look around and chat with the Park Service personnel. Very neat Visitor Center. Near there we surprised a golden eagle eating a dead collared lizard on the highway. At Island Falls we had a visit with Will Godfrey and set up our return visit for some fishing Sept. 12 & 13. Will has a meat shop just across the highway from Henry's Fork. On my trip near Henry's Lake we saw a dozen or so antelope on the south side of the road and a flock of sandhill cranes in a meadow on the north side. Arrived at Mammoth Springs in the Park mid-afternoon. Registered & pick and picked up the key to our apartments at Visitor Center. Leisurely dinner and early to bed.

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Sept. 5, 1977 Lamar Lamar Had breakfast with Mary Oreszka and heard about her problems with research funds and Troublesome taxes. Drove to the parking lot near mouth of the Lamar and crossed the Lamar to fish the Yellowstone River on its big sweeping left curve below. In this area you are permitted to keep two fish, and we want some to barbecue. Fished hard during the day without hardly moving a fish, but after 4:30 PM things began to happen. In an hour we had our two fish piece, all between 11 and 14 inches. Both of mine were rainbow/cut hybrids but they jumped and fought like rainbows. He quit as soon as we had our two fish for supper and went back to the car where we lighted the briquette in Woody's portable barbecue. Had welcome drinks while the fire got hot, then put the four trout on. Served them with a toasted roll piece and a sliced tomato. Delicious dinner. Sept. 6 Buffalo Ford Went to Buffalo Ford and found the river surprisingly low. You could wade right across it in a number of places. There wasn't much

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Sept 6, 1977 (cont.) of a hatch and the rise of fish was resultory but nonetheless we took 15 cuts between us , from 10 am to 3 pm with time off for a nap after lunch. They ran from 13" to 19" - I don't recall previously seeing anything smaller than about 15" but it had several today. A group of harlequin ducks dived and frolicked around us all day, along with an occasional transient merganser. Ospreys were patrolling the river. He saw loons, more and elk along the road. Sept 7 Upper Lamar Parked at the little turn out west of Lamar Range St. and walked across the big grassy flat to the south sweeping bend of the Lamar River. Saw two coyotes on the flat and a band of 14 pronghorn at the west end of the valley. They tell us there is considerable winter grazing of coyotes here because of the high fawn prices - up to 50 a year they estimate. These two animals were mighty shy - took off running at our 1/4 mile. He immediately started fishing when he reached the river and the rise continued until about 2pm, slowing down toward the end. Our

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Sept. 7, 1977 (cont) aggregate catch was 48 trout between us, with perhaps a third of them in the 13 to 17" size range. My two decent sized flies too - no apparent need to go down to size 18 or 20. Most were game cutts, a few hybrid rainbow/cutts or apparent game rainbows. A fine buck antelope was prancing up and down the flats as we left, surprisingly shy. Two tiger bulls were evident in the distance. A prairie falcon came down the valley right over us. Had a strike cook-out at the picnic grounds East of Lamar Ranger Sta. Caught a few of our fish near there after supper. Sept. 8. Slough Creek Spent a pleasant day on Slough Creek. A pair of trumpeter swans flew up and down the stream as I took photos. A flock of honkers came by too. On the highway we saw two big bull moose being harassed by tourists with their Instamatic cameras. Also a coyote moving in a meadow. We took 5 fish between us. My three were 14 1/2, 15 1/2, and 18 1/2" - all cutts. The river was pretty slow.

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Sept 9, 1977 Lower Lamar ; Rough C. Went to the lower Lamar and fished up where Rennie and I had good luck a year ago. As my chopin, however, the canyon is completely clogged in just above where we quit last time, and Woody and I had to retreat to the car for lunch. Downstream at Rough Creek but there wasn't much doing. I got a 15" cut and Woody took three, up to 17". Met a young couple Bob and Lee Hill from Minnesota and had them for dinner while our canoe was heating up. He did a bit better than me did, my stream a half mile or so. Tosh several Telephoto shots of a big bull moose at Blacktail Ponds on the way out. Saw trumpeter swans again along the creek. Fine chorus of coyotes at dusk. Sept 10 Buffalo Ford Decided to go back to good old Buffalo Ford for a final go with the cut-throats but this was not the day. Woody got three and I took one (an 18 1/2" beauty) in the whole day. Rise was to a fly so small I couldn't even identify it. Saw a bald eagle on the river and 5 bison bulls near Sulphur Caldera. A fine bull elk near Swan Lake gave me a few trots on his bugle and some photos.

Sept 11, 1971 Gibbon River we spent all day along the lower Gibbon. Found excellent water in the head of the meadow near Gibbon mouth but the fish were absolutely inactive. Grilled sturgeon for dinner. Sept 12 Railroad Ranch, Idah. Left the Park and drove to Island Park where we checked into the Last Chance Hotel. Packed to the edge of Railroad Ranch a couple of miles down stream and fished down about 3/4 of a mile. Saw an osprey catch a nice trout (12" or more) and a kingfisher catch a lesser one (5") but we couldn't catch one. There was no rise and we saw only two good fish - one was chasing a minnow on the other sort of breeched beside an underwater rock. Sept 13 Shooting Henry's Fork Set off in a boat from Island Park with Bill McAfee - our guide for the day. Bill is a trained fisheries biologist who prefers to guide. He worked in California for a time with Alex Oakeham. We floated into Railroad Ranch about 5:15 am and took out in the dark at 5 pm at

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Turlock Sept. 25, 1971 Betty and I drove up last night to join Ed Channing and his family on a last-of-September dove hunt. Ed located a pretty good bunch of doves on Saturday in the slough country along San Joaquin River, but when we went there at daylight Sunday nothing showed up. No evidence of any shooting or disturbance. Ed was non-plussed. We drove around and found some doves feeding in a big millet field that was plowed and being disced and leveled. Doves still found enough seed on the surface to gather a cropful. I killed three birds there and Betty got one. That was the days shoot! This area is one of the spots where Ed and some of his co-workers have put up a lot of wood duck boxes -- 30 right here. They get high production (70%) if they visit the boxes weekly and throw out the starling nests. If unattended the boxes are virtually all captured by starlings. We saw little groups of woodpeckers all morning. Also a few flocks of spurge flew over. Curiously, there are no deer here, though there seems to be plenty of cottonwood timber and thickets. Saw and heard lots of quail.

10 days Brooke Island Sept. 28, 1977 Sherm Chickering invited me to try a dove hunt on Brooke Island, where he is a member of a pheasant shooting preserve. We met at Richmond Yacht Harbor and the caretaker (Al) of the preserve took us across the 1/4 mi. or so to the island in a pouring rain - first one of the year and very welcome. I was posted at a known dove game on the west edge of the highland (a low flat area extends westward) and Sherm walked about on the roadways giving shooting and chasing the doves about, some of which came by me. We both had limits in an hour or so, despite the rain. There were certainly a hundred or more doves hanging around the island. The vegetation is mostly coyote bush and other components of hard chaparral - relatively little open grassland. Pheasants were all over the place - most of them newly liberated although they summer 100 or so Al tells me. Lots of shorebirds, gulls, cormorants, and a few ducks flying around - a neat show.

5 sprigs 2 brace pheasants Sorenson's Oct 22, 1977 Opening week ended with all the ceremony and trimmings. He had a worse stew last night with two many drinks and too much wine. Last choice as I went to no.5 with my brand new Lab "Sake". I missed a couple of long shots and the pup began to act bored. I had to force him in that little barrel and he didn't like it. After Ted finished his #2 I moved over there and got into action quickly. When I knocked a high bird down as he went "split" on the ground, I yelled "Sake - fetch !" and he ran out there full speed, returning straight back with the bird. By the time he had retrieved three, he was on top form, ready to go for anything. A coot lit nearby and away went the pup after him. I let him chase long enough to find he couldn't catch coots - then called him back. A diving crake came next and Sake caught on right away and dived in to his shoulders to bring up the bird. After lunch I took him after pheasants. Ward Russell and I walked along, the pup wanting or following me at heel. When we got into some pheasants as I knocked down two, he retrieved both perfectly. He will learn to hunt soon enough.

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3 sprigs Sorensens Oct 23, 1977 The flight was much lighter today - we all averaged 2 to 3 birds apiece instead of limits. I shot in #4 and Jake made nice retriever on two birds that fell near the blind. The third one fell dead 200 yards away and we picked it up later. A marsh hawk had chewed out the back but the breast was down in water, untouched. No loss. Though the ducks were not working low over the ranch, a tremendous flight of sprigs came on very high, from daylight to 8:30, headed southwest toward the lower delta. I suspect they were migrants, just arriving. They flew in V's. I didn't see a single geochinje all weekend but Woody saw a couple each of #4 on Saturday. Lots of downfliers and a big flock of curlews on the pasture a mile north of us. Counted hertreh coming over Friday morning (8) and returning Sunday afternoon (9). Two weeks ago Woody and I saw 4 and 3 on the drives at and from the ranch. You can generally see 3 or more white-tailed hiter each way. A few rough-lige are in.

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5 sprige Dorensen Oct. 26, 1977 As record choice I went to #4 and was not sorry. Fed in #2 ad I got all the shooting, as sometimes happens on a SW breeze. Blinds 5 ad 6 got essentially no action. Between 7:00 ad 8:15 birds showed real attraction to the #4 corner of the pond. I had good action ad shot well - 5 birds with 8 shells, finishing off with a very big double. I called Hennis over from #5 as I cleared out, but not another bird came. He did not fire his gun. The total flight Today was about the lightest I can have seen here. Very few high overhead flocks. More midgem than on the week-end but still 50% sprig. Very few shovelers or teal. No geese at all. A few canvasbacks. Best news - The snipe are starting to arrive. I saw flocks of 6 ad 8, ad a few singlers circling around, ad Hennis gunged three as he came out diagonally across the S end. We may have enough for a shoot soon. There are some big groups of curlews gathered on pasture being irrigated. A few yellowlegs ad dowitchers too. Home early in the afternoon. No birded count since we used a different route.

with Ken Morrish 6 Sprige 5 brace pheasants Foreman Oct 29, 1971 It rained Friday night but quit before daylight and weather started to clear. Blue skies and fluffy white clouds by 9 AM. The morning duck flight was very light - fewer birds in the sky than I remember for a long time. Those few, however, worked our blind pretty well - especially singlers and geese. Ken and I had plenty of chances in #2 blind but shot poorly. Most chances were pretty long (45 yards plus) and our timing was off, total performance was pretty lousy. But we had a good time and enjoyed watching the new dog learn. He got lost once, wandered all the way across the pond proudly carrying a coth sprig and wondering where the blind had disappeared to. When finally he stopped splashing along, I whistled him back, to the vast amusement of everyone on the pond. He is promised a compass for Christmas! After lunch we took a short pheasant hunt. Ken, Woody and I found a big bunch of wild pheasants along the main canal north of last corner at start of the jumping tule patch. We went out with five birds in one short drive. Big flush of curlews on Elks Annex - perhaps 300 of them.

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4 Bobae pheasante 11 cooh sprige Soremsan Nov 4-5, 1977 I had a committee meeting in Davis Friday PM, Nov.4, so Gudy McPeak as I went out to Soremsan after the meeting, had lunch, and went pheasant hunting. Jed joined us during the hunt. Found a pair number of birds (all wild) along ditches in the N end of Valence and came out with 5 - we wae Jed's. Little Sabe made some good retrieving but still doesn't know how to look for birds in cover. He goes into action after you shoot one! Rained hard in the night but was clearing at daylight. The big concentration of doves on the grounds was scattered by the rain, but some came back throughout the morning. Gudy as I had a sandy shoot in no.2. Quit the blind at 9:30 with 11 lovely for sprige, so that Woody could move over from #5 and get some shooting. He did, as had his 5 by about 11:15. Dennis brought 5 sprige out of #4. Jed who took #6 as first choice, had the slowest shooting. Sabe did well on retrieving. Double he doesn't seem to understand yet - after delivering one he gets back in his barrel. Also he watches birds lighting on the ground and is inclined to charge out after them, with the idea if we won't shoot them, he'll catch them for us! Saw 15 hestrels from the ranch to Voreenville.

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2 sprigs 5 snipe Saronson Nov 13, 1977 Took my class out Saturday on the annual excursion to Gray Lodge Refuge. Very little water on the refuge and few birds - perhaps 30,000 at most. Came back to the duck club at 5 PM and had a delicious duck dinner with Jed and Woody. Sunday morning was flat calm at daylight. A nice westerly breeze at 4:30 died away. There were lots of birds on the pond but after we flushed them practically none came back. I had one shot in no. 4 just at shooting time and two other chances at singles. Ended up with a pair of snipe. Again the substantial number of snipe we heard jumping on the way to the blinds was completely gone before daylight. Watched marsh hawks cruising the south end all morning and they did not jump a single snipe. Woody and I went over most of Joe's pond without seeing one bird. What the hell is going on? Are they all taking to the plowed fields? After lunch we worked hard in N end of Brown Run and got 13 snipe between us. Again we saw birds settling in the dry clods. I followed Woody home. He counted 11 bestrels, I got 12. Good double check.

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1 Spring 2 Sunday Sorensen Nov. 16, 1977 A promising W breeze at breakfast time fettered out to dead calm as daylight. Then a slight NE breeze blew for an hour, followed by more calm. At 9:30 a nice NW breeze started but by then the flight was over. In no. 2 I had three long shots in the first hour and missed them all. About 9 I had my first chance and missed the right lateral but connected on the left. Our chances for shooting were considerably diminished by the total absence of hunters on the main Silver pond - birds jammed in there by the thousands and sucked up wandering flocks. It kept the shy pretty well swept clean. But the snipes are in! As we left the pond we gunned a whole gang of them in our south end and all the way along the road to the cars. I got two just walking along, but didn't have time to go back for a serious hunt - had to get back to Berkeley for a meeting of the CAS Directors. We'll catch up with those raccoons later. Saw 9 kestrels on the way home.

3 sprige 8 quipe 1 cote pheasant Smison Nov 19, 1971 This is India weekend at the House of Commons. Betty came up until me Fri. evening, and this morning we went to no.5 double (I was last choice). He spent a quiet morning, watching the action at other blends. Several times big "coils" of sprige would start tumbling into our pond - sometimes many hundreds of birds coming in at once. One time nobody shot and a good many hundred came down before a shot was fired. They came out on no.5, pretty high actually, but Betty and I got three of them. I doubled or coiled and Betty nailed a nice 8at hen. That was our only score. Betty shot a few times at teal, redgeon and dove without getting anything. After lunch I went sprige hunting in north end y Grand Jeme, there being virtually no birds in our south end (after the big concentration we had last Wednesday). Birds were scattered - I walked long and hard, and couldn't hit them when they did fly up, but I finally captured a limit. Also gunned a nice big pheasant code that was added to the trophy basket. We had a fine turkey banquet in the evening, joined by the Juranos and Walgs. Allen and Harder had good sprig shots this day in blend 2ad 6, with Woody and Dennis respectively.

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Nov 2 sprige 5 snipe 1 teal 2 sprige 1 widson Salmon Nov 20, 1977 I took Harold Hardy to no. 2 today. The flight was exceedingly light - less even than I anticipated. But we had a few chances and by virtue of some damn good shooting we bagged a few birds. No big "coils" came into the pond today. Our only shots were at singles and pairs. Nor were there very many teal, shoveline or widson hanging around - they disappeared too. Ted got one sprig in 4, Alan had a Teal in 4, as Dennis ad Sally were shunked in no.5. With Edwne we were high blind. We are starting to see more geese. Some big skeins of speckle billies passed north and a little bunch of snows came over us just out of range. Also saw two flocks of canvasbacks ad a few miscellaneous divers (mergansers, scupledred, a goldeneye). On the way back to the car I quartered across the field of reed canary grass looking for snipe. Jumped about a dozen and shot at five, killing every one. Later I figured that today I shot 7 shills ad came home with 2 sprige ad 5 snipe. After heavy shooting yesterday I don't know what black magic overcame me today. Betty ad I counted kestrels on the way to Vacaville - 21 this time.

Sorensen Nov. 23, 1977 Clear calm weather after the terrific rain storm of last Monday. There were very few ducks on the ranch and the morning flight was the lightest I have ever seen. In #6 Ray got one widgeon; in #2 Ted and Bill Donovan were skunked; no. 4 Woody got one sprig. Jedidiah shoot. The big show today was in no. 5 where Renier took his youngest boy Justin (age 10) for his first duck hunt. Justin got a widgeon and a teal with just four shots, and this made him high gam on our whole good! Lots of jollity as congratulatory speeches and Ted joined him off a bet with a box of 20 ga. shells. About half our barrels were full of water today from the 3 to 4 inches of rain that fell, plus high wind. At #6, the old barrel (5) and the dry barrel were full and had to be boiled. At #5 both barrels were full. Renier succeeded in boiling the rim barrel and he and Justin were in it together, Renier not shooting. No. 1 is full, of course. After chili bean lunch supplied by Donovan, we all went pheasant hunting on Idrae. Found about 20 birds in the hot corner and a dozen along the N-S double ditch. Killed 8 in all. No snipe around the farm anymore - all scattered. 16 kestrels on trip home.

Craig Wiley ranch, Greenfield Nov. 25-27, 1977 Work as I came down for our annual quail hunt. Arrived Friday late morning (day after Thanksgiving) and hunted close to the ranchhouse for a bit - then went up to the cabin in the hills at "Middlehauff Flats" in the afternoon. Found several small bunches but they are largely adult birds and very hard to stitch up with. On Saturday we again started around the ranch and this time located a very nice bunch of 50 birds or so, watering at Arroyo Seco creek at 8:30 PM. On the very flush we each got a bird and young Mike did a masterful job of trailing a cripple through extremely dense creek closer along the stream bank. We failed however, to get another decent shot. But the birds went out the extremely steep bank - almost a cliff - on the S side of the stream. They ran and flew along the upper zone, too far to shoot. At 9 PM we set out from the ranch with Craig and his two younger sons Richard & John (Budda). Went up Arroyo Seco several miles & another family ranch. Here we ganged two crews of 25 or 30 each and got a bit of

Lily Ranch - Quail hunt (cont.) shooting. I got 4 birds including a good double, and Woody had 2. Most fun however came from Budd's bagging two flying quail on this his first even quail hunt. He just completed the hunter safety course and bought his first license a few days ago. Woody and I set up lunch on the banks of the stream under the shade of a big sycamore and Craig joined me. After lunch we settled down for a good nap but Woody opened one eye and saw a corey of 20+ birds fly by me against the face of the S cliff. So he couldn't sleep any more but got together a big campaign - Woody went to car to the top of the cliff, I moved in below. Great plan but he never saw the quail again. Late afternoon we drove back to the hill cabin and cruised about looking for a late feeding corey but with no success. He did find a little gang of 15 mourning doves in a thicket of dry oats beside a turkey mullein patch. I get two of them (our late dove hunt is on now). Sunday morning we again attacked the home corey with singular lack of success. Those birds refuse to scatter or sit still after being flushed. Woody did get two - I had nothing. But I

Wiley Ranch - Snail hunt (cont.) walked west along the road while Woody went back for the car, and I heard birds calling at the road fork bordering the field of bull peppers. When Woody came up we pushed the corey -- one above and one below -- and scattered them along the steep sage bank to the south. Oddly enough, the birds stuck after one flush, and we moved systematically through them with devastating success. All of these birds had full crops, mostly ligumera (lotus?), and perhaps this helped make them amenable to crawling into the very sparse sage cover, both grazed by cattle. In any event we moved along jumping birds singly or in small groups, and after some damn good shooting I suggested we had better count our birds. The limit down here I think is 6 (elsewhere to the north it is 10), he had 13 birds between me so we unloaded our guns at joint, though there were many more scattered ahead of us. This little shoot was the best I have had in three years. We saw a quincie falcon along the road as we left the Wiley Ranch. Adults Imm. Male Female Male Female 6 12 4 3 < 25 for 3 days This comes to 39 imm: 100 adults

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Spring Wedgem 13th pleasant Sorenson Dec 3, 1977 FOG! We went to bed last night with the valley sparkling clear as a spanking south wind. Off and on during the night I speculated about which blind to choose (I was second choice), assuming Ted would exercise his choice & #2. What a crushing blow to wake up at 4:30 and find the world socked in at the wind sore. We went through all the motions just as though we were going to shoot ducks. Ted took #6, I went & 2, Dennis & 4, & Woody & 5. We ended up with seven birds between me, most of them killed between 11 am noon when the fog started to lift -- it never did break. We left the blinds at noon and came back to the clubhouse for some stiff drinks and a bit of lunch. After lunch we went out to vent our frustration on the poor pheasants. Made the usual hunts (hot corner, double ditch, north ditch) & killed 8 birds, all wild. I don't know where the liberated birds disappear to. Sike did well on retrieving but still doesn't know how to hunt pheasants. Forgot to mention last Wednesday that a bunch of about 40 Rose goose flew display - dodging over the Elks pond like a bunch of sandpipers in a country party of girls.

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1 pintail x gadwall hybrid 1 g-w teal 8 snipe Sorenson Dec 10, 1977 MORE FOG. This one is about the worst any of us can remember. It lay hard on the ground all day and was still there when we left late in the afternoon. In #4 blind I had a shot at a bunch of a dozen or so big ducks looming out of the fog, one of which I could see had a long jointed tail. I got him down with two shots and it turned out to be a very strange looking bird -- mostly pintail but with markings on the back and head of a gadwall. It is a male, still as jet blue like a spring, long spring tail, head brown on top, lumpy checker and throat, partial white line up side of neck (like spring) and vermiculated back like gadwall. I've never seen one before. Will put it up for MV2. Later killed a pretty little male teal. Hunted pheasants for a while for Silver Fox Cox and sent him home with seven -- that ought to keep Margaret happy. After that we did some snipe hunting on N end of Round Frame. Plenty of birds but we could scarcely see them in the fog. I ended up with a limit, part of which I got at S end of our farm before lunch. I was invited at Honey Lodge for lunch. Silver Cheekering served a delicious venison stew, made from the buck Dave Pachard and I helped him get out of a canyon. Too foggy for fowl count.

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Sorenson Dec 14, 1977 FOG all morning. Luan and I sat in #6 blind and didn't get a reasonable shot at a big duck. I took on a little flight of teal and killed one pretty little hen - that was our duck shoot! After a few drinks and some lunch down, we walked and I set out after the mipe. We worked over 5ad, Little Joe's, the Round Barn Amex, and the S end of the Valrace landing pasture. The light was poor as the fog was heavy so we missed a lot of birds and didn't even shoot at others. But we ended up with 15 birds - 8 wam, 6 ose, 1 PB2. There are plenty of mipe in the area. The problem is to get good clean shots. Decided to give the pheasants a whirl so we surrounded Hot Corner and found away a blind! As we were getting into the car I saw a couple of pheasants fly into the weedy ditch just N of Hot Corna, so we bracketed that and Luan got a hen bird with a nice long shot. Well that was called it a day. Curious lack of geese in our area - they don't even come over high. Where are they? I think I've seen more swans than geese. No reasonable hunted count in the fog.

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Sorusum Dec 17, 1977 Woody and I drove out at daylight to the park but we didn't get out of the car. There was a driving, driving rain and a 30mph south wind. So we watched. Absolutely no fligher over our pond, and little shooting elsewhere. But we could see clouds of ducks (largely sprig) landing in the harvested corn field between the pond and the main Belmont. From time to time they would flush but settle again in some other part of the field. It obviously wanted nothing to do with ponds. He drove down and flushed them once but they wouldn't leave. So we decided this was no day for such hunting and we got and went home at 5 pm. As we left the ranch we found another big roost of sprigs in a winter barley field just S of Belki road. There were country farters and the whole works. I remember other times, as the old Cotical Club and elsewhere, when ducks shunned ponds in a wild storm but flew low over pastures and fields. On such a day the place to hunt is in a ditch in open country. Again, beatles were not much in evidence (count - 5).

(2 - 2003) Doppler was not studied, using a shift in frequency to detect a presence on the moon. A radar beam is sent off and reflects back at double the speed it came from. It can be used for range finding as well as velocity measurement. The signal travels through space until it hits an object which then sends it back towards Earth where it is picked up by radio telescope (just physical) which are stationed on the moon, it acted like a mirror to send signals and data from there. It was possible to find out if anything moved with a shift in frequency of the returned signal. It's not hard for you to understand why they would want this kind of information.

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1 sprig 3 S-w teal Spreenon Dec 28, 1977 Drizzling rain with low clouds (200 yds. or less) and light N-E wind. Jed at I went to #6 as I respectively and got nothing. In no.4 Woody got the spin-off from a great mob of ducks in the corn SW of our pond as he had a helluva shoot. Had his limit of 7 sprigs as mallards by 8:00 so sat in that blind for another hour before he vacated and let me in. I had moved to #5 in the meantime and had two teal. When I got into #4 at about 9:30 the flight was over. I picked off one cock sprig, very high, and added another teal. Jed came out of #6 with a redhead and a teal. Back at the clubhouse we found that no-one else had had much of a shoot. Yesterday afternoon Woody, Jed, as I set out at about 2:45 to find some pige but we failed to do so. They are gone from our property - no doubt about it. We then hunted a bit for pheasants along the south end of Babcock and jumped only one very fast wild hen that out-maneuvered Woody. Heard hikers in some field NW of us but never could see them. Kentrel count - 22 coming in, 25 going out.

2 sprige 1 greenbied 3 s-w teal 1 widgeon Sorensen Dec. 31, 1977 Although there was fog locally last night, the morning broke clear with a light north breeze. First time we have seen the sun in a corn-ase. Perhaps it was the first time in weeks that sprigs have actually worked our stick-up decoys. But this they did, as we had good shooting in #4, fair in #6, a bit in #5 and nothing much in no.2. I'd limited in #4 by 8:30 and I moved over. Left at 9:45 with a total of 6 ducks at wood lake & #5 as Rennie could come over from #2. Ultimately he got 4 good shots at sprigs and bagged 2, along with several widgeon taken in #2. This was the most dazzling show of waterfowl we have seen all season - great shine (or sometime clouds) of ducks, flocking hundreds of sandhill cranes, hawks, swans, geese & Speckle-Geelies. It was worth the price of admission just to see the birds. After lunch we went for pheasants, and between five of us bagged 8 birds, in the hot corner and north along the double ditch. In warm sunshine the birds held beautifully. Let's dog "Jake" held several points as solid as could be. Between us we saw not one single jack-snipe - they have left obviously. I had tire trouble so we went out via Medway - relatively poor feral habitat (Count - 13).

Hewlett Packard Ranch 10 mi. N/W of Merced Jan. 6 - 8, 1978 Met Bill Hewlett, Sherm Chickering and John Young at San Jose airport as flew to Merced in one of the company Sabrejets. A car was waiting at the field and we reached the ranch in time for an hour's pheasant hunt before dusk. Pheasant cover is minimal on most of the 6500 acre ranch - the bulk of it in improved cattle pasture. Some small patches of cattail as planted willows near the clubhouse constitute most of the pheasant habitat. Birds were up ad down the creek that passes the house. We killed a few pheasants but mainly enjoyed the walk and watching the great flights of sandhill cranes headed for some roosting area to the west. About dusk Otto Miller drove in and later Dave Packard. Drinks served in front of a cheerful fire in the living room. Jan. 7 Coffee and sweet rolls before going to the duck blinds. I went with Bill to the "Hewlett pond", Sher took the others to "Packard pond" adjoining. Heavy fog as daylight began to break up at 8:30 and then an even denser fog rolled in at 9 oom and persisted all day. Duck hunting was

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2 sprigs 3 s-w teal 1 gadwall Saverson Jan 10, 1978 Broken clouds, good south breeze, and 25 degs, yet we had scarcely a notable flight. In no 4 blind I had all the shooting, consisting of shots at a single red a pair of sprigs, a little bunch of gadwall, and several teal. I shot well and came in with six mixed ducks. Dennis started in #5, moved to #2, and quit at 10:00 without a duck, after taking two desperate shots at sprigies. Yet there were plenty of birds in the country - lots of sprigs and lots of geese going up and down the valley high. Only some hunters were rising in the corn to the south of us. Everyone else seemed to want to go elsewhere. As #4 I had an unending parade of sprigies zooming back and forth at lighting in the breeze. The handsome drakes are in full plumage now, I see signs of courtship too - bowing and chasing on the water. From time to time a country pair of sprigs or wildgoose would go by, originating on the main Silvero pond where no one shot today and a mob of birds were concentrated. After lunch Dennis took Dorie Cox out a great pleasant hunting but I demurred - Too damn much mud and heavy walking for me. Drove home via Thirday Road at Stovins packing house where I ordered some meat.

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Forsman's Jan 18, 1978 FLOODED OUT! Day before yesterday a flood came down the by-pass so suddenly that Duncan had no time to warn us. With his Mexican boy he rounded up a few of our decoys at #5 and #6, but most of them are either gone with the flood water or are jammed in the mud (one stick-up) and hopefully will emerge when the water recedes. Betty and I came up today to get some meat from Sturman's and to view the scene at Forsman's. Saw 13 kestrels coming in via Elmira - most of them on the first half of the route. The storm drove them from the mid-valley toward the foothills. Going back out via Medway we saw 9. Jan 21, 1978 Sorted the decoys for home salvage and painting. Closed up the kitchen for the season. Had a sumptuous lunch at Leth Joe's. Counted 18 kestrels on way in, 15 coming out. By-pass still full of water, though it had dropped a couple of feet from Jan.18.

Sorensen Ranch season: 1977 Date Blind No. Guest Oct 8, 1977 Oct 22 5, 2 Oct 23 4 Oct 26 4 Oct 29 2 Morvish Nov 5 2 DePeche Nov 9 4 Nov 13 4 Nov 16 2 Nov 19 S 5 Betty L. Nov 20 S 2 Neady Nov 23 6 R. Prineet Nov 30 4 Dec 3 2 Dec 10 4 Duck Species Pintail Mallard Widgeon 5-m-tail Total Ducks 5 3 5 5 3 3 5 5 6 6 11 11 2 2 2 2 1 1 3 3 5 5 2 2 1 1 2 2 2 2 Other Birds Pheasants Jacksnipe Kestrels Geese 2 3/4 9 - 5 7 4 18 6 13 5 12 2 9 1 8 - 0pm 5 21 4 - 16 4 - 21 1 - 21 - 8 (3) wood's teal count valine valine valine valine valine Total 8 8 6, 5 11 12 20 21 21

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Sorenson Ranch Duck Species Pintail Mallard Wigeon G-w Teal Greenwing Total Ducks 1 1 3 3 7 2 1 1 3 7 1 1 1 3 4 2 - - - 4 1 - - - 1 - - - - 0 1 Dec. 14, 1977 6 - Dec. 17 Dec. 24 Dec. 28 Dec. 31 Guest Rained out Blind No. Date Season: Other Birds Pheasants Jacksnipe Kestrels Geese Total Species 1 1 - Kettles 17 - - - 9 19 22/35 - 22 13(midway) 10(midway) 24 13 18/19 12 Dec. 10, 1978 Jan. 18 Jan. 31 72 22 43

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Croydon Lodge, Gore, New Zealand Feb 2, 1978 Woody, Ted Kennedy and I arrived here yesterday after spending a night in Auckland. A Toyota 4-wheel drive cruiser was waiting for us in Invercargill Airport, c/o MoM Polson. We reached our quarters mid afternoon, had drinks at dinner with Dean and Kay Zimmerman who were en transit to Australia. This morning Peter Cullen called for me about 9 AM in his fancy Land Rover as took me to his brother's place about midway between Mataura and Wyndham, on the west bank of the Mataura River. Fish were rising smartly when we arrived but slowed perceptibly by 10 AM. I hooked a fine big brown on a size 18 Adams but the hook broke after 10 to 15 minutes of playing him, would have landed one about 22" - Peter guessed 4 1/2 lbs. After lunch Peter took Ted upstream and he landed a 20 inches. I stayed near camp and coaxed an 18" with a nymph. Pulled him out from under the willow and played him across the whole river to the other side for netting. So we had one fish species. From 5 to 7:00 we waited around trying for an early evening rise but there was very little. Woody hooked a big one in shallow water but the hook pulled loose after a minute or so. Lots of mallards along the river, and stilts stayed with me all day. Also several spur-winged plovers.

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Joan Church Farm, 14 mi. N of Gore Feb 3, 1978 The river is much smaller as here - easily waded with high boots at riffles. Peter started out with me and at the first riffle he pointed out a fish in fast water about a foot deep. After several casts I got a fly over him and nailed him - an 18" dandy. At Peter's suggestion I went a few feet farther up and was casting over shallow riffled water at the extreme edge of the main flow - just over 4" deep - when another 18 incher emerged and took the fly and after a proper fight he was landed too. Just on a #16 yellowbelly hungry, stood on a #16 "dark red drake" (a favorite pattern of Peter's). At this point I sent Peter off with Jed to show him about and get him a fish. We gathered at 1PM for a fabulous lunch of Cullen Gardner, topped off with a trout cooked on a little tin grill powered with wood alcohol. It was superb. Started to rain about when lunch ended but we all went back in the stream anyway. Strong NW wind too which made casting a bit tough. Jed took another 18" fish and Woody (guided by Peter) came in with a 15 1/2 inches. All told then we had 5 fish for the day, all between 18 and 15 1/2 inches. Saw a few bigger ones, but mostly Peter says the fish here are smaller. Lots of mallards here also, and a few clearly recognizable gray ducks. Silver gulls abundant - came right into camp for scraps.

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Archie McDonald farm, between Motura and Leydlam Feb 5, 1978 Our last day with Peter and he took me to a new site on the river, a mile or so above his brother's place. As we arrived an Irish East wind began, which gathered enthusiasm all day — and depleted our enthusiasm correspondingly. There was no rise at all so we fished nymphs even current and down, like ordinary net flies. I had one good strong strike which broke the trigger. Aside from that, nobody had a lot of action nor even saw any fish feeding all day. We ended up at the A.J. Martin place where we were yesterday and sat in the car watching the wind whip the water. Went home at 7 PM to catch dinner, without one of us having caught a fish. Rather a poor way to end our stint with Peter Cullen. We are constantly amazed at the number of sheep carried in these rich and well managed paddocks — up to 7 or 8 per acre. They use a lot of lime and super-phosphate, as rotate the animals from one paddock to another, giving the grass closer down to the ground and then giving it three to four weeks to recover. The Martin place is mainly Holstein dairy cattle but the pasture rotation is about the same. He uses a lot of electric fence to keep his cattle where he wants them. Has a slick rotating milking platform that holds 16 cows, each one hooked up to the milking machine. When a cow has made the circle on the carousel she is empty and another takes her place.

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Sim/Cullen farm, between Mataura and Wyndham July 6, 1978 We returned to the same pleasant spot where Peter fished on the first day, July 2. It was a holiday, however, and there were picnickers and fishermen on both sides of the river ('New Zealand Day' whatever that means). I started downstream and came to an opening in the willows about '1/2 mile down where I spotted a nice fish feeding in the shallow gravel near shore. A few casts with a #18 Adams and I had him fast. He fought doggedly and persistently for about 10 minutes before I could net him. Woody had arrived in the meantime and took pictures. He was 20 1/2 inches and weighed 3 1/2 lbs. on Woody's little scale. I kept him for tomorrow breakfast. Andy Russell the fish warden came by as I was casting to another feeding fish in deep water. He visited a while, and Andy spotted the wandering fish for me while I tried to cast ahead of him. He seemed to take the fly once but I felt nothing. I saw a few other feeding fish but had no more strikes. Nor did I or Woody have any luck. The day was clear, bright sunshine, light breeze - everything looked great except there were no good hatches and there not much of a rise. After dinner we went to the gravel pit beach right in the outskirts of Gore. Still no hatch till 9:30 as it was getting dark. Woody saw some rising fish and had several casual strikes but no hook-up.

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Dear Church Farm, 14 mi N of Gore Oct 7, 1978 he went back to the area where we got 5' fish last time, but it didn't work out that way at all. The weather was pretty, the folks were friendly, the August steers were cuddly, but the trout were coy, he saw plenty of fish in flat water and a few of them did a bit of feeding. But in the riffle area there was no trace of action. The result was that we didn't catch one golden trout between the three of us. he camped under the same willow tree as last time and had a lovely lunch with a good cool bottle of Montana Blenheim wine. But after lunch we drove home and spent the late afternoon in luxurious showers, gear tinkering, note writing and napping. As we left the stream we came across two tiny, nearly-hatched chicks of the spur-winged plover. The finches were raising hell overhead as we caught the two kids and took pictures. After dinner we geared up for a return try at the gravel pit area. I explored about 1/2 mile of stream front near the gravel area and didn't locate any good fishing spot other than the flat pool where Woody had struck yesterday. he fished until dark without anyone getting a strike. went home to our quarters and poured a few good stiff drinks.

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Kirby's Bar, Weydham (7) July 8, 1978 We drove to Weydham and had a visit with Henry Heath. He had a doctor's appointment that sent us on to Kirby's with the assurance that he would join me later. I was amazed at the change that the Nov. 1977 flood had rendered - Kirby's Bar is essentially gone and the suspension bridge to the island has disappeared. He walked across to the head of the island and fished down the newly cut channel to the old suspension bridge. Ted and I both located picking fish along the cut bank as Ted hooked and landed his. Later Bobby showed up and he hooked me below where Ted caught his, so we had two fish in hand at lunch time. Henry Heath and Jim Haly joined us for lunch and we enjoyed some stream-cooled cans of beer and a bottle of wine while we rolled around in the grass telling lies. After lunch Henry and I went downstream to a big pool where we spent the afternoon casting to a rising fish (4 to 5 lbs. Henry said) that refused us. He returned to camp as all repaired to Henry's house for beer, shorted, tea and biscuits. Then we went to a new hole above Weydham and cast away the evening until nearly 10 PM. Jim Haly caught two fish. None of the rest of us did a damner thing.

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Seneic's pasture, across from Sims/Cullen (3) Feb 9, 1978 Took the Loch road (E side) from McIntyre to Wyndham and turned in at the big pasture of yellow Senecis in full bloom. This brought me to streamside directly opposite the Sims/Cullen place where Pete took me the first day. Started to rain about when we arrived and rained hard for several hours. He saw no rising fish and finally came back to the car for a damp lunch. I talked to a young man from Invercaigill who had caught one fish in a nymph, fisted deep under overhanging willows. Went home for a period of rest before dinner, then cruised down the East side of the river about 3 miles from E Gore to the property of a Mr. Chalmers who lives at the junction of Kairara road. He gave me permission to drive across his paddocks to the river, more or less across from the Gore racetrack. As the first of a long, flat hole I ran into a heavy rise starting 5 PM and hooked a nice fish in a few minutes. By the time I landed him it was pretty dark (9:30 PM) and I had trouble tying on a fresh fly. Finally got going but rise was largely over. I had one more solid rise but missed the hook-up. Woody got a fish at the head of the pool on a nymph. I didn't see up but just watched. I cleaned my trout in the dark and left my knife on the riverbank.

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Cattle Island, 12 mi. N of Riverdale on main Malahwa Jul 10, 1978 Following directions of Bill Miller we drove without a hitch to the Harry Rae property where the Datura emerge from the Barrie Mountains. Old Uncle Alex directed us to the stream across from the homestead. It was a lovely sunny day with good visibility in the water. He saw fish all day long but didn't find many of them feeding - just lying about in the weeds. I'd catch a 3 pounder. After lunch we had a slight rain squall. Just fishing at 3PM and came home. Stopped in Riverdale at the job in the little country hotel and found the place jammed with happy, noisy beer drinkers. Turns out it was "rain sakes day" in Riverdale and the cocky for miles around were assembled. The place sounded like a parrot roost. He were quickly involved in conversations and ended up buying tickets for the football lottery (at 50¢ each). A flock of short & Paradise ducks came up ad down the river several times. Uncle Alex tells me they were hatched ad reared on the place. In the evening after dinner I went close back to Chelms to retrieve my knife. It was too windy to fish - didn't see a rise. But I sat on the riverbank ad watched the mallards side slipping in the wind. A pair of teal came by - what species I do not know. Shape ad flight pattern of our Cinnamon teal.

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Kirby's Island, Hyndham Feb 11, 1978 Bright sunny morning but with a persistent north wind. He fished around the island where he had found rising fish on the morning of Feb 8 but there was no action at all. So about noon we fished into the car in our waders and drove to Flyers property at the junction of the Hyndham (Mohoreta) River and the Mataura. There were a few rises on the Hyndham and Woody catched a couple of "mice tiddlers" but failed to raise a decent fish. On the long cut bank of the Mataura Jed and I had a bit more action. Jed hooked a nice fish from the top of the bank but couldn't get down the 10 foot drop-off to land it. He tried to house it onto the beach finally lost but of course. I saw the situation and planned to come out with a net but was very busy at the moment with a big fish lying in a pocket of the cut bank. Never could raise him, on a dry fly or nymph. Sure didn't get either fish properly to the net, though Jed's was essentially captured. Jed had two other strikes on nymphs. Another bunch of Paradise ducks zoomed around me for a while - a dozen or so. Also there was an osprey-catcher on the bar near where I was fishing. Forgot to say yesterday that I picked up a car-killed owl ("moulpari") in the road north of Ranercdale.

Cattle Slat, 12 mi. N Ricesdale ; Harry Rae property (1) Jul 12, 1978 We decided that perhaps we were getting on the stream a little so today we got up at 6:00, were on the road at 6:30 and were at Streamside on Cattle Slat a bit after 7:30. It was foggy at first but the sun soon cut it. The water was gin clear, the sunlight good, no wind, but not a trace of a hatch or a rise. I'd caught a 3 pounder in a riffle at 5 am. I snagged fish twice once beside a cut bank and eventually coiled him into a good rise but I failed to get a hook-up, though I nicked him hard. Later I had a hook-up with a smaller fish but the hook pulled out after a minute. Those two rises were my total for the day. Horody caught a small fish (11 to 12") on < nymph. A flock of Paradise ducks circled about and came by me close enough for a photograph. I stopped them at 1/500th second and will hope for the best. Saw traces of a gopher, and a rabbit in a sand dune beside the stream. After missing both breakfast and lunch we drove home in the afternoon, had a long nap, several drinks, and then a stupendous Sunday night dinner. went down to the gravel pit in the evening (2). A brisk wind abated just as dark and fish began nymphing but I couldn't get me up on a dry fly.

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Upper Nimbau, Kombai Game picnic area (11) Jul. 13, 1978 Dr Hesselin took me in tow today and drove up the Nimbau to headwaters in the National Forest reserve. He says there have been some nice fish taken there while the Motuna is largely dead. He started fishing the narrow, brushy creek just along the Kombai picnic grounds. Very shortly hooked into a 4 pounder and landed it despite some brush problems. Not long after he rose and hooked another of equal size but it pulled off. I'd seen some big ones and apparently missed a couple of good strikes. I didn't raise a fish. It amazes me that such a tiny stream (about the size of Sogden Creek) can hold such big trout. The reason may be the population of crayfish. One was in the tummy of Woody's fish. It rained hard for an hour in midday and lots of birds came out of the native bush - toucites, yellowhammer, bell bird, native pigeons to name a few. There are a few wallaroos low this high in the hills, and these came up, presumably to enjoy a trout breakfast. He tells me that there are a fair number of red deer up here and they are increasing. The price of red deer is up to $150+ for a hind. Even the common Australian possum is bringing $7 to $15 for a pelt. The deer market for venison is still best Germany. There is a growing industry of deer farms, selling breeding stock locally (like Chinchilla).

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Gene to Le Aman Feb 15, 1978 Checked out of Croydon Lodge and set out for Le Aman about 9:00 AM. Picked up lunch Gordon at site along the way. Spent some time at Museum looking for the Taylor Bros. who run a deer farm. Then ran down Ray Brady who runs the local venison processing plant. He was busy watching on TV the important cricket match between New Zealand and England (NZ won!) so we agreed to stop by later on the return trip. Checked in at Le Aman Hotel mid- afternoon. Murray Kandler, our guide for the next three days, came by for drinks. Feb 16, 1978 Fished the Eglinton River -- first at The Bluffs and after lunch at Kurlz Flat (14). Woody caught a 4lb. brown at the first stop and I took a 3 pounder at the Kurlze area. I also hooked and lost a big brownie, probably 5lbs. or more. It had several strikes and one hook-up but didn't land me. Beautiful wide grassy valley in the midst of high alpine on either side (up to 5000 ft). Clear sunny day was perfect for fishing. Paradise ducks were scattered up and down the valley, and a bunch of about 40 honker Canada geese left the Kurlze area when we arrived. Saw grouse birds (tr?) and Bell birds at our lunch area at the bridge over East Branch of the Eglinton. There are said to be fair numbers surviving red deer hereabouts.

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mouth of Parana River, junction Waiapu (15) Feb 17, 1978 Thuray took us to the mouth of the Parana and we had the jackpot. He walked Ted and Woody to the jetway where the river empties as each of them took a brownie currying in the still water. I fished near the Land Rover upstream and landed a nice lively female brown, 21", 3 1/2 lbs., very deep and fat. She jumped several times and gave a good account of herself. He assembled for lunch at a picnic spot (table, fire, etc.) bellow the bridge at Ted hot tea along with the very ample supply of goodies packed by the hotel. After lunch Woody fished upstream, Ted as I worked a riffle below the lunch spot. Ted ran into a jacket of rainbow and landed three, but one that just plain outran him (a two pounder). He then called me over and I caught me. One of Ted's was two pounds, the other were all one to 1/2 pounds, but very lively. These small rainbows gave more fight than the biggest brown, with lots of jumping and long runs downstream. We ended the day with 9 fish - our best record to date. Stopped at the heliport between Napier and Waiapu where the deer are landed. There were 7 or 8 helicopters being serviced, a nice stainless steel refrigerated receiving station, but no deer in it - all sent on to Rossburn for processing.

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N. end of North Mavora Lake Feb 18, 1978 There was heavy traffic today up the McPherson Sound road to greet the arrival of Jean May II ocean liner on a world cruise. So we went the other way to the Mavora lake. Murray towed his jet boat on a trailer and we started up the lake arriving at the upper end about 11:00 AM. We all walked ashore looking for the big monster brown trout that are supposed to frequent this area. We saw a few of them but nobody got a nice. Pulled back down the lake about halfway and beached in a sheltered cove, out of the heavy wind for a lunch stop. Charged by a bunch of about 150 Paradise ducks most then fighting in mid-molt (male as female alike). There were flying birds too. Also clusters of big droppings at the North end of the lake which must have been Canada goose but we didn't see any. Saw several cruising trout at our lunch beach but they were not interested in flies. One came right up to my Royal Woff and scoffed at it. Several of the fish we saw were very big - 5lbs at up. Mid-afternoon we re-loaded the boat and headed toward home. Stopped for an hour's fishing at the mouth of the Mavora. He raised a few rainbows and I hooked one about 1 1/2 lbs. And played him for 5 minutes (some spectacular jumping) before he broke the hook. Jed and I, Murray all caught little ones (we tiddlers).

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Eglinton River, Knob Flat Jul 15, 1978 Saw heavy cloude, spitting rain, and heavy west wind. Despite all these unfavourable portents we went up the Eglinton valley to where we caught a fish or two and lost some other. Jul. 16. We fished all morning without much action. Jed raised a big one from under a cut bank and had him on temporarily but the hook didn't hold. Neither Woody nor I had a rise, nor did we see a fish out in feeding water. Woody saw a falcon gone along the face of the steep mountain next us. It was squawking like a parrot should at with binoculars he could see the red underparts and green back. He also were kept entertained all morning by passing groups Paradise ducks and Canada geese. The Paradise duck is actually one of the most abundant birds in these mountain valleys. Along the roads you can see flocks of 10 to 20 standing about in goddocks, with the sheep. Most of them seem to be flying well now. He saw a helicopter parked on the lakeside meeting a venison refrigerated truck. Did not stop to see what was going on - we should have. Tonight we are doing laundry and repacking gear for the move to Slide Home tomorrow.

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Le Gran & Glade House, Clinton River Jul 20, 1978 Caught the bus at 8:15 which put me on the ferry boat at 9:05 about halfway up the lake. Reached Glade House before noon and had lunch with Phil and Betty Turnbull, Keith and Betty - (assisting couple) and Little Curry who helped out. After lunch Jack and I independently explored up-river a mile or so. Jack found a big brownie feeding in a riffle and tossed him on a dry fly - 4 3/4 pounds. As he came downstream he found me working on a rising fish and he spotted for me until I finally hooked him on a nymph. He took my dry fly which scratched his chin and wouldn't repeat, but we went to the nymph. A best-of-all male rainbow, 24 1/8 inches, 4 1/2 lbs. He just looked at those bugs and went down to dinner quite happy. Woody had fished the lower river below Glade House and had nothing. After dinner we walked along the river in front of the lodge and watched a really substantial evening rise. But on the supposition that we would catch them all tomorrow we just looked. A visiting engineer went out and caught a 4lb. rainbow on a nymph. Kites were flying all over the yard and buildings seeking a handout. Pigeons are abundant in the forest or slope above the Glade. We heard a more-geese calling in the night at daylight.

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Black Horse, Clinton Pass Jul 21, 1978 Heavy drizzle at breakfast but we went hopefully up to North Branch of the Clinton with a lift in the fish from Keith. Started to rain as we changed to our wading clothes at the forks. Rain accelerated during the day, getting progressively heavier in spouts. Woody raised a couple of rainbows in a riffle right at the start but from then on we couldn't raise fish. He fished hard a mile up N Branch without a hook-up. I saw a lot of huge rainbows (3 to 5 lbs) in a big flat pool but they were wild as hell when I tried to cast to them. Dropped back to our base camp at the forks for lunch in the rain. Started working my way down the Clinton after lunch. He saw fish in some of the pools but they were just loafing about - not rising. At 3 1/2 mile reach where Keith had dropped me earlier a snake came out of the brush - very tame. I got it crumble of coffee cake saved from lunch while Ted hunted for Woody, & no avail. I took a lot of pictures. Just before that I saw a New Zealand Falcon come flying up the river. Looked like an overgrown Sparrowhawk - long tail for a falcon of this size. It lit on a snag above me and preened. Also took photos of a very tame robin that came in for crumbs. Spent a few deer tracks along N Branch.

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Ken McLeod property, mouth of Merino & Excalibur Creek Jul 23, 1978 We set out to finish the lower reaches of the Minerva where we had such a good day Jul 17. To our surprise and chagrin, the river near the Colby coffee with cream. We were milling around there trying to drive to the Waian down the dam when we ran into a local farmer in trouble with a tractor that wouldn't start. So we drove him home to get a jumper, came back to the tractor and started it off on Doyte, then escorted him home. However, he showed us some fishing spots on his farm. He settled on the Waian at the junction of Excalibur Creek, and there we spent that day. The young farmer, Ken McLeod, joined us for lunch on the stream bank. We found the pool where Excalibur Creek joins in to be well stocked with rainbows, of which we caught 12 or myghts (they wouldn't come to a dry fly). A lot of them were in the 12 to 15" class but Woody got one very pretty 4 pounder. It rained off and on during the day and the wind blew a gale down canyon. I fished Excalibur Creek for a while but didn't raise a fish, although there are a few nice pools at deep riffles that should hold rainbows. Ken is a lucky hunter as say he has a good reputation on his place when mallards come. He has seldom seen a mallard hereabouts though Prairie ducks are everywhere in the fields and there are several dozen 142 scraps on the waterfront by Beavan.

Mouth of Maricopa River, Excelsior Creek/Waian July 24, 1978 Yesterday rain and high wind left me at the morning fishing crisp and clear. We set out for the lower Maricopa with high expectations. But despite the good weather and the nearly clear waters of the river we couldn't raise a damn thing. After a couple of hours hardy did I want to the campground where the Maricopa enters the Waian (near part of Thompson's Lake) as we found a few big brownies cruising the shore. They spared my dry flies but took Woody's wooly-worm - a 3 pound Brown. Returned to the car and found that Jed had landed just one rainbow (14" m 20). So we ate lunch on the riverbank, feeding crackers to the black-tailed jacks. There was a whole mob of Paradise ducks along the lower river. He noted again the rabbit "latrine" in mats of vegetation along the gravel bars. I have no idea why bunnies choose to defecate in specified places. What's the point? After lunch we moved back to the rainbow hole at the mouth of Excelsior Creek. But this time there was very little action. We all caught a few little rainbows at the creek mouth (most too small to talk as " trout ") as Woody hung a big brownie cruising along shore (4lbs). But the whole day was disappointing in the lack of a general rise. After the big rain we were sure there would be some action.

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One foot paddock, Mararoa River 1 mi above bridge Jul 25, 1978 Ken had spoken to me of a part of his property quite isolated from road access. He asked to go there this morning and Ken gave us a map and instructions. Starting through a gate across from his house you wind up hills and over paddocks dropping down to the river above the so called "Gorge", about 2 mile up from the bridge. Lovely fishing water, but little action until about noon when Ied tied into a 23" rainbow on a dry fly (4 3/4 lbs). For an hour thereafter we had a good rise in that long flat riffle, landing 12 fish between us, mostly rainbows 11 to 16". Woody and I each got a good brown - both about 15". The rise slowed ad stopped after an hour and we caught no more. There was very little bug hatch to account for the rise - only a few small ephemerae flying at 11:30 to noon. Woody took the water temperature mid-day - it was 55°F. This compares to 67° reading on the Mataura a week or two back. No wonder these Mararoa fish fight hard. By contrast though, this river looks comparatively sterile whereas the Mataura is brimming with nutrients and life. I suspect the fish population here is meager. Every day we see flocks of 10 to 15 NZ seagull on the waterfront by Le Aman. Saw a large raft gulls in the middle of the lake late PM - perhaps molting?

McLeod paddock, Mararoa River 1 mi. above bridge Feb 26, 1978 On the way out this morning we stopped at the helipad a few miles S of here and looked on three deer carcasses hanging in the cooler. Two were large with fairly heavy maws -- said to be hybyside, wapiti/red deer. Hinds and legs were cut off, paunch removed but heart and liver were still attached but hanging outside. We fished the whole length of the horseshoe bend bordering McLeod. Everybody got one good fish -- Woody a 25" rainbow, Ted an 18 1/2" rainbow, as I had an 18" brown (2 1/2 lbs). Woody also had two smaller rainbows -- total 5 fish. The bite was light though compared to yesterday. We quit at 4.00 and drove south to Bill Speight's place "Redcliff Station" about 5 mi. from McLeod. Had a few beers at a nice visit with Bill (address R.D. #1, Orewa). As we left Bill's place we saw a New Zealand Falcon mount a stoop on a small bird -- quail I some type. The hawk came in low and fast, quite like an accipiter. As he closed on the bird it dodged smartly to one side and the hawk missed, banking sharply with its sigible tail spread. Hawk very dark on back -- almost black. Had dinner at the Colonial (Sunday night) and packed a bit for departure tomorrow.

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Mossburn Feb 27, 1978 Checked out of the Grand Hotel and drove to Mossburn where we met Mr. Ray Brady, General Manager of Southern Lake Game Co. This little plant is affiliated with Alpine Helicopters and processes about a third of the deer exported to Germany. Ray showed me through all stages of processing, from unloading rough animals that helicopters had shot and dropped at collection points to the final boxing of wrapped meat for freezing and shipment. The crew was swift and very competent in their work. Ray then took us out of town 8 mi. or so (5 km) to the Bluerolin Starg Range where Mr. Bernard Pirney runs about 850 red deer in well fenced paddocks. We walked over part of the ground, took pictures of some of the birth of deer, and examined the catchment area where deer are processed. Returned to the plant in Mossburn and found two big refrigerated trucks unloading deer. One gathered animals from miscellaneous helicopter operators. The other was Alpine. He watched 50 some deer go into the production line - everything from big stage to spotted fawns. Some general information about the business: Helicopter hunting Crew of two work from small machine - a pilot

26.27.1978 (cont) as a gummer. An animal is shot hung by its hamstring from a cable, and carried to a specified collection point where it is gutted as the head taken off. Only the intestinal tract is removed. Liver, heart & kidneys are left attached to diaphragm hanging outside. Male glands are saved as well as antlers. About 10 of these are called together and a big helicopter comes in and takes the lot to a roadhead or to Le Aman airport where a refrigerated shed is maintained by Alpine. The big trucks bring the deer to Mosslem. Each deer is tagged as to time of death. It must be in a fridge by 10 hours, must be at the Mosslem packing plant by 72 hours. An average head is worth $150 dead, but a lot more if captured alive - up to $600. So they carry dart guns and take them alive whenever possible. A special sack is used to transport the live ones under the helicopter. Venison industry New Zealand game meat sent to Germany - $9.7 million dollars until 1970, as $17.1 million in 1977. Game is a luxury item in Germany, served in hotels and restaurants mostly at Christmas season and some at Easter time. Meat worth about $11 per pound in Germany. In 1977 Germany consumed 34,000 tons of game meat, some 16,000 tons imported largely from New Zealand (some from Scotland, Poland, some reindeer from Russia). Game from South Africa is beginning to compete.

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Jul 27, 1978 (cont.) Miscellaneous parts of deer Liver, heart + kidneys processed for pet food. Testicles and penis frozen for Asian trade, along with antlers. Velvet antlers worth $20 a pound. Antler & velvet processed for health additives & general diet (not just aphrodisiac). Deer farming Deer are being raised on farms and sold to other prospective breeders. Live deer are worth so much more than dead ones that very few are being butchered. Reminds one of the silver fox and chinchilla days. Costs of fencing and feeding are so high that industry cannot last beyond present growing boom period. The one source of income is velvet from antlers. He blundering herd of 850 yielded about 400 lbs of velvet antler, at $20 would be $8000 - a small income considering the cost. I wouldn't invest my money in this business. Gore, Croydon Lodge Checked back into our old quarters in the afternoon. Reports are good fishing for pike and trout. After dinner we went for the evening ride. Woody walked to the gravel works and caught two on nymphs - 12 and 16". Ted and I drove to Cholmondeley a few miles down river. Good rise on nymphs, little feeding on gnat larvae. I caught a 16 inches on a nymph.

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Mimika River, 2 & 5 mi. above Jack Ayers place Jul 28, 1978 First fishing day, he drove to Ayers at my Jackie's recommendation went upstream on the Mimikau. Cought nothing we high so dropped downstream for lunch. After lunch both Jed and Woody had some action for an hour or so - then nothing. Jed ended up with 6 legal fish (10" to 18") and Woody had me. It appeared that there was a midday rise, terminating about 2 PM. Matukau River above Otama After supper we were about to fish the Grand Pit when a Mr. John King asked us to accompany him to a new site, which we accepted. Crossed the river at Otamata bridge, then went NW about 5 mi. to road end. This is about opposite the Don Church place. I found a good rise at the tail of a long flat pool. No action on assorted dry flies or nymphs but I then tried a fly given me by John also which floats (just barely) in the surface film. About size 18, grey body, sparse hackle. I promptly took two fish - 20 and 19 inches, by which time it was getting dark and I had to quit. [fly - "still-born caddis" - Snicker/Richards]. Home to California, March 1, 1978

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Ashing location (see number on map) 1. Harry Rae property, Cattle Flat 2. Joan Church - curved Lombardy poplars 3. Sims/Cullen - Nicholson Road 4. The Arnold project 5. Waipahi River 6. A.J. Martin - shelf rock, electric fence 7. Kirby Island, Wyardham 8. Gravel pit, Gore 9. Chalmers - papawas, lost knife 10. Heyers - Wyardham/Mataura - 10 gates 11. Kowhai Grove, Minihau River 12. Minihau below Jock Ayres 13. Eglington River, The Bluffs 20 mi above Awaroa 14. Eglington River, Knobe Flat 15. North Maraora River (X location) 16. N end of North Maraora Lake 17. 1 mi up Milford Track, Clinton River 18. North Branch Clinton River 19. Mouth Excelsior Creek, Waitian River) 20. McCleod Station, 1 mi up Maraora River 21. Minihau 2 1/2 mi above Ayers 22. Mataura above Otana (across from Joan Church @)

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Fish landed - New Zealand, 1978 Date Locality (map no.) NSE TK WM Total Feb 2 3 1 1 1 3 3 2 2 2 1 5 4 6 0 1 1 2 5 4 0 0 0 0 6 3 1 0 0 1 7 2,8 0 0 0 0 8 7 0 1 1 2 9 3,9 1 0 1 2 10 1 0 1 0 1 11 7 0 1 0 1 12 1,8 0 1 1 2 13 11 0 0 1 1 14 12 1 3 0 4 16 13,14 1 0 1 2 17 15 2 4 3 9 18 18,15 0 0 0 0 19 14 0 0 0 0 20 17 1 1 0 2 21 18 0 0 0 0 22 Rained out 23 19 4 2 6 12 24 15,19 1 1 4 6 25 20 6 3 3 12 26 20 1 1 3 5 27 8,9 1 0 2 3 28 21,22 2 6 1 9 mar.1 (Tirip) Total: 25 29 30 84

2771, [illegible] - [illegible] [illegible] [illegible] [illegible] [illegible] (no [illegible]) [illegible] 3 1 1 1 3 4,5 2 1 -5 5 3 3 2 1 1 0 4 4 0 0 0 0 4 2 1 0 0 1 3 3 0 0 0 0 3,3 7 5 1 1 0 5 8 2 1 0 1 P,3 P 1 0 1 0 1 10 1 0 1 0 7 11 5 1 1 0 8,1 51 1 1 0 0 11 13 4 0 3 1 21 14 5 1 0 1 41,21 21 9 3 4 5 21 71 0 0 0 0 21,31 81 0 0 0 0 41 91 5 0 1 1 71 65 0 0 0 0 81 71 [illegible] [illegible] 21 2 5 4 P1 53 9 4 1 1 P1,21 45 21 2 3 2 22 25 2 8 1 1 22 25 2 2 0 1 P,3 75 P 1 4 5 55,12 95 48 30 25 25 : total (count) 1,anti

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2. June 29, 1978 I put out the hummingbird feeders the evening we arrived and had the first customer next morning at 7:30 AM. By now, two days later, we have a constant noisy clientele of at least 15 or 20 female calliopes and an occasional female rufous. They squabble constantly over whose turn it is to drink but I guess they all get their share. Birds by our cabin and meadow are about as usual -- robin, song sparrow, flicker, junco, Audubon warbler, and calliope hummer are abundant. See an occasional yellow warbler, western tanager, chipping sparrow, Williamson sapsucker, white-br. nuthatch, Empidonax flycatcher, and western wood peewee. Normally we have a territorial pair of peewees but this year they are not at home in our meadow. Several chipmunks and golden-mantled ground squirrels live in our yard and we see chickarees daily in the big trees by the stream. June 30, 1978 I split some wood before going to Truckee for shopping, and as I rested momentarily I spotted a doe and a little wobbly-kneed fawn down by the creek. A low whistle gave Betty the signal so she was watching from the house. The doe worked along the streambank, little guy struggling through the tall grass behind her, to the pool where we have a nest box for water

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3. ousel. There she walked right into the deepest part and after taking a drink she went straight across to the other bank. Betty and I both felt like shouting "No! No! It's shallower downstream," but of course we held our advice. The little fawn went in deeper and deeper until his tummy hit the cold water and then he plunged forward, slipping and stumbling till he made the bank. He shook like a puppy dog and looked none the worse as he followed mom into the forest. After lunch and a nap we drove upstream to the aspen grove to get a new fork for the fireplace. Beavers have settled into the aspens just above the box canyon and they are knocking down trees like mad. I took my fork from the top of a beaver-felled tree. Millions of mosquitos there. July 1, 1978 I awoke an emeritus professor! Betty commented it was the first time she had slept with an emeritus professor, which I suppose may be true. So after breakfast and splitting some wood I went fishing. From 10:30 AM to 1:00 PM I worked the water in front of our cabin (about 1/4 mile) and took seven fish -- 5 rainbows and 2 brookies, all 7 to 9 inches; but I found if you put a dry fly down the riffles again and again you could tease a fish into taking it. No action in the flat pools.

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4. As I was changing flies about opposite the cabin I heard a ruckus in a tall cluster of lodgepole pines where I knew the flickers had a nest. A chickaree was trying to approach the nest and the parent flickers were actively and vociferously beating him off. I guess they won, for later in the evening I saw the male feeding youngsters in the nest hole. A male calliope hummingbird showed up at the feeders, and I collected him with a slingshot, and #8 shot, since we have no male in the skin collection. We have one now! July 2, 1978 That chickaree and the flickers were at it again this morning. I feel quite sure that the squirrel has aspirations about those baby flickers, but he can't cope with the parents. Mid-morning two young rufous hummingbirds showed up and took command of the two feeders, one on each. Between them they kept a dozen or more females from feeding. I decided the collection could use one of them too, so I got out the trusty slingshot and nailed him. He makes a nice skin, about half molted from juvenile (female type) plumage to full male. I cooked a big stew for supper.

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5. July 3, 1978 Went to town to get camera films and a few miscellaneous groceries. One of Bob Hoffmann's grad students from Univ. Kansas, name Howard Leviston, showed up to start a comparative study of chickarees and western gray squirrels. He will be live trapping around here for 10 days or so. Had lunch at Marshall and Jenny Whites, along with Jim Yoakum from BLM Reno and a young couple from his outfit. Don S? He is studying deer near Ely. After lunch Marty Raphael, Steve Osaki, and I skinned birds, selecting specimens from the sack of frozen bodies accumulated in the lab. Among others I put up a winter wren collected by Vern in January. It was fat! Barbecued a chicken, using some of the last sticks of mtn. mahogany brought to me as a gift so many years ago by Jim Nee. July 4, 1978 Split the usual jag of wood; then set up my camera and took pictures of hummingbirds and chipmunks. Went down to main camp, rewrapped yesterday's birds, and photographed young golden-mantled ground squirrels and young marmots in the station yard. The kids feed them and they get very tame.

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7. Sherman Chickering ranch, Soda Springs, American River. July 6, 1978 Packed up our gear at Sagehen and closed the cabin. Did a bit of shopping in Truckee and had lunch before heading for Soda Springs. Arrived there at 2:30 PM. Sherman put us up in the big old Chickering mansion, since his guest quarters were out of commission -- the heavy snow had crushed the porch and severed the plumbing. Another guest, Eleanor B. and her son Max were in the Mark Hopkins cabin. Started to rain and hail about supper time and some lively lightning with it. Kept storming half the night and enough water fell to raise the level of the river considerably. July 7, 1978 After breakfast I set out to fish the American River above the falls. Worked my way up for four hours without catching a fish big enough to eat. The high flow and low temperature (still lots of snow melt) turned the trout off. I quit finally at 2 PM, a mile or so above the Bailey property. When I started out this morning I encountered a fine 4-point buck just above the Alan Chickering house. Also a small doe. Saw deer tracks all day but no more animals.

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8. Snowflowers are in full bloom but there aren't many of them. I photographed one with a swallowtail butterfly clinging to the spike. In the evening I read Robert Lexalt's biography of his father, the old Basque sheep-herder. July 8, 1978 Packed up and left Soda Springs at 9:30. It takes me about an hour to drive out to the highway at Norden. Saw a deer close to The Cedars and several chickarees along the way. Home about 1:30 PM.

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Olean River about 350 mi NW of Vancouver Steelhead trout Our party: Sterling Kelley, Pismo Herb Josephs, Vallejo Ted Kunszoff - Blue River, Ore. Steve Kohl - San Francisco Jim Adams - San Francisco PSE - Berkeley Guides or hosts Darrell Hodson and wife Nancy Randy Hodson Aug 18, 1978 Arrived on charter airplane from Bella Coola, Wilderness Airlines. Were met at airstrip south of the Olean by Randy in an old car. drove to boat landing above the Cox canyon. went on to camp in two jet boats. had lunch and fished a couple of hours before dinner. A black bear sow and two cubs gounded the bank across from camp. I hooked a fish but it pulled the fly right off my leader - will use better knots from now on. I did hook and landed a big chinook - weight something over his 28 lb. scale. Pretty well spent. Aug 19, 1978 Fished up river. I took two fish in little pockets below the "Flat Hole", 11 and 11 1/2 lbs. Steve Tushk

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Aug 19 (cont) six fish in the pocket below Shannon pool. Watched a gosband chase a crow in wild flight but the crow got away. Grizzly at wolf tracks on sandbar at Delt Hole. Sockeye salmon are spawning in little run back of the bar -- bright red with green heads. Aug 20, 1978. I caught a silver salmon (coho) of about 5 lbs. in AD. After lunch Darryl flew me up Kincaid River which enter clean from the north. Chum salmon were spawning in riffles. Saw over 50 bald eagles. Darryl hunts grizzlies here as we stopped to inspect his hunting cabin. Grizzly tracks at more tracks on bars, as a bear had been rubbing its back on the cabin. Aug 21 I caught a small steelhead about 5 lbs. Darryl hooked < monster chinook and deliberately broke it off. Lots of mergansers on the river, some of them flightless (young I presume). Bucher of sock up to 30. Darryl saw < gosband chasing a crow in same area where I saw it two days ago. Big chinook salmon are spawning in gravel runs right out in main stream. They look like submarines moving out of the way of our boat.

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Aug 22, 1978 The river which was high and cloudy when we arrived has been dropping each day and clearing at same time. Today it was down 2 ½ inches from yesterday. The three boys in the other boat had a fabulous morning at Shannon's. I caught one 12 lb. male at confluence of two currents in upper Flat Hole and shortly thereafter hooked another which ran with half my backing then started jumping for downstream at shore the hook. The fish I landed was 35" long, 16" girth. After lunch above the upper logging bridge (far upstream) Sterling caught a nice 14 lb. male. We see lots of spotted sandpipers and mergansers, a few dippers. Aug 23, 1978 Fished all day in the Flat Hole with only one strike, while Sterling caught 4 fish in front of me and behind me. I decided my fly wasn't sinking enough so changed lines at noon to the sinking shooting head. But nobody had much action in afternoon. Then came a dandy hail/thunder storm that pretty well put the fish down. Josh got into spawning sockeye salmon at Flat Hole. There was fresh guszy and wolf track there. Also I saw a group of crows chasing the gobhawk -- reverse signals! Daryl caught a giant chinook male about 40 lbs.

Aug. 24, 1978 There is a substantial crowd on the river today - 67 campers plus 17 in the commercial canoes. They are getting rid of the logging wood to upper bridge at floating down river on inflated rafts. Brides are famous of course. In pocket below Shannon Hole I hooked and landed a lucky jumping female which I decided to keep at bring home. She was jumping fresh from the ocean at weighed 14 lbs. Jumped seven times. Fished till dark downstream but no luck. No one else light a fish but I got mine home packed inside my waders in my tackle box. Bride and gentlemen agree that this is the lightest run at poorest fishing in memory. Didn't seem to be many steelhead in the river. Aug. 25, 1978 Fished in morning for a couple of hours but I stayed home as packed. No luck. We left camp about 11:00M, met the airplane at the strip at noon. Flew out over the high country, past Mt. Baldington. For summary of fish hooked and caught by the six members of our party see next page.

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Date Steelhead Hooked Landed Salmon Aug 18, 1978 5 2 1jack, 1chinook Aug 19 15 12 Aug 20 8 4 1 coho Aug 21 14 10 3 coho Aug 22 15 13 1 coho, 1 jack Aug 23 8 7 Aug 24 8 5 5 jack x coho Aug 25 0 0 73 53

Durlocke, Caly. Sept. 29 and 30, 1978 Ed Channing invited me down for the last two days of dove season. Friday PM he went to a ranch about 10 mi. SW of Town, within a mile or so of the San Joaquin River, where birds have been coming to a millet field. Saw 40 or more on telephone wire near the field, so we deployed and waited for them to come in for the coming feed. At 4 PM the flights started fast and heavy. I had a limit in about 45 minutes (11 birds down with 14 shells, 1 lost from a ditch). Betty had lots of action but wasn't hitting very well - she ended up with 5. Ed didn't hunt much but still got 7 or so. Crops of most were empty (just coming in to clear down) but some had millet. The field had been disced and dragged but the birds still found plenty of seeds on the dusty surface. Next morning I feared the area might have been burned out and abandoned, but the flights was heavier than ever! I limited in half hour, before the sun came over the Sierra. Ed, his dad, & A George at Neal - ? from Santa Rosa all got limits, even with a lot of poor shooting. It was an concentrated and determined dove flight as I had ever seen. Betty wasn't up to the early PM hunt and slight in. My shooting today wasn't so good - 10 birds with 17 shells. She retrieved all my birds both days - be lower down. No broken skins either.

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West Betten Pond Sorenson Ranch Date Blind No. Guest Pintail Mallard Widgeon\G. Red\C. Red\Total Ducks\Pheasants\Jacksnipe\Kestrels\Geese\Species\Total Season: 1978 Oct 21, 1978 2\4\Reg Barrett\10\2\1\11\4\3\ Oct 22 4\4\2\0\3\3\ Oct 25 4\2\1\2\2\6\(8 more in water)\ Oct 28 2\1\1\7\14\ Nov 4\2\1\1\3\16\ Nov 8\2\4\1\1\6\18\ Nov 11\5\1\1\0\3\22\ Nov 18\2\1\1\1\7\19\ Nov 22\5\1\1\3\23\ Dec 13\6\1\1\7\28\ Dec 16\2\1\1\8\31\ Dec 23\5,4\2\5\6\4\21/20\ Dec 27\5,4\3\4\4\21/27\ Dec 30\2\6\1\15\ Jan 3\4\3\1\15\21\ Jan 17\5\2\0\57

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hunt Reg Barrett 11 ducks 4 Voluse pheasants Sprouson Farms Oct 21, 1978 he exercised the solemn ceremonies of opening the duck season - moved into our rooms, last minute adjustments in blinds & decoys, lots of drinks and a big steak dinner (my deer), and finally out to the blinds before daylight. Pretty fair flight for about ten hours in which Reg Barrett and I took 10 snipe and a widgeon. She worked very well - we never did leave the blind, he retrieved them all including a couple of ducks. Hunted pheasants after lunch and found a lot of wild turkey in the hot corner - between me and about a dozen of which only two were liberated. Too damn hot to hunt very long so we quit early, had a shower and a nap. Steak dinner and looked jotted over. Oct 22 Flights on Sunday was pretty light, despite a brisk SW breeze. I had action down at #4 but couldn't hit them. Jed limited in #2, Dennis got a bird or two in #6. Very few snipe on the marsh yet - not enough to make it worth a hunt. Lots of other shore birds though including far more yellowlegs than I ever recall seeing. Some stilts, avocets, and of course dowitchers. Saw 3 herons coming in Sunday and 3 going out Sunday.

Sorensen Oct 25, 1978 I sat in #4 as was shushed. Could have taken a fall or ridger but followed the "spig syndrome". I did get three spigs however. Sat retrieval then nicely. Oct 28 I had high choice and sat in #2 for several hours. Shot 1 shell only (killed a high cock spig) and never did fire again. Big north wind built up as birds came in from the south and settled on the yard near the stock-pile but none came toward #2. Did get three in #6. I took two spigs walking out -- boy they could do tricks in that wind! Also two cock pheasants after lunch. Nov 4 In #4 I shot three shells from 6 PM to 5:30 and came up with a mallard and a spig. Did get three in #2, broody one in #1, Dennis & Justin shushed in #6. He agrees that the flights are about the worst we can remember for the first two weeks of the season. Poor hills also on main Sorensen Pond and Etche Club. Continued warm sunny weather as northern ducks are loafing on the Canadian prairies. Boy out dropped 15 spige but they were so damn wild I couldn't kill a one. Brody & I counted 11 heathish going out to Baerville.

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Sorensen Nov 8, 1978 Another flat calm, but sunny day with a very scant duck flight. I was just chance ad went to #2. Shot at three ducks and bagged two - a cock sprig ad a hen mallard. The latter fell wing-tipped toward the north levee. She closed her all the way to the levee as finally lost her after a series of dives. Several hours later he picked her out of one of the dense cotton clumps in the ditch beyond the levee. After lunch Woody, Ted and I went after jacksnipe along the north edge of Round Farm (permission Selby Noke). Found lots of birds, ganged up in specific jockets. Woody got 10 an I took 3 - find that I cannot wade in marsh like I used to. Also saw lots of pheasants - perhaps 50 or 60 while we walked the low levee for snipe. Regular pheasant season opens next Saturday, Nov. 11. Regarding the duck flight, we all agree that it is considerably lighter than in previous years at the same time. Still almost wholly sprig - no influx of small ducks like teal, shovelers and widgeon. Presumably the continued mild weather has allowed them to hang on to the north. A prairie falcon came over me at 50 yd. in #2 blind. Beautiful bird. Did not seem to be hunting. We see very few hawks now, I suppose because of the conversion of pasture to row crops.

Sanson Nov. 11, 1978 I was last choice and ended up high gun. Woody at Ward in #2 (blinds), Jd in #6 (5 sprig), Dennis in #4 (5 nice ducks), and I was in #5 with six ducks and two jacksnipe. Picked up one more snipe on the way out. They were a strong NW wind all last night and this morning till noon (20 m.p.h.). A heavy northward flight continued all morning passing east of me. But we got a little spin-off and had occasional birds coming in all morning. At #5 the shooting was mostly pretty high but I did surprisingly well (often in a wind I can't hit my hat). Made one very high double or got sprigs out of a flock of a dozen or so. Wind quit about when we did, at noon, and I will venture a guess that the ducks sat pretty quiet for a day or so. Hard set crowded traps last evening but caught hardly a thing. Apparently the beaters have gone into the mud for the winter. A couple of weeks ago he got some 60 in one trap. After a bit of lunch we went pheasant hunting in the newly cut corn at north end of Vallec. Good made of birds, and the boys got about 10 between three of them. I didn't get a shot! I came home early to cook dinner for Betty, Kay, Sally (who has Gavin here for first visit, two weeks old).

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La Brulla (cont) In the seven days that I hunted we generally had all the hunting we wanted before lunch. Coyes ran from 100 to 350 and as a rule one coyote were all you needed at limit. Once in a while we encountered small bunches (30, 50...) and there you wouldn't survive. I shot moderately well, mostly keeping under 2 shells per bird. Best day I got 9 with 13 shells. There is no club standard about precise shooting however, and even excellent shots like Chucks Cotton take a lot of long shots with little hope of a clean kill. A big coyote is jokingly referred to as a "four-leg coyote" and this isn't too far from the truth! Hunting without dogs is a tribulation not easy to get used to. You spend a lot of time looking for down birds and of course you lose many runners and even some dead birds. There is a surprisingly amount of ground cover here, some of it shoulder high or higher. Although rainfall is low I think coastal fog supports shrub growth --olly sage, monkey flowers, wild rose, desert willow, cholla and quintic cactus are a few of the dominants. On some slopes rock outcrop and tumbled boulders serve importantly as cover. Where we hunted there were agricultural fields largely of barley with substantial weed growth

La Grulla (cont) of turkey mullein and many other weeds. I looked in many crops and found nearly all filled with a small legume whose identity I never could ascertain. The plants were no longer visible but the seeds apparently were everywhere. Some contained Turkey mullein seeds and a few had a hint of greenery - surprisingly little considering that early rains had raised a fine lawn of sprouted grass. The foxtails were just sprouting - jinkweed size still. The year 1978 apparently is one of the real boom years in quail numbers. Everyone remarked on this, his crops and lots of them. This was further reflected in the amazing age ratio - 608 young per 100 adults, based on a sample of 333! In all the year I have fowled with Cal quail this is by far the highest crop of young I ever have seen. See next page for details based on birds killed by the parties I hunted with, and on Dec 2 on all the birds taken by La Grulla hunters (I talked to them on the back porch). Of considerable interest to me was the unusually low representation of adult males in the population. Adult females outnumbered adult males 29 to 18 (or 100:62). In the De Millar's data from Shandon there is a tendency for adult males to exceed adult females in increasing

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Summary sex & age records, City girl, taken by La Brule hunters while we were there Date Adult Immature Total Male Female Male Female Nov.28,1978 0 2 6 17 25 Nov 30 0 3 16 15 34 Dec 1 0 0 6 1 7 Dec 2 0 2 16 18 36 Dec 2 11 15 72 53 151 Dec 3 2 4 15 13 34 Dec 4 1 2 11 12 26 Dec 5 4 1 7 8 20 _______ 18 29 149 137 = 333 47 adults/286 young = 608 young : 100 adults 29 ad ff/18ad mm = 62 ad mm : 100 ad ff

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Club de Cazadores La Brulla, Ensenada, Baja California Set col age y guil killed Dec 9,1978 to Jan 21,1979 (data assembled by Espie and guidos Alejo and Felix) Fecha Machos Hembras Total Adulto Joven Adulto Joven 12/9/78 14 39 10 50 113 12/10 9 17 8 14 48 12/11 2 14 4 9 29 12/13 3 17 6 11 37 12/17 3 7 3 5 18 12/19 13 15 12 21 61 12/20 5 12 5 4 26 12/29 11 12 7 11 41 12/30 16 11 10 9 46 12/31 13 19 20 17 69 1/2/79 4 4 3 2 13 1/3 11 11 10 11 43 1/11 21 22 20 29 92 1/12 8 12 7 24 51 1/13 22 26 16 36 100 1/14 21 22 12 17 72 1/15 14 18 8 13 53 1/16 7 11 3 1 22 1/21 13 15 10 17 55 210 304 174 301 = 989 recos to Dec 5 18 149 29 137 = 333 228 453 203 438 = 1322

[illegible] مادة العدد المجموع معدل 1 معدل 2 معدل 3 معدل 4 معدل 5 المتوسط مجموع الفرق مجموع 0 0 9 9 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 2 0 0 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 7 7 8 8 9 9 10 10 11 11 12 12 13 13 14 14 15 15 16 16 17 17 18 18 19 19 20 20 21 21 22 22 23 23 24 24 25 25 26 26 27 27 28 28 29 29 30 30 31 31 32 32 33 33 34 34 35 35 36 36 37 37 38 38 39 39 40 40 41 41 42 42 43 43 44 44 45 45 46 46 47 47 48 48 49 49 50 50 مجموع = 330 مجموع = 281 مجموع = 187 مجموع = 149 مجموع = 56 مجموع = 18 = 22.5 / 22.5 = 22.5 / 22.5 = 22.5 / 22.5 = 22.5 / 22.5

Club de Cazadores La Brulla, Ensenada, Baja California Sex and age of quail killed Dec 9, 1978 to Jan 21, 1979 (data assembled by Espie and guidez Olejo and Felix ) Fecha Machos Hembras Total Adulto Joven Adulto Joven 12/9/78 14 39 10 50 113 12/10 9 17 8 14 48 12/11 2 14 4 9 29 12/13 3 17 6 11 37 12/17 3 7 3 5 18 12/19 13 15 12 21 61 12/20 5 12 5 4 26 12/29 11 12 7 11 41 12/30 16 11 10 9 46 12/31 13 19 20 17 69 1/2/79 4 4 3 2 13 1/3 11 11 10 11 43 1/11 21 22 20 29 92 1/12 8 12 7 24 51 1/13 22 26 16 36 100 1/14 21 22 12 17 72 1/15 14 18 8 13 53 1/16 7 11 3 1 22 1/21 13 15 10 17 55 -----------------+------------+----------+-----------+---------+ 210 304 174 301 = 989 [illegible] 149 29 131 = 333 228 453 203 438 = 1322

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La Brulle (cont.) proportion as the crop of young birds increases (see Fig.48, p.115 in guail book). However, I noted an exception in 1952 -> the highest proportion of young she ever had (490 min : 100ad) - when adult M:F as 9:9 are about equal. I explained this rather lamely by suggesting that in boom years males suffered the dishe of

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3 ducks 7 snipe (with Woody) Sorensen Dec 13, 1978 Hazy air, but threatened rain did not materialize. No wind at daylight. There was some high flight but very little down at our level. Between us we took 7 ducks of which only 2 were sprigs. At Sherman Chickering's invitation Ted shot on Sorensen's good but he only two shots, and took one sprig. Dennis took young Justin & #2 but even the teal and sprigies avoided me. He last scarcely shot his gun. My only teal shot was at a handsome little drake cinnamon, which I got. There were a few gees in the air as Dennis took a shot at a single honker that came by fairly low. After giving up on ducks at 10 pm we went after the snipe, but the big concentration the boys found here last Sunday was largely dissipated. Woody and I between us finally came up with Owen. Silly Mork and his gang got 32 (4 limits) on the south end of Round James. It sounded like a war up there. We are at a loss to explain the poor flight of ducks in the Sorensen area. Ted feels it is the change in land use, from pasture to row crops. This is as good an explanation as any. On the way out we counted 15 hestrels.

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1/2 pig 1 white pheasant Sorensens Dec 16, 1978 Per couple fog, from daylight till 11:30 when it started to lift, but not break. He sat in star blinds till noon, staring at the opaque face of fog hoping to see a duck fly out. Once in a while this actually happened but you rarely are ready to get off a shot. I got off just one at a lone cock sprig that came over me from behind, and damned if I didn't wing tip him. He hit in the middle of the pond (I heard him go down, couldn't see) and took after him with the dog. He got on the fresh scent and tracked him far enough to steer me on the right bearing. Through the fog I finally saw a little hill cutting the surface and I shot at the hill, thereby putting the dog on the bird as he brought him in - a nice fat duck. Snipe were wild and very hard to see so we didn't spend any time on them. Hunted pheasants after lunch with Morris Cox and Glen Starr. Found a few birds in last corner and adjoining ditcher. I checked out early with one hen. En route home about half way to Overhill I came to a steel power line torn in a sugar beet field with pheasants sitting all over it like decorations on a Christmas tree. At one moment I counted 16, but birds kept flying up out of the field to alight on the steel bars while others flew back down. Both at home both. Very odd.

5 sprig 1 spoonie Gale Goose Club, adjoining Grey Lodge on west Dec. 20, 1978 Mr. Henry Irione invited me for a dinner to talk about a possible California Waterfowl Museum, with a duck shoot next morning. John Conran was there for dinner as well as Diane Irione and two other club members -- Andy and Wayne. We had a lovely duck dinner at a good talk. Wednesday was clear, cold and calm, with ice around the edge of the ponds that didn't melt until noon. I started out badly -- so we waded out toward the blinds mallards started flying out of the timber behind me and coming over in the half dark. Henry got shells in his gun first at short, I followed and got one, which turned into a spoonie! Oh well. From then on I stayed with sprige and got five by quitting time 2:30 PM. Off again during the morning there were magnificent flights of snow geese and ducks. Relatively few geese and only a couple of flocks of honkers. There were actually more sandhill cranes than honkers. Lots of widgen and gadwall worked low over our ground as well as spoonies and a few green-winged teal. Two flocks of white pelicans sailed over majestically. The sloughs were full of short-billed marsh wrens which added interest. No shore birds at all!

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Sorenson Dec 23, 1978 Dog lay heavily all day in the valley Dec 22 and we were anything but optimistic when we went to bed this night. In the morning the fog was still thick but it had lifted so that there was visibility for some distance horizontally, and up about 100 yards vertically. Birds were working through and under it and in fact were coming down trying to sight especially toward our south end. I had occasional shots in #5 and Woody was shooting up a storm in #4, finally calling to me (about 8:30 AM) that he was limited. I had three good birds by then but moved to #4 nevertheless and finished my limit in less than an hour - 5 mallards and 2 sprige. It appeared that ducks were feeding in the corn stubble west of our pond and from time to time little groups would come to the pond for water. All had full signs of corn and mud on their feet. There were birds working the main food too - Ted limited in #2 before I did and Dennis or Jason had quite a lot of action in #6. It was all in all our best shot of the season based mostly on mallards. Woody and I then went to work on geese and he had 14 of them in an hour - killed mostly by Woody. He was shooting like a champ.

mario? 15?9,64 milla xí ha el mil poller de in pollo finand por job y si tiene un mal ambiente que participa con el dicho joto son of sus pimeros de la religión anti cristiana en la televisión y una vez más se está al lado de un mal ambiente. pues bien, hay todo lo que ha planteado pues no hay ni la ni cómo la fuerza política ha tenido un buen número de gente y gente real que pueden ser para los 2º en esta lunaeros del 1 total (ojo a 2 total) en 3 pollito lloró, y 1º en moto 1 y ahí el mal hay otra vida 1, literalmente el tiempo por hablar de voluntarios 1º-4 horas el grupo de la salud - y así está en distancia son los un pueblo son donde esta porque hace algo tiene que ir con uno de los hoy no y hay hay una pregunta más, pero no. sino el hoy sí o no como lo podemos vivir bien, hay gente a que siente que han 1º en natural del - su hijo ha sido el 5º en moto por un paso del sur no ni poner buen amor de joto todo era ella ni cualquier lo que se dice o cómo se hace, etc. es bueno para el futuro del país - nada es así para mí queda a ello junto con él

4 greenheads 3 pt sprige Sorenson Dec 27, 1978 This proved to be one of the GREAT DAYS in my duck hunting experience. The pond was stiff with ducks when we went to the blinds, but they all flew away and things were pretty quiet for a while. Then under the high fog (150 yds or so) ducks started streaming back to our pond from corn fields somewhere to the west. They came in flocks of thousands and swirled down on us with noise like a tornado. When one or another of us would shoot the birds would flare up and disappear in the fog, but in two minutes here would come 5000 more in the same pattern. This continued until all three of us had 7 big fat birds apiece. All were stuffed with corn and all had muddy feet and bills. They wanted some water to clean up and have a drink I guess, and we were the first pond in line of their return flights. The ducks east and north of me had very little action -- we were the vortex of the pattern. In addition to the sprige and mallards there were lots of teal, shovelers, and widgeon. Swans and geese livened the scene with their voices, but they did not come down to the pond (though there were boaters on the pond at daylight). After this great experience we did not harass snipe or pheasants but went home early.

6 cock sprige 4 Valace pheasante Srenson Dec 30,1978 Sunday afternoon we had a nice pheasant hunt at the "hot corner" and along the road headed west. When we shot at hot corn about 40 birds rolled out and headed west along the road. Jed dashed down in his pick-up and headed part of them and he ended up with 9 birds. The fields were stiff with ducks and we went out Saturday PM with high expectations which were not disappointed. All of us took limits of sprige ad mallards, and young Justin Desgardien had 5 birds, including two greenheads. It was a picture day. Ducks by the thousands were feeding in the corn fields west of our yard (also southwest and northwest) and we had continuous shooting of birds coming to the water to clean their bills as gut. Again today there were seeds of mallards ad I turned down a dozen or more close shots to stay with cock sprige. I took my self-imposed limit of 5, but one was a bit shining so I took an additional fat one. Quite a few geese around at daylight including brockere, sparc and snows. I had only one close shot, at a single snow, and turned it down. Some sprig counting parties but not so many as I saw at Isle Gore last week. All ducks were full of corn and mud, many with gobs of mud stuck to their feet as little. Several had long strings of grain or corn shucks stuck to their feet and trailing behind in flight.

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3 cock spri 1 greenhead 4 snipe Sorensen Jan 3, 1979 No fog, no mist, just some high clouds signifying arrival of a front. At daylight there were clouds of ducks and geese over the corn field west of us, but shortly after dawn they left and shooting was pretty thin the rest of the morning. I had two cock sprig in the first half hour but then missed a lot of shots and didn't score again until after 11:00. I don't know why my shooting was so atrocious - it's been getting worse recently. In the clear light birds were much more cautious than they have been recently under high fog and haze. All shooting was long, as many circling geese didn't come down at all - simply departed. Another factor may have been that the corn fields are dry or dry - not sticky adobe as was the case last week. The ducks had no need to come to water to clean up their bills and feet. Relatively few mallards today. On the contrary, the goose show was superb. Big mob of honkers, geese, and circling geese, and even a few snows were cruising overhead or dropping into the corn. Dennis got a speck at a bonker. Lots of snipe still. Worry as I got two specks on the way out of the marsh.

Rock Pails, Quintana Roo Jan 6, 1979 Last night we flew into Cancun from San Francisco, arriving about 9:30PM. We contracted a mini-bus to take us to Boca Paila about 3 hours to the south. The bus ran out of gas so we were a mile late arriving. This morning a wild east wind was blowing but we went fishing anyway. Worry at Beach had a boat ad boatman— Gregorio (male) at Jorge (lady's). We fished with Glee and both caught four fish before lunch, all small (I had 2 jennet ad 2 snappers, Worry a barracuda ad three snappers). We cast in quite shallow water adjoining the mangroves. Saw some big barracuda slashing hell out of small mullet. I had one run from a good fish (jennet?) but missed him. After lunch both at camp, as a nice rep, we set out— again at 3PM, wind still blowing fiercely. In a sheltered deep hole in the mangrove I hooked three longfish ad landed two of them. The third straightened the hook. They were all about 3 to 4 lbs., which according to Gregorio is about average. On a windy day like this, Gregorio tells me the bonefish stay deep and do not go out fishing about on the flats. Hence my first sinking "net belly" line was functional whereas Worry with a regular "sinking tip" did not connect with a fish after lunch. We saw brown pelicans, spoonbills, Worry ibis, Green egrets, an assortment of gulls, terns, ad little birds,

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Boce Falls Jan 7, 1979 Continuing hard wind all day but shifted from East to Southeast. In any event, it kept the fish down until it let up some about 4:30 PM. Then for the first time in two days look as I both saw a few bonefish tailing in shallow water. But they are spooky as well, and a cast anywhere near them generally initiated a rout. Look had a couple of strikes from bonefish but failed to get a hook-up. I just scared the one I went after. According to Gregoris this is the 74th consecutive day of wind. Previously over Xmas at New Year he says there were calm, clear days one after another, and fine fishing. Joe Selvidge was here for two weeks and made a killing. The prognostication now is for a gradual let-up of the wind and (hopefully) a gradual improvement in the fishing. So for the two days have been a bust. Saw several white ibis today - some singly, one bunch of a dozen. Xavier says there are ducks somewhere in this estuary but we haven't seen a one. I took pictures of an osprey on her nest in mangroves, with 4 eggs visible from the boat. She was very persistent and is probably incubating. Gregoris tells me there are no deer left on these spots, hence no big predators. Xavier's wife has a murgay kitten about half grown. No alligator left, no dangerous snake here. Had chicken en mole for dinner - delicious!

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Boon Parla Jan 8, 1974 The big wind was gone this morning and we went forth with great expectations. In the clear water we could see bony fish dotting them in flocks at canyons. But they were not feeding as generally ignored my fly. Finally one bit and I got a hook-up but on the second big run he pulled the hook out and got away. Woody landed two near the bridge at the Boon. But not many were tailing or showing interest in food. After lunch we went after them again, but by then a brisk north breeze had sprung up, which turned into a roaring wind by 3:30 and fishing became impossible. Dark rain clouds gathered as we headed home just before the rain began. Saw two big nests of ducks today -- one group of 100 or so teal (blue-wings I presume) and another bunch of 50+ diving ducks which at a distance I figured were probably ring-necks. Both bunches came out of openings in the mangrove ahead of our noisy outboard motor. Visited two osprey nests in the north bay and took a few pictures at one where the hen was very persistent in staying with the egg. Saw at least a dozen big sting rays -- one maybe about 5 ft long, and several big vicunas (caracuda) the size of my leg. Caught and released four small fish (yellow tail etc).

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Boca Raton Jan. 9, 1979 The heavy north wind that started yesterday was blowing full blast today. Gregorio took me to the Boca but even there it was nearly impossible to cast and there were no signs of bonefish feeding or otherwise coming out to feed. So we returned to camp in mid-morning and I set up an arrangement & take Betty and Phyllis to the Mayan ruins at Tulum after lunch. Woody didn't come with us but returned to the Boca and caught a fine 5 pound (21") bonefish. So his afternoon was made. We set out for Tulum in a VW mini-bus and arrived in a little over half an hour. There is quite a mercado set up around the parking lot adjoining the ruin. We paid our 10 pesos apiece and passed through a narrow walkway to emerge on a big open court of several acres with an impressive array of buildings in and around the court. The major edifice is "The Castle" situated on the east edge of the court and facing out over the sea. Phyllis and I climbed the steep stairs up to the top and had a fine view of the Yucatan peninsula and the Caribbean. After an hour or so the girls moved out to the marketplace where they bought postcards and gifts. On the trip in we saw a big coti cross the road ahead of us. On the return a fine fluffy gray fox did the honors.

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Bree Pails Jan 10, 1974 North wind was down some this morning but water still dirty except at the Boza so we returned there. During the course of the morning we saw a substantial number of bonefish tailing or at least cruising in shallow water. But they were spooky as well, stampeding at sight of the boat, at the drop of a cast, or for just no obvious reason at all. Still I got one hook-up and landed a very pretty little fish of 18" (est. 3lbs) after a nice fight through more ast mangrove sprouts. The exasperation of the last few days was exhausted! After lunch the stern wind shifted from north back to east where it was the first two days here. And it's blowing up a gale again now (6 PM). Still, in the sheltered cove between mangrove clumps we found a surprising number of bonefish tailing, at words as I were casting to fish virtually all afternoon but with limited results. I hooked one darkly lively yellow star ran out my line at half my breaking before I knew what was going on. Landed him in just over 15 minutes -> 19", estimated 3 1/2 to 4lbs. Had some other close misses but he was our only hook-up. Poor Woody spent a exasperating day without a hook-up. Here at Camp we have orange piders in the coconut, Yucatan rockwhisker and boat-tailed grachler.

Boca Chica Jan 11, 1979 We finally acted on Gregor's proposal that we go in the launches to Boca Asencion about an hour and a half from here. Off we went winding through channels in the mangroves and crossing big, open bays including the mouth of Asencion itself. When finally we reached the fishing grounds we counted onto a little flat among low islands we could see bonefish tails in every direction, he got right to work at had a wonderful morning. At lunch time Hardy an I had each landed 5 fish, all in the 18" to 20" size class. But I lost a line on one fish -- a line borrowed last night from Cedric Lucas who arrived yesterday without rods (lost en route). I loaned him my #7 Jennich graphite and borrowed a floating line from him. But my nail heart gave way at just as line disappeared into the Caribbean. He hunted long and hard without success. After lunch the bonefish actually slowed way down. We each got one more, making a dozen for the day. Hardy also cast to various barracudas that showed themselves chasing mullet as he caught one about 3 ft. long. Missed a strike on a monster as big as your leg. Had fun visiting various bird colonies -- one of frigate birds, a big roost of ibis, roseate spoonbill, comorants, brown pelicans, and a group of about 60 flamingos.

Boat Sailed Jan 12, 1974 Fair fishing day as he left camp early (7:45 AM) for Ascencion Bay. Arrived on same grounds where we started yesterday but found very little bonefish activity. Conditions of water and calm air seemed perfect, but no fish. Up to about noon I hadn't caught a fish and was pretty discouraged. Then rather abruptly the flats where we were cruising erupted with tails. Some individuals were obviously bigger as there were several cruising alone or with only one other companion. I hooked three of these "solitaries" and landed two of them, of 22'1/2 and 23'1/2 inches - much the biggest fish I had seen. The latter fought for over 35 minutes and at one time had nearly all my backing out (150 yds.). Cedric from as his wife Joanne stopped by for the landing and took some photos. After a late lunch we looked around and all the tails had disappeared. He reeled about two hours. He went then to the String of islands in the middle of the Bay and I caught two more bonefish, ordinary size. Woody ended the day with six - nothing unusually large. He went home early to grab a gray out bill with Xavier Borges. He was too early for the assembly of nesting birds but had a nice look at the flamingos. Home to California early January 13.

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1 boback pheasant Sorenson's Jan 20, 1979 Last week-end of the duck season. There were no ducks but we did pick up the last of the decoys and cleared the blinds & stools and floor boards. There has been some flooding of low-lying areas south of us and I suppose that's where the ducks are hanging out. Among the flotsam passing high overhead were three bunches of canvasbacks -- 15 to 20 each. Lower at our level there were a surprising number of curlews, mostly males, in little groups of two or three, or singles. I wonder if they are already coming back from the southland, preparing to nest? We haven't seen this many all season. Coming in on Friday afternoon we only found 15 hen-turtles and we were looking hard. I still think that food prices like we had in early January drove them to the shelter of the foothills. Perhaps they are filtering back, however, for we counted 21 going out Saturday. Found lots of pheasants on Bobcats. Woody and I didn't stay long but Dennis and Cox with guests got 20 some birds.

Motor trip, Berkeley to Las Cruces, N.M. Feb 28, to March 3, 1979 We recorded birds and mammals seen along the highway as I was astonished at the scarcity of vertebrates seen in the San Joaquin, Tulelake, Thoreau desert sector. Raccoon, blackbird, horned lark, a rare hare killed on the road, ducks & coots on a pond or two. Only one red-tailed hawk. However, starting about 10 miles west of Azusa we get into much more life - 10 kestrels in just a few miles, a couple of red-tails, several rabbit tails. Big gangs of mourning dove was evident wherever there was cultivated land, irrespective of crop (cotton, alfalfa, grain etc.). When we reached Las Cruces Sanford Schermany showed us our apartment in the Puerta del Sol complex, 505 Gregg Ave. A green tree took us building. There are many long-tailed meadowlarks, some mourning doves and a few white-winged doves - one male of which court enthusiastically morning or evening. We just heard the mourning doves cooing. Subsequently we have seen flickers, English sparrows, Audubon warblers and of course European rock doves. Spent the week organizing our apartment and laying in groceries. Just a drive through the NMSU campus and explored the town of Las Cruces.

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Sacramento Distr., near Sun Spot, E of Alamogordo NM March 4, 1979 Spent the whole day on a field trip in the Sacramento District where Ken Jones is about to undertake a wild turkey study. On the way over we saw two groups of antelope (3 and 1) in the Jolmose Basin near White Sands National Monument. In Alamogordo met Lou Woltering USFS wildlife biologist attached to the Lincoln Nat.Scr. On the mountains we happened to encounter Alan Suttle of NM Game and Fish who is preparing a trap for collared turkeys. Drove down a muddy road to baited trap sites and saw three bunches of turkeys, all hanging around deep areas in valley that are clear of snow. Upper slopes are heavy in snow. Saw turkey probes near here (3,18) (with 1 banded gobbler), the third was a big gobbler. They are not gobbling yet but probably will break up soon when the snow melts. No deer or elk this high in the district (8000'+). They winter at lower elevation than the turkeys. Many Steller jays and junco robbing turkey bait (boiled oats + corn). Vegetation is rather dense, young pine/white fir -- very little oak this high (5 slopes only). Would not appear to me to be good turkey range but they apparently are quite numerous. En route home we cruised White Sands National Monument and nibbled some of the "sand" (gypsum). Two ponds full of ducks - widson, gadwall, shailin mostly.

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Las Cruces, N.M., & Chihuahuas City Mar. 14, 1979 Left at 7:30 am in University car with Sandy Schmitt, his son Steve, and Phil Zwarts (Wildlife Extension Specialist). In El Paso we picked up Paul Valdez and Jose Trevino who has been surveying antelope population in Chihuahua. Had lunch along the road. Then stopped just south of El Suezo where there is a herd of about 26 antelopes. This grassy playa (on E side of highway) is about 25 miles NE of Sierra del Nido. He spent over an hour walking across the playa studying area with field glasses, but we failed to see the herdrendos. Found tracks and fresh droppings no more than half mile from the highway. Flushed a covey of 15+ scaled quail in the tall grass. They flew 20 yds. and stuck in the grass, where we got them out once again. Found lots of roost spots - Fails together in little open tree spots, like Bobwhites. Big flock of jupites and scattered Savannah sparrows. Asked Jose Trevino about grizzlies. He reports that some guy says he saw two (together) a little S of Cerro Compana, adjoining Sierra del Nido on the south. They were allegedly "cinnamon brown", hence were reported as grizzlies. Might just as well be black bears. Stayed at Victoria Hotel in central Chihuahua. Took Jose and his charming wife to dinner.

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Babieora waterfall area Village Nicolas Bravo, 150 (?) mi NW of Chihuahua Mar. 15, 1979 Jose Wm. R. Hunt ranch Drove west as then north of Chihuahua, passing through the big Mennonite colony that lies South Sierra del Nudo. Bought some of their distinctive cheese (like cottage cheese consolidated) and some rock and beer. Had lunch along the road under a live-oak grove. A vermillion flycatcher I was catching bugs around our lunch site. Lots of mourning doves and some Apalozana jays. Arrived at Nicolas Bravo (a few mi. S of Gomez Darias) and picked up Enrique Dominguez as a guide. Left the Chew and all piled into Jose's little safari car, top down. Drove as far as we could out across the enormous flats of Babieora, then scattered and walked. Absolutely no emergent cover, all grazed to the ground. Shallow shrubs meandering over the grassland. Most of the waterfall that winter here have left. Enrique says there were 2000 sandhill cranes here recently but now only their tracks are left. One bunch of 300 snow geese. Several thousand ducks, mostly shovelers, gadwall, and green-winged teal, but at least 100 Mexican Ducks and 100 or more Mallards. The latter surprised me. A golden eagle made a magnificent story over a flock of flying ducks and came within inches of catching a big shrike gadwall. But the duck could turn to the right faster than the eagle and eluded him. Also saw a bald eagle. Saw sprigs, ruddy, and canvasback.

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Balicora (cont.) Mar 15, 1979. He returned to the village late afternoon and had coffee with Dominguez and his wife and son Manuel. Continued on to village of Buenaventura for supper. Then drove 20 mi or so to the ranch of a friend of Jose where he spent the night. Rancho Ojo Caliente - Ernesto Peal, Ranchero Mar 16, 1979 The present rancho of 21,000 hectares is a remnant of one of the great old haciendas of Chehaluma (originally 250,000 hectares). The Peal family acquired the property fairly recently. The main haceda building is an enormous one story adobe house with countless rooms (all big), all floors tiled, but the place now in shabby repair. I was alone in a bedroom with three Simmons beds, but one window missing, Persian curtain board busted, no electricity. In the morning we cooked our own breakfast since the cook was on vacation. Some vaqueros also made their own breakfast in the big kitchen. After breakfast we walked around the grounds for an hour or so. There is an elegant hot spring in the yard, boxed into a concrete pool from which it overflows and runs across the country for half a mile. Water is potable and is pumped up to a tank, from which pipes serve all the buildings of the rancho.

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"Rancho Ojo Caliente; El Sueco Mar 16, 1979 (cont) The original hacienda building & the chapel date back to late 1800's. The big house we were in was built about 1940. Mr. Real showed my before me lips. He runs about 1500 cattle (too many, judging from the range). Says there are a fair number of white-tailed deer in rugged back areas of the ranch. No javeli, Turkeys, wolves, or lions. One of the Ranch hands pulled a fresh ham & venison out of the ice box, to the embarrassment of Jose. He found tracks of scaled quail at the water hole & Real says there are lots of them on the ranch. Mexican quail are found on the pine/oak higher areas. Wolves are said to survive in the Sierra de los Jimas 20 miles S of here, which would be close to the Sierra del Nido. Mourning doves are abundant. White-wings very rare. He left the Rancho about 10:00 PM drove to El Sueco back on Pan-American Highway, bought beer & burritos for lunch, & drove out on the sand where the antelope live. Cruised for several hours but saw only one fine buck - very wild. He couldn't get closer than 600 yds in the square car. Returned to the highway, said good-bye to Jose, who drove south to home in Chihuahua. He turned north & reached San Cruces in time for supper.

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Cabello's Reservoir on the Grande, 60+ mi. above Los Cerritos, N.M. March 25, 1979 Betty and I drove up the Rio Grande for a Sunday picnic. Josh the river road (Hwy 83) that follows close to the channel, now completely diked on both sides. River is running high now with snowmelt, but well within its banks. As Los Cerritos color of water is hot chocolate, Betty gradually clearer as you go up toward dam. Water in Cabello's Reservoir is not clear by any means but it would be potable - sort of gray-blue. Along river banks inside dikes are some impenetrable thickets of salt cedar. According to Ray Klett and some of the botanists, a botanist in Biology Dept. These thickets are sterile - little vertebrate life, few insects (other than mosquitoes). Some other areas support healthy stands of giant bunchgrass (Atriplex canescens), especially in the mouths of tributary draws. There were are good habitat for Gambel quail but now most of them are close to houses (mobile homes, etc.) or are gusted. Ray says it is hard to find places to hunt. Cabello's Reservoir is rimmed with a sterile beach of sand and clay, no vegetation around the border. We picnicked on a high point above an active and noisy marina. Motor boats roaring about. Only one fishing boat that I could see. It was drift trolling. See white birds some miles up reservoir that I took to be pelicans. A few shore and gulls about.

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Campus, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces March 27, 1979 Ralph Platt and I emerged from the Biology Bldg. at 5:10 PM (I had just presented a seminar) when we saw a Cooper Hawk carrying a bird duck around a corner of a building. He followed and found the hawk perched near the top of a tall cypress tree, in plain sight. The bird was in his claw, one wing drooped down. He milled about on the ground trying to identify its prey. Finally he shifted position as dropped the bird which proved to be a common jaysen (rock dove) with its head at about 1/3rd of the body already eaten. He tossed it on the lawn where the hawk could see it if he was still hungry. That evening one of our graduate students in Biology told me that he had seen virtually the same scene a year ago -- Cooper Hawk with a jaysen. White-winged doves were cooing on the roof of the Engineering Building. Mar. 25, 1979 On several recent occasions I have watched groups of female boat-tailed grackles foraging on lawns. They work along in tandem, a few feet apart, and are constantly alert to where the other birds in the group are headed. I couldn't see any of them actually catch anything but they were sure looking. On one occasion a bird picked up a long linker piece of dead grass and flew away. Instantly all the other birds flew after its.

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Gila National Forest March 31, 1979 Sandy Schemnitz and son took me for an all day cruise of the Gila. He set out at 6 AM for Silver City. Saw two coyotes trotting along together about 10 mi. East of Deming (along Highway 10) and a roadrunner 10 mi. NW of Deming along Highway 180. This is the first roadrunner I have seen. Six antelope were bedded down on an open grassy hill just next to Hurley (Kennecott Copper mine at melter). At Fort Bayard we met Larry Dingle, research biologist for NM Game and Fish Dept. He took me on a tour of his study area of 16 square miles - the Fort Bayard tract was operated by the Forest Service. This area has had no grazing for several decades and is magnificent. Dusty juniper juniper with fine stands of blue grama (and in some areas side oats grama) on openings. There were parks along streams with big cottonwoods and other hardwoods. Saw "the worlds largest alligator juniper" - 16th about 5 feet. Mountain mahogany everywhere, showing bronze but not excessive. Albolote of grey oak, some gambel oak. The area carries a lot of game - elk, mule deer, white-tailed deer (along bottoms), javelina, and wild turkey. Gambel quail and meadow quail locally. He saw a band of about a dozen elk (no recognizable bulls but their antlers are shed now) and three mule deer, one of which was a fine 4 points buck still carrying antlers.

Bila Mar 31, 1974 (cont.) I was surprised to see antlers so late. Larry says they will soon fall. They have so some odd deer carrying radio collars and Larry took me to the receiving station on top of a high hill and showed me how the recorder works. He hooked up his receiver and set dials to check individual animals using the directional antenna and car phone then seem easy to get a clear signal. If the deer dies the transmitter starts giving rapid beeps. They check every deer twice a day and go immediately to dead area to record the cause of death (lion, coyote, dog etc.) and to recover the collar. Also he has a few collars on elk. A crew is coming tomorrow (23 men) to man a net and catch a bunch more elk, mule deer, and some white-tailed deer for collars. Larry flies a helicopter and drives the animals into the net. Nearly men going in them. OK for deer but holding down elk must be dangerous or hell. They also have two lions collared and have 20 to 30 readings on each. I am greatly impressed with Larry and with this whole operation. But the Forest Service is planning to just cattle on parts of this area "to measure the effect on wildlife". Most 95 percent of the country grazed you might think is worthwhile to keep a bit of it ungrazed.

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Dala Mar 3, 1979 We left Fort Bayard and drove up to Gila Hot Springs where we visited with Isabel Campbell who runs the general store there. Terrible floods in November or December have torn the Gila River bottoms into shreds and left great bars of sand and gravel. This watershed is wilderness mostly ungrazed, so you can't blame the flood on cows. A hand-painted portrait of Bad hangs over the door. A mile or so up the river we visited Frank Smith, lion hunter for Ford & Dane Keys. He is a tall, quiet unassuming man whose adventure chasing after his pack on a lion trail match Elliot Barber's. One recent event intrigued me. After cold trailing several hours his dogs jumped the lion off a fresh kill. Chase went over a hill as Smith & companion followed in leisurely fashion, sure the cat would soon be tired. But when they topped the hill they couldn't hear a thing! After several hours searching he returned to the dead hill, dismounted, and traced his own dogs apart. We soon found the traces all entering an old mine shaft. Crawling on his belly he entered as proceeded with a cigarette lighter for his light. He found one dog whimpering there, stoop it out and returned. Crying along he found a hole in the floor -- a vertical shaft some 4 ft across. Far below he could hear dogs whining. Ahead in the main horizontal shaft he could see the eyes of the lion. We retreated as the

Bills Mar 31, 1979 (cont.) Lion followed him to the mouth. When he rolled out the lion jumped on him and took off. Next morning he returned with friends at a lot of age. He rigged a heavy rope 32 ft. At bottom, and < young man went down hard over hard. All dogs were still alive but "pretty well stone in". One by one they were hoisted out in a sling. Under the dogs were the mummified bodies of two lions, several javelina, & assorted rattlesnakes that had died in this trap. In time all dogs recovered. One of the friends is going back with dynamite to close the mouth of this dangerous tunnel. After coffee with the Smiths we went up to the Bile Cliff Dwelling National Monument and climbed up to inspect the remains, abandoned apparently by 1200 AD. Left the parking lot at 5 PM and started home for Las Cruces. Stopped for a bite of supper in a quaint little mom-and-pop cafe in Hillsboro. Saw three mule deer doer beside the road on the way down, very pretty views of the Black Mtn. Range as we succeeded.

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April 10, 1974 Brazos de Apache Natl. Wildlife Refuge near Socorro N.M. We vacated our quarters in La Cueva (Puerta del Sol, 555 Bridge Ave., Apt. E-1) and set out up the Rio Grande to the refuge at El Antonio, just down river from Socorro. This is the area that Dad and I used to hunt in the early 1920's. The FWS has bought-up about 10 miles of river bottom. Much of it is in thick cottonwood tule timber and is well populated with mule deer. We saw one grazing fine. Low swales and old ox-bows are diked to hold shallow ponds, some very large (50 & 100 acres). Better drained sites are farmed in alfalfa and grain for the geese and cranes. According to the refuge personnel the cranes and geese left some weeks ago. The whooping cranes were already gone when we reached La Cueva March 3 (Sandy Selernity phoned.) In one alfalfa field we saw 4 pairs of sandhurs (do they nest here?) and elsewhere a couple of singles, surely left over cripples. On our cruise we saw perhaps 1000 ducks, most numerous being shovelers, gadwalls, cinnamon and green-winged teal, and mallards. Blimped a few New Mexico ducks at a distance, and later saw a dozen or so more in a flooded pasture toward Socorro. Scattered individuals of the following: blue-winged teal, ring-neck, redhead, lesser scaup, ridgson. A big flock of yellow-headed blackbirds, along with red-wings. There have been some tremendous fires in the bosque, giving rise to dog-hair thickets of cottonwood and willow - not particularly attractive except perhaps to deer. Went to a motel in Socorro for the night.

Belen and Tome, N. Mex. April 11, 1979 he moved to a motel in Belen, and I spent the afternoon exploring the red hunting grounds around Tome where Ned and Ward Shepard had a lease on a small duck pond with an adobe house nearby. Found a road that paralleled the acequia skirting the base of Tome hill on the west. This is precisely where he did our quail hunting. At that time the foothill area was severely overgrazed and Ned built little exclusion fences around "Chamisa bushes" (Atriplex canescens) to restore spots of cover - the genesis of his ideas about game management! Now it would appear that grazing is much reduced, for the Atriplex thickets at the base of the hill are in fine shape for quail occupancy. I didn't go out searching for scaled quail but I am sure they are there. The old duck pond is gone and the square field where it was situated now supports a healthy stand of alfalfa. In fact nearly all of the flat land hereabouts is in alfalfa or other crops, irrigated from the acequia at its upper edge. There are quite a few occupied homes now along the foothills bordering the acequia, so I couldn't locate the old adobe house that we rented. If her it's totally been torn down, or weathered away in the ensuing half-century. That night we had a family reunion (17 cousins and in-laws) at Uncle Eduardo's old home in Las Lunas, now run as a very fancy steak-and-lobster restaurant. It's walls are heavily decorated with photos of Alvarez, Osteros and Bergerez. Name of the restaurant - "Luna Mansion".

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Stone Lake, Jicarilla Indian Reservation April 14, 1974 (cont.) were gathered in the open areas on sitting on the ice — Amer. mergansers, buffleheads, gadwall, cinnamon teal, mallards, and a few wigeon, redheads, and cambrach. Several dozen eared grebes & 100 or more coots. Of greatest interest were a number of eagles, both bald and golden (mostly bald). At maximum there were 5 in view at once, but the lady at the hotel desk said there were 16 when the ice first opened. All the eagles were young — not a single adult of either species. We watched two ospreys fishing and saw them hit the water several times without making a strike. April 15, 1974 Continued our duck and eagle watch around Stone Lake. Then we drove pretty well all over the reservation looking to see some game — elk, deer, or turkeys. Saw only a coyote. Deer tracks near the Lodge and some old elk tracks, but no sign of turkeys. It turns out there was a massive die-off in a hard winter about 5 yrs. ago and Turkeys have not yet recovered. There are a few in S end of the reservation, none near Stone Lake. This year the heavy snow extending into April has precluded the Jicarilla Game Commission from opening the season so I was disappointed in my intent to try for a gobbler. Cold's got a car off the main road anyway — snow and mud. Drove over Wolf Creek Pass in PM and on to Denver April 16. Saw a prairie falcon en route near Pueblo.

Fort Hunter Liggett May 21 - 23, 1979 I have accepted an assignment as consultant to the US Army concerning the wildlife management program at Fort Hunter Liggett. I am to report to Col. Robert D. Cremer, Jr., Director Facilities Engineering, Fort Ord. My immediate guide and contact man is Paul Hubsky, directly under Col. Cremer. Other persons contacted: Will Summers - Range Conservationist, Corps of Engineers in Sacramento. Range test plots in cooperation with John Henke, Davis. Jim Langford - Range Conservationist for Hunter Liggett, formerly with Nat. Park Service Ray Nelson - Vertebrate Field Technician, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Sacramento. Levi Hunter. Bob Vasquez - Maintenance General Foreman, one of the old time vaqueros and cattle experts Gerald Briffey - ground squirrel control Col. Bernard Ambrose - Field Commander, Fort Hunter Liggett Don Pine - Unit Wildlife Manager C.F.O.G. San Benito and Monterey County. (King City, res.) Bruce Elliott - Monterey Office C.F.O.G. - Wildlife Mike Johnson - Monterey Office C.F.O.G. - Fisheries

"Project Report" May 27, 1980 - 15 pages [illegible] [illegible] Dr. Robert J. Brown Jr., Director, Division of Engineering and Physical Sciences [illegible] [illegible] Dr. Brown Other persons contacted: Dr. William L. Barger - Program Manager, Long Range Development Group Engineer in Research, Long Range Development Group, that is a contractor with the Office of Naval Research Dr. John R. Mullen - Director, Ballistic Missile Division, Naval Surface Weapons Center, Silver Spring, Maryland [illegible] Mr. Robert Grogan - Program Manager, Maintenance Support Services, Naval Surface Weapons Center, Silver Spring, Maryland Dr. Harold Duffing - Ground Support Systems Group Leader, Naval Surface Weapons Center, Silver Spring, Maryland [illegible] [illegible]

John Liggitt (cont.) Local hunters are rejecting the 1979 proposed doe hunts - 300 germit, 150 military and 150 civilian. They want complete closure of deer hunting on the post for three years, stepped up control of coyotes and lions. Deer population is much reduced because of about 5 years of extreme overgrazing (through the two drought years 1975 and 1976). Woody browse completely removed in most of south grassland and riparian strips by heavy cattle use during dry season (summer, fall). Ash and willow's high-lined. Guail likewise excluded from the open country. Ground squirrels are high following overgrazing. Now NWR is measuring percent utilization of grass, forbs, and percentage of litter left on ground. This data are completely irrelevant in explaining the scarcity of game today. The western half of the Reserve is mountainous and covered mostly with dense chaparral. As such it doesn't support much game either. Would profit greatly by some controlled burning to open the dense brush as to give some fire security. USFS has a new burning tool used from a helicopter called

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Staghen Creek Field Station June 8, 1975 Both as I arrived mid afternoon. The hummingbirds were immediately seen patrolling the spot where I hang their feeder. I don't know if they hang around here every day or whether perhaps the activity of our arrival brings them. I had sugar water in the feeder before dark and found birds got a taste of it for dessert by bed-time. Beavers have built several new dams in the vicinity of our camp — the closest one around the bend just below the overhouse. Heavy are on the willows already. I fished for half an hour at dusk but there was no action at all. June 5, 1974 Went to town to get a canle of gas (my license is out so I couldn't fill yesterday). Also some groceries and muslin for dry flies. Got word for awhile from the new logs before bed cut for me last fall from dead lodgepole pines behind our cabin. Also went into the meadow and cut young lodgepoles that are sprouting up all over the place. Must have cut close to 100, from 1 to 7 ft. tall. The meadow would soon disappear if you left it. At daylight there were two deer in the meadow, a doe and a nice sleek buck with velvet tines indicating several points.

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Sogheim June 10, 1979 Went fishing 10 AM till noon to see if maybe the fish would show with the sun. No such luck - I didn't see a single fish rise. But I brought up some little yellow perch to a dry fly and kept just - 7 to 10", rainbow & trout. After a long nap we worked on Betty's doll house kit. Dr Tosh help the afternoon to read and understand the directions. Among the hummingbirds we see some male calligees every day, but no male refoms. We are several weeks earlier this year than usual. Maybe that explains the presence of males which normally are gone by late June. A red-breasted sapsucker has a nest hole in the "spire" across the creek, where flickers built last year. An olive-sided flycatcher also decorates the spires. Abundant sign of meadowlarks along the streamside dry meadows - must have been a peak year. Dug up one nest and it had been occupied by a mouse. June 11, 1979 Cut wood, built furniture for Betty's miniature country store, and otherwise frittered the day away. Located the robin nest NE of the camp beside the pool - four gamboling youngsters stick their heads up each time a parent arrives. Worked on Sxhe's retrieving - perhaps a little better than it used to be.

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"Sagchun" June 12, 1979 Visited Vernon at the station for an hour or so in the morning, talking station business. Bob Means dropped by while we were visiting. I saw the same marten on the roof of the "Captain Colin" as he entered a hole through the shingles that he created. Vernon went inside and as I waited outside he popped out the hole, ran down a tree, and made his way leisurely out to the road and on up the hill. A beautiful sleek animal, larger and fluffier than I would have remembered. Nancy fed me a beautiful dinner, as she always does. June 13, 1979 I drove to town for groceries. Saw a marmot on the road going out, and several golden-mantled squirrels. Evidence on Highway 85 where several deer have been killed by automobiles. Saw another deer across the creek mid-morning. I think it was a doe. Scattered some bird seed about the yard and immediately had action among the chipmunks. Also our clientele of hummingbirds continue to increase - sometimes a dozen or so in the vicinity, with much chasing and much battle. The male calliope is not a dominant figure - he often is chased by females.

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Sagehen June 14, 1975 Tried the fishing again today with virtually no action - 10 to 12 PM at Rockslide, 4 to 5 PM here at our camp. Toke one nice little 10" brownie and a smaller rainbow. I'd told all day that I could see, and correspondingly no rest. Several fair sized fish came up to the fly and bumped it, obviously not trying to feed. At the Rockslide I saw Trachy, a Solent, a raccoon, and a muskrat. Beaver dams one behind the next, to the point where there is little running water left to fish. Around camp where I am throwing bird seed we had six chipmunks in sight at once. Chickarees are almost always in evidence - chasing each other back and forth across the creek or carrying lodgepole cones to cache. I never recall seeing so many chickarees here. San Francisco Flycasting Club, Truckee River June 15, 1975 Ed Landels invited me to have dinner and an evening of fishing at the club near Boca. He ate at 8 PM, had a nice long nap, and were on the river from about 5 PM to 8:30 PM. Rise started at 6 PM and continued in a desultory, off-and-on manner until dark. Ed at Leach caught about 10 fish, mine went from 9" to 16 1/2", about half rainbow, half brownies.

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San Francisco Flycasting Club (cont) Ed used deer hair "humpy" flies exclusively, I shifted from humpies to royal wulff. I kept four extra-size fish around 10", put the rest back. A good many night hawks flying about the river here as well as kingfishers, spotted sandpipers, Brewer's blackbirds. Driving home to Eichen in the night I saw five deer. Eichen June 16, 1979 Dedication ceremony of the rebuilt water diversion structure. About 25 people from San Fran. Casting Club were here - They raised half the money for this job. Fine steak barbecue at Mon Simon talk in evening about research at the Station. Dennis Leegarden operated the Portia klystr. June 17, 1979 Betty and I had the Leegardens for four-course breakfast. Three inches of SNOW on the ground, as it kept snowing off and on during the day. Leegardens and all other guests left early to get over the pass. June 18, 1979 Betty and I broke camp and were on our way home by 10:30 AM.

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Madison Fish Ranch, West Yellowstone June 23, 1979 Carl and I flew into West Yellowstone yesterday, did some shopping (horse, etc.), got fishing licenses, and spent night in a motel. This morning after an early breakfast we drove to the Ranch and were settled into the fancy new cabin on the hill overlooking the ranch pasture. He spent an hour or more arranging our gear, another hour practicing casts for lures, flies, etc. Then went to the Pond for casting lesson. Found a lot of Canada geese dropping on the lives but didn't see the Geese. After the casting we dropped down to the river and had a go at the Rainbow. Peri seemed to be about one by the time we got there. I caught one ten-miler. After lunch at a rap we trace up river about half a mile and fished a stretch of meadow stream. I saw one big fish rise once but couldn't raise him. It turned out that Charlie (one of the guests from Texas) caught three good brown in this stretch this morning between 10 and noon. After dinner we returned to the pond. A big hotel of Chironomid midges and some large browns were milling around near the marsh end obviously nymphing on emerging midges. I couldn't interest them in a series of flies, wet or dry. We disturbed a family of ducks -- little over very dark, probably goldeneyes (we saw her later). Also found the pair of hawks with four goslings.

Madison Fork Ranch (Forkhole) June 24, 1979 After breakfast we drove to the Forkhole River, arriving at the "low bridge" about 10:15. Yesterday there was reported to have been a big hatch here 10 to 1 M. Today there was virtually nothing -- the old mayfly but not enough to induce a general rise in the trout.. he caught nothing at all. Red-winged blackbirds were feeding hell out of a pair of ravens. Every time a raven would fly, the blackbirds would dig in its back (one all three!) and peck hell out of it; forcing the raven to the ground. Drove to the lower Gilton where we walked down from the road and enjoyed a picnic in privacy. Within the park we saw trumpeter swans on lower Madison, elk in both places along Madison & Forkhole, quite a herd of deer on big flats of middle Forkhole. Drove up to Gilton Meadow for a look around and saw quite a group of elk (14 or more) mostly bulls, the antlers about half grown. Home by 3 PM for a long nap. After dinner we returned to the Ford. Much like a rise tonight but Carl hooked and landed a 15" brown which he kept for breakfast. The Canada geese were bothered by our fishing, and paraded across the pond to avoid us, Daddy-D first, six goslings in an evenly spaced line following him, mommy bringing up the rear. Heard sandhill crane at a great distance.

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Madison Fork Ranch (flotated Henry's Fork) June 25, 1979 Had arranged a float trip with Barry Schefflow of Bad Lilly's Fly Shop. He called for me here at 8:15 and we drove about 60 mi to the lower Henry's Fork & its Snake, above Ashton. Flotated all day, taking out at 6:00 PM at the main highway bridge where #20 crosses Henry's Fork. All river was continuous all day -- never a dull period. He caught somewhere around 30 & 40 rainbows apiece, many of them 10 to 15 inches. I shot a couple of bigger ones but didn't land them. I caught one brown trout of 10" or so which seemed to surprise Barry -- it appears there have been releases of browns in recent years but no sign of a real "take" as yet. Carl caught two whitefish -- that was all. A few of the rainbows showed strong traces of cutthroat lineage. Beautiful dry fly water -- lots of nice riffles and pockets along the edge of the stream. Very little slack water or unfishable shallows. Ospreys followed us along the stream all day and we saw one dive into a rather tumultuous rapid and emerge with a trout. Saw several female mergansers (which I take to be American) & one female with a very lively brood of third-grown young. Occasional hen mallards flew up or down the river. Added a dozen bird species to our list, including Eastern Cottontail, magpie, horned owl (flew across the canyon at noon), dipper, etc. Near Henry's Fork saw antelope and goat & a few cranes in flock of a dozen or so -- non-breeding yearlings?

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Madison Fork Ranch June 26, 1975 Today we stayed on the home ranch and went after the wily brown trout. These fish in South Fork of the Madison are highly sophisticated and touchy about taking a dry fly. Most of the time they lie safely under a cut bank and keep out of trouble. Only now and then is there a good rise with lots of fish feeding. Today there was a desultory rise in the morning with an occasional fish coming up to feed. Carl hooked a nice brownie but lost him about noon. After lunch and a nap I located a rising fish about half mile up the river and hooked and landed him — 17 inches in fairly good condition. Didn't have the camera to do his portrait. He went out to the ford after supper but didn't hook a fish. Light rise. Several pairs of sandhill cranes apparently also resting in the big meadow upstream. From time to time during the day they blast forth and fill the valley with stinging calls. Also we are hearing winnowing jacksnipes somewhere up creek. We see mallards frequently — mostly here, presumably nest or broods. Just seeing a group of geese came our high and I would suppose they were drake gathering for molting. Forgot to say, yesterday about 7:15 PM we noted our little female gopher who's nest is just below our porch, bowing about in the grass. Janed out she was fighting off a mole that was headed toward the nest. Carl went down and encouraged the mole to keep going, away from the nest.

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Madison Lake Pond June 27, 1979 Although the time was short of my short duration, this turned out to be our most triumphant fishing day. In the morning between 11:00 and 12:00 noon we saw several jigs rising persistently, as Carl and I each landed one, 17½ and 17". Mine (the larger) was particularly deep bodied and gave the appearance of being larger than it was -- I guessed 18 to 19" when it came to net. But the little tape measure never lies. The sun was bright on the water but somehow we fooled these two without spooking them with shadows of line and leader. After lunch we went to town for a few supplies. Returned in heavy overcast sky with lightning and thunder to the east. So we went right out on the stream, near the upper cluster of cabins. To our disappointment there was no special rise. But I took a smaller brownie (13¾") that was rising occasionally, and Carl caught a very large whitefish (16½") on a small dry fly. He fought as well as a brown trout of equivalent size -- perhaps even better. All day today the jacksnipes were putting on a magnificent show of "winnowing" and nuptial flights. At the end of a sequence of high level maneuvers the male would just hold his wings straight up and come plummeting downward to earth, catching himself just above the grass. Lots of action too among the sandhill cranes. Cliff swallows are nesting in the old buildings. Tree swallow too but I don't know where their nests are. Played guitar and sang with the group this evening.

Madison Jorle Ranch June 28, 1979 Today we took our lunch and went far upstream to the lower dam on Brett Service land, a mile outside this property. There was some action when we first hit the stream about 10:00 AM but it didn't last long. Carl hooked but lost a fine brownie near the upper cabin just as he got started. The fish was trying to get under a cut bank and Carl apparently hosed him a little too hard. I had a good solid strike from a big brownie and jerked the damn fly right out of his mouth. The total rise was short and casual, and through mid-day there was nothing coming to the fly at all. After a nicer creek-bank lunch at a long way in the hot sun, we started on upstream, arriving at the lower farmer dam. Carl found a deep run above the dam, representing an original stream channel and he started bringing out fat brownies. Kept two for breakfast (16" and 12") and brought them down stream to show me! I was delighted, of course. We fished on through the afternoon with no more action so we went home for a refreshing shower, and some refreshing booze before dinner. It turned out that Maggie had a jassol of her New York friends for dinner (including her doctor) and the meal was a bit stuffy from our viewpoint. Carl sneaked off from the dinner group and went fishing at the Pond. No action at all, he reports. When I had the chance to get away I went home and read Frank O'rahgheade "Fork of the Grizzly".

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Madison Fish Park June 23, 1979 Yesterday was so much fun that Cal proposed to return to the upper stream with another lunch. He set out early this time, and at 9:15 found a good active rise. Started right in catching good sized brownies, as the action continued at a slowing pace until noon. Just before lunch time I hooked a fine big fish (18") right by our camp site, as he started jumping like crazy. My yell and curses brought Carl on the double, as he arrived to observe the last big jumps. Taken his nibs and after appropriate portraits, we turned him loose and laid on lunch, this time with wine to celebrate. In all, I took 8 fish today, including the following: brownie 18", 17, 16½, 15, and a rainbow of 14". Carl caught 8 fish also, nearly all brownies including several 15 to 17". He also took a 16

Madison Fork Ranch June 29, 1979 (cont.) Again this evening Carl sneaked off from the dinner table to fish the pond. And this time he hit the jackpot. On a middler moon now he took just a 13" brookie, which made him very happy because it represented breakfast (I had saved the 14" rainbow for my breakfast). He then continued to cast as next hooked a 15" brown which apparently did a lot of jumping before he was subdued and landed. In the meantime even in the pitch dark he could see and hear other big fish wallowing about. The third one he hooked was apparently a monster, and kept Carl busy till almost midnight. I was reading and awaiting his return, and began to get a bit uneasy, although I was sure a big fish was the cause of his tardiness. Carl had forgotten his net, and when it came to beaching the big boy the hook pulled out and the fish escaped. But the adventure was enjoyed by all. June 30, 1979 We packed our gear after breakfast and said good-bye to Maggie, Marilyn and the girls. Stopped at Bob Kelly's to see Barry, but he was floating. Carl bought a reel, line, and some leader material -- a new trout fisherman ready to give 'em hell. Carl flew off to Denver, I caught a later plane to Salt Lake and home.

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Pine siskin Chipping sparrow White-crowned sparrow Savanna sparrow Song sparrow Flowering plants - Madison Fork Ranch June 23-28, 1979 Cinquefoil Potentilla gracilis Sugarbowl Clematis hirsutissima Field chickweed Cerastium arvense White Phlox Phlox multiflora Draba Draba reptans (?) Penstemon Penstemon procerus (?) Woolly yellow daisy Eriphyllum lanatum Bluebonnet Lupinus sericeus Larkspur Daphnium velsoni W. fringed gentian Gentiana thermalis Yellow monkeyflower Mimulus guttatus Elephanthead Pediculacis groenlandica Fernleaf P. bracteosa False hellebore Veratrums viride Blue-eyed grass Sisyrrinchium sarmunthosum American bistort Polygonum bistortoides Geranium Geranium richardsonii Green genttan Grasera speciosa Pussytoes Antennaria rosea Smilacina rocemosa Locoweed Astragalus purshii Paintbrush Castilleja miniata Arnica Arnica cordifolia Bog Orchid Habenaria Umbrella plant Eriogonum

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San Felipe Ranch of Benlett-Pachard Santa Clara County August 24-26, 1979 I arrived for the annual deer chasing festival at 3 PM and found the Livermore sipping a beer in the shade. Hunter kept arriving until our full quota of 12 was on hand. We set out for the evening hunt in four jeeps, and when we returned at dark there was only one buck taken -- a little fawn that lived in the pasture by the barn. It is abundantly clear that the two drought years, which virtually no fawns were reared, have caused a substantial drop in the deer population. In our jeep we saw 28 deer on Henderson Ridge; in recent years on the same hunt we would have seen 100 to 150 deer, including 35 to 40 legal bucks. Of the 28, two were legal bucks. On Hunter Lissett Bruce Elliot reports that of the first 50+ bucks killed, one was a yearling, something like 4 were two-year olds, and the rest were big mature animals. Thus the hunting was considerably tougher than we are accustomed to. He did much more brush-beating about. One by one we got deer until finally we ended up with nine, of which two were old heavy bucks, several were three year olds and four or five were two-year-old fawns. No-one got two -- but I got one. There came on the Saturday afternoon hunt with Dorrie Hoyle and Ernie Arbuckle. I took them to Borastiegs

Sm Jake dem hunt (Cort) and assigned each man to a ridge - mine was the middle one (no.3). I dragged over the East edge well down in the order and worked slowly out the ridge to the north, watching ahead as below for hidden deer. I spotted some in the canyon bottom 100 yards below me and crept up behind a tree to a point where I could sit down and still see the deer to shoot. The buck had seen me by this time and was staring intently. I shot through the grass at his shoulder and cut the top (antler) right off his head. He never moved. Came the inevitable job of hauling him out. The three of us together had a helluva time getting him up to the jeep. He weighed 126 lbs. dressed, had heavy based antlers 2 pts. right, 3 pts. left., and his teeth were worn almost to the gums, meaning he was past his prime. I'd bet he had beautiful antlers a couple of years ago! This was the only big deer that I saw all weekend, though other parties saw a number of them. I saw three half-grown coyotes together on a grassy hillside south end of the ranch and a fine adult coyote the last morning near woodpile. A prairie galcon came over the ranch one Saturday afternoon while Bill H. was getting to fly his box kite. Saw one golden eagle. Dave Eckhard wasn't with us this year. He is in China as a guest of the Government, advising them on setting up an electronics industry.

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'Bill Hamilton Ranch, Winters Cnty. Sept 1, 1979 Betty and I spent last night with Bill and Virginia Longhurst; ate a lovely dinner, played poker, and got to bed too late. Up at 5pm to go after the elusive mourning dove at Bill's place (he is in Africa now). As was the case two years ago, the dove flight at Bills was light, whereas a mile or so to the south where there is water in the ditcher the flight (at consequent bombardment) were mighty impressive. Still we got a dozen birds between us (mostly Bill's.) and had a pleasant outing. Of the 12 birds, 5 were squabs, 4 adults. Main food item in crops was wheat, followed closely by bull thistle. There were a few odd small weed seeds. Bill L. also shot one field geese and it had a mix of wheat and barley in its crop. One of the adult doves had traces of milk tissue in the crop watched a white-tailed kite trying to harass a passing prairie falcon, the falcon didn't seem perturbed. Also saw marsh harrier and kestrels. A shooter on the next property south shot a hestral, presumably mistaking it for a dove. Some women came out to repair a fence, and within a few feet of the spot where Betty had been sitting they found three rattlesnakes. Killed one of them, two escaped.

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Berkeley to Yellowstone Sept. 17-18, 1979 Woody and I made the drive handily in two days, arriving at Mammoth at about 2:30 PM. Spent the night of Sept 17 with the Phil Jurmans at Jerome. Saw antelope in the usual places - deep energy grounds east of Rexford and near Henry's Lake. Saw 1 coyote, 1 golden eagle, a covey of Hungarian partridges near Juniper Falls. Settled into Cyst I as went to bed early. Sept 19, 1979 Arrived at Buffalo Ford at 10 AM and were on the river shortly thereafter. We waited around for the rise that never came. About 12 noon you could see an occasional fish moving and we both tried to cast landed 3 (Woody had 2 of 15" juts, I had 1 16" male). But there was no visible hatch of bugs and hence no response on the part of the fish. A big bull bison appeared next to us (40 ft) as we were taking a nap as he forded the river just like the place name implies. River is very low this year - can be waded in many places. Several little groups of American goose came by, and one flock of 30+ goldeneyes. No sign of the harlequin ducks. Along the road we saw only one elk hereon - near Appolomaris Spring, and a couple of red cows. Big herd of bison at Hayden Valley and scattered bulls. No moose seen.

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Yellowstone Sept 20, 1974 Drove to the mouth of the Lamar, crossed it and set up camp on the Yellowstone about a mile below the junction. Water was low enough that I fished the Lamar in hip boots. I started fishing the heavy water where it comes over the bank below the junction and only caught one 10" rainbow. Woody went downstream to slower water below the bend and got into some fine action from cutthroat up to 16". He called me down and I caught a couple before lunch. After lunch and a nap we failed to get much action where it had been liveliest in the morning. We moved up to the Lamar and had a fine time in the lower two pools/pools above the mouth. Woody got into some cuts in a still deep hole and caught four. I worked fast water in the first (lower) hole and took two nice hybrid rainbow/cut. They looked like rainbow and fought and jumped like rainbows. I rose several others that gave the typical hard slap on top. It seems that the fish sort themselves out according to their genetic reaction to fast or slow water. Weather continues warm and we are seeing very little wildlife. Not a single muskrat! Woody reminds me that he saw a mouse.

"naturally" Mar. 25, 1967 [illegible]

Yellowstone - Upper Lamar Sept. 21, 1979 Continued Indian summer weather and we headed for the upper Lamar valley while the stream is still clear. Walked across the big meadow to discover that the section of stream where we usually start fishing is completely dry! Thinking that the river had to be somewhere in the valley we continued south to the east of Sentinel Ridge where we found some hardzone new water running next behind the grove of cottonwoods. Here we spent a fine day with occasional action along undercut banks. I netted 8 cats between 13" and 16" and Woody got 6. Beyond that we caught and released some 10 inchers that weren't measured or counted. As we quit at 4:00 PM to make our way back across that big, big meadow the evening rise was getting underway. Could have fished more fish if we had wanted to stay. Bob at the worked Frank Richardson and Bridner Grant joined us. We headed for Lamar picnic area where we cooked dinner and had a pleasant meal. Bridner's son Gary joined us too, along with a fishing guide from Iceland. Very social. Saw several flocks of turkeys and a few ducks along the river. The odd bison still visible on the high ridges. A prairie falcon and a golden eagle cruised overhead. Bunch of 6 mule deer (bucks) near Trinita Falls.

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Yellowstone - Upper Lamar Sept 22, 1979 Yesterday was so good here that we decided to return. Results however were entirely different. We had as many or more rises than yesterday but very few of these resulted in hook-ups. The fish were lethargic and disinterested in eating. Woody netted 5, I got 3, none very big (13 to 15”). Lost several others that got us tangled in snags. The weather today seemed just like yesterday, but something surely was different. On the way out in the morning we saw a moose cow and calf, and not far beyond a fluffy gray coyote moving in deep grass. At the fishing area we saw several times during the day a little band of six antelope does and young, followed at 100 yds or so by a handsome buck. Sawnd flocking hawks. Near the Lamar picnic area where we cooked our dinner was a band of 35 or 40 cow bison with young. They were nowhere in evidence yesterday. Most exciting event of the day was our discovery of a big male mink, hunting along the creek bank for his dinner. We both watched him slithering around under a cut bank, trying to find a trout. We seen mink in the Lamar before, but much smaller than this fellow - presumably female. In mud along the stream area I saw round tracks in several places that I feel sure were cat - bobcat? Lynx?

Yellowstone - mouth of the Lamar Sept. 23, 1979 We made a dinner date for this evening with Mary Theofar and moreover we agreed to supply the fish - a risky promise. We spent the day on the Yellowstone River about 3/4 of a mile below the mouth of the Lamar. Again we found very slow action on the part of the trout but we did come up with our limit of two fish each, all between 13 and 14 1/2 inches. Three of these were Rainbows, surprisingly. Mostly a rise from a cut, whereas in this same area several days ago Woody had plenty of action from cuts, of all sizes. We saw little game today. An occasional merganser or harlequin duck came down the river. At Mary's cabin on Blatchford Creek the coyotes serenaded us at dusk. Paul Schullery was another guest - he has recently finished a book on bears. Mammoth Springs Wild Front Symposium II was held Sept. 24 and 25. I participated as Moderator and Summarizer. About 190 registered participants came from all over the country to take part. Transcripts will be printed.

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Pray, Montana Sept. 26, 1975 A group of about 24 of us moved from Mammoth & Chies 1st Springs resort near Pray, about 25 miles south of Livingston. Included were Pat Reed, Gardner Grant, Frank Richardson, Ernie Schwiebert, Pete an Betty van Geytenbeek, etc. After checking in, most of us set out for the DeLug Ranch about 8 mi. N. of here on highway 89, where there are a series of spring creeks at grade. Mr. DeLug charges fishermen $25 a day to fish there, and he encourages catch and release. Woody and I fished with Pat, just on a river below the house, later upstream a mile or so. I took one nice rainbow of about 17" on a #18 nymph but didn't get any other good fish - some small rainbows. Schwiebert of course had a magnificent day, catching good fish all day, he claims nearly all on very small dry flies (#20 and 22). A rain squall hit us about 6 PM and there was a flurry of rising fish just before the rain began. I hooked one good brownie but straightened the hook (a #20 yellow nymph). But it was not at cold to fish after the rain. Those other guests didn't do much. Had a magnificent dinner at the Chies dining room, with lots of drinks and too much red wine.

(see last page) I was able to find a book by John Irving that I liked and read it. It had a good plot, nice characters, and some funny moments. The story took place in New York City during the 1970s. It was about two brothers who were trying to solve a mystery involving their father's disappearance. One brother was more logical and tried to use facts and evidence to find clues. The other brother was more emotional and relied on intuition and feelings. As they worked together, they discovered that there was more to the case than just finding out what happened to their dad. They also learned about themselves and each other along the way.

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Sorenson Oct 6 to Oct 13, 1974 On Sat. Oct. 6 Dennis, Woody and I just put out decoys and trimmed the blinds. Curly gave me a very good trim job this year, with a sharp chopper. He spread the floating decoys and jelled the stick-ups where they will go after water softens the ground. Sorenson pond and some of the Mound Farm ponds have water already and we saw several hundred squire sitting peacefully. A thousand or more came over from some point to the south. Much later, Oct. 13, Woody and I came up to clean the clubhouse and install a new refrigerator and electric stove. Found the pond full so we set all the stickups. The layout is ready to shoot. There were about 1200 squire on our pond, which moved over to the main pond when we disturbed them. We are surprised by the number of kestrels. On Oct. 6 we saw 9. On Oct 13 we counted 14 coming in and 21 going out! This number usually does not come up until mid-November. On the way out to our pond we glimpsed a magnificent prairie falcon. It flew ahead of us for several hundred yards, just coasting along. No flight of falcons yet, nor hawks.

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Sorensen Oct. 28, 1979 Opening day proved to be a bend -- one of the best for some year back. Rained the night before, but at daylight the rain had stopped and a brisk SW breeze was blowing. The birds worked into the wind, intent on settling in the grassy shelter of the south end of our pond. Birds #4 (2d) and #5 (Klenis) had a fabulous shoot. Woody and I held down the main farm blind and had practically no shooting until 2d and Klenis went out, and we moved to the south blind. Had no trouble finishing our limits, all sprigs. There were only a handful of teal, wigeon, and shoveler, and not many mallards either. Just sprigs! We sat on the big tile at the SE corner and plucked our birds, watching the flight which continued long after we quit shooting. But about noon it started to rain, and continued intermittently until almost dark. The pleasant shooters went out but had scant action -- birds seem to hide out in wet grass. I took a nap instead, which showed good judgment. For dinner I made up a venison stew from a rump roast of my last year buck, carried this far in my freezer. It was excellent (the stew I mean). Rain stopped and sky started to clear by bed time.

Srenson Oct 21, '74 Sky was clear before breakfast but by daylight a heavy fog had rolled in. I was first choice and went to #4 and sat there till 8:30 with only an occasional glimpse of ducks in the fog. About 8:10 the fog must have lifted to the East because a heavy bombardment set in which lasted an hour. Our fog slowly dissipated between 8:30 and 9:00 and Woody (#5) and I got scattered shooting. Ed and Ed O'Connor on the main pond had nothing. Flight ended by 11 AM then we all quit. Going back to the start of shooting time, three ducks loomed up coming at me from the south, one of which was a cock sprig. As they approached two of them lit, including the cock. I nailed the other one on a long pass shot and when the dog delivered it its legs had turned orange and its beak had become very wide. A Spoonie!! With that maypley taken care of, I ended up with four sprigs and gave the spoonbill to Little Joe. Woody had 6 sprigs. Friday Yesterday we checked all the wood duck boxes. Three were functional, one had the lid off, one was missing. The box facing the timber path had produced a brood of wood ducks!

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Season: 1979-80 West Betten Pond Sorenson Pouch Blind No. Guest Date Pintail Mallard Wigeon G-W Teal Shoveler Ring-necked Bramp Total Ducks Pheasants Jacksnipe Kestrels Geese Species Total Other Birds 2, 5+4 Oct. 20/1979 7 4 7 4 Oct. 21 6 Oct. 27 3 5 15 23 17 5 2 Ken Thorvich Oct. 31 1 1 1 3 5 14 26 6 Nov. 7 2 5 4 Nov. 10 1 1 2 Nov. 17 6 - 5 Nov. 18 Betty Shovel 7 20 3 1 dove 6 Nov. 28 1 1 6 Dec. 15 1 3 12 Oct. 3 day storm 6 Dec. 26 Ortiz 2 5 Jan. 5 0 5 Jan. 12 26

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Sorensen Oct 27, 1979 Clear and still at daylight and very few ducks in the air. The big flights of a week ago must have left with the mid-week rains and nobody came back down to take their places. What few ducks worked our pond all went to the south end, or last week. I got 4 birds in #4, Dennis and Justin had 4 in #5, and Woody had one spig in #1. I didn't fire my gun in #6 though I sat there from 6:50 to 11:15 AM. More test at shoreless today. One little bufflehead female swam about in my decoys, diving for non-existent minnows and a single ring-neck came by early. In the afternoon we put on a pheasant hunt working first the hot corner and next the north ditch and bullrush swale at east end of it. In the swale we found 75 or more birds. He had a fairly good surround and enjoyed some hot shooting for a minute. I dropped three birds with three shots, all in the corn. Jake went in and brought them out one by one. Little Justin got two ducks and two pheasants. He is getting to be a real hunter. Saw 23 heriters on the trip home. Rough-legged hawks are showing up too - saw three today.

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Sorenson Oct 31, 1975 Kim Morrish ad I set up in #5 but there was very little action there. Woody had two shots at two ducks in #4 in first 15 minutes but spent the rest of the morning looking. It appeared that some birds were working over no.2 so we moved over there about 7:30. Nothing much came, however, despite a rather brisk NW breeze. He scratched out a few small birds but had only one shot at a hen spring ad lost her in the beet field to the west (though I spent half hour looking for her). He quit the blinds at 11:00. Over on the main Selmers good old Bill Markey got 6 or so sprigs again, and on Round Farms Selley Parker and guest had 7 spring ad 3 mallards. So we were pretty clearly out of the flight line. We did better on pheasants. Two drives - "hot corner" ad the tule swng, yielded shooting for everybody ad a total of 12 pheasants. I missed the first shot but killed the next gun dead - no cripples, no runners. Saki did a nice retrieve on one bird that fell in extremely heavy cover in the middle of the tule swamp. On the way home we went by Stauffer's to pick up some meat that Woody ad I had on order. Counted only 14 kestrels on that route.

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Sorenson Nov 10, 1974 Fozzy as hell! I had first choice and went to #4 but didn't do much fowsewing (one wigeon!) After lunch we had a good pheasant hunt and I got two cock birds. Have early to go to New Haven on the night airplane. Nov 17, 1979 Had rain yesterday, terminating about sundown. There had been a lot of ducks on the property according to Jed, but by daylight they were all long gone. I had a couple of shots and got one fat hen sprig. Later we went snipe hunting as for the first time this year found a good number of birds on the south end of our pond. I bagged six. Our ladies arrived in late afternoon for a festive holiday banquet. I cooked the turkey. Nov 17, 1979 Betty came with me to #5 blind where we sat all morning watching the shorebirds and enjoying the delicious sunshine. But no ducks. About 8:30 the SW breeze died out and a brisk N breeze began, which brought on a high overhead flights north bound. A few pairs and small flocks came in and Jed got three sprigs in #6. He had no shooting in #5. Lay the blind about 10 AM as I went for snipes. Got seven more, to give a week end bag of 13.

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Sorenson's Nov 28, 1974 Although I was first choice on our job, I accepted an invitation from Bill Marsh to shoot in the main club. I went to Grand, Bill to Bilmou double. It didn't matter though, because no flight developed on the big yard. At daylight a pair of mallards came by me as I got the greenbed. An hour later a little card of 5 canvasback came lowing by me at about 40 yds. as I missed a big drake both barrels. Bill shot only one magnificent shot and quit at 5:30. I left at 10:30. Although there were spruce overhead all morning none came down to the yard until 10:10 PM when two drakes dropped in at the west end. Until then countless flocks had given us a circle or two as they left. On our yard the boys had 5 ducks of miscellaneous kinds. Woody had a bit of action at #2, but his bag included a teal and a mergan. After lunch we went for pheasants, but well-executed surround maneuvers of hot corner, Lincoln yard, and the north sumg yielded a total of three birds. We found a concentration of several hundred doves in scrub cottonwood along the canal north of hot corner, but we couldn't find any way to get any shooting. I got one bird -- only dove among the four of us! A few hawks are hanging about the ranch now, as two pounce hit on the Bilmou yard near me. He saw two javiere falcons as we drove out.

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La Grulla - Agua Blanca Dec 4, 1979 Left the club rather late for lower Agua Blanca, with George, the Rhodes, the Bootles, Felix and Nacho. When we moved into the strings of brush and shallow ravines along the north edge of the grain stubbles we found hundreds of birds completely scattered - many singles or little groups up to five or six, but no proper covey rise. This condition must have originated from persistent hunting, not from hawks or natural disruptions. We don't know who has been shooting there but we saw plenty of shells. Hunted as a group (in a line) north and east, then back to the cars. In two hours we had 29 birds and were all exhausted in the heat. I could barely walk at its end and had Nacho carry my gun and hold my arm. I started out shooting well, but deteriorated as the hunt progressed. Bagged 7 birds with 17 shells, lost 3 runovers. Of the 29 birds, only 5 were adults and 24 young indicating a much better hatch here than out toward the coast where we were yesterday. Again we saw virtually no doves today, although there was a big pile of dove feathers at our lunch site, indicating that some other hunters found some. Had lunch at a beautiful spring with big sycamore trees situated just west of the highway at foot of Woodchopper grade, close to the Agua Blanca turnoff (just N). Cooked quail again over the coals. Felix and Nacho checked a covey of birds on the slope above camp - estimated 1000 birds on the slope.

La Grulla - Santa Tomas Valley Floor Dec 5, 1979 A few kilometers beyond Santa Tomas a road drops sharply off from the highway to the left, down to the floor of the valley. As we started down we encountered a bunch of 50+ quail which we started after but they had a tendency to fly back up the mountain so we quit them quickly and went out in the valley in search of a more friendly bunch. But we were a helluva long time finding tem. Lots of tracks but no birds for about an hour at a half. Finally encountered a nice little covey of 45 or 50, as worked on them until noon. Took 10 birds in all, of which 3 were adults. I shot pretty well on this bunch, bagging 6 with 10 shells at losing two others down hard but apparently runners. This valley has some heavy patches of cholla cactus, so dense in places that you can't walk through. In one such area we found a mob of loafing mourning doves -- at least 100. We tried to hunt them but they simply flew to hell and gone out of there. I got one before they were gone. In the section where he hunted today there had been no grain grown this year. Some extensive stubble fields were a year old. I suspect that may be one reason we didn't find more birds. They probably moved to the valley fringes where fresh barley stubble was available. We came back to the Club for a Mexican lunch -- chiles rellenos, luchaditas, frijoles. After a nap I walked out to the point to wait the shoreline on the mudflat (very low tide). Then just the home covey of quail to feed in the lousy trees along the east bank. (west of the Club house).

1967 I had the pleasure of meeting some wonderful people at the conference, and I was very happy to meet so many new friends. The first day was spent in the hotel room where we had a lovely time with our hostess who was very kind and welcoming. We also enjoyed a nice dinner together. On the second day, we went to the beach for some sunbathing and swimming. It was a beautiful sunny day and everyone had a great time. We also visited a local art gallery which was fascinating. The third day was dedicated to exploring the city of Paris. We walked around the streets admiring the architecture and visiting some famous landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame Cathedral. It was an unforgettable experience.

La Buela - Rancho Viejo Dec. 6, 1979 George Caldwell left today so I can invite the hunt with the Rhodos and the Bootes. We set out on an "exploring hunt", which I have been led to believe is heavy on the exploring and a bit casual about the hunting. We drove down the Santa Ynez River to within 5 km of the ocean, then turned south and climbed to the top ridges seeking an unnamed valley that Peg and Carol had seen and admired last spring. We found a pretty valley but they insisted it was the wrong one. As we explored further we had a flat tire that changed the game plan considerably. After changing the tire we found a nice live oak with good shade, pitched camp and cooked quail (brought from home) in the coals. After lunch, about 2 PM, we heard quail chittering in the brush nearby and with guns geared up we flushed the covey of at least 80 birds. Followed the bulk of the bunch and had a nice little shoot until about 4 PM. We ended up with 17 birds, of which 3 or 4 were adults, the rest young. I shot better than yesterday (8 birds with 15 shells) but again lost three birds down hard and supposedly dead. Two runners I spotted at shot on the ground. Again I say how much I pay for a dog. On the way out this morning we saw quail in air glasses, mostly undentable. Come home in the evening we again saw cover out feeding - one very good bunch on an open hill where the cover was largely royal dense clumps. I would rather not be dropping dead birds (or worse yet cripples) in that stuff. Again today I saw two Cooper hawks, several hootches, one marsh hawk, but no falcons.

La Brulla Dec 7, 1979 Today was sleek day - I didn't leave the Club. George left yesterday at Dane Rhodes today, so I had no wheels. I enjoyed the leisure however. Visited the "parador" several times to watch birds on the Bay and took a long walk eastward along the shore far beyond the tomato field. Principal ducks are bufflehead, merg scoter (as I think common soster), scaup, and a few ruddy ducks. Also one swan - a young bird with gray head has spent the day paddling about the south end of the bay. Also western grebe (a "pod" swimming in close ranks, I counted 32), eared (?) grebes, one Pacific loon. Off shore birds - godwits, willets, black-bellied plovers, spotted sandpiper, an assorted geeps. Several dozen pelicans (about half young) and lots of gulls, terns, some cormorants. Ashore, Audubon warblers are everywhere, plus Say's phoebe, orange-crowned warbler, Bewick wren, house wren, kestrel, short-eared owl, marsh hawk, Brewer blackbird, Starlings, and a fine covey of 50 or so quail! They live right along the shoreline and I found them foraging this morning far out in the tomato field. I am told it has been years since there were quail here in the yard. That may be further evidence of population pressure in the countryside. Chuy tells me of a massive die-off some years back when the population was abnormally high. "Birds lying dead all over the ground." So close list: red rockhynbird, kingfisher, white-crowned and golden-crowned sparrows, brown towhee. Jailed 25 quail brought in by Howard Randle party.

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La Brulla - Chocolate, Cancer Man Dec 9, 1979 Hunted today with the David Duques, Bill Banninze, & Paul Clearys. We drove up Chocolate grade above San Tomas and a few miles along the road we began seeing coveys of birds, several over 100. Finally chose one & perhaps 20?, but they went quickly up on steep hillside at the hunt soon lost me. I was struggling up the foothill slope - sliding, falling & cursing - while the shooting moved steadily away from me uphill. Nonetheless I caught up with a few strays & downed six, retrieving four. The other three boys had 34 birds. Two of the men - James Duque & Jody Banning - are regular bird dogs, walking behind their husbands, spotting falls and retrieving. We reassembled at 18:30 and started for the lunch spot under a big sycamore tree at Cancer Man. There we had a most elaborate lunch. First we all sat in a circle plucking quail, until we had 20 or so done. Then two charcoal briquette grills were set up & lit, one for the grill, the other for toasted bolillo's. After a nice sequence of tequila drinks the birds were cooked and everyone ate two or three beautifully done quail, basted with butter, john apple sauce, melon slices, peparags, toast and white wine. Then after barely clean-up we set out looking for a covey to replace the birds we had eaten. Found a big bunch nearly at shot 24 more. This was easy walking as I got four birds, no strain, no sliding. I loved it. Bag for the day - 12 adults & 50 young, good production. Hurrying out we found a number of coveys but three of them, totalling at least 250 birds, were within 1/4 mile of one another. He still hasn't had an opportunity to get into the morning dozes.

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La Grulla - Los Coches Dec 10, 1979 Chuck Cotton drove all this way in search of some doves, but we didn't find any. Instead we found the biggest quail concentration I have ever seen. On the way in we stopped periodically to admire one big covey after another. Finally came back to the joint where we just roped up a big bunch last year (with Boyle, Selmins, Dick Sinclair) and when we flushed the bunch of jackyns too they went east across the big plain, picking up other coveys of 100 to 300 as they flew. Bride literally rolled across the plain ahead of us. Chuck and I added our estimates of separate groups, and figured 2000 quail were on that flat. Nor did we jump them all. Some good groups peeled off to the left running. No covey ever really scattered. They just kept running ahead of us in the sparse cover and across some big burned areas. Yet I though slowed down so we got our limits in an hour. I shot well at first (I think, 10 shells) my last bird - then disintegrated and lost two, missed several more. My eighth bird came finally from another covey on the way out. On the basis of previous sampling I expected this interior population to be very high in young, but it wasn't - 8 adults, 12 young. Must have been a big carry-over of adults in this locality if our sample represented the population. There have been many very large fires this year. Cotton estimates that at least one-eighth of the country has burned. Some fires are thousands of acres in extent. Presumably the heavy rains produced lots of grass and fuel that could not be consumed by the standing crop of cows. Hence the country was highly flammable.

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La Puela - La Cobia at Agua Blanca Dec. 10, 1979 (cont.) By the same token, areas that you would call highly overgrazed most years are suddenly undergrazed in a big rainfall year, which encourages successful quail reproduction. The fires make no contribution to quail welfare - on the contrary, they destroy cover which will take years to regrow. Quail forage around the edge of the burns and when driven by hunting they cross the naked hills running - highly valuable to predation no doubt. Going in this morning we jumped a white-winged dove; Coming out we saw one foraging in a sandy wash and jumped at shot it. After lunch we continued our quest for mourning doves, turning in toward Agua Blanca where I recall bothing down in 1978. A mile or so across the grain fields we saw a few dove on a fence bordering a narrow draw with thorn trees. Got out and started stirring them around and had some instant shooting. Then a regular flight started coming at me from the west, flying like arrows down wind, 20 to 40 yds high. We had a delightful shoot from 1:45 to 2:30, using plenty of shells but hitting enough of them to limit out meat 10 pieces before 3:00 PM. By that time the flight was over and all the birds were scattered out in the stubble fully feeding. We timed it just right. The amount of water in this country is amazing. Nearly all washers have intermittent pools and many have flowing streams. Often says from the air you will see many playas and bolsones sipping wet or even overflowing. Some aquifers were certainly recharged during those two rainy years.

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La Grulla, Chocolate Grade Km. post 13-14 (Jim Baros) Dec 11, 1979 Chuck took me to a brushy knoll of perhaps 20 acres surrounded by barley stubble. We drove slowly around the knoll and spotted the covey of about 250 feeding along the edge. Chased them around the knoll but they kept leaving in groups of 20 to 50, flying across fields to heavy brush to the west. Gave them up with about half limits and went after another group of equal size that we saw fly (or rather heard fly) when our initial covey first flushed. Pushed the second bunch into heavy cover and finished our limit without really breaking the covey up... It was relatively level walking so my legs held up so that I shot pretty well - 9 birds with 15 shells. Just to the north of us Tom Glugue and his party were shooting yet another covey. I had no estimate on size of that bunch but there was plenty of powder burned. Today I saw two hawk attacks on quail. I shot a bird that fell in the open field and lay there fluttering, to my surprise a kestrel pounced on it and stood on its breast defiantly as I approached. Now about that for bravado! Later on the road out we were parked watching perhaps 500 or 600 quail feeding on a flat near Km. post 17 when a rough-ley came swooping down on a cluster of birds under a small bush. He banked hit the ground in a cloud of dust and of course all the girl had slipped out from under his feet. He sat there looking around, shook his feathers as though to say "Oh what the hell," and flew away right over the covey without giving them another glance.

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La Grulla Dec. 11, 1979 (cont.) Some estimates of quail numbers along the Chocolate Grade west of Santa Tomas. Between Kilometer posts 6 and 14 we counted the following coveys as we started toward home: 11 coveys between km. post 7 and 14, averaging 175 = 1925 A mob by Km post 6 of 600 (last time seen by Church & Caldwell estimated to be 1000) Total birds along 8 km (5 mi.) of road - 2525 Usable range about 1/4 mi. on each side of the road, counting strip of cultivated barley, brush adjoining, and of course the stream parallel to the road This would come to 5 mi x 1/2 mi = 2 1/2 square miles Density therefore would be 2525 birds ---------------- 2 1/2 sq. mi. = 1010 birds to the square mile 1010 ------- 640 = 1.58 birds per acre This computation involves only birds seen by me. There may be additional coveys (probably small) higher in the side canyons. It is understood, though, that this winter concentration along a favorable narrow valley does not represent density over a large area. Yet it is remarkable considering that this country is in no way margined for quail. After lunch Chuck flew me to Orange Co. Airport, from which point I took a commercial flight home.

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Bird tally - La Brujula, 1979 Ad. Ju ♂ ♀ ♂ ♀ Total Date Place Shooters Dec 3 Piedra Blanca D&L, Caldwell 3 7 6 6 = 22 Dec 4 Agua Blanca D&L, GC, Rhodes 3 2 12 12 = 29 Borth Dec 5 Sta. Tomas Valley D&L, GC 3 0 4 3 = 10 " Cancer Man Rhodes, Borth 1 5 7 7 = 20 + Chocolate Riv. Dec 6 Rancho Mejito Rhodes, Borth, D&L 3 0 6 8 = 17 Dec 7 Inward coast Howard Randel party 6 5 5 9 = 25 Dec 8 Cat Spring Boyle, Sinclair, D&L 8 4 12 10 = 34 " ? ? 4 3 9 4 = 20 Dec 9 Chocolate {Banning DiLuca?} 4 3 14 17 = 38 " Cancer Man Clardy + D&L 3 2 11 8 = 24 Dec 10 Los Cochis Cotton, D&L 5 3 6 6 = 20 Dec 11 Chocolate (twin farms) Cotton, D&L 7 5 2 6 = 20 - - - - - 50 39 94 96 = 279 89 adults 100 --------- = ----- 190 imm. x x = 213 213 imm : 100 ad.

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Sorenson Dec 15, 1979 There have been a succession of foggy mornings on shoot days. Add one more! It was thin at daylight but got denser as the sun rose and didn't start breaking until 10:30 AM. I saw my first duck (a & spoonie) at exactly 10:46. Finally got a shot at 11:59 when Jed shot and drove a single coot spiri off the pond over me. I got him as that constituted my shoot for the day. Dennis Jason had 5 in #5, Jed had 2 in #3, Woody had 1 in #4 as I had 1 in #6. Big deal! Yet there were plenty of birds in the area. Woody and I drove out Friday evening and saw a good batch of ducks on our pond as also on Sorenson pond. In the fog you could hear them going over all morning. After lunch we went out for pheasants but found the surviving birds pretty wary about hunting. Worked the swamp at the turn of the ditches in the northeast corner of Valore but only bagged 4 birds between us. They would run out into glowed fields rather than get trapped on ditches. Woody and I then went for snipe and had a bit of shooting in the foggy area between Kaiser pond and Little Joe's. Because of continuing dry weather the snipe are still concentrated around our ponds. Saw a prairie falcon as lots of rough-lige. Our heartfelt count coming up Fri. Aylwood was 30.

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Sorenson's Dec 26, 1979 Brought Jinty out for a big duck shoot and ended up with a dud. After three days of torrential rain and wind, the weather cleared and a strong north wind blew at daylight. The view from #6 blind was promising - bunches of ducks including plenty of geese buffeting over us at 30 yds right up till shooting time. Then the fliers lifted and veered away from the blind, as we stayed till 10 AM without getting a decent shot. Jinty popped away at a few flying birds without drawing a feather. Ducks were rafted up in the flooded corn field just east of us (between our pond and Bilmore). Even as we left there was still action over that field. Boys in the main pond and in Sorenson killed a few ducks but no one got a limit. I haven't seen so many shorebirds in many a day. Big plovers kept cruising by but even they wouldn't give our spread a decent pass. I wonder if the pitching decoys, flashing wet in the sunlight, may spook them. Boys out in mid-day we only counted 12 kestrels. The big storm doubles drove many to the shelter of foothills but also the strong N wind blowing all day may have put birds into sheltered perches, out of sight. Saw very few geese - only some mall gaggles and teal.

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Sorensen Jan 5, 1980 Another non-shoot day. I went into blind #3 and ended up with two spoonies which I shot deliberately in cold blood. Betty and I ate them on Sunday and they were delicious, incidentally. I watched three spoonies feeding within 20yds of my blind for nearly half an hour. They moved along in little circles in about 3 inches of water, nibbling along the bottom seeking seeds I guess. Sorensen Jan 12, 1980 We tried it once more with little to show. Woody got a bit of shooting in #4 and came out with 3 wigeon and 4 sprigs (mostly shining and molting, however). I was shanked in #5. At 10 PM we left the blinds and started picking up decoys. The continuous rain this just gets on us uneasy about possible flooding. We took out all the floating decoys from #2 and #6, and most of those from #4 and #5. Left the stick-ups. As it turned out the flood came on Jan. 14 and put us under 10 in. of water. Dennis and Justin stayed over Sunday, Jan 13 and cleared all the floating decoys, which saved them. We will go back after the stick-ups when the flood recedes. It's been a pretty lousy duck season at Sorensen's!

Richmond Hunter Club property west of Albuckle Jan. 19, 1980 Lura has been a member of this club for two years and hadn't yet been up to see their leased land. So today we went to the site labeled "gravel hunting." Arrived about 9:30 AM and with the aid of maps we looked over the two clucks. Most of the larger piece (on ridge between head of Sand Creek and head of Cocks Creek) is still chemise, basically uninhabitable. There are spots along Sand Creek that can be hunted and we chased a covey of a dozen birds, killing one. Met another hunter from the Club named James Manley and he showed us around where he has found gravel. We didn't find them but she just put a single, which I got. Had lunch in a sunny glade with Manley. After lunch we hunted a bit more in foothills along Sand Creek, then moved to the other property which is on lower Sand Creek just before the stream leaves the hills for the flat orchard country near Albuckle. Jim left me but Lura and I scouted out a nice little covey of 15 or 20, of which we took seven with some rather superb shooting. With 8 shells we knocked down 6 birds, retrieving 7 (Lura lost one runner): Adult Immature ♂ ♀ ♂ ♀ 2 0 4 3 = 9 It was all together a fine day. Home by 7:00 PM.

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712 The Alameda, Berkeley Feb 10, 1980 Mourning dove started cooing yesterday, Feb 9, about mid-day. I heard one bird coo several times. Today cooing developed with a vengeance.. I heard birds off and on all day. Just now (4:50 PM) as I was out on the deck, a pair of doves flew in: presumably to feed. But the male crowded the female along the roof, cooing at her and strutting. She saw me and left, alighting on the power lines across Capitans. He lit within a few inches of her and crowded her along the wire. She flew as he followed. Shortly thereafter another pair came to the feeder, the male right behind his lady. Earlier in the afternoon I saw a male in courtship flights - very brief but definite. Starting about mid January we have had two white jaysons coming to the feeder - the first regular visitors in 20 some year I have fed here. These two are part of the big mob of city jaysons that feed on someone's garage roof across Capitans. When I frighten them away they join the gang across the street. On two occasions they have brought another bird with them - a gray rock dove type. Usually though they come by themselves, every day about 9 AM. I see very few card-tails in the neighborhood this year and they are usually far up the hill. No visits to my feeder at all.

Berkeley, 712 The Clamada Jan 28, 1980 In some years I have fed birds on my deck without attracting domestic pigeons. In the past year or so I have watched a growing flock gather at a garage roof across Capistrano where a neighbor feeds. Some time in January I noted for the first time two white pigeons on my feeder. Through that month and into February they began coming daily to feed, leaving the big flock of assorted birds across the street. On Feb 16 I was working in the shop and young Nathan Sreling came running to tell me my trap was full of birds. At least 15 to 18 pigeons had trapped themselves as were flapping about in the wire cage. I released them; I have not seen a similar concentration before, but the two white ones, at some-timer an odd bird or so with them keep coming every day. Another day in mid-February Betty says a mixed group of domestic and band-tailed pigeons came to the feeder. She chased them away and closed the trap.

712 The Alameda, Berkeley March 10, 1980 In the past two weeks the mob of city pigeons has started coming to my feeding tray almost daily. They follow the two white larks in and crowd the tray like a bunch of bozos, occasionally tripping the stick and catching themselves. On several occasions Beth has felt obliged to trip the trap to keep them out. When they come around—even just a couple of birds—the doves retreat from the tray and hang back a few feet away, or fly off.

Bariloche, Provincia de Neuquen, Argentina April 4, 1980 Today we arrived in Bariloche on Aerovion Argentinas and met Payne and Anita in the airport; as they came in a few minutes after we did on Cestrul. The Pearsons have an apartment in Bariloche and will be here for a month or two, checking out some small mammal populations. We settled in The Edelweiss Hotel which we find delightful. Pearsons took us to dinner at a great little Argentine restaurant where we were served an assortment of meats, sausage, tripe on a grill over charcoal fire, placed on our table. Restaurant called "Nicola". We have spent two days in Buenos Aires at the Plaza Hotel and found very little to make me happy. Buenos Aires is a massive city of 13 million Christians, all of them out to screw me in one way or another. The taxi drivers, head waiters, customs officials, bell hops, hotel desk clerks, and seemingly everyone else we ran into was rude and avaricious. But here in Bariloche we have a very different feeling of friendly relationships with everyone including bell hops, taxi drivers etc. The 1000 mile flight over the dry pampas was reminiscent of desert situations in our own Southwest. Along rivers where irrigation was feasible there were fabulous orchards and truck gardens, but the dry plains were pretty sterile. Commonest bird in Bariloche is the chimango "Milvago chimango" a small goshen with creamy rump and wing coverts.

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Bariloche - Boat cruise to Punta Best April 5, 1980 With a day cruise, first by bus up Lago Nahuel Huapi to a landing where we boarded a cruise boat on up to the head of the lake. Saw assorted gulls, coots, and ducks - mostly along marshy shores. Did as I watched a cormorant soaring over Punta Best. A big gull (Podiceps major) is fairly common as I watched an adult jerking young ones on its back. The young are striped black or white, giving a grey appearance. Bariloche - bus cruise to Cascade Los Alverces and Cerro Tronador April 6, 1980 Our cruise today was by bus generally south of Bariloche past Lago Gutierrez and Laguna Mascardi to the waterfalls called Los Alverces, thence up a steep serpentine road to the foot of the great volcano Mt. Tronador. The name "Thunder Mountain" comes from the frequent ice falls off the face of the big glacier which send rumblings like thunder down the mountain. We watched several cascades of ice trembling down the craggy cliff at the head, the "Thunder" following. The forest belt is dominated by one of the big beech trees called "coihue". Above that is a belt of a smaller beech "lenga" with an understory of bamboo. Below the coihue is the foothill brush zone called "nire". Rainfall gradient goes from 120"/yr on the Chile side to 15" in the dry nire zone.

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Bariloche to San Martin de los Andes April 7, 1980 Ernie Schrieber arrived in Bariloche last night and today we set out with our guide and driver Jorge Berghman for our fishing base in San Martin. Most of the route followed open plains and foothills reminiscent of central Utah. The local express trees look like Utah juniper. Saw several flocks of geese (Chloephaga pictocephala) in pastures along the road, and where the highway skirts one of the lakes we were looking down on a handsome pair of black-necked swans (Cygnus melancoryphus). A few dead jackrabbits on the road but saw no other wild mammals. In San Martin we have settled in a charming little Swiss inn "La Paulette" run by a handsome woman Sra. Bracht and her son and daughter-in-law Sylvie. Another party of fishermen is here guided by Bill McAlfee who took Woody as the form Sharp Zole two years ago. The fishing group is Don Shoulberg and his wife Kazia, from NY; Jim Slater from Los Altos, CA., and Bob Kahn from Philadelphia. After staying one year we went for an evening fishing to his Chimelun half hour from here. It was a cold dark threatening evening and we caught no fish. Ernie didn't come with us but slept instead -- he has been on a jet a good part of the last two days. Along the road we saw a small armadillo and ran it down for photographs, Woody holding while I manned a camera. A lot of geese grazing in the pastures -- called "cauquen" males mostly white -- females rich brown

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San Martin - Malles River 2 hours to north April 8, 1980 Just full day of fishing, but it began to rain at 5 PM and kept it up almost continuously through the whole day. This river is separated from Chile by only a low pass and gets a lot more rain than some other nearby areas. The Chilean pine comes thru this pass and we saw the vanguard of scattered individual trees. This area also in a center for the population of European red deer, and the stag season is on now. The view on the estancia where we fished is a center for wealthy stag hunters. We went in and admired the architecture and the stag heads. I fished hard for two hours in the driving rain and hard wind but caught only one little tiddler of 10 inches. Did get a nice rainbow of 2 pounds or so. Schneibut sat in the car until there came a lull in the storm when he rushed out to some water below our fishing spot sheltered by willows and there the rainbows were coming up for some #18 brown exploration. He took 5 in a short time, the two largest 5 and 4 lbs. Woody was there when he landed one of these. Wind & rain started again and Schneibut just came back to the truck and took off his waders. Smart fisherman! He came home early and showered to get warm. The other party had caught a few fish on a big olive streamer fly and Jim Slater was tying up a supply during happy hour. Along the road we found a concentration of hawks arguing over a road killed jackrabbit - Aguilado Grande, Caracaran, and Chilvago.

"Black Bridge on Rio Chimbiquin, about 15 mi. N San Martin April 7, 1980 Still raining this morning so we went north with the hope that the Chimbiquin might be fishable at Black Bridge. But we no more than cleared town when we were in a rear-end collision -- some guy cut me off from ahead. So we limped back to town and had the bumper removed. Started out again. At Black Bridge we went to work, but it was cold and windy and the fish were not moving. Woody hooked and lost a good rainbow of about 2-3 pounds but none of the rest of us did any better. After several hours we moved the car downstream half a mile and tried some more. But it was still cold and windy. I'd caught a 2 pound brown and each of the rest of us caught some modest sized rainbows (mine were 15"+). Schoolcut never left the car, and again he knew very well when it was worthwhile trying to fish. There are quite a few comments along the river (Phalacrocorax brasilianus) and a bunch of 30 or so geese at one point. Also a good many geese (Carguen) and a few torrent ducks. I glimpsed a snipe (Gallinago megistura) and identified a red-crested malletio (Melitornis melitaea). Saw a number of caracaras along the road. The condition of grazing range in this area is superb. All animals are round-fat and I have not seen a single paddock that appears to be over-grazed. Most look to be considerably undergrazed which may explain why the cattle look so good. Along the river down bank however that I take to be untrue."

San Martin de los Corder April 10, 1980 After breakfast it was snowing hard but we set out anyway, hoping to reach a river nearby that we could fish. But the roads were so slushy, and getting worse rapidly, that we turned back and came home. Spent the day writing letters, field notes, and repairing gear. The California quail was introduced on Estancia La Primavera along the Rio Traful by the owner, Pierre de Riviera. Release was made Dec 25, 1945. The population became established and in 35 years has spread up to 100 kilometers, mostly along river valleys. Now I learn from the Fauna Silvestre Officer that there has been a new focus established in the northern end of Neuquen Province, presumably from stock transferred from the Traful area. The quail is not hunted here, and is not thought of as a game bird. We are infested with the abundance of rabbits. They are hard to see during daytime but show up at dusk along the roads, where many are killed by cars. Here become a mainstay for the hawks - the ubiquitous Chimango, the big gray "Aguilucho grande", and Caracaras. At some carcasses you find a gang of 10 to 15 of these three raptors scraping over the remains. We have no guide to mammal so I am uncertain what the rabbit is. It appears intermediate between a Saper and Sylvilegus, but I am told it actually is the European hare, introduced here.

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Río Guíquihue, near San Martín airport April 11, 1980 The snow stopped as intermittently during Saturday we had periods of sunshine. The water stayed cold however (50°) and the air was cold with quite a bit of wind. We all fished pretty hard up to dark and I'd get two fish of 2 lbs or so apiece. Now of the rest of us, including Ernie, did much. On the way in we saw our first ibis (Theristicus candatus) called

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Rio Guilquique near San Martin Airport Oct 13, 1980 There were complications of Ernie Schwiebert's imminent departure so we stayed close to San Martin. The cold continued with the worst wind we have yet had. During the day, from 10:45 AM until 5:15 PM we fished the whole river from the "lombardy square" to the three papules. Weibon taking a brown trout. Ed got one 15" rainbow. On this stream our friends fishing with Bill McCaffrey had fantastic fishing last week, with lots of fish over 20 inches. It afraid the weather has screwed me good. I keep coming back to its abundance of European hare (or rabbits as we have been calling them). On the walk from the river to the road, about 1/4 mile through grassy bottoms, we jumped 7 rabbits, at saw more from its car when Jorge jerked me up. Also met another armadillo on this walk, same size as the one we photographed a week ago. Found some holes about 6" diameter, presumably dug by them. Saw four lapwings (Charadrius cayennensis) which Jorge calls "tiro-tiro", yesterday I forgot to say we saw several white egrets (Casmerodius albus), as I finaged a snipe (Gallinago paraguaiae) or "teosina". Back to rabbits, they are having easily visible impact on a low shrub that is heavily browsed, twice lying dried at wasted, apparently some canbein eaten. Josh pictures. As we came back to town we stopped to take picture of ox-drawn carts of firewood.

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Douglas Reid estancia on Rio Colorado April 14, 1980 We finally got a break in the weather. Today blue clear, crisp-cold but sunny, Jorge took me to the Colorado which is about 2 hours drive from here. We were on the river by 11:30 and immediately were into fish. Most of them were rainbows from 10 to 17", but about a third were crowns, all between 20 to 22 1/2". Between us we took 15 fish over 15", and Jorge had another half dozen or so not counted by me. I fished entirely with a jecora, or crayfish imitation, and from one rod took three crowns over 20". Fine, fat, colorful fish. On the way out we saw phease in two places at both photos, though they were far off. A pair of birds in each case. I asked about food and Jorge says they graze on grass and forbs. With protection by Douglas' and neighboring ranchers they are coming back well, as also are guanacos that occur in this same neighborhood. He looked hard but failed to see any. Red teals are abundant on Douglas' place and he saw both of tracks. Another numerous species is the little Elanor cleancur of which he had seen only one specimen until today. Coming home I tried to measure the rabbit population by what was visible along the road. From the ranch gate for the next hour I counted rabbits at totalled 59, or about a rabbit a minute. He was driving from 30 to 50 mph, averaging perhaps 40. That would be 1 1/2 rabbits per mile. He killed two of these (3.4%) which will contribute to support of the hawk population tomorrow.

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Dougler Reid Estaneca on Rio Caleufu April 14, 1980 (cont.) Quail are abundant in this watershed, which is somewhere under 100 km from the original point of stocking on the Rio Trappel. We saw at least a dozen coveys along the road, all from 15 to 30 birds (no big coveys). As we drove out, a covey flushed in front of the car and one bird ended up flying beside me on the left side. All of a sudden a hawk materialized (Buteo julizona) close on the tail of the quail. The chase went for 100 yards the hawk a few feet behind but unable to gain. Quail literally flew into a thorn bush and the hawk had to veer off. Rio Chinchina, Black Bridge a below April 15, 1980 Weather crisp and clear (see my road gaddler) as we set forth with a lot of "je". But after a couple of hours of hard fishing we could see that we weren't going to do much. The water was up 6" or so from the first time we fished here - melting snow generally - and it was much too cold, 46° F. So we moved camp to the Black Bridge, had lunch, and fished this action till dusk. I'd hocked and landed the only good fish - a 24", 5 1/2 lb. male brown. I made sure there was a little surface action in the big pool by the bridge and I took a 14" rainbow on a dry fly. Water at this point had risen to 50°. We really got into the chase today. Just a mood of

Rio Chinchibin, Black Bridge April 15, 1980 (cont.) Half grown young [illegible] acorn in front of us - about 10 I think. He shot a picture or two of their disappearing asses. Then a bit beyond we spotted 6 adults feeding on a hillside. Woody tried to stalk them for a photo but he only got about 20 yds when they all took off. A big flock of geese returned to the bar where we found them a week ago. I took several photos of the birds sitting and in the air when I flushed them. As we drove out a hind red deer bounded across the road in front of us. She looked very healthy and sexy, with good pelage and lots of bounce. He has seen lots of trache but only this one seen so far. I saw a pair of ducks that I had not seen before, possibly Anas georgica. The bills of both birds were conspicuously yellow, but precise identification in Obreg is impossible. Also saw several "mask-faced" ducks which may be Anas specularis. As we approach the end of our visit to Argentina we are trying to pull our thoughts together. I am impressed with how well the "estancia system" works to protect its resources of wild life, as compared to the "ejido system" in Mexico. A responsible manager of an estancia concerns himself about the land, the livestock [illegible] as livestock health. His leads to concern for the families that manage the land. In an ejido it is very much for himself. Also every burro, cow, and brown tailed pony.

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Rio Galguiche, San Martin airport April 16, 1980 I am sitting in the truck with Jorge, watching heavy rain and snow. Woody and Ted are fishing. From Jorge I have just learned that there is a thriving venison industry here, much of the meat going to western Europe. The red deer is so abundant on some of these estancias that the ranchers want them kept down. The local office of Direccion General de Recursos Ganaderos issues permits to commercial deer hunters to take specific number of animals from specific areas. All sexual age classes are shot except tiny fawns, which are kept for sport shooting. Bodies of the deer that are gutted and skinned on the spot, then delivered for sale to a wholesaler in San Martin, who keeps them refrigerated until a truckload can be sent to Buenos Aires. From there the dressed meat goes by ship to Europe to compete with deer from New Zealand and Scotland. The value of a deer carcass here is about $1.00 a pound which is close to the price of dressed venison in New Zealand. Antlers shed by the fawns are gathered up by gamekeepers and these are sent to the Orient. Deer are doing better here as livestock industry shifts from sheep to cattle. Santa Gertrudis and Zebu strains are being used extensively and number of sheep and goats are steadily falling. Hence the ranges are in much better shape than formerly, which benefits deer and doubtless other vertebrates. April 17, 1980 Jorge drove me to Bariloche. River high and dirty, including Jaquel. Flew home.

CHILE Malleo flats Rio Chimehuin Home San Martin de los Andes Quilquihue (Airport) Rio Quilquihue Black bridge Rock hole PAMPA CHICHAHUAY Meliquina Rio Caleufu Reid Estancia L. Traful Paso cordoba L. NAHUEL HUAPI Pt. Blest MTE. TRONADOR San Carlos de Bariloche Rio Limay R. Colon cura Las Colorados 0 10 20 30 40 50 Km. N

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Provisional bird list - Bariloche/San Martin areas April 5-16, 1980 Common name Locality Rhea americana "Ostrich" Chinchuin Cechmojlaurus major Big grebe Lago Nahuel Huapi Podilymbus judiceps Pied-bill Lago Nahuel Huapi Phalacrocorax brasilianus Cormorant general Cosmerodius albus Garga blanca Carrhue Theristicus caudatus Ibei Guilquirhue Cygnus melancoryphus Black-necked Swan Lago Melezzina Chloephaga jecta Common goose (caupon) General Anas specularis Pato anteojos Junin Anas sibilatrix (?) Pato overo Chinchuin Merganetta armata Torrent duck Rio Isaful Vultur gryphus Condor Mt. Hornador Coragyps atratus Black vulture San Martin area Elanus leucurus Kite Chinchuin Buteo polyzoma Gray "eagle" General Circus cyaneus Dark hawk San Martin Diluvago chinango "Chinango" Common everywhere Polyborus plancus Caracara General Falco fusco caeruleseens Alcon Bariloche airport Falco sparverius Kestrel San Martin Lophortyx californica Cal guail Rio Isaful, etc. Aniuea leucoptera Coot Nahuel Huapi', etc. Belonopterus cayennensis "Jero-Tero", lapping San Martin airport Capella perquival Snipe Chinchuin Larus marinus Gull General

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Zonaidura auriculata dove Bariloche Caprimulgus longirostris Night hawk San Martin Lessonia rufa "Negrito" Chinchuin Atticora cyanoleuca Swallow Block bridge Turdus refiventeris Robin San Martin Ogelaina thilina Blackbird San Martin Pezetes militoris "Red-throat ictorid" Chinchuan Passer domesticus House sparrow San Martin A number q small wrens, flycatchers, jasservers etc. we could not identify with Olroz's guide

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Grenson Ranch April 26, 1980 Dennis, Woody, Dean, as I gathered for the annual spring ceremony of securing the duck blinds. We had good team work as finished the job before lunch. This included baiting every barrel (Dennis did it) with several inches of sticky mud in the bottom. He moved a few clumps of Reed Canary grass to consolidate the islands and give better coverage of the barrels. During the morning we saw a few pairs of mallards; presumably the hens have nests by now. Pheasant cocks crowing now as then as the hens must be nesting too. After lunch we mounted a wood duck box that had been rescued last fall. Put it about 20 ft. up on a big cottonwood on the main slough near where Barb killed a cock pheasant a couple of years back. Then went after asparagus and found a good amount along the main slough border. Each of us took home a double batch. Peak time would have been a week or so earlier. Dennis is burning the corn stalks as other trash that accumulated on the home levee during the flood. Now he is threatening to rip-rap the levee with rocks — another loss of pheasant cover.

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Madison Fish Ranch, near Yellowstone June 28 - July 4, 1980 I flew into West Yellowstone June 27 and picked up only two of my three pieces of luggage. The missing bag was the one full of clothes. Hopefully the package of rods and the duffel bag of waders and fishing tackle came through. In a Budget rental car I set out for Jim Salisbury's Ranch on the east side of Henry's Lake. Spent a delightful evening there with Jim. Next morning I drove into W.Y. and picked up Carl and Lynn at the Westwood Motel. After a lot of shopping for essential items of clothing and toiletries for me, we drove to the Ranch where we were to be the only guests for two days. Fishied the pond before dinner and Carl took a nice hot brownie (17 1/2", 2 1/2 lb.) which he had for breakfast next day. Sun was bright and things looked good until about 10 PM when clouds gathered and before night it began to rain. He did not see the sun again until the day we left, July 4. Rain and low barometric pressure continued for the next five days. We caught a few fish in the stream and in the pond, but it was scanty perchin's and few batches of flies and fewer still enthusiastic risers. Each day until the last morning we kept two trout for breakfast, most of them 15 to 18". Lynn caught a nice 18 inch one next to last evening in the pond, and that really made the trip.

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Medison Park Ranch June 28 - July 4, 1980 (cont.) Our friends from Texas came in on Tuesday - Charlie, Sandy, Harry, and two new ones - Brooks and John. This year Lorenzo didn't make it. Dazzie came in too on Sunday afternoon and held court with drinks at dinner, making the place feel more like home. Dave and Ruth Hodge were there Sunday evening for dinner, and so also were Charlie, Nina and Joey - down from Bozeman where they had come to attend a wedding. That was a gala occasion for me and a great dinner party. Back to the trout, Charlie continued to catch jerk abut none of the rest of us could do much. He fished dry entirely with quite large flies - #12 in dark brown, or Mach brown. I did poorly trying to match the hatch of may flys but scored now on a fairly large (#14) Royal Wolly. A cow moose joined us one evening at the pond. He saw deer several times and one day a weasel in a log pile where lodgepole killed by bark beetle had been piled for winter burning. No sign of elk hereabouts. One of the kitchen girls (Pandy) claims to have seen a grizzly sow with two cubs a mile south of the ranch buildings. My park note paper was lost in my bag, hence there scant notes. Flew out July 4.

Sorensen Ranch, 10 mi. SE Dixon, Yolo Co., Calif. Nov 20, 1977 ♂ 1802 Common snipe (Gallinago gallinago) 99 grms. Orinda, Contra Costa Co., Calif. Nov 21, 1977 ♀ 1803 Neotoma fuscipes 417-209-42-33 327grms. Prescott Ridge, Los Padres Nat. Forest, Monterey Co., Calif. Nov 21, 1975 ♀ 1804 Mountain quail 232 grms. Col. D. Pine ♂ 1805 Mountain quail 231grms. Col. D. Pine Sorensen Ranch, 10 mi. SE Dixon, Yolo Co., Calif. Dec 22, 1974 ♂ 1806 European wigeon 769grms. Col. D. Leegwater Cowboy Ranch, 5 mi. SE Woodland, Yolo Co., Calif. Jan 29, 1980 ♂ 1807 Ring-necked pheasant 1760 grms. Lestr 9mm. 712 the Clarenda, Berkeley, Alameda Co., Calif. Feb 1, 1980 ♀ 1808 Mourning dove 117grms. Ova 1mm. 8 mi. W Arbuckle, Colusa Co., Calif. Jan 19, 1980 ♀ 1809 California quail 145 grms. ♂ 1810 California quail 156 grms.! Jus. 4mm. 400 Vermont, Berkeley, Calif. Jan 23, 1980 ♀ 1811 Sharp-shinned hawk 151grms. (hit a window)

Jonas State Park, Marin Co., Calif. July 20, 1979 ♂ 1812 California quail (north hill) 105 gm. Col. P. Gogan ♂ 1813 California quail (north hill) 104 gm. Col. P. Gogan San Francisco Bay near Richmond, Contra Costa Co., Calif. December ? 1979 ♂ 1814 Ruddy duck C.S.J. Zeegarden

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