The High Point Enterprise from High Point, North Carolina • Page 30

All Outdoors JUST KRME THE MftST OF FEATHBB Two Quail Hunters Close In On Covty Of Birds North Carolina Offers Great Preserve Shooting By JOEL ARRIN6TON WEST END Here and there small patches of snow remained on the ground. 1 Brown leaves stffl dung the blackjacks and rawed dryly as brushed by. Two lean pointers briskly worked the oaks and open field in the meir breath vaportrinf fa dense cloods. Jocko, the liver and white, ranged widely with his bead high, checked cover quickly, i. then moved to the next likely spot.

Sam worked closely and carefolly, following each scent in diligent search. In the open weed field far ahead of us, Jocko locked into stone-rigid point for an instant, took a cautious half step and froze tail a white vertical rantirod. Sam, closing fast, had his nose to the ground and did aot see the point. Jack Myrick snouted, "Whoa, Sam," aad the do? lifted his bead, saw Jocko. and backed him from a distance of nearly SO yards.

i Myrick and I i deliberately past Sam. I clicked off the safety, then slowed behind Jocko, wishing to prolong the experience, savor the morning, the dogs, the air. What followed come to mind as a slow-motion movie, each event set apart, separate explosive whir of wings, pkktag a bird angling away to the right, stock against cheek, a Mttle lead, the burst of feathers, Mow through. Sam retrieved the bobwhite, as Jocko eagerly cast out again for singles. Plainly Jocko felt compelled to find more birds, quicker and with more style than Sam.

few minutes later, Sam was locked on a single. A a i through scattered briars and broom straw, I felt confident of the shot, but the quail burst away low and fast toward a distant ie and bramble Bucket as 'SinHed with the safety. I finally fired and it was more a curse a practical wing shot The other birds we found at Pine Lake Shooting Preserve flew well and were rhallfnglng targets. a watching the dogs work was worm the trip. With available hunting lands rapidly shrinking, shooting preserves like Fine an the answer to dilemma.

Years ago, most of us lived in roral areas on small towns with nearby farm land. The mass popatation shift to the cities has left numerous sportsmen without a place to bunt North Carolina has more than 20 commercial shooting preserves open to public hunting. In addition, a few operate on a private or dub basis'. On the public preserves, you may hunt a half day for S30 and take usually eight pen- reared birds. Additional quail may cost about $2.50 each.

With the recent advent of preserves, some long-time quail hunters have sold their dogs and given up hunting wild birds. The cost of feeding a dog all year, combined with the sometimes difficult task of Finding birds, makes the preserves attractive, particularly for the sportsman who hunts only a few times a season. Although most Tar Heel preserves provide dogs, you may bring your own. there is no better way to give a young dog experience than on a preserve wtare. birds are in ample supply.

It may be possible to work your poppy with an experienced dog provided by the manager. Preserves which a snooting most like wild-bird bunting release quail before and periodically throughout the season, and hold them on the area with food plate. Hunters wbo scoff at released bird shooting should try the birds at Pine Lake. There, quail are raised in spacious pens and fed on the ground. When released, they get along very weP the swamps and fields scattered throughout the preserve and are strong fliers the day they are released.

Wild birds frequently mil with the released tobwhttes and, after a time, the hunter may not be able to distinguished between mem until they are brought to bag. For a list of controlled shooting preserves, write the North Carolina i i Resources Commission, Box 2919, Raleigh, N. C. 17601 Christmas Is But People Changed a side of bacon night to bought from a neighbor rtriatam OsWiavtt Ctefetmav about ttko It always i a Uttfe bacttr. was owpW of barl per cnikS con- stitatod a SMCB of plenty.

A doU of ngs aod yam, as not far each girl and a knife or bundle of Creaacken lor each of the boys were enough to brighten yoonf eyes on mornings like yesterday morning. Admittedly, an awful lot is spent on gifts these days. It isn't at all unusual for presents and wrappings to half fill a room on Yule Morning, There's nothing strange about finding jewels for Mama; a new shotgun or deer rifle for Pop; fishing equipment, and high-priced scientific toys for Junior; and walking, talking, crying, laughing, kissing dolls for little Surie. Credit cards, gift certificates, and club memberships may be extended. Titles to new cars may change hands.

Ownership real estate may be assigned. Trust funds for college educations may be given. In this day and 'time, hardly anything is overlooked on morning. For the most part, price means But, in the days when Christmas was bleakly "noncommercial," and meager gifts were extended sadly by parents, a man could work from sunup to sundown for 75 cents or a dollar. When Christmas still had "its true meaning," a dozen eggs might bring 12 cents a bale of cotton might bring $50 and for In then dayi, now automobile was worth five or rii hundred doDan, an apartment owld to rated "right uptown" for $15 per month, and admission to a local sports ewt was, more ofton than nut, free.

There no for hunting or fishing, but few people hunted or flabed otttoKe their own backyard, or almost always within witting distance of home. Good farm land sold for 60 dollars an acre, corn for 12.50 per wagon load, and personal prooertv taies (hard to pay) might be four or five dollars annually. People didn't own two can, a boat, automatic washers, TV tets or LP records, ban-Ion shirts and sweaters, nylon hose, lawn furniture, barbecue grills, sow-level homes, freezers, central and air-conditioning. You name it, and folks didn't hare tt. Very few of the sportsmen had men than one gun.

one dog, few had boats and an outboard motor was as unusual as a rocket ship. Christmas Day afternoon was generally considered a day for an annual hunting trio, either for -quail or rabbit But those were the days of the black oowder shells and plentv of smoke. You shot at a quail or rabbit and fell flat on the ground 'to get under the smoke) to see if you had hit what you shot at. So, when you get right down to it Christmas hasn't changed, but times have changed. People have changed, the economy has changed.

It is no greater strain on the budget now to buy today's gifts than it was fifty years ago. And it's a lot happier. Commercialized or not "Spirit-lost" or not (which it isn't), it's still a great time of the year. We don't really want to "decommerdalize" Christmas, and go back to the days of home-made fishing boats, "one shotgun with hammers, the steel fishing rods, the home-made coaster wagons, jackknives, etc. Hunters Get 93 Deer At Uwharrie Saturday THE DCTBUIWW DUCK MUWTtt nts 5twf WofnrtQ For CoW, Swot MM By BENNY PHILLIPS Associate Sports Editor LONG SHOTS AND SHORT CASTS: It's all over now for the deer hunters, and the time is at hand when the trusty pi' rifle can be cleaned, oiled and put away for another year.

Down in Montgomery and Stanly counties, and the parts of Davidson and Randolph where deer hunting is permitted, things win return to normal. There won't be the heavy flow of traffic, nor the bearded customers roaming through the small country stores. It all ended Saturday afternoon at sunset. On the Uwharrie Wildlife Management Area, where cither-sex hunt was permitted Saturday afternoon, 93 deer were Wiled. The 93 bagged during the afternoon was more than the gun hunters took during their two-week for buck only, anX more than the archerv hunters were able to get.

Bow hunters were allowed to shoot both doe and buck and they killed 61 deer. Gun hunters took 82 bucks. Therefore, the season total on the refuse was 236 deer. Of the 93 deer killed Saturday afternoon, only 18 were bucks of which a four-pointer was the largest, Archery hunters ragged 12 bucks, and the breakdown of the 236 deer taken from the refuge this year is 712 bucks and 124 doe. Two huh.

ed and fifty hunters were permitted on the ref Saturdav, brinefM the total number of hunters to pass through the checking station to 4,716 foi the year. DOTE HUNTING during the second portion of North Carolina's split season generally hat been poor to fair. There are plentv of birds, but the trouble stems to be that there is too much food available and not enough hunters. It's not so difficult to find a corn field that has been picked that has of birds using it, hut you fire a couole of times the doves leave. They just move over Jo another corn field and keen feeding, not bothering to return.

WINTER FISHING on the Yadkin River lakes has been oroducing some fairly nice strings of crappie. Those fishwrmen who know the right means and depth to catch craome during the winter months have been doing verv well. Live minnows are the best bait, but fish 'em deep. THIS SEASON'S duck hunting regulations are Dorhaps the toughest ever, mainly because of identification problems. Michigan it this way.

Hunters wishing to gain to the nonntar Rose Lake Wildlife Area had to pass a waterfowl identification test. Earlier, optional classes were conducted to aid in bwoming more profMent in recognizing ducks. MAYNAftn HEECE. a professional wildlife artist fiam 0ss Molnes, has become the first four-time winner of tht federal duck-stamp desifn comnetitlon. The Interior Department announced lav weekend that Ritce had won the 1M170 competition with a bUck-aHd-whtte watercolor 4nwtoif which shows two scoter ducks rising from the water.

That's what duck stamp will look like year. won 1SM7 PornptrtWrtp in 10SO with gadwalls and in 1948 with a mallard. This year's competition drew 218 entries. AND WOULDNT you gutts it The best day for waterfowl hunting since UM season opened back in November wat last Sunday when it was cold and a light rain fell all day. HMN WM log tad cloud ceiling was low.

Now, back to the blue bird days with a warm sun, no clouds and all that Rod And Gun Guppy Says Yanks "i Moved North Pole By ROD AMUNOSON Old Friend Luke Gtippy said the other day that "them damyankees done around again and moved the North Pole plum out of Yankee Territory." Tliat is at least one explanation for the blasts of Arctic air we have been getting thus far this winter. Shallower ponds have had crusts of ice around them; some have been completely frozen over. Even parts of Cumtuck Sound, referred to as "ponds," have been so icy that boats couldn't breach them to place waterfowl hunters in surrounding blinds. At the risk of sounding like an old-timer, I wouM say tt looks like a long, cold winter. Much of the suite's inland water will be frcten over before the winter Is over, and while boiling water may make it safe to drink, freezing it does not usually remove the effects of pollution.

Some of our streams are vn polluted that they probably wouldn't freeze at zero Fahrenheit There is an old saw that goes "misery loves company," probably based on the premise that you feel a littis better off if you know someone is in worse condition than you are. Ws think of our country as being despoiled by, among other things, pollution of cur water and air. This is obviously true, and you and I have got to do something about it besides giving Up service and sackcloth-and-ashes lamentation. it might make us feel Just a tittle better to lake a look at what is gobig on by way of water portion in what Li probably the largest a of chunk land In the The USSR aat ths UlA an vying for inHjimioii honor of putting tbs fint man on the moon and gttttNs bun back Both sowtrnd nations, and both have vast technical tnd jitural no- UpM wWch (0 Nty. In the CMC of aasfoUsd, onnpottted natural nsiXPSSs the UMB On USA by at least a two-to-one advantage.

According to i sources in England, however, the Russians are ruthlessly contaminating their a sphere with poisons, polluting her water resources, destroying hsr fishing industry, and endangering the health of millions of people. Russia has over 3,000,000 miles of rivers and streams, many natural lakes and artificial reservoirs, and a problem of finding clean water. Petroleum is being pumped from the bottom of the Caspian Sea, but lack of purification measures endangers all forms of life. Soviet cities have almost no sewage treatment facilities whatever, and the same goes for industry. Russia could win the race to the moon; but it could also win the race to despoil the world's remaining natural resources.

There has been growing concern among conservationists about the wrecking of huge oil tankers, with the result that thousands of tons of oil are dumped Into the ocean where they endanger water birds and fish life, and ruin swimming beaches. There Is, however, a recently developed product marketed under the tradt name Corexit When this to sprayed on oil aUcks, tittar by boat or by aircraft, it cants the oil to form Into small droplets that do not ding to other objects, and which are eventually destroyed by bacterial action. Last spring a German tanker hit aa twcfeartand rock off the coast of Africa and spilled barrels of cmdi oil into the water. maMni an oil sUck a mile wide and IS miles long. A i i ComJt, only IB barrels of It, the entire sUcH fa two baring no of to bio.

MiorQr itltor tins a areek tante bnkf op, ml reciting ott ttkk was disposed In UM same IWs win ta vatetkto woen ywi osoaiaw fMl Mnk- a.