Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 22

PORT SECTION Auto Club and Suffrin to Meet in Feature of B. B. A. Program Great Lakes toFaceSam's The Season Is Here, and the Harcly Souls Are Having Lofs of Fun and Catching Some Really Fine Fish THE DETROIT FREE PRESS SUNDAY, JANUARY 19. 1941 State Laws Termed Weak I 1 Hit for Permitting Sale of Feathers Michigan's laws are of little help in enforcing regulation, against traffic in bird feathers" said Richard H.

Pough, of the staff of the National Audubon Societies of New York, after helping State Conservation officers to identify various feathers offered for sale in Detroit shops, a survey of some 15 shops yielded feathers from 30 different birds some of which are rare. "The Federal tariff act has, since 1913, prohibited the importation of any wild bird plumage except ostrich, except for manufacture of fishing flies," said Mr. Pough. "in contrast with this, Michigan law forbids only the sale of feathers of birds resident in or migrant through Michigan. This gives no protection at all against the importation of feathers from elsewhere and anv nrnnirnflnn ill Ditzler-Winston Go Best in Class A BY TOM LOBAUOII Suffrin and the Auto Club will provide the Triple A feature of the Detroit Basketball -Association's Sunday program when they meet at 9 p.

m. in the Holy Redeemer gym, W. Vernor at Junction. The Automen are unbeaten In league play. In the first Auto Club-Suffrin frame five weeks ago, the Auto Club won In overtime, BO to 48.

Suffrin is the defending Triple A champion. Great Lakes will meet the hot-Snd-cold Sam's quintet at 8 p. m. The first Triple A game will match Arthur's and the Jaglowtcs Giants at 7 o'clock. The Ditzler-W'nston clash will feature the five Class A games Sunday afternoon.

DiUler, undefeated leader of Class has been hard pressed In recent games and barely managed to get a decision over the eleventh-place Tool Shop five last Sunday. Lanpschied and Neighborhood Club will tangle In the afternoon's opening game. They are part of the four-way tie for second place, In which Winston and River Rouge also figure. TRIPLE A T. Pii.

Ij Pot the ice on Houghton Lake: sky, enthusiasm, Woods and Waters By Jack Van Coevering TN THE last deer season the Free Press published a picture of a hunter sitting on a stump along a runway, rifle In hand, waiting for Mr. Buck to come along. Recently an envelope arrived from Great Falls, Mont. it was a clipping Dr. B.

E. (Brick) Champe, of Plymouth, Western Wayne County Conservation Association president, shows how it's done. First he spuds the hole in the ice in a lake in Oakland County, -i Byron DeForest, "I am a sportsman a long time and I mean SPORTSMAN not a killer," wrot DeForest. "We have elk killers who get their elk In the manner described In your picture. We have game trails well worn and a killer may, If he chooses that method of asHassina-tion, get an elk.

But out here, we don't call that sport, or even sportsmanship. "Any hunter who will use the method described in your picture is certainly not a sportsman. He is a killer, and If we found such accidentally shot by a trail out here In Montana, we would probably leave him there as bait for coyotes, if they would eat him. I trust all your deer hunters in Michigan are not of the kind you picture." There are old-timers in Michigan who will sympathize with De-Forest's letter. They also think of the good old days when there were not more than 25,000 deer hunters in the state (if there were that many) and it was possible to still hunt and track a deer without fear of being mistaken for a deer by another hunter.

But realistically, they bow before the dictum of new times, new customs, and if they can, drive farther than they used to, to escape the hunters' concentration. Yet DeForest's letter raises a point: Is it poor sportsmanship to hunt deer on the runways 7 Sportsmanship Defined CPORTSMANSHIP, aa it is usually understood, means to give the tfSl. Fishing through Pheasant Kill Is Constant Percentage Is Level in Four-Year Report from Prairie Farm "The pheasant kill on the prairie farm, which is a reclamation project near here, shows a remarkable constancy for the last four years," reports Chet Howell, editor of the Chesaning Argus and state senator from his district Howell has kept close watch on this area of diked-in land and has been interested to cooperating with Tom Osmer, who made a special survey of the area tor the Conservation Department. According to Osmer, the pheasant kill on the area was as follows: No. tt Cocks Pet.

per Year hunters killed hunter 1937 2181 818 .28 1938 3fi36 1244 .32 1939 5041 1318 .28 1940........ 3912 1058 .27 "You will notice that the 1939 season reached an all-time high over the four-year period. That was due to the fact that the season opened on Sunday that year," comments Howell. "There were 1,618 hunters out on the first day alone, and the kill was big. "Last season the hunting opened on Tuesday and bad weather kept down the number of hunters.

Over the four-year period, the percentage of kill per hunter remained in about the same bracket." In addition to the pheasants, hunters in 1940 shot 248 rabbits on this The total estimated crippling loss of pheasants was 198 birds and the kill was 81 birds to the square mile. What Sportsmen Say- OUTDOOR QUESTIONS RABBIT WARTS Mr. Editor: I shot several rabbits this year with a growth that looks something like a sponge. This growth is usually on the front feet or the nose. Is this harmful to touch? I take my knife and cut the growth before picking up the rabbit, J.

A. NEILAN, Detroit. ANSWER: The curious, warty or even horny growth you speak of may vary in size from a pea to a nickel. Such warts are most common on the legs or head. They seem to cause little damage to rabbits, and there is no record of human beings ever becoming at flicted with this condition either from handling or eating the rab bits.

The warts art attached only to the skin and are removed along with tne skin. Ducks Visit Belle clear; temperature, near zero; of this picture and a letter from perhaps the runway gunner finds it runway hunting business. Many a has about 85 a square mile. Mon nas aoout tour 10 a square nine. and hunt with me.

Now, that's where we hunt one is wnere great So now, my friend, you even it you never maice game a chance. On that basis, Anto club 8 0 l.uoii (t, .400 Snflrin .1 '2 -fiflO Swn'l AHhur'a 3 .400 Jlowici 1 j) CLASS A 2oU Jvt. 1 Wl BlUlrr 0 l.nitrt Jslowl 8 3 -vTiOQ Lint u-h'd 4 Can 2 4 mhb'h 4 2 Rayl' 2 4 Jlivcr R. 4 2 TwilPhoo 1 Winiton 4 2 Huifhuu 0 6 ,17 KU.NHAY'S IIA.MKS InfchM v. Kciulihfirhom! Club.

1 p. Suvrr Roue Bob Cat. 8 B. in. S.vi' v.

Tool IShnu, 3 I), m. Wiimtnn v. DltiliT. 4 m. Jfcflowipo Aoca Td.

Hutehina, 6 p. Jtmlowici Giant tb, Arthur's, 7 p. 411. Sam'n Great Lakt. fi p.

m. Suffrin Auto Club. p. m. Conservation Organizations Vrc Praised 1 Press, radio and conservation organizations In Michigan re-reived surprising tribute from P.

J. Hoffmaster, state director of conservation, In his biennial report to the Legislature on the status of Michigan conservation. "If Michigan is to continue to keep abreast of conservation affairs, the most that the Conservation Department can do will be relatively little compared with what a well Informed public can do," the director told the lawmakers. In his summary of conservation activities of the last two years, Hoffmaster recounted that gome 2,500,000 acres of tax-delinquent lands came under the Department's custody; state parks were expanded, the staff of law enforcement officers was' enlarged, forest fire losses reached new lows and definite progress made toward the acquisition of public hunting grounds in the southern third of the state. In his report, the director looked ahead some 25 years when the maximum lands in state ownership may total as much as 30 per cent of the state's area.

Plans are In the making, he said, for taking over forest and fire pro tection now being done by the CCC should Federal aid be curtailed. Adjustment of the personnel to the needs of the Increasing number of hunters and fishermen also is planned, he said. The 1941 report was prefaced by an audit. Greenville Sportsmen Change Name Club The Greenville Sportsmen's Club has changed Its name to Mortcalm Outdoorsmen, advises John M. Irish, of Greenville.

The new officers are Thomas Metzger, president; Walter Rawlings, vice president; Theodore Whltford, secretary, and Harry Hoy, treasurer. The club Is now working In a farmer -sportsman co-operative plan and Is prepared to feed the birds in winter emergencies. ft more of a cinch to down his deer than the fellow who trails his buck for hour after hour, finally maneuvering himself into place for a killing shot But in either case, the buck is just as dead. 1 There is many a stump-Hitting runway hunter who will protest that it is no cinch to down a buck even when he is walking straight toward you. There are too many hunterg who have missed their deer on exactly such "easy shots." The reason, of course, lies in the fact that most of our present-day deer hunters don't use their rifles, often enough to become really proficient with thurn.

Thus, it seems, that If deer are given the break of "sportsmanship," this comes from the hunter's own Ineptitude. There is another side to this hunter gets on his stump before daylight and stays there until the sun is full-un. He doesn't feel that it is safe to move before that In fact he doesn't move around too much anyway. That is the result of a hunting army of 170,000 in Michigan as many hunters almost as there are men in Montana, remaps this comparison or population is the real answer to DeForest's letter anyway. Michigan, with the population of some 5,000,000 people, tana, with little over OOO.OOO people, Invitation to Montana TN ANSWERING DeForest I called attention to Michigan's huge deer herd, which totals almost 1,000,000 animals.

high. Weather Hits 7 Ice Fisherman Forced to Double Up on Good Day to Make Up Lost Time BY JACK VAN COEVERING Ice fishermen, devotees of that sport which bridges the long gap between fall hunting and summer angling, are trying to make up for lost time. Usually the shallower lakes in Southern Michigan are frozen during the holidays, but this year it was well beyond New Year's before the ice became safe for venturesome anglers. That is why the colonies of ice fishermen seem to be larger on favorable week-ends. Believe it or not, the spearing season is almost half over, and unless the winter hangs on with unusual tenacity, even the ice-line boys will have' to double up on their days if they are going to get in all the fishing they want.

Blueglils Are Favorites Within recent years, bluegills have taken the spotlight, for ice fishermen on the lakes of Southern Michigan; these palatable fish have converted many an erstwhile fireside sitter into a hardy winter angler. Bluegills are caught With worms, grubs, wigglers and ice flies, and demand progressive skills in the order named. Far from being a noble experiment, ice flies in the hands of an expert are are real killers and anglers who have learned to use them will have nothing else. Perhaps the mainstay of the ice fishing season is the striped perch. Coming out of cold water as it does, this fish is deservedly given first place for eating.

Live minnows are the best bait, although on Lake St. Clair it is legal to spear them, without a light. On Saginaw Bay, Russian hooks are favorite lures and one has to be quick on the line to bring up the wary fish. On the west side of the state, perch fishing centers are at Black Lake, Muskegon Lake, White Lake, and as far north as Grand Traverse Bay, which has the reputation for yielding the largest perch along the west shore. Lake Trout Preferred Farther north, in Lake Char levoix, Elk Lake, the Straits of Mackinaw and the shores of Lake Superior, lake trout is the favorite quarry of winter fishermen.

Here anglers bob or chug for trout in water as deep as 100 feet. Herring are often used for bait and a heavy sinker carries the bait beneath the ice. In a few places, lake trout are taken with a spear, where the water is not mora than 20 or 30 feet deep. Almost every lake of any size has its complement of dark houses or fishing shanties, sometimes called coops. These may be used for hook and line fishing as a shelter from the winter winds, but more often, they are used by silent and solitary spearmen who sit hour after hour dangling their wooden decoys with one hand as tney are reaay to drive a spear with the other.

Their prey is the great northern pike. It 'is in the winter, usually, that the largest pike are taken. Villages Spring Up On Crystal Lake, near Beulah and at Boyne City, large villages of fishing coops will spring up about the middle of January or early February, depending upon how soon the ice becomes safe. These villages attract thousands of perch and smelt Since smelt bite best at night, activity there begins with the setting of the sun. When both perch and smelt are biting well the colony may overflow the accommodations of the shanties, and then it is that groups of fishermen huddle on the ice, sometimes warming themselves near a fire.

These men often erect wind shelters by hanging blankets over poles, a procedure which might well be followed elswhere in the interest of comfort. There are a few tips for the tyro ice fisherman: Take along plenty of clothes, for the wind is never sharper than when it blows across an ice covered lake. Wear large shoes with plenty of heavy socks. Cold feet are a nuisance. Take enough food with you, and enough hot coffee' in a good Thermos bottle to warm up your innards.

If you are in a spot where you can build a fire, the old black tea pail can yield a potent brew, every whit as effective an coffee to keep you thawed out. must come through the Federal Mr. Pough tame to Detroit to assist conservation officer i survey on request of Conservation commissioner ur. Alexander Blain, of Detroit, and the Detroit Audubon Society. The survey was made by Officers Everett Tucker Frank McClellan and Fred Eck-hout.

Among the feathers found in De-troit shops were those of the foi-lowing birds: Crested screamer and rhea of Argentine, great bustard of Europe and Asia, capercailzie gray hen of Europe;" Andian con dor, bearded vulture, griffin vul-ture, golden eagle, maribou stork of India and Africa, pelican eagle owl of Europe, great horned owl, startling, albatross sooty tem, of which not only wings were found, but also whole heads; In-dian king hunter, rough-legged hawk, osprey, falcated teal of Asia; the Aryan, copper, Lady Amherst, Reeves and silver nhen. ants, peacock, swan, magpie, snowy owi ana ptarmigan. "It was interesting to note that many establishments said these feathers were some they had on hand for 20 years or more when the Federal Import Act became effective," Pough said. The new style trend for feathers brought them out. He believes that many of these feathers came into the country illegally and that if women generally knew of the bird slaughter necessary to supply them, they would refuse to buy them.

Sportsmen's Calendar Jan. 20 West Wayne County Conservation Association will meet at 8 p. m. in the Mayflower Hotel. Coach Clarence Munn, U.

of M. line coach, will talk and show pictures of moose in Canada. Jan. 20 Ingham County Conservation League meets at 6:30 p. m.

at the Union Building in East Lansing. "Newago Newt," of White Cloud, will speak. Jan. 24 Sportsmen's Recreation Club, social night and fifth birthday party at the Twelve-Sportsmen Club, Erskine and Brush. S.

L. Jordan, of Detroit, president. Jan. 25, 26 Second annual wild cat hunt, sponsored by the Alpena Sportsmen's Club, near Alpena. Jan.

27 Detroit Audubon Club meets at the Cranbrook Institute of Science Museum in Bloomfleld Hills at 8 p. m. Dr. Robert T. Hatt, director of the Museum, speaks on "Bird Islands of Lake Michigan." Poster Campaign to Close Feb.

5 "The safety poster campaign of the Detroit Sportsmens Congress will close Feb. 6," announces A. L. Jayne, of Detroit, chairman of the safety, committee. Although hundreds of entries have already been received, Jayne urges everyone with artistic ability to enter a poster.

'The appalling toll of 30 deaths from gun shot wounds in the Inst hunting season should be an incentive to everybody to submit either a sketch or a slogan that will bring out the lesson of Die safe use of firearms," he said. The contest is open to everyone, whether members of the congress or not. First prize will be a .22 rifle, second prize a rod and reel and third prize a camp stove. The winning poster will be used next fall by members of the congress for posting in hunting areas. Fire Towers Keep Blazes Under Control Less than one acre of each thousand acres in Michigan which are watched by the eyes in the fire towers are damaged each year by flames, according to the latest report of the Conservation Department.

There were 889 fires in 1940, which burned 17,388 acres. This is the least number of fires in 16 years. K7 h.vt I 81 kivi 25 fi Mr 99 kiyi 10 urn 1135 tin 81 aitu rlvir (324 Ian all I'U Irmt Oiir 24ih Anmial Lint iut form of beautifully iliuitratfd booklet, ijFK-rlbn the hov and many other tfwM prupcrtin cf fired Tax Sale prlw- amount quoted th full pri ankM, iwr-fi-rt title, no mortsa. BeauliluHy hunting and fisliinir 'smp 1 is r'l upon, pumrapr ootia hesvIlT tvonded Now 1 th nn' to wwrt in wmertlt. and f.nnis.

Small monlul.v Hon'tdHnY. WKITB TOI)A tot fRKK BOOKLET ndttl lull TAX SALE SERVICE 00M 80S. 72 SU 700.11. C'? r- "When you have a deer hqrd of that size," I wrote, "one does not have, to worry much about the bucks that are killed. Fact is, we don't shoot enough of them for the good of the herd.

Some day, I hope to be able to come out and hunt where you stalk and smell your game. But until I can do this in wilderness country like yours, I prefer to remain in the land of the living and hide back of a tree stump on a runway!" Then came DeForest's answer: "It was nice of you to write me concerning my letter and deer hunting In your state. Perhaps you are right, but even so, If and when It becomes necessary for me to assassinate a deer or elk or put bait on a hook to get fish, I'll go without them. "One thing In your letter interests me. You say you hope you Then he scoops out surplus ice from the hole so he will not have interference between his bait and hook.

might be able sometime to get out a real idea. We have several outfits we rough it and the expense is not have something to look forward to, Isle Exhibit Pool here 4 i i 5 r' 0 pS, i I 1 A r' 1 1 4 w. I I j' 1 I I I I I Well, maybe they're not exactly visiting it, but they're there. The picture shows the first contribution from the Detroit Sportsmen's Congress being made to the permanent educational on ducks at Belle Isle. Releasing the ducks into the pool art, left to right, Charles A.

Lorenzo, Lloyd Eagan, A. L. Hayes and Dr. F. Solmes, all of Detroit and members of the cuck-pond committee.

This is the result. Brick insists that ice-caught like this are about the tops in eating..