Several teal hunters professed confusion last week about those new steel shot regulations.
The guess is that half of those at private clubs in the Illinois and Mississippi valleys arrived with lead shot, feigning ignorance.
Funny, there was no confusion at Rice Lake, the public hunting area. Not a single soul had to be rejected for bearing lead shot.
So far, I haven`t heard if anyone was cited by conservation police for using illegal shot. Chances are, the conservation cops were lenient this time, considering such short notice.
But don`t expect a grace period during the regular waterfowl season. A lot of folks who comply with the law by buying that expensive steel are not going to grin like wimps at cheaters who sneak around with lead.
And if the conservation cops don`t do their job, there are some who`ll raise heck. You may not like steel, but you`re stuck with it in certain counties right now. Eventually, the whole state may be forced to comply with the lead of other states.
We probably shouldn`t be pumping lead into our waters, anyway.
P.S.: None of us at Snicarte Island who used steel felt much of a difference. We hit and missed ducks just as readily.
— How times change: Word comes that Floyd ”Jake” Kringer has turned down the new state wildlife chief`s job on medical advice. Just three years ago, this enormously respected biologist from Vandalia was on the previous Department of Conservation administration`s ”hit list” for political transgressions. . . . Chinook snagging has begun in Diversey and Montrose harbors. . . . Draining began Wednesday at the state`s fish farm to transplant thousands of 6- to 8-inch muskies in the Chain O`Lakes. . . . Another 600 walleyes and 100 muskies up to 16 inches went into Loon Lake on Tuesday, courtesy of a local sportsmen`s organization.
— Tagged trout: Rich Hess, the DOC`s Lake Michigan biologist, is asking fishermen to baby some 25,000 tagged rainbow trout he released last month in Diversey Harbor. Hess said he hopes to study growth rates, ages, movements in the lake and the trout`s contributions to Illinois anglers. Fishermen are asked to mail the orange tag from the area near the dorsal fin to the address listed and include a return address. A form will follow, seeking specific information. Hess begs anglers not to be greedy. The tagged fish currently are only 6 inches long. Trout are not legal catches until they reach 10 inches. He`ll need that kind of growth for the survey to be effective. ”What I`m really worried about is if a lot of perch fishermen take these little trout on small jigs and maggot-type set-ups,” Hess said. ”It would be nice if they would please take them off the hook gently and release them if they are alive.”
— Catfish galore: Our note on that 9-pound catfish caught 11 miles offshore in Lake Michigan was no surprise to some anglers who periodically take cats near the Cook nuclear plant in Indiana. One haul included 15 cats averaging 9 pounds on crayfish after a couple of hot rainy days. . . . Those Rock River channel cats are going wild below the riffles. Experts are taking 10 to 15 nice fish at a crack, then moving 20 yards in the same riffle and taking just as many there. The catfish are riffling by the thousands.
— An Indiana-record skamania steelhead was taken a week ago by Bobby Owens of Steger, Ill., at Burns Harbor. His prize fish weighed 25.3 pounds and came as an extra surprise. He thought he`d caught a chinook in that Salmon Unlimited tourney at Portage, Ind. . . . The tourney, by the way, has had trouble with Chicago nudniks who run their yellow birds close to shore, tangling lines from other boats. ”These guys give themselves a reach of 200 feet and then they go through a pack of 200 boats expecting everyone to give them the right of way,” complained Gary outdoors writer Jack Parry. ”Those yellow birds are great in open water, but close to shore they`re creating problems. A lot of guys are getting hard feelings. It`s getting to be a real disaster.” We assured Jack there would be no repercussions here if our Indiana pals went ahead and torpedoed the turkeys.
— A fall prediction: Tree trimmer Earnie Richardson of Downstate Kilbourne predicts a superb woodland and upland hunting season because he is seeing squirrels and rabbits having their third hatches of the year. But another problem has him fearful. He has seen hundreds of hickory trees inexplicably die in the Illinois Valley south of Havana. If anyone has an explanation, please let us know.
— A 40-foot fish tank stocked with various species is helping teach viewers at the Chicagoland and Midwestern States Hunting and Outdoor Show how to lure bass and panfish. The show, at the Kane County Fairgrounds in St. Charles, winds up Sunday. Call 741-8993. . . . The Palos Gun Club will try to lure new members with a ”chicken shoot” Sept. 21-22. Call 448-1033. . . . Fish experts from several states will attend Gov. James Thompson`s Lake Michigan conference Sept. 26-27 at the Ambassador West. . . . The Southern Illinois-Carbondale fisheries research laboratory is searching for a replacement for director Robert R. Stickney, who left for the University of Washington.
— Hearing footsteps? When Jack Walker dials, hunters listen. The Danville appliance dealer has become Ducks Unlimited`s chairman for lifetime sponsors for the 14 Mississippi Flyway states. That puts him in charge of raising $10,000 donations. ”I`ve never had a guy get upset because I asked him for $10,000,” Walker said. ”Mostly, they`re flattered that I thought they had that kind of money.” His stated goal is 86 lifetime members in 1986, but he`s really after 100. ”I think $1 million is a nicer number,” he said. Walker deserves the job. He`s sold 29 lifetime memberships in the last two years, 22 in Illinois.
— Elsewhere: Kentucky`s squirrel season opened with a slight increase in hunter success rate, despite the fact that the best shooting lies ahead. . . . Lake Okeechobee, Florida`s bass mecca, reports a harvest of 1 million fish for the first time since the lakewide creel census was taken in 1977. The total was 1.3 million bass, crappie and bluegills. . . . A Coast Guard study shows that four out of five boats swamped were improperly anchored at the stern. . . . Some 22,000 applicants sought Minnesota`s 1,068 moose permits this fall. . . . Mice and bears are harassing campers unusually hard this time of year in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. . . . The fall colors have begun in upper Minn
