So far, more than 16,000 sandhill cranes have stopped at Indiana`s Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife area near Medaryville during their migration south. That is an increase of 3,000 from last year. This week about 7,000 remain. A record number of bird watchers-about 37,000-also has turned out. The birds usually remain until early December, with best viewing between sunrise and 9 a.m. and after 4 p.m. Officials think the larger numbers of birds are due to sparser habitat elsewhere as a result of the drought. The preserve, northwest of Medaryville on Ind. Hwy. 143, is open from 5:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
– Preliminary figures indicate that Wisconsin`s gun-deer season may be one of the safest on record. Only 20 firearm injuries and two shooting deaths were reported by the Department of Natural Resources early this week. Last year, there were seven shooting deaths and 46 gun-related injuries.
Both deaths were in Barron County on Friday afternoon and involved victims-one a nonhunter-who were hit by stray bullets. The incidents were reported within 10 minutes of one another and occurred about 30 miles apart. A rural Rice Lake physician, Lester A. Thompson, 48, was shot and killed while driving on Wis. Hwy. 48 about 2 1/2 miles south of Mikana. Preliminary tests indicate the stray bullet traveled 1,500 feet. In the other case, a 32-year-old Almena man, Steven L. Hanson, was shot in the chest by a hunting companion during a deer drive west of Barron.
Meanwhile, officials speculated that Wisconsin`s deer kill may fall short of the preseason estimate of 270,000 because to poor hunting weather throughout much of the state during the nine-day season that ended Sunday. A tally will not be available for several days.
– Johns Hopkins University scientists in Baltimore say a device that releases lime into streams to combat the effect of acid rain appears to be reducing acidity for two to three miles downstream. They still don`t know, however, whether more fish eggs will survive.
The testing was done last spring as an extension of work in the Northeast and Canada, where government officials have fought acid rain by liming acidic lakes. But running water requires a new technology. The liming device is called a lime doser, a large, round concrete structure that perches on the edge of a stream. During a rainfall, the doser sends measured amounts of a calcium mixture into the stream, making the stream more hospitable for fish.
