Pilot-biologist Glahn and I flew the weeklt aerial census of the
Sacramento Valley> Totals for the Sacramento, Colusa and Sutter Refuges
were 266,500 geese and l,520,000 ducks. Among the ducks on the refuges
were: Mallard 255,000, Pintail 730,000, Wigeon 5l5,000, Green-winged
Teal 30,000 and Shoveler 2l,500. Among the geese were Snows l50,000,
White-fronted l29,000, Cackling 40,000, Canadas of other races l,600 and
Ross 950. We flew over the Bean Patch which was a privately owned gun
club of about 580 acres and counted about l,400,000 ducks, mostly
dabblers, for an overall total figre of 2,920,000 ducks. Oops! I forgot
to mention this was on Dec.26, l959. Oh, to be young, bright-eyed and
bushy-tailed again. To be young, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.Oh, dem
was de days. D-d smart aleck! To add a bit more levity and lighten youse
grim and serious people up, in dose days we in the Coot and Carp Service
(U.S. Fish and Wildlife) would call our enforcement people Katfish Kops
or Rabbit Sheriffs, the wildlife biologists Science Fiction Writers, the
old Predator and Rodent Control as Gopher Chokers or Rat Stranglers.
It's a poor person that can't laugh at himself a time or two. Eugene
Kridler, Squirm, Wa.