The Outdoor Week

Such an isolated moose head is what a crew of Great Lakes Fisheries researchers stumbled across while working in a marsh near Geraldton, Ontario recently. Some of the crewmen had seen moose heads sans moose after the autumn hunting or following an attack by wolves, so they weren't too startled. That is, not until the moose head's ears commenced a plaintive wiggle. Further research by the researchers revealed that there is, indeed, often more moose than meets the eye. Beneath the boggy ground a moose's body languished.

The crew lassoed the beast but was unable to pull it free. It was not until several passing motorists were pressed into service that the big fellow was finally hauled to the surface, thoroughly damp but apparently none the worse for having been bogged down.

A few minutes later the moose, head and body, got to its feet and wobbled off toward firmer footing.

ALMOST TWENTY-NINE
The United States has 28 national parks, including all types of terrain and ranging in size from tiny Piatt National Park in Oklahoma, 912 acres, to enormous Yellowstone covering more than 2 million acres in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. But, the Senate willing, No. 29 may soon be a lush, tropical reality, 1,400 miles south of New York in the Caribbean Sea. Since 1954, with funds donated by Laurance S. Rockefeller, Jackson Hole Preserve, Inc. (a Rockefeller-inspired organization which is largely responsible for Grand Teton National Park) has been buying land on lovely St. John Island, discovered and named by one Christopher Columbus when he touched at the Virgin Islands in 1493. Five thousand acres of 19-square-mile St. John, only a few miles from touristically famed St. Thomas, has already been acquired, and the total may reach 9,500 acres. All of it has been offered as a national park to the government. The House has voted acceptance. It is hoped the Senate will follow suit before adjournment.

BUSY

Those who are inclined to take a dolefully fatalistic view of America's conservationist future can derive more than small comfort from the accomplishments of Explorer Scout Troop 29 of Leland, Michigan.

Since 1950 Troop 29, 51 Explorers strong, has planted 411,500 game cover seedlings and evergreens for sportsmen and soil conservationists. During 1954 it constructed and now patrols 140 wood duck-nesting boxes, 75% of which are duck inhabited. In the Solon Creek watershed it has placed 37 tons of rock stream deflectors and in Lake Leelanau installed 40 bass spawning boxes. The troop has shown conservation films to 11,000 people and all in all carried on 192 consecutive weeks of conservation work. Current projects include the construction of more bass boxes, a grouse census, erosion control and the acceptance of a multitude of conservation awards. So far this year Troop 29 has been cited for the Annual Youth Achievement Award of Parents Magazine and the Percy Hoffmaster Award of the Michigan United Conservation Clubs (60,000 members). Four troop members have been cited for William T. Hornaday Awards, and Scoutmaster William Pritchard, a 47-year-old Traverse City helicopter-blade designer, has been presented with the Michigan Outdoor Writers' Association Award as the state's outstanding conservationist. And, to cap what is already an unusually impressive record, Ted Pettit, chairman of the Conservation Committee of the Boy Scouts National Council, has named Troop 29 the "outstanding scout troop in the world of conservation."

FISHERMAN'S CALENDAR

SO—season opened (or opens); SC—Season closed (or closes). C—clear water; D—water dirty or roily; M—water muddy. N—water at normal height; SH—slightly high; H—high; VH—very high; L—low; R—rising; F—falling.
WT50—water temperature 50�.
FG—fishing good; FF—fishing fair; FP—fishing poor; OVG—outlook very good; OG—outlook good; OF—outlook fair; OP—outlook poor

STEELHEAD: OREGON: Steelhead zooming up Columbia River and OVG on sand bars near Rainier as many anglers are taking limits to 15 pounds on cherry bobbers.