THE I1NTEMOR 
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF 
BUREAU OF BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 
Des Laos Refuge 
IN ReLY REFER TO             Kenmare, North Dakota 
September 27, 1939 
Mr. F. N. Hamerstrom, Jr. 
Division of Wildlife -anagement 
424 University Farm Place 
University of Wisconsin 
Madison, 'Wisconsin. 
Dear Mr. Haerstromi 
At last I am answering your letter of August 9, 1939 
regarding my Sharp-tailed Grouse banding. 
You most certainly have my permission to include any- 
thing which you see fit pertaining to my Grouse trapping. 
As I feel that I have only dabbled experimentally so far, I 
do not intend to publish anything until after I see what 
I really can do this winter in the way of Grouse trapping. 
I do not know just what Mr. Salyer did or didn't 
write to Professor Leopold, so I will try to tell you briefly 
the full story on our trapping here the past two winters. 
During the latter part of February, 1938, we had a large 
concentration of Sharp-tails feeding at a shelter on the 
Lostwood Refuge. The shelter, incidentally, was nothing 
but an ordinary lean-to type built out of rough, salvaged 
lumber. It was not covered with thatch, or in anyway camou- 
I flaged. The birds were feeding from a hopper placed in- 
side. 
To trap these birds, we blocked the escape holes and 
constructed a simple flat frame the size of the front of the 
shelter. On this we tacked No. 19, 10 inch mesh poultry 
wire. In the center we made a crude funnel, and to one side 
a door by which we could enter. 
Unfortunately, the spring thaw occurred unusually 
early, Feb. 26th. However, we began trapping on Feb. 28th 
and trapped intermittently until March 15 when all the birds 
had ceased feeding in the shelters. In the two weeks, how- 
ever, we trapped 35 and had several repeats. 
Last winter I was away on leave from December 16 to 
February Ist, making a flying tour of the refuges from New