Search

The article focuses on Hidden Valley Downs, a bush racetrack in Kansas which was owned and developed by Bill Rowland. It states that horsemen can race at Hidden Valley Downs without being restricted by rules and regulations from state commissions. Rowland developed the place by digging six ponds, creating riding trails, and establishing a homemade zoo for the kids. He also bought saddle horses and placed whitewashed benches under the trees. Directions on how to get there are also provided.

The article features car racer John Mecom. Mecom has successfully built the best racing cars in the U.S. and is planning to convert his family ranch in Texas into a land-based Noah's Ark filled with African wildlife. Mecom's interest in speed racing started 10 years ago using his own Chevrolet Corvette. A brief description of Mecom's personal and career highlights in sports racing is presented.

The article features Flatonia, Texas-based cattleman Earl Needham, who is also a wolf hunter. It presents the wolf specie called red wolf or Canis niger, which can be found in several U.S. states, including Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. The specie is a favorite for wolf hunters like Needham. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Hinton Bridgewater explained how they set up traps to capture the wolves.

The article features Anticosti Island in Canada as the best spot for deer hunting. It provides a historical background of the island, its early explorers and inhabitants, and developments effected by French businessman Henri Menier in the 1890's including the importation of deer and other animals. It explains why the deer thrived and increased exponentially, and how the island was formed during prehistoric times. The author's experience of beach stalk is described and information on traveling, lodging, and hunting requirements there are included.

The article presents information on the Great Dismal Swamp of North Carolina and Virginia, and its condition as of November 1962. The swamp was used by author Harriet Beecher Stowe as a setting of her book "Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp." The plans of converting the swamp into a farmland began during the administration of former U.S. President George Washington.

The article provides information on Belize or British Honduras, a travel destination located at the northernmost part of Central America. It says that people can get to Belize via the small Salvadorian airline Taca, which flies BAC One-Eleven jets and older propeller planes. According to the author, the place features thick green vegetation, black water canals and dark swamps. The historical background, the national language and the population of the country are also presented.

The article talks about the investigation of naturalist and biologist Dr. Alfred Etter into the U.S. federal poisoning program. Etter studied the poisoning policies of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Colorado and discovered violations such as the unauthorized placement of poison baits and cyanide guns on lands of the Bureau of Land Management, failure to post warning signs, and unauthorized placement of guns on recreational land. It also looks into the justifications of predator control by federal employees.

The article stresses the need to eliminate myths and legends central to the poisoning of rangelands and wildlife in the Western part of the U.S., including the idea that predators will outlive humans. Citizens have shown concern about endangered species and the saturation of their habitats. Scientists opposing the toxification of the West claim that the problem of predator loss is magnified by the attacks to wild animals. Naturalist Alfred Etter believes that there would be less destructive predation if wildlife were left to nature's own system.

The article investigates the implications of poisoning and programs of extermination throughout the Western half of the U.S. for wildlife and man. Deaths of animals and men have been recorded caused by sodium fluoroacetate, or 1080, the poisonous chemical used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's death squads. Legal and illegal poisoning have reduced the number of wild animals and endangered species. While Americans show concern to ecology and warnings of the dangers of poisoning have been issued, the distribution and manufacturing of 1080 continues.

The article discusses the dangers of using snowmobiles irresponsibly during winter. Examples of snowmobile-related accidents are cited, including the death of the wife of Quebec's Minister of Highways in the winter of 1970 when she was hit by a truck and two snowmobiles that were crushed by a freight train near Stratford, New Hampshire. Snowmobiles have been banned from the public way in most states due to the high rate of collisions with cars and trucks. Maine government figures show that snowmobiling is more dangerous than hunting.