The Special Youth Deer Hunting Season was set for this past weekend, Sept. 25-26. Last year’s youth weekend harvest was 1,687; it was a record, according to deer biologist Chad Stewart, who said this probably coincided with increasing the age restriction from under 16 to under 18.

Last year, 85 percent of the youth season harvest was female deer, with the remaining 15 percent being button bucks.

The first youth season was in 2006. The seasons have been exclusively for antlerless only, until this year’s. Youth season typically accounts for about 1 percent of the season’s total harvest.
Youth hunters could take either a buck or a doe; if a buck was taken, it was the only buck the youth hunter can take during the year, except in an urban deer zone. A doe would be in addition to all other antlerless deer taken in the regular seasons.

Indiana’s Deer Archery Season starts Oct. 1 and runs through Nov. 28, and several major changes will be in effect during the season. These changes allow archery equipment and firearms to be loaded, or capable of being fired, before and after lawful shooting hours.
New changes allow legal archery equipment and a firearm to be possessed during the firearms season, as long as the person possesses both archery and a firearms license. They also allow legal archery equipment and a muzzleloader to be possessed during the muzzleloader season, as long as the person possesses both archery and a muzzleloader license.

Crossbows can be used only in the late archery season (Dec. 4–Jan. 2, 2011), unless the hunter has a special disability permit.

Urban Deer Zones have undergone some change as well for the 2010 deer seasons. Changes allow archery, extra archery or bonus antlerless licenses to be used to hunt deer in an urban deer zone.
The city of Warsaw is now an urban deer zone in Kosciusko County.
A hunter can take four antlerless deer (one per license) or three antlerless deer and one antlered deer (one per license) in an urban deer zone. The limits are in addition to the bonus county quotas and other season bag limits.

Federal grant for assessing Indiana prehistoric earthworks

Indiana has received a federal matching grant of $180,454 to compile existing information from numerous sources on more than 1,000 prehistoric mound and earthwork archaeological sites throughout the state.

The earthen structures were constructed for ritual and ceremonial purposes by indigenous peoples roughly from 4000 B.C. to 1650 A.D. Despite their size, they are very fragile and highly endangered cultural resources that have been diminished, damaged and even destroyed by erosion, agricultural practices, looting and development.

Earthworks take a variety of forms, most notably “mounds” or piles of earth, and “enclosures,” often round or rectangular mounded banks enclosing a large central space. Many enclosures range from 100-400 feet across.

Earthworks may exist in close proximity to each other in groupings or “complexes,” such as at Angel Mounds State Historic Site near Evansville, or they may appear as solitary features on the landscape. Earthworks were the first type of archaeological site recognized in Indiana, and they have been studied for nearly 200 years.

Information about Indiana’s prehistoric earthworks exists in a variety of forms, including historic sketches, maps and notes by vocational archaeologists, historic photographs, geological surveys, books, newspaper clippings, aerial photographs and site forms and technical reports resulting from formal archaeological surveys and investigations.

The records reside in a wide variety of locations, including various state agencies, libraries and archives, university repositories and vocational archaeology groups.

The main goal of the grant project is to compile as much information as possible about Indiana’s mounds and earthworks in a central research database maintained by the Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology. The research database will be available to qualified professional archaeologists.

“Gathering this vast body of archaeological information in one place will aid the study of prehistoric earthworks and increase our understanding, and enhance our ability to protect and preserve these irreplaceable cultural resources,” said Robert E. Carter Jr., Indiana’s state historic preservation officer and director of the DNR.
After compiling the information into a database, researchers will prepare a technical report summarizing the extent of earthworks in each county, prioritize recommendations for further study and identify sites possibly eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.

Researchers will also create a website to educate the public about the resources. The website will promote earthworks on public lands to visit, such as Mounds State Park near Anderson.

The grant from the Preserve America Program was provided by the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology.

CCC reunion scheduled
for McCormick’s Creek

Today’s generation probably knows little of the CCC, known formally as the Civilian Conservation Corps.

The men comprising the social works effort prior to World War II built many of the structures we have today in Indiana parks. As a token of respect, veterans of the CCC will be honored at McCormick’s Creek State Park on Oct. 9 with an Indiana statewide reunion.

The day’s events will take place from 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m. at the park’s nature center and the Beech Grove shelter house. CCC veterans and their families are invited for all activities at the park’s nature center. A picnic lunch will be served at noon at the shelter house, followed by a reunion photograph. CCC veterans will receive a free lunch; family member cost is $5 per person.

Reservations for the lunch must be made by Sept. 29. For information on the reunion, or to register a CCC veteran for the event, contact Vicki Basman, chief of interpretation, at 317-690-6566 or e-mail vbasman@dnr.IN.gov

Attendance is free; however, the usual state park daily weekend gate fee of $5 per in-state or $7 for out-of-state vehicle applies.
 
The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Jack Spaulding may contact him by e-mail at jackspaulding@hughes.net or by writing to him in care of this publication.