Passage 2
A great horned owl hoots across the quiet water-and then
glides through the stand of bald cypress along the eastern side of the swamp.
Whip-poor-wills call; bullfrogs croak; mosquitoes hum. Darkness creeps across
the swamp. (71) Offering a different set of treats every
season, the refuge attracts a wide variety of visitors during the hunting
season, during the fishing season, and during the bird-watching season.
(72) Canada geese far outnumber other waterfowl, but
snow geese, blue geese, and occasionally white-fronted geese winter there, too.
Nearly every variety of duck, diver and puddle, reside in the quiet, smaller
sloughs. As a result, the swamp attracts hunters in ’early winter, goose hunters
to the pits and duck hunters to the blinds. The hunters’ closely regulated
success is the result of hundreds of acres of corn left standing by Pose County
farmers, who rent the rich bottom land between the lake and the river by sealed
bid. The farmers’ contract requires them to leave 25% of the harvest as food for
the thousands of waterfowl, encouraging them to stay. The encouragement works,
much to the hunters’ delight. (73) Attracted by
the spring crappie run, fishermen haul in hefty stringers of slabs and return to
fish for bluegill. Evening campfires turn skillets full of fresh fillets
into plates full of succulent morsels. Then sunrise sends the bass fishermen
scurrying to secret waters, some to return with empty bags. One fisherman,
however, boats three, one weighing in at 8 pounds 2 ounces. Later in the day, a
few trotlines yield spoonbill catfish, those prehistoric monsters weighing 30
pounds or more as long as a man is tall. In late afternoon or early
evening, a jug fisherman occasionally bags perch, catfish, or even a wily gar,
long, slender, and sharp-toothed. Spring moves auto summer, and summer moves
into autumn. (74) Boasting none of the
amenities of modern campgrounds, Hovey Lake nevertheless attracts 90, 000
visitors a year, visitors who hunt and fish and watch the birds. (75)
They hear the owls, the whip-poor-wills, the frogs, even the
mosquitoes, and know that in the chain of this uncommon swamp life, every link
must stay intact.
A. They come to appreciate the swamp for what it is, a precious ecological
system struggling to survive man’s intrusion.
B. In spring, however, the fishermen replace the hunters on Hovey Lake
waters.
C. Only then, when the lake is closed for waterfowl migration, do the
fishermen leave.
D. Because the swamp is situated along the Mississippi flyway, it offers
refuge to 40, 000 to 50, 000 waterfowl each winter.
E. Indiana’s cypress swamp, protected as a wildlife refuge, greets visitors
with night sounds common to the uncommon 1,400-acre environment. F.
The most experienced hunters and fishermen at Hovey Lake, however, are not
human.