Everything living thing has an internal clock of some sort that helps regulate its life. My internal clock is very reliable as it relates to getting me up in the morning. I have an alarm clock by my bed like most everyone does, but I rarely have to use it. It seems I can just decide in my mind when I want to awaken and when that time rolls around, I awaken. We put our two little dogs to bed about ten PM every night and they also get a treat then. Their internal clock often tells them when it’s time for a snack, as they begin to stir and whine about that time every night, and you can nearly set your watch by it.

Wildlife has different worries in life which are all about survival, like when to begin growing their heavy winter coats or when to begin breeding to sustain their species. All studies and research say that those things are dictated by the amount of daylight in a day, technically known as photo-period. So as the days get shorter and thus the amount of daylight becomes less, it triggers changes in wildlife.

In deer, shortening days and reduced amount of daylight triggers the breeding season known to us as “the rut.” I spoke with the Big Game Coordinator for the state of Kansas, Lloyd Fox who explained to me how increased amount of darkness each day causes increased production of certain hormones in a deer’s body and thus the bodies of both male and female deer prepare for the breeding season. He also pointed out that moon signs and other factors may bring about increased deer activity and changes of behavior, but it is all ultimately controlled by the length of days (photo-period.) As a side note here, have you ever wondered why deer and all wildlife for that matter have their young in the spring and not fall, early winter or even year-round like some domestic livestock? God has programmed their bodies to react the way they do so all wildlife young are born in spring when everything in nature gives them the absolute best chance of survival.

Furbearers are also affected by decreased amount of daylight. Matt Peek, Furbearer Biologist for the state of Kansas explained to me how the photo period dictates when a fur bearer’s pelt becomes “prime.” Fur bearing animals grow an extra-thick, heavy coat to protect them from winter blasts, and when that coat is at its absolute fullest and best for fur harvesting it is called “prime.” Decreasing amounts of daylight initiates that growth. It could be sixty-five degrees clear into December, but the animals’ fur still grows and becomes prime in anticipation of the cold, no matter when it comes, so that the critters are prepared. Fur from different parts of the country varies vastly in quality, as fur from Idaho for example will always be thicker and more luxurious than fur from Florida. But no matter where a fur bearing animal lives, their fur still becomes prime and the timing of that is dictated by the amount of daylight.

I hate the bi-annual time changes; I wish we would just choose one or the other (I really don’t care which one) and then just leave it alone! But this year as I was scurrying around resetting the clocks on the microwave, etc. and knowing full well I’ll have to do it again come spring, I stopped for a moment and considered how the wild critters clocks just kinda’ reset themselves thanks to the wisdom of our Creator. Continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors!

Steve Gilliland, Inman, can be contacted by email at [email protected].

When news stories are filled with the evil that people do, it’s easy to get depressed. Add normal life struggles, and a person can get so downhearted to never want to crawl out of bed in the morning. When bad weighs heavy, I recollect family stories that remind me I come from sturdy stock, where wimping out wasn’t an ancestral option.

This particular line started as religious dissenters in England who survived rolling Atlantic waves in the hull of a dark ship that landed them near Plymouth, Massachusetts. After several generations as Americans, this group left New England to start a brick factory in Ontario, Canada. Along with changing nationalities, they switched religious preferences to Methodism.

As followers of Wesley, they migrated to Northwest Kansas in 1873. My 3x great grandfather finally answered the call to preach and found himself riding or walking waterways that drain this region. He knew the Sappa, Prairie Dog, Bow Creek, North and South Solomon, Republican and others like the back of his hand.

After his retirement, the Methodist Conference asked him to record the story he titled Forty Years on the Firing Line. The original copy was handwritten on Big Chief tablets. About 60 years after he recorded it, my mom transcribed and typed it into a legible document. Between his handwriting as well as inconsistent spelling and punctuation, she labored for months. Fortunately, she recalled she too descended from sturdy stock and persisted until she had a document that gave family members and historians a sense of early Kansas settlers’ lives.

When I read this, I wish he’d included more details. However, a much longer document might’ve deterred the editing and typing required to make it readable. He opens with, “So I have hurriedly written largely from memory, making many mistakes, leaving out much that might have proved interesting. . . . I plead for pardon for all that I have failed in. I pray that our young men in the ministry of Jesus Christ—will not—complain nor murmur, but go where they are sent in Jesus name.”

That statement reminds me that around 150 years ago, Grandpa came to preach on the American frontier. Yes, the place I call home and consider modern and comfortable was a mysterious, unsettled land. Ill health had driven him from frigid Canada to Kansas. His father and 13 other family members joined this trek to homestead in Norton Co. He mentions they arrived on November 3, 1873 and were 128 miles from Lowell, Nebraska, their nearest trading center.

Thinking about Kansas Novembers I’ve weathered, his comment that “We were delighted with the country and especially with the climate,” surprised me. He continued with, “I believe it added years to the life of my parents and my wife who the doctor said would not live to get to Kansas and our boy 2 years and 3 months old, that weighed only 17 pounds whom the doctor said could not live is still alive and the largest man of the family.”

Over the next few months, I’ll share more of his experiences. His stories remind us western Kansans come from determined, capable gene pools. As descendants, we continue to make our communities fine places to live and raise families.

Native Kansan Karen Madorin is a local writer and retired teacher who loves sharing stories about places, people, critters, plants, food, and history of the High Plains.

Can mental health status screen out potential mass shooters? The National Institute of Mental Health
keeps nationwide statistics that are the basis for the data provided by the National Alliance on Mental Health website that summarizes the state of our nation’s mental health.

Approximately one in six adults in the U.S. “…43.8 million, or 18.5%—experiences mental illness in a given year.

“Approximately 1 in 25 adults in the U.S.—9.8 million, or 4.0%—experiences a serious mental
illness in a given year that substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities.

“Approximately 1 in 5 youth aged 13–18 (21.4%) experiences a severe mental disorder at some point
during their life. For children aged 8–15, the estimate is 13%.”

“1.1% of adults in the U.S. live with schizophrenia.
2.6% of adults in the U.S. live with bipolar disorder.
6.9% of adults in the U.S.—16 million—had at least one major depressive episode in the past year.
18.1% of adults in the U.S. experienced an anxiety disorder such as posttraumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and specific phobias.

Among the 20.2 million adults in the U.S. who experienced a substance use disorder, 50.5%—10.2
million adults—had a co-occurring mental illness.”

NAMH analyzed the data for social factors and found: “An estimated 26% of homeless adults staying
in shelters live with serious mental illness and an estimated 46% live with severe mental illness and/or substance use disorders.

Approximately 20% of state prisoners and 21% of local jail prisoners have “a recent history” of a mental health condition.

70% of youth in juvenile justice systems have at least one mental health condition and at least 20% live with a serious mental illness.

Only 41% of adults in the U.S. with a mental health condition received mental health services in the past year. Among adults with a serious mental illness, 62.9% received mental health services in the past year.
Just over half (50.6%) of children aged 8-15 received mental health services in the previous year….
Half of all chronic mental illness begins by age 14; three-quarters by age 24. Despite effective
treatment, there are long delays—sometimes decades—between the first appearance of symptoms and when people get help.”

These numbers are huge. And yet there is good reason to believe that men are under-represented because they are less likely to seek assistance for mental health concerns for many reasons including lack of insurance, and the perceived stigma of weakness, especially among men over 40.

And in most states, a professional mental diagnosis is not in itself grounds for preventing gun ownership. It usually takes a court action to deprive a person of their second amendment rights. Hindsight in the case of many school shootings may reveal prior mental concerns, but rarely would these have resulted in a ruling preventing gun ownership.

But the above conditions do not begin to address the possibility of a mentally healthy person killing in the heat of passion or with calculated foreplanning.

The claim that anyone who commits mass murder must necessarily be insane is simply wrong.

In Norway, Anders Behring Breivik, a right-wing extremist, was responsible for the deaths of 77 people, some as young as 14, who were attending a Youth League camp in July 2011. This mass shooter was found to be mentally sane and articulate, entering the courtroom with his arm stretched out in the Nazi salute.
If outrage alone is sufficient, then who is safe with a gun?

John Richard Schrock is a professor at Emporia State University.