178 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



G. N. Brown, Government Trapper. 



BROWN WORKS ON THE GALLATIN NATIONAL FOREST, MONTANA AND THE PELTS ARE ONLY A FEW OF THOSE 



WHICH HE HAS ACQUIRED. 



that, when thus protected mside the 

 Park, the wild life overflows into adja- 

 cent territory. 



All true sportsmen realize that, if 

 there are to be any game animals to 

 hunt, provision must be made for the 

 game to breed. Support of measures look- 

 ing to the preservation and increase of 

 game comes from three sources. Those 

 who profit directly or indirectly from 

 the expenditures of sportsmen must, if 

 they have reasonable foresight, wish to 

 keep the goose of the golden eggs alive, 

 and laying well. There is now an in- 

 creasing number of people who wish 

 game preserved not to be hunted but 

 in order that it may flourish undis- 

 turbed in its native haunts. Between 

 those who are actuated by this purpose 

 and those who belong to the third 

 class — that is, those who wish game to 

 be abundant that they may find good 

 sport — there is of course an irreconcil- 

 able conflict of motive ; but for practical 

 ends they can consistently join forces 

 up to a certain point. Though they 



may anathematize each other as senti- 

 mentalists or as butchers, both must 

 welcome restrictions upon indiscriminate 

 killing. Further, in the case of big 

 game at least it is hard to see how to 

 escape the conclusion that in the long 

 run some way must be found to utilize 

 or dispose of the surplus production, 

 w^hich, as the Yellowstone Park illus- 

 trates, in the end overflows from a 

 district w^here all hunting is prohibited. 

 The game preserve or refuge supple- 

 ments the restrictions supplied by 

 closed seasons, limits of bag, and 

 similar game laAv provisions, and is 

 already an important feature of National 

 Forest game preservation. Undoubtedly 

 more refuges will be created. Sports- 

 men and nature-lovers may well work 

 together to secure their increase. 



Were the killing of all forms of wild 

 life on these refuges prohibited, they 

 would be vigorously and properly op- 

 posed by stockmen and settlers who 

 would suffer from the multiplication of 

 noxious animals in them. Both for 



