22 Deer and Antelope of North America 



own interests he will soon realize that to him, too, 

 the live deer is worth far more than the dead 

 deer, because of the way in which it brings 

 money into the wilderness. The professional 

 hunter who kills game for the hide, or for the 

 meat, or to sell antlers and other trophies, and 

 the rich people, who are content to buy what 

 they have not the skill to get by their own exer- 

 tions — these are the men who are the real enemies 

 of game. Where there is no law which checks 

 the market hunters, the inevitable result of their 

 butchery is that the game is completely destroyed, 

 and with it their own means of livelihood. If, on 

 the other hand, they were willing to preserve it, 

 they could make much more money by acting as 

 guides. In northwestern Colorado, at the present 

 moment, there are still blacktail deer in abun- 

 dance, and some hundreds of elk are left. Colo- 

 rado has fairly good game laws, but they are 

 indifferently enforced. The country in which 

 the game is found can probably never support 

 any but a very sparse population, and a large 

 portion of the summer range is practically use- 

 less for settlement. If the people of Colorado 

 generally, and above all the people of the counties 

 in which the game is located, would resolutely co- 

 operate with those of their own number who are 

 already alive to the importance of preserving the 

 game, it could, without difficulty, be kept always 



