viii INTRODUCTION 



As suggested, however, the chief object of 

 this journey was to study at first hand the big 

 game conditions; to estimate as nearly as pos- 

 sible the amount of game still remaining in the 

 regions traversed; to learn something of the 

 adequacy, in practical operation, of present 

 game laws to protect game and work for its in- 

 crease; to observe the methods in various sec- 

 tions of enforcing and administering the game 

 laws; and to observe the methods in vogue of 

 protecting game inhabiting public lands and 

 forest reserves, including those unsettled areas 

 under Federal control where some species of 

 game animals have been practically extermi- 

 nated. 



As a natural result of indiscriminate slaugh- 

 ter, game animals in the United States have 

 so diminished in numbers that the preserva- 

 tion of the few remaining is to-day a serious 

 problem. This diminution, indeed, has already 

 gone so far that the early extinction of some 

 species is threatened. It was to be expected 

 that civilization would displace the wild game 

 in agricultural and populated regions, for wheat 

 fields and buffalo herds cannot co-exist; ante- 

 lope and elk cannot feed in city streets. 



But destruction has gone beyond the con- 

 fines of settled areas. It has extended, and in 



