Hunting at High Altitudes 



erate onslaught of hide hunters in southeastern 

 Alaska ; of head hunters, who attacked the moose, 

 sheep and caribou of the Kenai Peninsula, and of 

 the market hunters generally throughout the coast 

 regions. A game law, which certainly proved 

 effective in making it difficult for sportsmen to 

 hunt in Alaska, was passed. 



The general principles of game protection, ap- 

 plicable to the situation in Alaska, are simple. It 

 should be clearly understood that the game of 

 Alaska, or of any other region, does not belong 

 exclusively to the human inhabitants of that par- 

 ticular region, and that neither the white settlers 

 nor the native inhabitants have any inherent right 

 to the game, other than that conferred by law. 

 The interest of the entire people of the United 

 States, and to some extent that of the civilized 

 world, is centered in the continued existence of the 

 forms of animal life which have come down to us 

 from an immense antiquity through the slow 

 process of evolution. It is no longer generally 

 conceded that the local inhabitants of any given 

 district have a divine commission to< pollute streams 

 with sawdust, to destroy forests by ax or fire, or to 

 slaughter every living thing within reach of rifle, 

 trap or poisoned bait. This must be thoroughly 

 understood in advance. The game and the forests 



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