86 WILD LIFE CONSERVATION 



those states should now do something for the per- 

 petual preservation of the bison species and all 

 other big game that needs help. 



For years and years, the antelope millions of the 

 Montana and Wyoming grass-lands fed the scout 

 and Indian-fighter, freighter, cowboy and surveyor, 

 ranchman and sheep-herder; but thus far I have 

 yet to hear of one western state that has ever spent 

 one penny directly for the preservation of the 

 antelope ! 



To the colonist of the East and the pioneer of 

 the West, the white-tailed deer was an ever present 

 help in time of trouble. Without this omnipresent 

 animal, and the supply of good meat that each 

 white flag represented, the commissariat difficulties 

 of the settlers who won the country as far westward 

 as Indiana would have been many times greater 

 than they were. The backwoods Pilgrim's progress 

 was like this: 



Trail, deer; cabin, deer; clearing; bear, corn, 

 deer; hogs, deer; cattle, wheat, independence. 



And yet, how many men are there to-day, out of 

 our ninety millions of Americans and pseudo- 

 Americans, who remember with any feeling of 

 gratitude the part played in American history by 

 the white-tailed deer? Very few! How many 

 Americans are there in our land who now preserve 

 that deer for sentimental reasons, and because his 

 forbears were nation-builders? As a matter of 

 fact, are there any? 



