32 



Canadian Forestry Journal 



portant position. All the work on 

 his district is under his immediate 

 supervision and he reports directly 

 to the forest supervisor in charge. 

 Frequently from one to several as- 

 sistants are assigned to him. Some- 

 times his territory is subdivided for 

 the purposes of fire patrol, timber- 

 sale work or the better handling of 

 grazing. Temporary quarters are 

 provided for his assistants where 

 needed. Additional ranger stations 

 are established over the forest for 

 the purpose of raising horsefeed and 

 forage for the forest officers' horses 

 in thinly settled regions. 



The kind and amount of work a 

 ranger does depends upon his partic- 

 ular location. On many forests graz- 

 ing is the principal business at pre- 

 sent, and the men are kept busy pre- 

 venting trespass, allotting the range, 

 counting cattle and sheep, poisoning 

 prairie dogs and destroying predat- 

 ory animals. Special hunters and 

 trappers are employed to rid the 

 range of wolves, bobcats, coyotes, 

 bear, mountain lions and other ani- 

 mals that prey upon stock. 



It takes a man of special tempera- 

 ment to make a success of hunting 

 and trapping. The work is hard, 

 lonely and dangerous. One must be 

 a naturalist, thoroughly versed in 

 the wiles and instincts of every ani- 

 mal he seeks. The little tricks of 

 removing the man-scent from traps 

 and deadfalls, the proper arrange- 

 ment of tempting baits, the care to 

 make everything appear natural, the 

 ready reading of signs and trails, the 

 location of dens and runways, and 

 so forth, mark the expert. 



The veriest novice may bury a 

 trap in a runway, but it requires the 

 art of a professional so to arrange 

 a few stones and twigs on either side 

 that the animal unconsciously 

 changes his gait to avoid them and 

 plants a paw squarely in the trap. 



On most forests selling timber is 

 the principal business. All timber 

 within National Forests which can 

 be cut safely and for which there is 

 actual need is for sale. The ranger 



Marking Trees for Cutting on U.i 

 National Forest. 



usually does the work of cruising 

 the land, estimating the timber and 

 making a map of the area, and sub- 

 mits a complete report to his super- 

 visor covering all details of a sale. 

 Sometimes special reconnaissance 

 parties of expert woodsmen, usually 

 rangers, are sent from one Forest 

 to another to map large areas or 

 perhaps an entire Forest, and pre- 

 pare plans for future timber sale 

 business. 



Timber that is sold must be offi- 

 cially marked before being cut. The 

 ranger goes through the woods with 

 a long-handled marking ax bearing 

 on its poll the raised letters 'U.S.' 

 He carefully scans the trees, noting 

 their condition and kind, and pic- 

 tures to himself all the while how 

 the stand will appear after certain 

 trees are removed. Having decided 

 upon those to be cut, he goes from 

 one to another and with a well- 

 directed glancing stroke of his ax 



