292 AN AMERICAN HUNTER 



trophies ; the market men who put game in cold storage ; 

 and the rich people, who are content to buy what they 

 have not the skill to get by their own exertions 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 mo- 

 ment, there are still blacktail deer in abundance, and some 

 elk are left. Colorado 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 sum- 

 mer range is practically useless for settlement. If the 

 people of Colorado generally, and above all the people 

 of the counties in which the game is located, would res- 

 olutely cooperate with those of their own number who 

 are already alive to the importance of preserving the 

 game, it could, without difficulty, be kept always as abun- 

 dant as it now is, and this beautiful region would be a 

 permanent health resort and playground for the people 

 of a large part of the Union. Such action would be a 

 benefit to every one, but it would be a benefit most of 

 all to the people of the immediate locality. 



The practical common sense of the American people 

 has been in no way made more evident during the last 

 few years than by the creation and use of a series of 

 large land reserves situated for the most part on the 



