218 



MONTANA 19U 



lowstone National Park and in,' the northwestern portion of Montana, being 



particularly numerous on the South Fork 

 of the Flathead and Swan Rivers, in Pow- 

 ell, Flathead and Missoula counties, where 

 many Silver Tips and other varieties of 

 the bruin family abound. These regions 

 are also the bonnes of thousands of elk. 

 sheep, deer and goats, and they may all be 

 hunted during the open season, subject 

 only to the provisions of our game laws, 

 requiring the possession of proper hunting 

 licenses and an observance of the law as 

 to limit, etc 



The hunting season of 191 1 was remark- 

 able for a particularly early and deep fall 

 of snow. This brought all large game 

 down from the highest mountains to the 

 foothills and valleys, within easy access of 

 the local hunters. Many thousands of 

 deer fell under their bullets in Montana, 

 the largest numbers in Flathead and Lin- 

 coln counties. From reliable sources of 

 information — deputies of this department 

 Fishing Near Electric Hot Springs |,^ ^j^^^j^ respective districts and forestry 

 officers throughout the national forests of the state — it is estimated that 

 more than fourteen thousand deer were killed in :\lontana two years ago. 



Between fifteen and sixteen 

 hundred elk fell during the same 

 hunting season, two-thirds of this 

 number on the borders of the Yel- 

 lowstone Park and the remaining 

 third throughout all the other elk 

 regions in Montana. 



These figures appear some- 

 what startling, especially to citi- 

 zens of states where there is but 

 little game, but it must be borne 

 in mind that the elk of Yellow- 

 stone Park number more than 



sixty thousand — forty thousand of 

 which winter in Montana, and this 

 number of Montana elk is increas- 

 ed by ten to twelve thousand ani- 

 mals on other ranges of the State. 

 It has been difficult to obtain 

 an approximate census of the deer Pals. 



— The man who complains of Montana toill not be satisfied with paradise. 



