GAME CLUBS, PARKS AND PRESERVES 23 



rifle ; to promote travel and exploration ; to work for 

 the preservation of the large game, and, so far as pos- 

 sible, to further legislation for that purpose and to 

 assist in enforcing the existing laws. 



My readers are no doubt aware that the National 

 Government has set apart large tracts as forest reser- 

 vations and has created a number of National parks. In 

 these parks and reservations the big-game animals find 

 a refuge from persecution, and many of them show a 

 gratifying increase. When the great Yellowstone 

 Park was first established shooting was permitted; 

 after it was prohibited by law the shooting still went 

 on and a lawless class gathered there, which was able 

 to defy the superintendent and his assistants, and to 

 destroy not only the animals but the vegetation of the 

 park besides. The National Park now has a military- 

 superintendent and is guarded by regular soldiers. 

 No guns are allowed in the park excepting under re- 

 strictions. No shooting is done. Most of the wild 

 animals are increasing. Some of them, especially the 

 bears, are becoming very tame, notwithstanding the 

 fact that there are large hotels in the park and thou- 

 sands of tourists visit it every year. Here is pre- 

 sented a far different picture from that of the Big 

 Horn Mountain region not far away. When the writer 

 first visited the Biij Horn Mountains there was far 

 more game there than in the park. Elk, mountain- 

 sheep and deer made well-beaten trails through the 

 forests, and the banks of the streams showed every- 

 where the tracks of the bears. Antelope and bison 

 grazed together on the plains below, in great herds 

 and bands. But the Big Horn Mountains arc saitl to 



