Game and Forestry in Canada. 29 



reports most favorably as to its operation and calls for an exten- 

 sion of the scheme into a regular system of game havens. Make 

 an adequate and inviolate retreat in the heart of each reserve, 

 where no shooting or trapping is tolerated the year aroxmd. 

 A good trail must be cut out all around, in order that patrol 

 may be easy and ample ; the whole value of the protective 

 measures depends on the efficiency of this factor, especially 

 during that crucial period, the open season. 



I am well aware that this is exactly the object now being 

 sought by the Manitoba Game Protective Association, and their 

 Secretary-Treasurer deserves a hearty vote of thanks from every 

 lover of wild life for his constant and untiring efforts in behalf 

 of our vanishing game. I am only desirous of helping on the 

 good work, and in this connection would also say that every 

 settler and sportsman interviewed along the Riding Mountain 

 this season was heartily in favor of this scheme. 



We had two camps within the nine townships proposed to 

 be set apart, spending a month there, and the area is exactly 

 suited to the purpose. It includes open meadows for the elk, 

 deer and chicken, scrub for the moose and a niunber of streams 

 for the fur-bearers — not to mention Clear Lake for whitefish. 

 Shoal Lake for ducks, and others filled with pickerel. To the 

 beaver it would mean salvation'. But, were it only for the sake 

 of the elk, the step is imperative. Every sportsman should 

 bestir himself in their behalf and bring pressure to bear on the 

 powers that be. These words of Mr. Bryan Williams are not 

 more true in British Columbia than in Manitoba: "The elk is 

 about the easiest of all game animals to kill, and thus is in need 

 of the greatest protection. On the mainland, where it was at 

 one time found in large numbers it is almost extinct, and the 

 same fate must await it on Vancouver Island. . . There is no 

 nobler game animal on the face of the earth, and for this reason, 

 apart from its great value as an asset, every means should be 

 taken and no expense spared to save it from extinction." The 

 immediate setting aside of this proposed area in the Riding 

 Mountains would appear, therefore, very desirable, especially 

 as the game preservation will in no way conflict with the uses 

 of forestr^^ 



Apropos of game revenue on this reserve arises another 

 interesting question. Why should the provincial government 

 enjoy the hunting-license revenue, while the Dominion Govern- 

 ment is at all the expense of protecting and administering the 

 reserve? This seems an anomaly and scarcely fair to the 

 Dominion Government. Federal jurisdiction is recognized in 

 all other products of the reserve; why make an exception of 

 the game? It may be urged that this source of revenue would 

 be relatively trivial. This is not the case. The current expendi- 

 ture on this reserve runs about $10,000, while last year the 



