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: MONTANA FISH AND GAME COMMISSION 11 J 



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B/g Game on the National Forests 



By FRED MORRELL 



Disti'ict Forester, U. S. Forest Service 



There are 15,881.000 acres of Government-owned land within the 

 boundaries of the National Forest in Montana. The greater part of 

 the big game summer range of the state and much of the winter 

 range is found within these areas. Estimates of the amount of 

 game within large areas of wild land can, of course, only be very 

 rough ones but those given out by the Forest Service are made 

 up by the rangers who spend their time working over their districts 

 and making as close observations and tallies as possible, including 

 winter counts. No accuracy is claimed for the following figures, 

 but they are at least the best that are available. The last annual 

 game report of the Forest Service shows the following numbers of 

 big game within the National Forests of the State: 985 moose, 

 8400 elk, 50,000 deer, 680 antelope, 1875 mountain sheep, 2480 moun- 

 tain goats and 20 caribou. 



Since the National Forests were first put under administration it 

 has been the policy of the Forest Service to aid in all practical 

 ways the conservation of wild life within them. Co-operation with 

 state officials, game associations and other agencies has been the 

 keynote of this policy. Practically all Forest officers are com- 

 missioned by the slate game warden as deputies and are instructed 

 to report and prosecute game and fish law violations to the same 

 extent that they execute their other duties under United States laws 

 and departmental regulations. Study of game conditions, including 

 such things as adaptibility of ranges to classes of game, seasonal 

 condition of game, increase and decrease in game herds, loss from 

 predatory animals and other destroying agencies, the division of 

 range between game and domestic stock, the dual use of range 

 by game and stock, the carrying capacities of game ranges, and 

 many other game problems of similar nature, is a part of the 

 regular job of Forest Service employees. These studies are all 

 summarized in an annual report from each man and are used as 

 the basis for building up a game management plan for each of the 

 National Forests. This work is done from the standpoint of Uncle 

 Sam as a property owner who desires that his land shall be sc 

 managed as to render the highest possible returns to the community 

 in which it is located, and to the nation as a whole. As a principle 

 of government the writer is a firm believer in state ownership and 

 control of wild game. He believes that so far as it is possible to 

 do so game matters within the National Forests of Montana should 

 be administered in the way that the people of Montana want them 

 administered, and that the way for the sportsmen of Montana to 

 express their wishes is through their state and local sportsmen's 



