DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 



By M. S. Carpenter 

 Eihtcdtinnal Scerctdrn. ^f())lt(nl(l State Fisli and Game Coinnus.sioii 



D 



M. S. Carpenter 



,URING the last several years the Montana state fish 

 and game commission has maintained an educational 

 department, an interesting and beneficial feature of 

 which has been the collective exhibit of specimens of the fauna 

 of the state at agricultural fairs and expositions through- 

 out Montana. The collection of these specimens each year 

 has been a task. But with the cooperation of the deputy game 

 wardens, the United States Bureau of Biological Survey as 

 represented by R. E. Bateman, leader of predatory animal 

 control in the state, and Frank H. Rose, warden of the Mon- 

 tana National bison range, the department has been able to 

 gather an annual exhibit that has proved one of the greatest 

 attractions at fairs in Helena, Billings, Bozeman, Missoula, 

 Hamilton and Poison, and at the livestock show in Great 

 Falls. 



Among the specimens gathered in these exhibits have 

 been buffalo, elk, deer, antelope, bear, wolves, coyotes, bad- 

 gers, skunks, porcupines, marmots, raccoons, bobcats, lynxes, martens, mink, 

 beaver, muskrats, ducks, geese, ringneck pheasants, Hungarian partridges and 

 trumpeter swan. 



With the buffalo, elk and deer a calf or fawn has been exhibited one year and 

 the same animals held in captivity and shown at the fairs the following year as 

 a matter of education in the growth and development of 

 the species. This practice has proved of keen interest. 



Attendants in charge of these exhibits have noted with 

 interest the great numbers of people who make remarks 

 like "That is the first antelope I have ever seen," or "I 

 never saw a marten before," "I didn't realize that an elk's 

 antlers made such growth in a single year," and so on. 

 Many of these people have passed the mile-stones of middle 

 life. And so it is very evident that the fish and game de- 

 partment is affording many people of Montana their only 

 opportunities to view some species of the state's fauna. 



It is doubtful if any of the attractions at fairs are vis- 

 ited more times by the same people than is the wild life 

 exhibit of the fish and game department. 



The writer recalls hearing a woman at the Missoula fair 

 in 1925 say, "This is the sixth time I have visited this ex- 

 hibit in three days. I think it is the most interesting on 

 the grounds." 



At Helena and Billings aquariums are provided for the 

 exhibition of species of game fish indigenous to the waters 

 of Montana. Each year the exhibits of game fish have been 



E. B. Warren giving 

 Mike a cider throat- 

 wash at Ravalli 

 count 1/ fair at Ham- 

 iiton. J 9.26 



