MONTANA STATE FISH AND GAME COMMISSION 



53 



For these reasons state and government hunters have been instructed to kill 

 the adults. Game and stock protection should begin by ridding the country of 

 the animals destroying these resources — and that means the adults. The pups 

 can be exterminated each spring, yet if the old ones are not killed it simply 

 means that the slaughter goes on unabated. It requires a nice fat lamb to feed 

 one litter of pups. 



In 1917 a hunter employed by the Biological Survey, assisted by the inspector, 

 located a den of coyote pups near the Bearley and Williams ranch on the Ruby 

 river. They were informed by Mr. Bearley that a coyote had taken a lamb from 

 the flock every morning for two weeks. The first morning the hunters were at 

 the ranch they located the den. They desti'oyed five fat pups and the female. 

 Many more lambs would have been required to feed this family and after they 

 were wiped out the killing stopped. This is but one of hundreds of similar in- 

 stances revealing the reason for the enthusiasm of stockmen over the cooperation 

 employed by state and government hunters. 



Wolves, like mountain lions or cougars, are becoming scarce as the years go 

 by. Very few wolves are left on the range. But each year some one of the 

 hunters picks up an old straggler that has lost his or her mate the preceding 

 year. It will be but a few years until the Montana wolf will be seen only in the 

 museums or parks where they are being raised for experimental purposes. This 

 work has actually begun in several eastern states. The offspring from the Mon- 

 tana and Wyoming gray wolves are shipped to Europe by breeders who secure 

 their stocks from Montana hunters. 



The mountain lion is likewise fast disappearing. Specially trained lion hunters 

 have been working on them since 1921. During the first six months C E. Beebe 

 was employed in this work he took 23 of these vicious animals. During the last 

 two winters he has covered miles of mountain territory yet has been able to take 



Thin catch of coyotes, taJcen in the one month of November hy E. B. Warren, has been 



r<s-ponsible for the destruction of many game birds and animals. This is but another 



demonstration of the effective tvork- being done by predatory animal hunters. 



