50 MONTANA STATE FISH AND GAME COMMifiSION 



SCIENTIFIC SOURCES UTILIZED . . . ! 



Montana's Fish and Game Department is utilizing every possible scientific 

 source for the purpose of obtaining information that will be of benefit to its 

 fish and game management plan. 



Members of the Fisheries Division, during the slack season, have attended 

 Montana State college at Bozeman and participated in a short course in fish 

 culture, bacteriology and water analysis, which training they combine with 

 their routine work. The cost amounted to approximately $5 per man, including 

 printed instructions and materials used. 



During the past year, game wardens as well as fisheries men, held separate 

 "schools" in Helena, at which outstanding men in their fields have appeared 

 and lead discussions on pertinent problems respecting the work of the two di- 

 visions. The attorney general's office has co-operated in this venture and has 

 sent one of the assistants to explain many of the legal aspects of law enforce- 

 ment work. 



Some idea of the scope of these meetings may be ascertained by the 50 

 topics discussed at the last meeting of the 26 deputy game wardens, held prior 

 to the beginning of the big game season. These topics included: 



Present districts, patrolling of district, contacting license dealers, contact- 

 ing rod and gun club members, relations with farmers, deer and elk tags, set- 

 line fishing, justice courts and county attorneys, confidence of public, depart- 

 ment activities in relation to newspaper articles, information requests from 

 Helena office, observations and notes made in the field, information on viola- 

 tors, when to confiscate devices, juvenile cases, approaching a sportsman in the 

 field, basis used in arresting and passing arrest, public opinion of game laws, 

 public opinion of amount of fish and game, beaver permits, making reports, 

 expense accounts, letters to sportsmen or others asking for information, letters 

 to Helena office, rating of deputies, rescuing fish in dry streams, fish screens, 

 habits of game birds, buck law, head law on elk, mountain goats, cooperation 

 with federal agencies, transplanting of elk into small areas as against develop- 

 ing large areas, patrol of Gardiner area, suggestions relative to Montana Fish 

 and Game Notes, patrol of Sun River area, value of checking stations, duck 

 stamp and plugged guns, pheasant damage to crops, deer and elk damage to 

 crops, shipping permits, permits to hold pets, need for conservation of migra- 

 tory waterfowl, limits on fish, minnow fishing, coyotes, magpies and crows, 

 non-residents with resident licenses, game preserves, posted streams and areas, 

 contact with fisheries men, search warrants, case reports, forwarding confis- 

 cated devices, and elk counts. 



But the Department is going even further than that, it is having investi- 

 gations conducted by outside agencies in connection with several of the state's 

 fish and game problems. At the present time Dr. Howard Welch of the veter- 

 inary science department of Montana State college is determining whether 

 Chinese pheasants are harmful to crops out of proportion to their benefits. 



Receiving complaints from farmers in the Billings area that the pheasants 

 were damaging their crops, including corn and sugar beets, the Fish and Game 

 Commission decided to check the situation and Dr. Welch agreed to conduct the 



