STATE GAME AND FISH WARDEN. 7 



resigned on account of removal from the state and was 

 succeeded by Mr. S. F. Ralston of Kalispell. 



AUTHORITY TO APPOINT SPECIAL DEPUTIES AT 



CERTAIN SEASONS. 



I would urgently recommend the enactment of a law author- 

 izing the State Game and Fish Warden to appoint special 

 salaried deputies in certain communities for a limited period 

 during the year, or better still, authorize the expenditure 

 of a certain amount of money for the payment of special 

 deputies in selected communities within the discretion of 

 the warden. This department is yearly in receipt of hundreds 

 of communications relating to violations of the game laws, 

 by either residents of the various communities or strangers. 

 It has been my earnest policy to investigate every report 

 of violations received but in the majority of instances the 

 guilty parties have not been brought to justice on account 

 of the reluctance of the writer to testify against a neighbor, 

 or because of the unknown identity of the violator. Similar 

 reports come from the same community every year just 

 before the opening of the hunting season. 



While there are thousands of earnest sportsmen among the 

 residents of Montana^ few of them are in a position to be 

 actuated in the prosecution of violators by the love of sport 

 alone. They cannot afford to neglect their work or business 

 to procure sufficient evidence for conviction, while on the 

 other hand, were it possible for this department in certain 

 instances to expend a small amount as a compensation or 

 reward for conviction, the number of convictions and fines 

 thus secured would much more than reimburse the fish and 

 game fund for the expenditure. 



TRAVELING EXPENSES OF DEPUTIES. 

 Until the middle of October last, the several railways in 

 Montana provided the members of the department with free 

 transportation. This concession was granted, without the 

 possibility of favors being shown in return and operated 

 as an immeasurable assistance to the deputies in covering 

 the territories of their respective districts. As the amount 

 allowed by law for traveling expenses of the deputies is limited 

 to a sum inadequate to pay railroad fare and do any consid- 

 erable field work, the department is crippled under the present 

 system and will be unable to carry on the work effectively 



