260 AN AMERICAN HUNTER 



and the Olympian Mountains, the wapiti is now a beast 

 of the Rocky Mountain region proper, especially in west- 

 ern Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado. Throughout 

 these mountains its extermination, though less rapid than 

 on the plains, has nevertheless gone on with melancholy 

 steadiness. In the early nineties it was still as abundant 

 as ever in large regions in western Wyoming and Mon- 

 tana and northwestern Colorado. In northwestern Colo- 

 rado the herds are now represented by only a few hundred 

 individuals. In western Montana they are scattered over 

 a wider region and are protected by the denser timber, 

 but are nowhere plentiful. They have nearly vanished 

 from the Big Horn Mountains. They are still abundant 

 in and around their great nursery and breeding-ground, 

 the Yellowstone National Park. If this park could be 

 extended so as to take in part of the winter range to the 

 south, it would help to preserve them, to the delight of 

 all lovers of nature, and to the great pecuniary benefit 

 of the people of Wyoming and Montana. But at present 

 the winter range south of the park is filling up with 

 settlers, and unless the conditions change, those among the 

 Yellowstone wapiti which, would normally go south will 

 more and more be compelled to winter among the moun- 

 tains, which will mean such immense losses from starva- 

 tion and deep snow that the southern herds will be wo- 

 fully thinned. 1 Surely all men who care for nature, no 

 less than all men who care for big game hunting, should 

 combine to try to see that not merely the States but the 

 Federal authorities make every effort, and are given every 



1 Steps in the direction indicated are now being taken by the Federal authorities. 



