80 BIG GAME OF NORTH AMERICA. 



the last one is shot down. Under the foregoing conditions, 

 large numbers of these fine animals are, to say the least, 

 wantonly and improvidently slaughtered. 



Let me say here, by way of digression, something with 

 which I believe all true sj^ortsmen will agree, and it is this: 

 In my opinion, especially in the pursuit of large game, no 

 true sportsman will ever make a practice of shooting merely 

 for count or a large bag. Even in the quest of feathered 

 game, the true sportsman can alwaj s be distinguished from 

 the mere butcher who hunts for game alone, or from him 

 who slaughters to win the questionable reputation attached 

 to the exterminator who boasts of being able to kill a 

 greater number than his more conscientious neighbor. 



No true sportsman will ever kill large numbers of either 

 large or small game which can not be turned to necessary 

 and useful account. No true sportsman will kill a Bison 

 for his tongue, a Wapiti for his head, or a Moose for his 

 skin. 



Had the hunters and Indians of the United States and 

 Canada, for the last thirty years, been guided by such rules, 

 there would be at the present time, on the Continent of 

 America, one million Buffaloes, ten thousand Wapiti, and 

 ten thousand Moose for one of each species now existing. 

 On the part of the governments of the United States and 

 Canada, the needless and lamentable extermination of the 

 American Bison — the monarch of American game animals — 

 is nothing short of a national crime, a national calamity, 

 a national disgrace. 



Sport is sport. It means recreation, exercise, pure air, 

 health, and invigoration; but wanton, thoughtless, and rep- 

 rehensible slaughter of game ought to find no record in 

 the formula of action which guides true and legitimate 

 sportsmen. 



The Woodland Caribou has sometimes been driven by 

 hounds, as is frequently done in the case of the Virginia 

 Deer; not usually, however, with the same degree of suc- 

 cess. It is well known by hunters, that when hunted by 

 dogs the common Deer will circle around the bush in 



