THE BIG GAME OF ALASKA* 



By Wilfred H. Osgood, of the U. S. Biological Survey 



ALASKA is not, like Africa, a coun- 

 try where great herds of game of 

 ^ man)' kinds are seen even by the 

 passing traveler ; yet in its various parts 

 our northern possession is the home of 

 many important game animals, including 

 some which are the largest and finest of 

 their kinds. 



Owing to the diverse topography and 

 range of climatic conditions within the 

 territory, the game is not uniformly dis- 

 tributed ; indeed, there are many large 

 areas in which game of any kind is ex- 

 ceedingly scarce, and doubtless this was 

 true even before the days of the gold- 

 hunters. But within its chosen haunts 

 each of the various game animals is 

 abundant. In the extensive forests of 

 the interior the giant moose stalks about 

 in silent majesty, while on the surround- 

 ing peaks of the highest mountains of 

 North America the agile mountain sheep 

 follows its roughly beaten trails over the 

 pinnacles. 



On the bleak tundras of the Arctic 

 coast, as well as on the treeless mountain 

 slopes farther south, herds of caribou 

 rove in countless numbers. Even among 

 the ice floes of the frigid Arctic one may 

 encounter the great polar bear and the 

 huge, awkward walrus. In contrast to 

 these is the graceful little Sitka deer, an 

 animal of southern affinities, which 

 threads its maze of trails in the luxuriant 

 vegetation of the southeastern coast dis- 

 trict. To this attractive picture for the 

 big-game hunter is still to be added the 

 grizzly and black bears and the great 

 fish-eating brown bears of the Alaska 

 Peninsula. 



But Alaska's game is scarcely of more 

 interest to sportsmen than to the pioneers 

 who live their lives in the great northern 

 territory and greatly appreciate a fare of 

 juicy moose or caribou meat instead of 

 salt pork. Fortunately both sportsmen 

 and Alaskan residents are becoming 



awakened to the need of husbanding 

 their stock of wild game instead of sacri- 

 ficing it to immediate desires. Laws are 

 difficult to enforce in a frontier country 

 and the safety of game lies largely in 

 the fostering of good public sentiment. 

 Alaska can no more afford to waste its 

 game than its fish, forests, or minerals. 



In the United States and the Canadian 

 provinces a tardy appreciation of the 

 value of game and an apprehensive reali- 

 zation of its impending extinction are 

 causing the enactment of many stringent 

 laws, while not a few sanctuaries or 

 game refuges are being set apart. In 

 many cases the game is disappearing, not 

 because of unrestricted killing, but on 

 account of a reduced food supply, the 

 winter range of the animals having been 

 occupied for agricultural purposes. Not- 

 withstanding the rapid economic develop- 

 ment of the territory, it is unlikely that 

 such conditions will ever exist in Alaska, 

 and the necessity of restocking the natu- 

 ral preserves there need never arise if 

 suitable preventive measures are taken 

 before it is too late. The range for game 

 in Alaska will remain indefinitely ; our 

 obligation is only that of saving the ani- 

 mals themselves. 



Taking up the game animals of Alaska 

 individually, we may begin with the 

 largest, the moose. 



THE ALASKAN MOOSE IS THE BIGGEST 

 MOOSE KNOWN 



Both the well-known moose of eastern 

 North America and its relative, the elk 

 of the Old World, are surpassed in aver- 

 age size by the Alaskan animal, which 

 zoologists distinguish as a separate vari- 

 ety (Alee amcricanus gigas). Its antlers 

 are particularly large, having an average 

 spread of from 5 to 6 feet, and in no 

 small number of recorded instances even 

 exceeding 6 feet. Moose are generally 

 distributed throughout the forested parts 



* Several of the author's photographs illustrating this article were taken on the Canadian side 

 of the line in the Yukon Territory, but the scenes and animals are characteristically Alaskan. 



