GAME AS A XATIOXAL EESOUECE. 5 



ment has established a National Monument which includes the breed- 

 ing grounds of the species and thus aids in its protection. In Cali- 

 fornia the vallejr elk has been protected for years both by th,* 

 State law and. on the present range near Bakersfield, by the owners 

 of the Miller & Lux ranch. From 1910 to 1920 nearly 4,000 elk 

 were transferred from the Yellowstone Park and from Jackson Hole 

 to a number of States in the West and in the East. Some of these 

 herds, particularly those in Arizona, Colorado, and South Dakota, 

 have thrived remarkably Avell. while others, located too near farms 

 or cultivated lands, have done more or less injury to crops and 

 have given rise to complaints and claims for damage. 



No big game animal is easier to raise on a preserve or in semi- 

 domestication than elk when suitabl}' located and provided with 

 abundant food, and no game animal will increase more readily; 

 but large herds can not be maintained in farming communities or 

 near settlements, nor will mountain refuges preserve the species 

 unless adeciuate winter range is provided. Notwithstanding the 

 comparativelj" few and simple requirements of the animals, the 

 adjustment of elk refuges to conditions in the West has given rise 

 to some perplexing problems which have not thus far been satisfao- 

 torilv solved. 



In Canada, moose and caribou are the principal meat producers 

 among game animals. In the United States there is no caribou 

 hunting except in Alaska, but moose are still hunted in Minnesota 

 and IVIaine, there having been an open season for them in Maine 

 except from 1915 to 1918. It is worth while, therefore, to examine 

 the conditions surrounding moose hunting somewhat in detail. 



The center of moose hunting in eastern North America is prob- 

 ably in the State of Maine and in the Provinces of New Brunswick 

 and Nova Scotia. In Maine, moose are confined to the northern 

 and eastern sections, and probabl}^ not more than half the State 

 can properly be considered moose country. In New Brunswick they 

 are found in all the counties, and in Nova Scotja are hunted in all 

 sections except on Cape Breton Island, where they have been pro- 

 tected for a number of j^ears. This gives an area of about 16,500 

 square miles of moose territory in Maine, 28,000 in New Brunswick, 

 and 18,300 in Nova Scotia, or a total of 62,800 square miles, a little 

 less than the area of New England. In this region nearly 3,000 moose 

 were recorded as killed in 1914, and probably at least 3,500 were 

 actually killed that season. As each hunter is limited to a single 

 moose, this indicates that more than 3,000 persons hunted moose, 

 and on the average one moose was obtained on even^ 20 square miles. 



