GAME AS A NATIOIsTAL EESOUKCE. 



23 



One of the most complete records of this kind is that maintained by 

 the Province of Alberta. Under a provision inserted in the law of 

 1907, each resident to whom a big-game license was issued was 

 required to return the license to the Department of Agriculture 

 immediately after the close of the season, accompanied by an affidavit 

 showing the number of animals killed. Failure or neglect to return 

 the license within 30 days after the end of the season constituted <a 

 violation of the game law and was ground for the refusal of a 

 license in future. (The latter provision seems to have been modified 

 or repealed in recent years.) At first these provisions were not 

 generally known or strictly enforced, and consequently the returns 

 fell far short of the actual number of animals killed, but as time 

 went on they became more generally understood and the returns 

 were fairly accurate though doubtless always somewhat below the 

 actual number. The records obtained under this law for the 12 

 3''ears 1907-18 are shown in the accompanying table, which also 

 gives for comparison the total number of big-game licenses issued. 

 The limits in Alberta have usually been one deer, moose, and caribou, 

 and two antelope, sheep, and goats, a season. 



Big game killed in Alberta, 1907 to 1918. 



[From Ann. Rept. Dept. Agr. Alberta for 1919, p. 122.] 



Year. 



Deer. 



Elk. Moose. 



Caribou. 



Ante- 

 lope. 



Moun- 

 tain 

 sheep. 



Moun- 

 tain 

 goats. 



Total 

 kiUed. 



Total big- 

 game 

 licenses. 



1907 



59 

 125 

 299 

 540 

 619 

 768 

 908 

 1,388 

 692 

 •560 

 705 

 828 



1 



14 





49 

 45 

 89 

 126 

 101 

 105 

 119 





122 



207 



557 



965 



1,160 



1,486 



2,055 



2,940 



1,993 



1,546 



1 , 868 



1,892 



450 



1908. - 



. ! 37 





1 



536 



1909 



. ... ■ 86 



5 

 8 

 30 

 40 

 56 

 78 

 34 

 28 

 43 

 45 



40 

 54 

 49 

 90 

 65 

 78 

 110 

 83 

 57 

 76 



38 

 46 

 56 

 58 

 42 

 61 

 40 

 26 

 37 

 43 



1,179 



1910 



1911 



7 ! 184 

 ' 305 



2,021 

 2,955 



1912. .. 



: 425 



3, 988 



1913 



865 



5,670 



1914. 



1,335 



7,326 



1915. . . 



1 1,116 

 849 





5,959 



4,185 



1916 





1917 



1 1,026 





4, 852 



1918.. 



. 1 900 





4,953 









Total. . 



7,491 



8 7, 142 



367 634 



702 



447 



" 16,791 



44, 074 



ENUMERATIONS OF GAME. 



After securing returns for statistics of big game and game birdsi 

 annually killed, the next step is to estimate the total stock of each 

 species withili a certain State or area. Except for a few species of 

 big game which have been reduced almost to the point of extermina- 

 tion, notably buffalo, elk, and antelope, it has been impracticable 

 hitherto to obtain any comprehensive estimates of this kind. 



The buffalo is now in a state of semidomestication, and it is a com- 

 paratively simple matter to ascertain its total numbers. Thirteen 

 counts have thus far been made in the following years : 1889, 1903, 



