BULLETIN NUMBER TWO 



39 



history, asking questions is my specialty, 

 and I questioned everybody in every lo- 

 cality I have visited on game conditions. 

 All told the same doleful story of the 

 scarcity of wild life. There are too 

 many professional hunters, too many 

 pot-hunters, too many U. S. Government 

 hunters, too many wasteful eastern 

 hunters and too little cover. Those in 

 my mind are the chief causes for the 

 decrease in wild life in the West. In 

 the old days, when the predatory ani- 

 mals existed and there were fewer hunt- 

 ers, there was lots of game. I think 

 that the men of the West are all wrong, 

 as it is themselves and no other cause 

 worth mentioning that has made game 

 so scarce. Predatory animals are un- 

 justly blamed, and posterity will acclaim 

 them so when it is too late. Reduce 

 indiscriminate killing and the game will 

 be saved." 



In some of the states visited, I found 

 prevailing a feeling of hopeless resigna- 

 tion in regard to wild life. Naturally, 

 in the lectures given local conditions did 

 not escape attention, and the rights of 

 the wild creatures were demanded at the 

 hands of those who may be looked to 

 as their keepers. For the efforts that 

 were made to arouse the people of the 

 West regarding their wild life, scores 

 of men and women expressed their 

 gratitude and appreciation. 



Already there are five more organiza- 

 tions for the protection of wild life than 

 existed in the West prior to our tour. 

 These are located in Minnesota, Idaho, 

 California and New Mexico, with one 

 more promised in Wyoming. In Min- 

 neapolis, on the day of our visit, there 

 was organized the Minnesota Game 

 Protective League, which marks the be- 

 ginning of a serious state-wide move- 

 ment for the saving of the game of 

 Minnesota on a permanent basis. In 

 Idaho, Mr. Drew W. Stanrod, Jr., a 

 young lawyer of Pocatello, has gallantly 

 set out to champion the wild life cause 

 in that state, and he is mentally, physic- 

 ally and financially equipped to win val- 

 uable results. 



Several discouraged organizations 

 were stimulated to take fresh courage 

 and go on; and offers of financial help 

 from the Permanent Fund were made 



to some associations that stood in need 

 of encouragement beyond mere words. 

 Naturally it is our intention to keep 

 in touch with our friends in the West 

 and Southwest, and when the next leg- 

 islatures of those states again meet to 

 do business, we think that they will hear 

 in no uncertain terms from the local 

 defenders of wild life. 



INCREASE OF GAME UNDER 

 PROTECTION 



The rapidity with which wild game 

 multiplies and spreads under absolute 

 protection is one of the wonders and 

 delights of wild life conservation. The 

 facts in the case are now so fully 

 established, and demonstrable by so 

 many different exhibits, that very few 

 persons ever question the proposition. 

 A well-informed man would quite as 

 quickly question the value of rainfall as 

 he would deny the value of sanctuaries 

 in bringing back wild life. 



The only question regarding game 

 preserves is : How can we make enough 

 of them without interference with other 

 equally important interests? 



The State of Pennsylvania and the 

 Province of Manitoba have acquired 

 the habit of making large forest re- 

 serves and then creating a hard-and-fast 

 game sanctuary in the heart of each one, 

 in which no hunting ever is permitted. 

 To this end Manitoba has given up 

 about one-half of her four reserved for- 

 ests. Pennsylvania has made ten forest 

 reserves and ten game sanctuaries, and 

 it is planned by the State Game Com- 

 mission that eventually each county shall 

 have one. The sportsmen keenly aid 

 and abet these undertakings, because 

 they know that all around those game 

 sanctuaries there will be good hunting, 

 even where no hunting existed before. 



The birds respond to full protection 

 with marvelous celerity. The photo- 

 graph made of about two acres of ducks 

 in the Wichita (Oklahoma) National 

 Bison Range in 1913, by the photog- 

 rapher of the New York Zoological So- 

 ciety, is an object lesson of tremendous 

 force. The photographs made in the 

 winter of 1914-15 in Ouray, Colorado, 



