GAME BEFUGES. 11 



behalf of this legislation, or if it is, it is not well founded. The 

 legislatures of all the Western States, so far as I am acquainted with 

 their constitutional provisions, not only have authority to prohibit 

 the taking of certain or all kinds of game, permanently or for a given 

 period, or to regulate its taking as they see fit, but they also have 

 authority to prescribe certain areas, few or many, large or small, 

 anywhere within their boundaries on or off forest reserves, within 

 which hunting and fishing may be absolutely prohibited, or within 

 which the seasons for hunting or fishing shall be different from the 

 seasons in other parts of the State. 



The State which I have the honor to represent in Congress has 

 repeatedly legislated in the establishment and maintenance of per- 

 manent or temporary game sanctuaries. For many years the State 

 made the killing of buffalo a felony, and while the action was taken 

 too late to save many, it did save in the northwestern part of the 

 State the only herd of buffalo that survived in a wild state. For 

 many years the State prohibited the killing of moose, and by so 

 doing has created a moose herd which is probably larger now than 

 it has been at any time in the last 30 years, possibly larger than it 

 ever was, even before the white man came. 



In addition to protecting elk throughout the State generally by 

 restricting the period of hunting and the number that one may kill, 

 the State nearly 10 years ago created a refuge for elk and other 

 classes of big game south of the Yellowstone Park, covering an area 

 as large as some States in the Union. Our game legislation and en- 

 forcement has given us a herd of elk which partly summers in the 

 Yellowstone Park, but wholly winters south of the park, variously 

 estimated at from twenty to thirty-five thousand head. 



Mr. McLaughlin. In fixing the area of that refuge did the State 

 include any part of the national forest ? 



Mr. Mondell. It is all in the national forest; all of our State 

 refuges so far have been in national forests, because the national for- 

 est is the natural game region. The natural game region is the 

 mountains, and the national forests hi our State are almost wholly 

 on and in the mountains and the high country. The rough, broken, 

 rocky, timbered country contains game. Even the very high areas 

 near the timber line and above the timber line have some kinds of 

 game. Around the peaks are the sheep and the goats, and lower 

 down the elk and deer. 



Mr. McLaughlin. Is the title to any of that same kind of land in 

 the State ? 



Mr. Mondell. There are no lands of that kind in our State that 

 are not in forest reserves. It is almost all public land. The game 

 country is mostly within the forest reserves with us, and that is true 

 of most of the States in which there are "forest reserves. 



The State legislature has at various times prohibited, for varying 

 periods, the taking of game of certain kinds in large areas in various 

 parts of the State- — notably the Big Horn Mountains — and thus cre- 

 ated game sanctuaries. The last legislature had under consideration 

 the creation of some six or more additional game preserves, but the 

 matter was presented, I am told, so late in the session that it was 

 impossible to secure action. The attitude of the people of our State 

 is favorable to the proper preservation of game and always has been ; 

 but, of course, our people want to know where these preserves are 



