GAME EEFUGES. 13 



prohibited would be a wise one. And that is one of the strongest ob- 

 jections to the bill. 



The location and boundaries of such areas would need, in order to 

 serve the purposes for which established, to be modified from time 

 to time, and in addition closed seasons or complete prohibition of 

 hunting certain classes of game must from time to time be provided 

 for over much larger areas than should be included in any permanent 

 game refuge. At times it should cover an entire State, as has been 

 provided in Wyoming in the case of moose. 



From time to time, in the case of elk, it should cover vast areas, 

 and the same is true in the case of antelope, in order to save, if pos- 

 sible, some of the remaining antelope. 



Under certain conditions a shortening of the open season and a 

 limitation of the bag extending over all or a large portion of a State 

 is a much better form of game preservation than the permanent 

 maintenance of small areas in which no hunting is allowed. The 

 State, in full authority in all these matters, is in position to handle the 

 question of game preservation very much better than it could be 

 handled under conflicting attempted State and Federal jurisdiction. 



CLAIM THAT STATES WILL NOT ACT. 



But, it is argued that the States will not care for and preserve 

 game, and the story of the passing of the buffalo is cited. Anyone 

 who knows anything about the habits of the buffalo knows that its 

 passing, in the face of on-coming and spreading civilization, was 

 inevitable. They can not be preserved, except in comparatively 

 small herds under conditions of semidomestication, except possibly a 

 few in a wild state in a great wilderness region, like that of northwest 

 Wyoming, including the Yellowstone Park and vicinity. 



That is the only place where we have maintained a wild buffalo 

 herd and that is possibly the only place in the United States where it 

 could be done, because the mountain area there is large and the 

 territory is comparatively easily protected; but ordinarily buffalo 

 would never be preserved hi one of these game preserves. The 

 buffalo is an animal that travels far if allowed to, and must generally 

 be held under fence. The -buffalo had to go with the coming of 

 civilization, because civilization brought with it animals worth much 

 more to man; animals which produced much more, considering the 

 grass they consumed. A highly developed beef animal produces 

 infinitely better meat, and more of it, for every pound of food he 

 eats, and can be handled so as to utilize grasses more economically 

 than the buffalo. The buffalo never did utilize grasses economically. 

 Even when most plentiful in that western country they trampled 

 back and forth and destroyed a great deal more grass than they 

 ever ate. 



The antelope can not be preserved in the refuges that are proposed 

 for they are all more or less timbered, and the antelope shuns timber. 

 You can not get him anywhere near a place having timber or brush 

 on it. 



The larger wild animals always decrease in great numbers during 

 the pioneer and early development period of a country. They have 

 a way of coming back later, particularly the deer, as the boundaries 

 of settlements become fixed and the rougher country less disturbed, 



