The Big Game of the Canadian Rockies 

 A Practical Method for its Preservation 



BY 



W. N. Mii<i^R, B.S., M.F. 

 Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto 



BETWEEN the eastern or Hudson Bay slope of the Rockies and 

 the western or Pacific slope, there is not only a marked difference 

 in flora, particularly tree flora, but also some differences in fauna both 

 as to species, comparative abundance, range and local distribution. 

 Further, there is the difference in governmental control, the Pacific 

 slope being entirely under the Provincial Government of British Colum- 

 bia and the Alberta slope partly under the Dominion and partly under 

 the Alberta government. This paper deals directly with the conditions 

 existing on the East slope — the portion with which the writer is more 

 familiar — and only incidentally with the West slope. 



Big Game of the Rockies 



Few, if any, sections of the same area in North America have as 

 many species of large game animals as has the East slope. In the por- 

 tion lying between the International boundary, 49° N. latitude, and 

 the Athabaska river, 53° N., there are found no less than 7 species 

 of large herbivorous game animals, 5 species of large carnivorous 

 animals and at least a dozen important fur-bearing animals. With 

 the single exception of the prairie wolf or coyote, all the large 

 herbivorous and carnivorous animals of this region are properly con- 

 sidered big game. It is true that some of the latter class are looked 

 upon as dangerous, predatory animals, and, under certain circumstances, 

 this view is correct, but the extermination of even such animals as 

 these needs to be directed with some degree of care. The mere fact 

 that an animal, such as the grizzly bear, will kill stock in one portion 

 of a province is no reason for bringing about its extermination in all 

 portions, mcluding those where no stock exists for it to prey upon. 



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