GAME PRESERVATION IN DOMINION PARKS 127 



makes it possible to notify the game wardens, who patrol the trails 

 in question, that such parties will be travelling in that direction at a 

 particular time. The wardens are then on the alert and are enabled 

 to follow them up, visit their camps and search for. evidence of infrac- 

 tions of the law. It is very difficult for an offender to escape detection 

 by the trained game warden. Recently, a number of hunters left Banff, 

 in Rocky Mountains park, to hunt big game on the British Columbia 

 side of the mountains. The warden in charge of the trail along which 

 they travelled inspected their vacated camps two days after they had 

 left the park and found they had cached two goat heads, evidently 

 intending to pick them up on their return. The warden immediately 

 followed them ; later, they were brought to Banff, tried before the resi- 

 dent magistrate, convicted and fined. The maximum penalty for killing 

 game in the parks provides for the confiscation of the entire outfit, 

 pack-horses, ponies, guns and camp equipment and, in a case recently 

 tried in Banff, when this penalty was enforced, the property confiscated 

 amounted to over $1,000. Convictions such as these have convinced 

 old-time hunters and residents of the park that the Department in- 

 tends to enforce the Parks Regulations without respect of persons. 



Increase "n '^^^ results of this protective policy are seen on every 



Numbers of hand. Five years ago, the big-horn sheep and the 

 Animals Rocky Mountain goat, which are approaching exter- 



mination in the United States, had almost disappeared from the Rocky 

 Mountains park ; now, they are to be found within 'a mile of Banff 

 itself. You can hardly travel along the automobile road from Banff 

 to Castle, without running into a flock of 30 or more. There are 

 several herds of goats up the Spray river, about 10 miles from Banff 

 and, from the Canadian Pacific Railway hotel there, with the aid of 

 field glasses, goats can frequently be seen on the slopes of mount 

 Rundle, about a mile away. 



Deer, which a few years ago were seldom seen by the visitor to 

 the parks, are now to be found everywhere. They roam the streets 

 of Banff, nose around the back doors, and sometimes eat from the 

 hands of the residents. The same increase in numbers is noticeable in 

 all other forms of wild life. The black bear is frequently seen on the 

 outskirts of Banff, and the grizzly is occasionally reported; red fox, 

 wolverine, marten, lynx, mink, grouse and partridge are seen in abun- 

 dance. Dr. Hornaday says it took the wild animals in Yellowstone 

 park about five years to ascertain that it was safe to trust themselves 

 within rifle-shot of man, but, in Rocky Mountains park, they appear 

 to have been more intelligent, for they found out in less than three. 



