30 BIG GAME SHOOTING IN ALASKA chap. 



the authorities to restrict this form of kilHng big game, but 

 according to the law in its present form it is hard to see how 

 it can be efficacious. 



During my late trip in Alaska I received several letters 

 from Dr. Hart Merriam, the courteous and talented chief of 

 the Biological Survey Department at Washington, in which 

 he discussed various matters relating to the new game laws. 

 In one of these letters he stated that it was not the intention 

 of the authorities to prohibit the killing of game all over 

 Alaska, but rather to restrict the numbers allowed, and to 

 protect the game more strictly in certain districts such as 

 Cook's Inlet and the Kenai Peninsula, which are easy of 

 access and are therefore most visited by sportsmen. I 

 replied saying that the intention of the Act was undoubtedly 

 good, but at present it appeared that the killing of the game 

 by the natives, as described above, threatened to exterminate 

 the game in the country far more quickly than the small 

 number of big heads annually killed by bona-fide sportsmen. 



With regard to the clauses of the Act which concern 

 sportsmen, there are several new ones which make it question- 

 able whether or no the trip of 9000 miles to Western Alaska 

 and the expenses entailed are adequately remunerated by the 

 amount of trophies which it is permissible to obtain. The 

 killing of caribou on the whole of the Alaska Peninsula west 

 of Lake Iliamna is prohibited until 1908. This district is the 

 best part of the accessible country near the coast in which 

 caribou can be found, and they still abound there in thousands. 

 It is also sufficiently adjacent to a good moose country to 

 render possible the collection of both moose and caribou in 

 one season under the old conditions. I only know of two 

 districts near the coast of Alaska where both moose and 

 caribou may now possibly be obtained in one trip, but both 



