192 3 _ RECREATION. A oorE 
they range by thousands when the snow 
becomes too deep for them in the Yellow- 
stone park and adjacent mountains. The 
great herds of elk in Yellowstone park— 
at least all that ran~e between Yellow- 
stone lake and Jackson lake—go this route. 
Tle elk that go to Red Desert come from 
the Wind River mountains and the Eastern 
Gros Ventres, the Lander mountains and 
the headwaters of Horse, Piney and La 
Borge creeks—Western branches of Green 
river in Uinta county. 
D. S., Jackson Lake; Wyo. 

A PROTEST. 
Here is a copy of a letter written by the 
Hon. W. B. Mershon, of- Saginaw, Mich., 
to Governor Pingree, begging him to veto 
the spring shooting bill: 
Hon. H. S. Pingree, Lansing, Mich.: 
Dear Sir: I am gratified to learn that 
you are inclined to veto Senator Leidlein’s 
bill permitting spring shooting, and I can- 
not urge too strongly, in behalf of all the 
true sportsmen of Saginaw that you dis- 
approve this measure. To permit, at this 
time, spring shooting would be a long step 
backward in the cause of game protection. 
For years the energetic sportsmen and 
game protectionists have labored to have 
laws enacted preventing the shooting of 
these breeding birds in the spring, when 
on their annual flights to their Northern 
breeding grounds, when they were paired 
and mated and when the destruction of one 
bird means the destruction of an entire 
brood. By conference the legislatures of 
Illinois and Wisconsin agreed to abolish 
spring shooting, with the understanding 
that Michigan did likewise, and the prom- 
ise was well kept 2 years ago. The claim 
has been made that if spring shooting was 
allowed in one State, the selfish greed of 
the neighboring States demanded the same 
privilege of slaughter. The 2 neighboring 
States have laws that prevent spring shoot- 
ing and Michigan cannot afford to have 
her honorable reputation tarnished by go- 
ing back on this agreement, or even with- 
out the agreement, by taking this barbar- 
ous step backward. In the State of Ohio, 
they are even more rigid than we are here. 
Not only do they prohibit spring shooting 
but in many localities the shooting of ducks 
is limited to 3 days each week during the 
open season in the fall. 
All who are interested in the subject have 
agreed that too much cannot be done to 
protect game birds, fishes and song birds; 
for with the rapid diminishing of our for- 
ests, their natural covers and their natural 
places of breeding and feeding have be- 
come so scarce that the songsters and the 
game birds naturally decrease. With the 
aid of modern fire arms and especially the 
pump gun in the hands of those who have 
no sentiment for the songsters and who 
care only for the game birds on account of 
the dollars they will bring, and of those for 
whom a bird fills the pot for them no more 
acceptably than a chunk of pork does, the 
work of slaughter goes on. 
I do not want to see eur water fowl dis- 
appear as the buffalo and the wild pigeon 
have; hence I again implore you to vet) 
the bill which attempts to reinstate the 
barbarous custom of killing nesting birds. 
Yours respectfully, 
WW. W. Mershon. 
It is strange that the Governor should 
have turned a deaf ear to the hundreds of 
such appeals sent to him by decent sports- 
men, and that he should instead have 
yielded to the entreaties of the pot hunters 
and game dealers. But then, American pol- 
itics are full of mysteries. —Eprror. 

~ WANTS THE OLD MEN TO STAY. 
Editor RECREATION: 
I have the honor to request that you. ne 
all in your power to help the people living 
in the vicinity of Yellowstone park to hold 
the 4t' Cavalry at their present station. 
I ask this on behalf of ‘° e law-abiding citi- 
zens who live near the boundary of the 
park. A short time ago, an order was 
issued from the war department relieving 
troops D and H 4th Cavalry from their 
Station at Fort Yellowstone. Everyone 
knows that a change of troops will lead 
to the destruction of a lot of the game in 
the park. The buffalo and beaver will suf- 
fer more than any other game. 
It takes a troop of cavalry at least a 
year to learn the habits and haunts of the 
game, and the boundaries of the park. In 
view of the fact that there is only one 
troop of cavalry here this summer no 
doubt that the peachers will have 
everything their own way. The troops 
that are in the park should stay at least 6 
to 8 years. Troop M Ist Cavalry is com- 
ing here. They are entirely ignorant of 
the habits of game and the boundaries of 
the park. There are plenty of troops 
which can be sent to the Philippine islands 
without sending troops D and H, and I 
do not believe that we should let the game 
in the park be destroyed just because the 
war department wants to change the 
troops. Their attention should be called 
to this matter at once. The 4th Cavalry 
has done more for the protection of the 
park than any other troop that has ever 
been here. There are 3 scouts in the 
park, but it is impossible for them to stop 
poaching, if the war department keeps 
changing troops every 2 or 3 years. 
The scouts are Morrison, Whittaker and 
Burgess. The former are discharged sol- 
diers and the latter a government em- 


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