120 



RECREATION. 



WEST OF THE ROCKIES. 



Since boyhood I have been a great lover 

 of hunting and fishing. Have studied the 

 habits of fishes and game, from the rabbit 

 and quail of Ohio and Kentucky to the elk, 

 deer, and mountain trout of the Rockies. 

 In 1893 I traveled all through the National 

 Park country, and had one of the best 

 times of my life. We shot all the chickens 

 we could use, from the wagon, and if it 

 had not been out of season we could have 

 done likewise with elk and deer. At every 

 camp we caught all the trout we wanted, 

 within 100 yards. 



What a difference in the same country 

 now ! Last November Lieutenant Farrar, 

 U.S.A., Charles and James Reilly, D. C. 

 McGinty, I. M. Higley, Fred Kempton and 

 I went to St. Anthony, Idaho ; secured 3 

 guides, 2 wagons, one bobsled and 7 horses 

 and went into that same country to get an 

 elk before they should become extinct. We 

 were almost snowed in; were lost 2 or 3 

 times, and did not see any game whatever, 

 except a few grouse. I never fired my 

 gun on the trip. We were at the South- 

 west corner of the National Park, and 

 followed along the blazed line of the 

 park North and East several miles. 



The sheep is the greatest enemy of the 

 game, and incidentally of the outdoor 

 sportsman. We can not make Eastern 

 men, except those who come and see for 

 themselves, realize the wholesale destruc- 

 tion of the ranges by sheep. After a range 

 has had sheep on it one year that settles the 

 game proposition for at least 5 years. 

 Game will not stay where sheep have been, 

 and there are few places in this Western 

 country, that have not been sheeped to 

 death. The National Park is about the 

 only place left. The game will leave this 

 country in the near future, and it will go 

 North ; because in a few years there will 

 be no range in the South. The average 

 Eastern man would not believe sheep could 

 be run in such brushy, rugged places as 

 they are unless he saw the sheep or the 

 effects of them. The effect is plainly seen 

 several years after the sheep have once 

 been over a range. It is wonderful how 

 the herders manage their flocks in such 

 places. They take sheep any place a man 

 can go. It is a small expense to the sheep 

 owner to run his sheep. Two herders can 

 take care of 5,000 to 6,000 head. They get 

 about $30 each a month, and the owner can 

 lose 50 per cent, of his flock each year and 

 still come out a winner, with the privileges 

 he has. 



We hear of the wonderful abundance of 

 game in the Jackson Hole country, but 

 what does it cost to get a chance at it? 

 You have to pay a license of $40 to the 

 State of Wyoming ; , and each man in the 

 party must have a guide, at $5 a day and 



board. If the present method is continued, 

 in 10 years the elk will be like the buffalo, 

 we will see them in shows, parks, and zo- 

 ological gardens. 



Chas. E. Wood, Salt Lake, Utah. 



TWO GOOD SAMARITANS. 



Here is a letter written by a 15 year old 

 boy to his father in this city : 



Inlet, N. Y. 

 Dear Father: 



Gerald and I have turned animal doctors. 

 This is the way it came about. 



Grandma wanted to go on top of Nipple- 

 top mountain and I had to guide her. 

 Gerald went with us. We were near the 

 top when we heard a noise in the bushes. 

 We looked and there was a deer struggling 

 to get away. He could not use his hind 

 legs at all and we walked right up to him ; 

 a splendid big buck. He had a small 

 wound in the middle of his back, but it 

 was not from a bullet. Then we looked 

 back about 100 feet and saw where he had 

 been lying under a dead tree and a big 

 branch with a little spike, or knot, on it 

 had fallen and hit him right in the back, 

 paralyzing his hind legs. The wound only 

 bled a few drops. We saw he could not 

 live, as he would starve and he could not 

 drag himself, either; so Gerald went back 

 to get a man and an axe, thinking we 

 could make a stretcher and carry the deer 

 to Kennell's barn. When Gerald reached 

 home they told him we could not do that, 

 as it is against the law to take a live deer 

 from -the woods. There ought to be ex- 

 ceptions to such a law. 



All we could do was to take the deer 

 some hay and grain and pick ferns and put 

 them before him. That night it rained 

 furiously. The next day, Monday, we put 

 on rubber coats and took a bag of hay 

 and grain and went out to the deer again. 

 When we got there we found him in a foot 

 of water, where he had been all night. 

 There was not much life in him then, but 

 we dragged him about 50 feet, to a place 

 where the water would drain off. There 

 we made him a bed of ferns and hay, rub- 

 bed off from him all the water we could 

 with our hands, and ripped open the bag 

 and tied it on him. 



When we were doing this the deer 

 looked on and you could see how 'he appre- 

 ciated it. He did not offer to harm us in 

 any way, any more than a dog would. The 

 deer will not eat anything and I fear he 

 will die in spite of all we can do. If we 

 could take him in a warm barn, I know he 

 would live. I tried to call up Ned Ball, 

 the game protector, but can not get him. 

 We are going up again to-day, to make a 

 roof over the deer, out of a bark pile that 

 is near. It is not raining to-day, but -looks 



