FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



The man who quits when he gets enough, with plenty of game still in sight, is a real sportsman. 



SHALL INDIANS AND TRAPPERS BE 

 RESTRAINED? 



Here is copy of correspondence which 

 explains itself. 



Hon. James Smart, 



Deputy Minister of the Interior, 

 Ottawa, Ont. 



Dear Sir: 



I have recently returned from a long trip 

 in Alberta and British Columbia, during 

 which I made a careful study of the wild 

 animals native to that region, and of the 

 conditions under which they are being so 

 rapidly exterminated. A year ago last 

 spring I made a trip in the Selkirk moun- 

 tains, where I also devoted a great deal of 

 attention to the same subject. 



I understand that you are the executive 

 officer in charge of the game in Canada, and 

 I beg to call your attention to certain abuses 

 that prevail, especially in the Northwest. 

 I have not a copy of your game laws at 

 hand, but am told you have laws pro- 

 hibiting the killing and selling of game 

 by the Indians ; yet I learn on good author- 

 ity that the Stony Indians and the Crees, 

 especially, are persistently killing off the 

 wild sheep, goats, moose and deer in the 

 Northwest and selling the heads and skins. 

 In my travels on and about the Continental 

 Divide, I saw many Indian camps where 

 large numbers of these animals had been 

 killed, and about which their bones are now 

 scattered. 



I am told that T. C. Wilson, whose pres- 

 ent headquarters are, I think, at Field, B. 

 C, bought over 50 mountain sheep heads 

 from the Stony Indians last fall and winter. 

 He had 22 of these heads exhibited in a 

 store and offered for sale at Field when I 

 was there m June last. In July, when I 

 visited the upper Saskatchewan region, Wil- 

 son had a trading post at Kootenai plains, 

 on that river, where large numbers of the 

 Stony Indians were then camped and were 

 hunting throughout the surrounding coun- 

 try. W T ilson was supplying these people 

 with food and ammunition in exchange for 

 game heads and skins, which he in turn 

 sells to tourists and others. 



Two men whom I met on the upper 

 Saskatchewan had been trapping there dur- 

 ing the past winter. I saw 3 of their bear 

 traps, each of which was baited with the 

 entire carcass of a goat, which had evident- 

 ly been killed in the winter or early spring. 

 All this was in close season. 



I saw in the Spokane lake country an- 

 other trapper, named M. M. Fry, who lives 

 at Bonner's Ferry, Idaho, who, to my 



certain knowledge, was killing every liv- 

 ing thing he could find in that country to 

 bait his traps with. He boasted to us 

 of having smuggled into British Columbia 

 certain dutiable goods, and chuckled over 

 having been smart enough to outwit the 

 customs officers. He killed 4 goats near our 

 camp, some of which he used to bait his 

 bear traps ; and this in close season. When 

 we remonstrated with him, he said he recog- 

 nized no law prohibiting him from killing 

 any wild animal he might find, at any time 

 or place. He was camped within a few 

 yards of us, and one day in May he 

 brought in a female beaver which he had 

 caught in a trap, and from which he took 

 3 unborn young. This was after the legal 

 season fcr trapping beaver; and, in fact, I 

 am under the impression that you have a 

 law prohibiting the taking of beaver at any 

 time in British Columbia. This man Fry 

 has trapped in that country each successive 

 spring for 3 years past, and says he intends 

 to return there next season. 



Mr. W. W. Wright, of Spokane, Wash., 

 whom 1 know personally, and who was in 

 that country with me in 1902, was there 

 again last spring. He went to New Den- 

 ver and lodged with the officers there a 

 complaint against Fry. He reported the 

 case to the police officer, or marshal, of the 

 town, to the justice of the peace, and to 

 the Government agent. These men's names 

 are, respectively : J. T. Black, C. S. Rash- 

 dall and A. Mclnnes. 



These officers refused, however, to take 

 action against Fry, offering first one ex- 

 cuse and then another. The policeman, 

 whose duty I understand it was to go after 

 Fry, was evidently too lazy to go, as Fry 

 was camped 22 miles from the town, up in 

 the mountains. The officer's excuse was 

 that Fry had taken out a miner's license 

 and that it entitled him to kill such ani- 

 mals as he might need for food. Mr. 

 Wright explained that Fry was not eating 

 these animals, and that at least one of the 

 goats he killed had remained where it fell 

 until it rotted, because Fry did not need it 

 for food, or for bear bait. Wright ex- 

 plained that Fry was killing fishducks, 

 porcupines and other harmless animals and 

 birds which are not edible, and because 

 he did not need many of them for bait, they 

 rotted and were not used in any way. The 

 policeman said, 



"If this were in the open hunting season, 

 and Fry were up there hunting without a 

 license, I would go after him at once." 



Mr. Wright replied, 



"Then it is only necessary for a man to 



445 



