446 



RECREATION. 



come in here and hunt in close season, with- 

 out any legal permission, in order that he 

 may slaughter any number of animals with- 

 out molestation." 



I have no personal interest in the game 

 existing in Canada, as I do not expect ever 

 to kill any of it. On my tour during the 

 past summer, I camped within 2 miles of 

 a goat lick, which was being used every 

 day and night by probably 100 goats, and it 

 would have been easy to have killed 

 50 of them if I had been so disposed, but I 

 did not kill one. I camped 2 days within 

 2 miles of several bands of mountain sheep 

 and could easily have killed a dozen of 

 them if I had wished; yet I did not kill 

 one of them, though we were living on 

 bacon at the time, and would have relished 

 some fresh meat. My interest in the pre- 

 servation of Canadian game is simply that 

 of broad humanity. I do not wish to see 

 these animals exterminated on either side 

 of the international border. I trust you may 

 see fit to take vigorous action at once to 

 apprehend and punish the men I have 

 named, and to have the law breaking 

 which I have specified stopped. 



If you wish further information on this 

 subject, you can get it from W. A. Brews- 

 ter and N. K. Luxton, at Banff, and they 

 can give you the names of several other 

 men who are cognizant of the facts. 



I should be glad to be advised of your 

 action in the matter. 



Yours respectfully, 



G. O. Shields. 



Regina, Assa. 

 Mr. G. O. Shields, 

 New York. 

 Dear Sir: 



I received from Mr. Smart a copy of 

 your letter regarding infractions of the 

 game laws in the Northwest. Those you 

 mention, I observe, were chiefly in British 

 Columbia, over which this government has 

 no jurisdiction and in which, of course, its 

 game laws are not in force. Throughout 

 the Territories we have always had diffi- 

 culty in having even our own laws en- 

 forced against the Indians. The various 

 tribes are in charge of the Dominion Gov- 

 ernment, and it is .claimed by that govern- 

 ment that in many respects the Indians 

 are not subject to our laws. When com- 

 plaints are made that the Indians are 

 slaughtering game we are advised that 

 they appear to be observing the law. In 

 addition to that fact, the Rocky Mountain 

 Park, which covers a considerable portion 

 of the game district of the Rocky moun- 

 tains in the Territories, is controlled and 

 policed by the Dominion Government. 



I agree with you as to the importance of 

 preserving the game which is left and am 

 trying, as far as possible, under the diffi- 

 culties we have to meet, to attain that ob- 



ject. It is likely that at the approaching 

 session of the Legislature new game laws 

 will be passed under which the penalties will 

 be made severe ; and as far as is in my 

 power I shall have those laws observed. 

 Your obedient servant, 



Horace Harvey, 

 Deputy Attorney General. 



ON THE TRAIL OF OLD TRAPPER. 



I read, with special interest, "Hunting 

 the Hunted" in Recreation. The unusual 

 interest arose from the fact that as the story 

 was being published I was hunting on the 

 same, stream, among the same foothills and 

 ravines in which Old Trapper hunted buf- 

 falo and fought Indians. 



Buffalo long ago disappeared from the 

 Western plains, leaving only their bones and 

 scaled horns as reminders of their former 

 sway, and of the reckless butchery of the 

 cruel men who hastened their extinction. 

 But while they no longer graze by the 

 Western plains, leaving only their bones and 

 turkeys and deer and an occasional bunch 

 of antelope to furnish excitement to him 

 who loves the chase; and while the Indians 

 are.no longer dreaded by the hunter, he 

 may still encounter a mountain lion. 



At sunset, November 20th, '98, in company 

 with 3 fellow hunters, I descended from 

 the Back Bone, a narrow ridge dividing the 

 Brazos from the Wichita, into the famous 

 turkey grounds among the foothills of the 

 Wichita river. After following a winding 

 trail a few miles, we came on the river, and 

 making a few turns with the channel, 

 reached a clear lake, where, finding plenty 

 of wood, good water and grass we camped. 



Soon our teams were staked out, our tent 

 was up, camp stove arranged and supper 

 ready. At dawn we set out to prospect for 

 game. Two went down stream ; Dave and I 

 went up. In 2 or 3 miles, we reached a 

 rough country, cut up by numerous deep 

 gorges between which was a dense cover- 

 ing of small brush intergrown with briars 

 and vines. We ascended one of these 

 gorges just in time to see a large flock of 

 turkeys vanish in the brush toward the 

 river. Dave kept near the bank while I 

 entered the brush, keeping about 50 yards 

 from him. We crept along slowly, knowing 

 that soon some of the birds would squat 

 and give us a chance for a shot. There 

 was a whirr and up went a big gobbler. 

 Dave brought him down. Another crash of 

 brush and up flew a second. Dave shot and 

 missed. As he fired his second barrel he 

 shouted to me to shoot, and pointed toward 

 the river. Thinking a turkey was crossing 

 I started on a run to the bank. As I 

 reached the bank and raised my gun in 

 position to shoot, my foot caught in a vine 

 and I fell headlong, dropping my gun. As 

 I rose and reached for my gun there was a 



