188 THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 



WILD GAME AS IT USED TO BE. 



By Warden J. R. Metzger. 



In the year 1864 I came with my parents to Oregon, making the 

 trip by boat from San Francisco to Portland. At this time Portland 

 was a small town and all freight was hauled by teams to the smaller 

 towns up the valley. My father hired a farmer to haul us to within 

 about five miles of Salem, where we lived on a small farm for some 

 time. In those early days wild game was very plentiful, Elk, Black- 

 tailed Deer and White-tailed Deer were numerous. The White-tailed 

 deer, which are now almost extinct, where natives of the Willamette 

 Valley. They are a little larger than the Black-tailed Deer, whose home 

 is in the mountains. Most all the oak grub lands was full of White- 

 tailed deer in those days and when fresh meat was needed some one 

 would take the old muzzle-loading rifle and many times not being gone 

 from home but a half hour, would return with a deer. 



Blue grouse and native pheasants were also as thick as black- 

 birds in those days, and all kinds of native quails abounded. It was 

 not uncommon to see 25 or more elk in a band, almost as tame as the 

 cattle. Of course, the elk were found in the foothills and mountains, 

 but not as far back as you find them today if you find them at all. 1 

 know of several bands of elk, but it is not often that you will run onto 

 them. 



Where is all of our game today? It has been wasted by men not 

 as thoughtful as the Indian, for the Indian killed only what he wanted 

 for food. In those days deer hides sold for 40 to 50 cents apiece. I 

 have seen on the North Fork of the South Santiam River great num- 

 bers of deer carcasses. The deer had been killed by hunters, their 

 hides and the hams taken and the balance thrown in the creeks. The 

 hides and hams were taken to Lebanon where they were disposed of. 

 In the old days it was an easy matter to kill deer in large numbers 

 as they came down from the high mountains in the fall when the first 

 rains set in. The deer had regular trails and oft times they would 

 come in bunches, the does and fawns first and then the bucks. Hunters 

 would lie in wait on these trails and slaughter them until they were 

 satisfied. A great many hunters killed more than they could use sim- 

 ply for the "sport" of shooting them. I recall that one man killed 

 five elk and only packed one out of the mountains. Is it any wonder 

 that we have very few of these noble animals left? 



The streams in those days were not fished out at all and there 

 were plenty of "large ones" that would make a sportsman go some to 

 land with the old-fashioned hazel pole and no reel. 



I delight in the sport of hunting, but never killed many deer, 

 although i have spent a number of years in the timber and mountains 

 and am a lover of the great outdoors. In closing this article I want 

 to enlist the services of every true sportsman in the effort being made 

 to restock our state with fish and game and to bring it back to where 

 it was a few years ago in this respect. It can be done only through 

 the united and untiring efforts of the loyal sportsmen and citizens of 

 Oregon. 



