FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



TO SAVE THE GAME IN THE PARK. 



New York, Jan. 19th, 1900. 

 Hon. E. A. Hitchcock, 



Secretary of the Interior, 



Washington, D. C. 



Dear Sir: — I beg to call your attention 

 to the urgent need of killing off a large 

 number of the bears, lynx, mountain lions 

 and wolves in the Yellowstone National 

 Park. It is a well known fact that these 

 animals have become so numerous there 

 that they destroy large numbers of the elk 

 calves and of cows which become too weak 

 during winter to be able to escape. These 

 carnivorous animals also kill, every spring, 

 several buffalo calves, and more or less 

 young deer, antelope and mountain sheep. 



It would be an easy matter to reduce 

 the numbers of these predatory animals, by 

 simply instructing the park superinten- 

 dent to detail a few good hunters from his 

 command to do the work. 



In my judgment this should be ordered 

 at once. The bears are now hibernating, 

 and will begin to come out of their dens 

 early in April. The snow will still be deep 

 in the park at that time, and it will be easy 

 for the bears to overtake and pull down 

 the young animals and the weakened 

 mothers. Hunters traveling on snow shoes 

 could easily pursue and rapidly thin out 

 the bears. Captain Brown, the present 

 superintendent of the park, is a practical 

 big game hunter himself, and could direct 

 this work intelligently and effectively. As 

 you are well aware, the buffalo herd in the 

 park has dwindled from about 400 head, 3 

 years ago, to less than 30 head now, and 

 the last one of these will disappear within 

 2 years more unless stringent measures are 

 adopted for their preservation. It would 

 be a national calamity to have this remnant 

 of the American bison exterminated. Of 

 course many of these animals have been 

 killed by poachers outside of the park and 

 perhaps a few inside, but it is a well known 

 fact that many of the buffaloes have been 

 pulled down and killed by the beasts of 

 prey which I have mentioned. 



Hoping you may give this matter your 

 careful and prompt attention, I am, 

 Yours truly. 

 G. O. Shields, Prest. L. A. S. 



Department of the Interior, 

 Washington, D. C, March 16, 1900. 



Mr. G. O. Shields, President, 



League of American Sportsmen. 



Sir: 



Your letter of January 19th has been re- 

 ceived, in which you call attention to the 



urgent necessity for killing off a large 

 number of bears, lynx, mountain lions and 

 wolves in Yellowstone National Park. 



In response thereto I have to state that 

 the Acting Superintendent of the Park, to 

 whom your letter was referred, states 

 that: 



There are, as stated by Mr. Shields, 

 numbers of bears and mountain lions 

 and large numbers of coyotes in the 

 park, and much game in the way of elk- 

 deer and antelope is killed by them. I 

 have carefully investigated the matter as 

 to whether buffalo are ever killed by 

 the bears; the scouts who have been 

 here, some of them for years, have never 

 known of this being done, though of 

 course it may have happened. With the 

 exception of the buffalo and possibly 

 mountain sheep, I think all kinds of 

 game have increased of late years, 

 though this may not be correct as to 

 antelope. I think most of the destruc- 

 tion is due to the coyotes, and the scouts 

 and enlisted men of the command are 

 authorized to shoot them wherever 

 found; a number of them near the post 

 • have been shot and poisoned this sea- 

 son. A few mountain lions have also 

 been killed. 



The depredations of the bears seem to 

 be mainly about the hotels, where they 

 often break into outhouses in search of 

 food. I doubt the advisability of killing 

 any of these animals except such as be- 

 come so bad about the hotels as to make 

 it absolutely necessary. 



The mountain lions killed have been 

 those in the vicinity of where the few 

 remaining mountain sheep are ranging 

 and with a view to the protection of 

 these rare animals. 



There are so many elk in the park- 

 that, for the present at least, no measures 

 are necessary for their protection from 

 other wild animals. 



As Mr. Shields suggests, the im- 

 portant thing is to protect the buffalo. 

 and I shall use every effort to this end: 

 but it is no easy matter to cover the 

 country where they are during the spring 

 season; in fact, it is impossible excent 

 by the most experienced men with skis. 

 who have to carry their rations and suf- 

 ficient clothing for protection against 

 cold at night on their backs. I have at 

 present a detachment in the buffalo 

 country, on skis, with instructions to 

 find out as nearly as possible the number 

 still left in the park; this trip will take 

 at least 2 weeks and probably more. 



30 



