LEAGUE OF AMERICAN SPORTSMEN. 



121 



being a new hand in politics I have not yet 

 devised a way. 



We passed, at the last Legislature, a law 

 which restricts the shipment of game. Here- 

 tofore we have had no restriction on ship- 

 ment of game outside the State, and people 

 had a right to ship all the game they chose. 

 Now we have a law which leaves the ques- 

 tion of shipment entirely with the State 

 Game Warden as to whether a hunter may 

 ship game out of the State. Non-residents 

 buy their licenses, which entitle them to 

 kill a limited quantity of game and take it 

 out, provided it is properly ticketed. This 

 new law holds express companies and their 

 employees liable for any violations. 



We have a new feature which was taken 

 from the Wyoming game law, namely, the 

 licensing of guides and making the guides 

 ex officio game wardens and holding them 

 responsible for the acts of the hunters 

 whom they may take out. Every man who 

 guides in Montana for pay must make an 

 affidavit and have it signed by 3 responsible 

 taxpayers of the county in which he lives, 

 that he is of good moral character and re- 

 sponsible, and he must take the oath of 

 deputy game warden and pay $10 for a li- 

 cense. As soon as he returns from a trip 

 he is required to make a report, stating the 

 number of days he has been employed, the 

 names of the persons whom he took out, 

 and if non-residents, the number of their 

 licenses. He must also give an itemized 

 account of the number of heads of game 

 killed by each member of the party. That 

 is a good law and it is working well. 



Another good feature of our law is that 

 it licenses taxidermists. Taxidermists are a 

 hard class of people to handle. Heretofore 

 we could go through a taxidermist's shop, 

 but we had no way of finding out whom the 

 hides belonged to that were there in pickle ; 

 so we passed a law providing for the licens- 

 ing of taxidermists. They pay $25 a year 

 and render an itemized statement each 

 month of the number of heads and hides 

 received, and to whom they belong; also 

 of the number of heads of game they have 

 on hand the 1st of each month and the 

 amount of game shipped out. Thus we 

 have an absolute check on them. We know 

 exactly what goes out, what comes in and 

 to whom it belongs. When we call on them 

 we take our reports along and check them. 

 If there is any discrepancy the taxidermists 

 must explain. Of course, they complain 

 about the law and say it is unconstitutional, 

 but they have not tested it yet, and I think 

 it will stand. 



The National Park borders on my State 

 and it is an interesting place for any one to 

 visit. It is a great breeding ground for 

 game, because game is protected there. The 

 Park is now in charge of Major Pitcher, 

 one of the most enthusiastic game protec- 



tors and one of the pleasantest gentle- 

 men to be found anywhere. The Govern- 

 ment employees in the Park, as well as the 

 soldiers and civilian scouts, whose duty it is 

 to patrol the Park, do their work well at 

 all times. They take their saddle and pack- 

 horses and go out and stay for weeks, pa- 

 trolling the borders of the Park, and I have 

 deputized each one of the scouts as a game 

 warden for Montana, so they have juris- 

 diction to come over the Park line into 

 Montana and make arrests. They have 

 given us more assistance than any other 

 class of people, and they have broken up 

 along the borders of the Park several gangs 

 of poachers which have been operating 

 there for years. 



Public sentiment in that community is 

 rapidly growing in favor of game protec- 

 tion, and we have but few reports of viola- 

 tions in that section. I went up to the 

 Park the other day to see Major Pitcher, 

 and driving over to the Mammoth Hot 

 Springs, we drove into a band of 33 moun- 

 tain sheep. I have often seen mountain 

 sheep when hunting, but I never got so 

 close to them as I did there. We got within 

 25 or 30 feet of them. They got up on the 

 sides of the cut and stood there, looking 

 down at us as we drove by. I was in a 

 Government ambulance, and I had the 

 driver stop while I made several pictures 

 of them. 



When I got up to headquarters the Major 

 said, 



"I will feed some of my pets to-night," 

 and asked if I would like to see them. 



I said I certainly should, and he ordered 

 the soldiers to bring out the feed on to the 

 grounds in front of the barracks and in 

 front of the hotel stables. Right in the 

 center of the parade grounds we soon 

 counted 68 mule deer that came down to 

 feed, and thev walked about the officers' 

 quarters like domestic sheep. We took pic- 

 tures of them, sometimes getting within 8 

 or 10 feet of them. There were some of the 

 largest bucks I have ever seen. They 

 were originally wild game. They come out 

 over the borders of the Park each year 

 and are hunted. It would seem that a man 

 might go out and shoot one easily on the 

 border of the Park, but it seems that as 

 soon as they go over the boundary line 

 they know it, and then one can not get any 

 closer to them than to the other wild game. 



Up on the branch, possibly a mile from 

 the Springs, we saw enormous numbers of 

 elk. There must have been 2,000 or 3,000; 

 and down on the flat, coming home, we saw 

 between 400 and 500 antelope feeding. 

 They are a little wilder than deer. 

 One can not get closer than 30 or 40 yards 

 from them ; but the deer are like domestic 

 animals. 



In the winter, when the snow is deep, it 



