FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



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



A PLEA FOR COLORADO GAME. 



We of Colorado are in a dilemma. We 

 have the deer and the elk, but how to keep 

 them is the problem that confronts all 

 sportsmen. Every year the would-be hunt- 

 ers come from the East in greatly increasing 

 numbers, and every year they kill and crip- 

 ple thousands of our cherished game, so that 

 now it is only a question of a few years 

 when a deer or an elk will exist only in the 

 tales of the big hunter who can tell of the 

 hundreds of them he has killed. 



I have never killed an elk. I have not 

 killed more than 30 deer, though I have 

 lived in the West over 35 years and my call- 

 ing has taken me to the front in all the 

 places where I have lived. I have been in 

 this State ov^.r 5 years and in the big game 

 lands most of the time. Last year I, in 

 company with 7 others, went to the Doug- 

 lass Creek country to get a deer. We saw 

 hundreds of deer during the 3 weeks of our 

 stay ; but we wanted some fine heads, so 

 killed but few and none with over 4 points. 

 There were about 50 does to one buck and 

 nearly every deer we killed had been 

 wounded, showing that nearly all had been 

 severely hunted. Our season is August 15 

 to November 5, and this is what we should 

 change. The season opening at such an 

 early date allows anyone to kill 2 bucks at 

 a time when meat can not be kept to ship 

 home; and every year more meat is spoiled 

 in that way than is saved. Also it gives 

 tourists a chance to come early and stay 

 late, so that men who have nothing to do 

 but kill can do that freely. We have game 

 wardens, but everyone knows that a man 

 with plenty of money can come here and 

 kill all the game he wishes and that no 

 questions will be asked. I am not blaming 

 the game wardens, for they must live and 

 they must have money; yet this wholesale 

 killing will take all our game if it is not 

 stopped soon. 



More deer are crippled by smokeless pow- 

 der than are saved. A man who is new to 

 big game 'hunting shoots at the first deer 

 he sees, no matter if it is 600 yards away. 

 He knows the gun will send lead there, and 

 he is out to send lead. The result is he 

 does not know how many deer he hits or 

 misses. All he knows is he may kill one 

 and then he will be It. I have been in locali- 

 ties where the firing began before it was 

 light enough to see the front sight on a 

 gun, and was kept up all day, so that we 

 had to get out for fear some fool would 

 send a stray bullet into one of us. One 

 fellow made a mistake and took 3 shots at 

 my partner after dark. He was so far away 



that my partner could not locate him except 

 by -the flashes of the powder. 



You may say I am too radical, but if you 

 were here with me and could see the dead 

 and crippled deer North of Rifle, Colorado, 

 you would not wonder at what I say. Just 

 North of Rifle the divide between the Grand 

 and White rivers narrows down to 3 or 4 

 miles, and on the North side of this divide 

 is the great winter runway of all the deer 

 from the North of Rio Blanco and Routt 

 counties. The deer all pass along there the 

 last of October, and then the destruction be- 

 gins. All summer law-breakers have been 

 killing fawns and does up in the hills ; and 

 after the deer go to their winter feeding 

 grounds, which are Northwest of this place, 

 about 60 miles, the Indians finish hundreds 

 of them. 



I am against the smokeless rifle. It's a 

 game hog's gun and no tenderfoot should 

 be allowed to use one. My chief reason is 

 that a man who has not had much experi- 

 ence will shoot at a deer when he is entirely 

 out of range. 



I have been in buffalo so thick that count- 

 ing them was out of the question, and now 

 where are they? Three years ago I could 

 go out and kill all the deer I was allowed 

 to in one day, and this fall everyone of our 

 hunters had a hard time to get even one 

 deer in a week. As to elk, none were killed 

 from this point, although some men stayed 

 2 weeks. 



The , smokeless rifle does not give the 

 deer a show to see where the enemy is. 

 I us a 45-70 Winchester, 1886 model, and 

 have used Winchesters for years. I find 

 that over 500 yards with any gun is guess- 

 work with most of us, shooting in timber 

 and over the hill grounds in which the deer 

 stay. I have seen hundreds of deer wound- 

 ed with smokeless powder during the last 3 

 years, and the men who fired the shots 

 never knew they had hit. We should make 

 the season September 15 to October 5, and 

 give one buck and one doe to each man, 

 with a gun license of at least $50 to non- 

 residents. This might cause a howl from 

 outsiders, but game belongs to the people 

 of the State. 



Please give the game hogs a hard one for 

 us of the West. Few ranchers on the sum- 

 mer range will aid in stopping the slaugh- 

 ter, for they make money every year as 

 guides. It is impossible to convict a man 

 under the law as it is now, and the game 

 wardens only use their positions as a pull. 

 They arrest some men every year, but a 

 jury lets them off free, so the county has 

 the cost to pay. Let us have a better law; 



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