22 Miscellaneous Circular 48, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture 



hunting ground for elk is found at the head of the South Fork of 

 the Flathead River ; and, notwithstanding the fact that a number are 

 taken each year, the animals seem to be holding their own. 



Mountain goats are still found in Montana, and the visitor to the 

 high country of the Flathead or Bitterroot National Forests or 

 along the Continental Divide is seldem disappointed in getting a 

 sight of these interesting creatures. Mountain sheep are sometimes 

 seen at several points in the national forests, chiefly in the Sun River 

 Game Preserve. Although rare, moose are occasionally encountered 

 in the Montana woods, small bunches having been sighted on the 

 Absaroka, Beaverhead, and Missoula National Forests. These ani- 

 mals are all protected at the present time. 



Bear are now considered game animals in the State, and can only 

 be taken with a rifle, the older methods of trapping and hunting 

 with dogs being forbidden. The common brown and black bears 

 are plentiful, and grizzlies make their home in the higher rocky 

 country. 



Good fishing streams are found everywhere in the forests of Mon- 

 tana. (Fig. 15.) The Forest Service cooperates with the State and 

 other agencies in planting fish in many of the streams which have 

 been fished out. As the automobile continues to make fishing streams 

 and hunting grounds more accessible, the situation can only be met 

 through a wider and more frequent restocking of streams, regulation 

 of the number of fish that can be taken by each person each day, 

 and strict game law enforcement. 



Wild life is a forest resource. It has great value, both economic 

 and aesthetic, to any State or community. The national forests are 

 the natural habitat and shelter for much of the remaining game 

 and wild life, and no plan of forest management is complete that 

 does not take this into account. Through unrestricted or poorly 

 regulated taking of game in the past, the supply has been greatly 

 depleted and in some places almost entirely exterminated. One of 

 the important objects of the Forest Service, therefore, is to build 

 up wild life to the amount which the forests can properly support, 

 at the same time taking into account the need of range for domestic 

 livestock. 



The establishment of game refuges where no hunting is allowed 

 is the first step toward accomplishing this end. Careful study is 

 necessary in the selection of these refuges, so as to bring about the 

 best distribution and properly to coordinate game production with 

 the forage needs of domestic livestock. A game-management plan 

 is made for each forest and is being constantly improved and per- 

 fected. Forest officers cooperate fully with the State game depart- 

 ment. They serve as State game wardens, and the fact that they are 

 always going about through the forests at all seasons of the year 

 has done much toward bringing about game law enforcement. A 

 game census on each forest is a part of the plan. Through education, 

 the public has become more interested and the sentiment in favor of 

 game conservation is growing rapidly. Game and wild life are be- 

 coming an increasingly important resource of the national forests, 

 in which, because of her immense forest regions, Montana may well 

 hope to take the lead. 



