THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
in certain hard winters, such as 1906, the deer move into the open in search 
of food and come to cultivated lands of the farmers situated near the 
Duck and Riding Mountains and the Pembina. In this year alone it is 
estimated that not less than 1,000 wapiti were killed by farmers and 
hunters who paid little attention to the game laws. In 1908 I saw in Winni- 
peg about forty heads of adult males, some of which were fine specimens, 
the best being 54| inches in length. They had all been killed in 1906 in the 
middle of winter. Charles Barber, the head game warden, stated that 
445 were killed legally in that year and 365 in 1907, but this by no means 
includes the actual number that were shot. In most years but few of these 
wapiti are killed and they undoubtedly appear to be increasing. 
In East Kootenay, British Columbia, there are a few wapiti which are 
carefully preserved and certainly increasing, and a single old bull is now 
allowed to be shot, as Mr Williams informs me; whilst in Oregon and 
Washington on the Olympic ranges there is a close time for these animals 
which may be extended for some years. Owing, however, to the density 
of this country and the difficulty of watching it there is still a good deal 
of unauthorized shooting. 
In Vancouver Island Nature is a very efficient game warden and few 
wapiti are killed. My uncle, Mr Melville Gray, who recently hunted there, 
says that a man is far more likely to break his leg than to kill a wapiti, as 
the fallen timber is so stupendous and, judging by what I saw in one wapiti 
haunt up the Campbell River, I should say that this is a very fair criticism. 
I think that Mr Thompson Seton’s estimate of the present numbers of 
these animals in North America is a very fair one. These he gives as follows 
(“ Life Histories of Northern Animals,” p. 48): 
Yellowstone Park 20,000 
Wyoming, outside the Park . . . 5,000 
Manitoba 5,000 
Idaho 5,000 
Montana 4,000 
Vancouver Island 2,000 
Washington 1,500 
Alberta 1,000 
Saskatchewan 500 
Oregon 200 
California ....... 200 
British Columbia 200 
Minnesota 50 
In various Zoos, Parks, etc 1,000 
Total in 1907 45,650 
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