Oct. 7 , ign.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
553 
At the Montana Bison Range. 
Anyone interested in our big game or in the 
old West will be well repaid by a visit to the 
Montana bison range. 
It lies in Western Montana, in what was for¬ 
merly the Flathead Indian reservation, and near 
Clark’s Fork of the Columbia—the old Pend 
d’Oreille River. It has an area of about twenty- 
nine square miles and is traversed by Mission 
Creek and some smaller streams. A part of the 
range is rolling prairie, but much of it is quite 
rough, with high hills on which grows more 
or less timber. 
The buffalo are well worth seeing. There are 
sixty-nine of them, including the spring calves, 
and it is possible that one or two more calves 
may be born before the winter comes. The 
Bison Society purchased from the Conrad buf¬ 
falo herd at Kalispel thirty-seven buffalo; be¬ 
sides these, three were donated to the herd by 
the Corbin estate, and Mrs. Conrad presented 
a bull—said to be the largest in the country, 
though of course about that no one knows any¬ 
thing definite. Soon after the herd was brought 
together, one animal died, so that at the start 
there were forty head. During the season of 
1910, eleven calves were born, and this year 
there are eighteen. All the buffalo are in good 
condition, except one, a yearling bull, which is 
a cripple, its off hind leg being short and stiff, 
so that it goes constantly on three legs. This 
injury has prevented a good growth, and it will 
never recover. How it was injured is not known, 
but Mr. Hodges, the warden, believes that it was 
bitten by a rattlesnake. 
In January, 1911, through the efforts of the 
Boone and Crockett Club, a number of antelope 
were sent out to this range from the Yellow¬ 
stone National Park. Eleven were sent, but one 
was found dead in its crate on arrival of the 
shipment, and two others died soon after they 
were turned loose; one of them walking only a 
few yards and then lying down, while the other 
was found dead a day or two later, within half 
a mile of headquarters. Eight of the antelope, 
however, were in fair condition. Of these, two 
are bucks, one an old one, the other a yearling. 
The remaining six are females, two of which 
it was hoped would produce young this year. 
About the middle of the summer all the ante¬ 
lope disappeared; by which is meant only that 
they retreated out of sight, very likely with¬ 
drawing at the approach of hot weather and fly 
time to the higher, rougher portion of the range. 
Recently they have been seen again and all are 
apparently in good condition. 
There are six young elk on the range, shipped 
there from Wyoming, and a few white-tail deer. 
It would be an excellent thing if some mule deer 
and some mountain sheep could be introduced, 
and it is quite possible that this may be done, 
since the Biological Survey has some funds 
which might be used fo/ this purpose. 
Two visitors last summer reached the range 
Aug. 1, having ridden out from Dixon on saddle 
horses procured from the local livery stable. 
The ride is a short one, only five or six miles, 
and Warden Hodges received his visitors most 
cordially, and showed them about the headquar¬ 
ters. His experiences with the antelope and elk 
have made it clear to him that one thing greatly 
required on this range is a small pasture close 
to headquarters, where newly arrived animals 
may be turned out to rest and recover from their 
journey under the warden’s eye. Such a little 
pasture—comprising only a few acres—has been 
built close to headquarters and will be used in 
future as the occasion demands. 
Mission Creek, which flows down close behind 
the house, furnishes the best and purest of water. 
It abounds in trout—bull trout and the black- 
spotted trout. 
The buffalo are always moving about more or 
less over their range, and it was not certain that 
they would be found at once, nor in fact that 
they would be found at all. Fortunately, after 
riding a mile or two over the hills, a bunch of 
animals was detected in the distance, which the 
field glasses showed to be buffalo. Plunging 
down in to the valley, the stream was crossed 
and a short gallop brought us near enough to 
the herd to be certain what they were. A little 
further on some of the animals began to look 
at us with attention, and as one of the saddle 
horses was a white one, Mr. Hodges advised 
our going slowly, while he rode around the buf¬ 
falo to quiet them and keep them from running 
off. The beasts know him and his horse, and 
as he went toward them he called to them and 
presently they ceased to look at the strangers, 
and when he had passed around them, we rode 
slowly on quite close to them. Except for the 
cripple already mentioned, all the animals seemed 
to be in excellent condition. A few bulls were 
lame, no doubt from injuries in fighting, but the 
cows, calves and young stock were in splendid 
shape. 
We sat about on our horses on the outskirts 
of the herd for an hour or two talking over the 
animals, listening to Mr. Hodges’ experiences 
with them, counting the calves, admiring the 
great bulls, and the sober, demure looking cows. 
Then reluctantly—for we were obliged to take 
the train that night—we turned and rode off, 
looking back at the buffalo standing or lying 
along the hillside and recalling the days long, 
long ago when such cattle were to be seen on 
a thousand such hills. G. 
Conservation. 
Boston, Mass., Sept. 30 . —Editor Forest and 
Stream: It was a source of regret to some of the 
members of the Massachusetts Fish and Game 
Protective Association that the “Third National 
Conservation Congress” held its recent meetings 
so far away from the Eastern section of the 
country. Only three Massachusetts men attended 
the meeting in Kansas City. Dr. George W. 
Field represented our State board of fish and 
game commissioners, F. W. Rane the State 
forestry department and Wm. P. Wharton the 
State Forest and Game Protective Association 
and the Bison Society. The underlying principles 
of conservation have taken root in the old Bay 
State, and, I believe, they are endorsed by public 
sentiment in the other States of the East. 
The chestnut bark blight in Massachusetts adds 
another burden to the heavy load resting on the 
State Forester. Prof. Metcalf, in charge of the 
Bureau of Plant Industry, is of the opinion that 
this scourge has spread more rapidly the past 
summer than at arty previous time, and Forester 
Graves has expressed a fear that in the south¬ 
western part of the State, lying as it does ad¬ 
jacent to the infested regions of New York 
State, the chestnut trees are doomed, ind further, 
that whatever is to be done to save them in all 
States north of Virginia must be done this year. 
Quite a number of the members of the State 
association are taking recreation in the woods 
or on the shore. Dr. M. H. Richardson has an 
occasional trip to Eastham for ducks. Mr. C. 
M. Bryant has one or more gunning stands at 
points along the south shore. Mr. Thomas D. 
Kinraide has a cottage in Sandwich. Geo. M. 
Poland has recently secured a hunter’s home in 
New Hampshire, and Dr. Heber Bishop goes for 
week-end rest to Clearwater Lake near Farming- 
ton, Me., while former President Reed goes to 
his Nova Scotia cabin for a few weeks each 
autumn, to a region where large game is plenti¬ 
ful. George B. Clark has recently returned from 
New Brunswick, where he went for moose. In 
his party was Kermit Roosevelt. 
Henry H. Kimball. 
Bounties on Predatory Animals. 
San Francisco, Cab, Sept. 26 . — Editor Forest 
and Stream: We inclose a chart showing the 
bounties paid in the counties of this State at the 
present time on predatory animals and certain 
birds, and hope that this list may be of some 
value to you: 
Alameda—None. 
Alpine—None. 
Amador—Coyotes, $2.00. 
Butte—Coyotes, $5.00. 
Calaveras—Coyotes, $2.00. 
Colusa—Coyotes, $ 10 . 00 ; panthers, $ 5 . 00 . 
Contra Costa—None. 
Del Norte—None. 
El Dorado—None. 
Fresno—None. 
Glenn—Coyotes, $5.00. 
Humboldt—Coyotes, $8.00. 
Imperial—Gophers, 10 cents. 
Inyo—None. 
Kern—Mountain Lion, $5.00. 
Kings—Coyotes, $2.00. 
Lake—Coyotes, $5.00 
Lassen—None. 
Los Angeles—None. 
Madera—Blue Jay heads, 2 cents. 
Marin—None. 
Mariposa—None. 
Mendocino—None. (Clubs of sheepmen pay bounties 
of from $2.00 to $30.00.) 
Merced—None. 
Modoc—“Sheep” ? 
Mono—None. 
Monterey—None. 
Napa—Coyotes, $20.00. 
Nevada—Coyotes, $2.50; wildcats, $1; lynx and fox, $1. 
Orange—None. 
Placer—Coyotes, $2.50; foxes, $1.00; wildcats, $1.00. 
Plumas—None. 
Riverside—None. 
San Benito—None. 
San Bernardino—May pay on wildcats and coyotes. 
San Diego—Lions, $10.00. 
San Joaquin—None. 
San Luis Obispo—None. 
San Mateo—None. 
Santa Barbara—California lion, $5.00; coyotes, $2.50; wild¬ 
cats, $ 1 . 00 . 
Santa Clara—None. 
Santa Cruz—None. 
Sacramento—None. 
Shasta—Coyotes, $2.50; mountain lion, $5.00. 
Sierra—None. 
Siskiyou—Panthers, $10.00; coyotes, $2.50. 
Solano—Coyotes, $10.00. 
Sonoma—Coyotes, $5.00. 
Stanislaus—Coyotes, $2.00. 
Sutter—Coyotes, $5.00. / 
Tehama—Panthers, $12.50; coyotes, $5.80; coyote pups, 
$ 1 . 00 ; wildcats, $ 1 . 00 . 
Trinity—Coyotes, $3.00. (Repealed, but ordinance to be 
again enacted.) 
Tulare—Ground squirrels, 3 cents Oct. 1 to March 31; 
coyotes, $2.00, December, January, February. 
Tuolumne—Lions, $2.00; bobcats, $1.00; .coyotes, $2.00. 
Ventura—Coyotes, $2.00. 
Yolo—Coyotes, 5 months and over, $10.00. 
Yoio—Coyotes, 5 months and over, $10.00.; under 5 
months, $5.00. 
Yuba—Coyotes, $5. 
Jnq. P. Babcock, Chief Deputy. 
