468 
FOREST AND STREAM 
April 13, 1912 
Success at Last. 
Bloomington, Ill., April 6. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: After devoting several months to chas¬ 
ing the wolves that infest the timber of Menard 
county, the hunters of that section finally killed 
the first animal last week. 
J. A. Wheeler, State game commissioner, in 
discussing the movement to secure the appoint¬ 
ment of more farmers as game wardens, said: 
“We have a large list of farmers serving as 
special game wardens without salary, but with 
the power to make arrests and protect the game 
upon their lands. We generally appoint farmers 
in this way when a request is filed. We feel, 
however, that the hunters have a right to have 
some voice in the selection of game wardens as 
long as they pay the bill. This department is 
maintained for the benefit of hunters, .and they, 
through their hunting license, pay all of the ex¬ 
penses. It does not cost the taxpayers a cent. 
The hunters purchase the licenses, and when 
they violate the law, they pay fines. That is 
what keeps up the department and supplies the 
money for salaries. The hunters prefer men 
to serve as wardens who will devote their time 
to protecting the game over a wide area, not 
upon their own land alone. We try to pick first 
class men for wardens and cannot help but 
think that those who support the department 
should have something to say about its operation 
and the personnel of its officers.” 
E. E. Pierson. 
Game in Nevada. 
Troy, Nevada, April 4.. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: The country around here -is not very 
well settled; in fact, it is fifteen miles to my 
nearest neighbor. There is no hunting done 
here at all, causing the game to be rather tame 
and plentiful. 
The principal game is bighorn, antelope and 
a few deer; coyotes, badgers and numerous 
foxes. The fowl are blue grouse, ducks, doves 
and a few quail. 
I have lived here for ten years and know this 
country like a book for fifty miles in every direc¬ 
tion. The bighorn are most plentiful, ranging 
in the mountains, which are very rough. I am 
well acquainted with the sheep. They do not 
run in large bunches, but three and four bunches 
are often seen within gun shot of one another. 
They mostly run in bunches of seven to twelve, 
which I believe is due to there being so many 
rams; there are few killed. I have seen as many 
as six rams in one bunch. They run with the 
ewes from September until April. 
I have seen them go up and down a cliff where 
a man could not begin to go. In going down 
a cliff they strike their feet in the sides some 
six or eight feet, and ease themselves down 
lightly, and when they run they most always run 
in single file, an old ewe taking the lead all the 
time. The ram never leads. They stop occas¬ 
ionally, look back and bunch up, then they wait 
for the leader to start. I have seen one of the 
bunch get scared and start off, but the rest re¬ 
fused to follow unless it was the leader. I have 
seen trees where the rams have knocked all 
the bark off by bumping it. This they do by 
backing off eight or ten feet, and then they take 
a run at it, striking it with their immense horns. 
They are so thick here in places that it is almost 
impossible to track a certain bunch. 
The antelope are most plentiful on the mesas. 
They are very gentle at times. When you first 
jump a bunch, they will run a hundred yards 
or so, then stop and look back to investigate 
matters. I have read several articles in your 
paper regarding the shedding of their horns. 
This I believe is the fact. I do not know how 
often they shed them, but I have found horns 
that I am satisfied were shed horns. 
The open season here is September and Octo¬ 
ber, during which time two bucks may be bagged, 
and they are most plentiful at that time. 
Some of the mountains are pretty well tim¬ 
bered. There we find our most delightful bird, 
the blue grouse, sometimes in large numbers. 
In the past three years the farmers that live 
in and near the hills have had trouble with the 
cougar. John W. Garrett. 
The Uniform Fish and Game Law. 
Hudson, N. Y., April 9.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: Perhaps I can enlighten your Port 
Richmond correspondent, Mr. Rawson, whose 
complaint about the way in which the new fish 
and game law was made in the Legislature just 
adjourned is a timely contribution. That the 
bill was pushed through by the Conservation 
Commission without regard to the protests of 
incorporated clubs, or of anybody competent to 
pass on the subject, is a fact. I attended several 
of the hearings given by the committees in charge 
of the bill and soon saw what was going on. 
Protests were useless. The committees were 
packed and the commission had its way with 
everything but the shellfish sections. The oyster- 
men made a “roar” and threatened to beat the 
bill if they were not properly treated. They are 
an organized body and capable of carrying out 
their threat, and the commission changed the 
objectionable sections to suit them. None of 
the committeemen knew anything about the 
proper seasons for fish or game, and Senator 
Roosevelt’s only argument was that “this is a 
reform measure. It will take a lot of work 
off the legislator’s hands. The commission says 
it is all right, and it must be passed.” 
That nobody asked for such a radical change 
in the existing satisfactory law made no matter. 
The Hotel Keepers’ Association and the fish 
trust seemed to have the inside, and the bill 
shows that they got what they have for years 
wanted—longer seasons and more chances for 
the market sportsman. The bill, especially the 
fishing section, is not even reasonable, let alone 
being scientific. It is not even uniform because 
it contains many sections marked “exceptions” 
or “special.” It was passed for political purposes 
and the fact that the commission did not care 
about the law, unless it could have the power 
to make the law delegated to it for future uses, 
ought to show where the African is located. 
This is a law that touches intimately almost 
everybody in the State, and properly handled 
could easily be used to influence a local election. 
The old law was the result of years of hard 
work and was practical and satisfactory, as is 
shov.m by the fact that only a very few unim¬ 
portant amendments were offered to it during 
the whole session. Senator Roosevelt’s letter, 
which you printed, is luminous as to the “uni¬ 
form” law, but as your correspondent intimates, 
it scarcely recommends him for continuance as 
a legislator. T. Urlette. 
Where the Credit Belongs. 
Seattle, Wash., March 26. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: In the Saturday Evening Post, of 
March 25, there is an article, “The Last Stand 
of the Buffalo,” by Walter Noble Burns, that 
has an item wherein he says C. J. “Buffalo” 
Jones purchased the buffalo and transported them 
to the Yellowstone National Park at his own ex¬ 
pense. Nothing could be further from the 
truth. 
There is a long story connected with this pur¬ 
chase, but I will not tire you with it, except to 
say that Colonel John Pitcher should have all 
the credit for the establishment of this buffalo 
herd in the park. The cows came from the 
Allard band and the bulls from the Goodnight 
herd. The Government paid for them. C. J. 
Jones was sent there with his brother to care 
for them at a salary of $1,800 per year, and 
that was all the interest he had in the buffalo 
in the Yellowstone National Park. 
Every thing is of record at the superintendent’s 
office at Fort Yellowstone. The establishment of 
the buffalo herd is not the only thing that Col. 
John Pitcher should have credit for in connec¬ 
tion with the park. There should be credit given 
where it is due, and surely Mr. Burns ought 
not to give it where it is not due. 
T. E. Hofer. 
Driving for Foxes. 
Drives to capture game in quantity or to de¬ 
stroy vermin are of course common enough in 
the annals of sport. We read of deer drives 
in Scotland, bear drives in Norway, and when 
kings and emperors go hunting in the great 
forests of certain parts of Europe, the game is 
driven by them and they kill it as it passes. So 
in the West of the olden times, buffalo were 
driven over cliffs or into pounds and jack rab¬ 
bits into corrals by the Indians, while in later 
days the settlers used to drive the country for 
wolves in the effort to exterminate the enemies 
which preyed on their live stock. 
A press dispatch from Indiana, however, tells 
us of fox drives said to have been undertaken 
recently in Tippecanoe county by the farmers in 
order to reduce the number of these animals 
which destroy their poultry and cause losses 
that, in view of the high cost of living, the 
farmers feel they can no longer bear. So, ac¬ 
cording to this dispatch, more than 2,000 farmers 
in one day recently took part in drives in dif¬ 
ferent parts of this county, and the capture of 
reynard is the chief topic of conversation 
around the rustic fireside. Every member of the 
fox family stands in peril of his life. 
The largest single drive so far took place to 
the north of Lafayette, Ind., and included in the 
area covered a part of White county. There 
were no less than twelve hundred men in this 
mammoth hunt, and the great circle which their 
extended line formed embraced an area of thirty- 
five square miles. In Jackson township another 
immense drive was indulged in by eight hun¬ 
dred men and boys, ending in a round-up on the 
Miller farm. In addition to these two big ones 
there have been many minor drives. 
Foxes are numerous in both the localities 
covered by the big drives, and they have been 
making heavy depredations of late among the 
farmers’ chickens. This is of course the basic 
reason for the reprisals in the form of organ- 
