33 6 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[March 2, 1907. 
Starving Elk Destroy Hay. 
While we were writing last week about the 
starving of the Yellowstone Park elk the Liv¬ 
ingston (Montana), Post was printing the fol¬ 
lowing interview : 
Deputy Game Warden Henry Ferguson, in 
charge of the territory embraced in Park and 
Gallatin counties, was in Livingston recently. 
Mr. Ferguson had just returned from a trip to 
Gardiner and the surrounding territory, on which 
he had been investigating complaints that have 
been made to the office of the State game war¬ 
den concerning the damage that is being done 
by elk and other wild game in the vicinity of 
Gardiner. 
Speaking to a Post reporter recently, Mr. 
Ferguson said that conditions there are such as 
to demand some sort of a remedy. Great herds 
of elk have been driven out of the National 
Park by the heavy snow, which makes it impos¬ 
sible for the animals to get to grass. Thousands 
of the animals are foraging every day and night 
at the ranches near Gardiner. Wire fences do 
not avail to prevent the elk from getting to the 
haystacks. They go through a wire fence as if 
it was built of cotton string. They are not con¬ 
tent with making one opening through the fences, 
but they go through wherever they happen to 
strike the fence. In this manner numerous 
ranchmen near . Gardiner have been put to a 
great deal of annoyance and expense in repair¬ 
ing their fences. Many tons of hay have been 
destroyed by elk. Walter Hoppe, who owns a 
large ranch near Gardiner, is probably the 
heaviest loser on account of the depredatory elk. 
Some measure looking to the protection of the 
ranches in the vicinity of the National Park 
will have to be made, either by the State or the- 
national Government, in the opinion of Mr. Fer¬ 
guson. Federal laws_ protect the elk from being 
killed while in the National Park and State 
laws make it criminal to kill them outside the 
park at the season of the year when the most 
damage is done. The rancher is absolutely with¬ 
out recourse. It is urged by several ranchmen 
living in the vicinity of the park that Congress 
ought to take the matter up and make some ar¬ 
rangements to prevent recurrences of a situation 
which has been growing steadily worse each 
year. 
On account of the extremely severe weather, 
the damage done by elk this year is much greater 
than in any previous year. 
The situation of these ranchmn along the Yel¬ 
lowstone is a difficult one. They are without 
the power to protect themselves, and neither the 
State nor the national Government can look out 
for them. The matter is one which long ago 
should have been taken up by Congress. Not 
once in a generation of elk does such a winter 
occur as this present one has been, but it is the 
part of the wise man to insure himself against 
dangers that can be foreseen, and it is one of 
the functions of a Government to insure its 
citizens against accidents which are perfectly 
preventable. 
Colorado Game and Fish. 
Commissioner Woodard, of Colorado, in his 
report to Governor McDonald, says the game 
and fish laws were more closely observed last 
year than ever before, and the number of 
hunting licenses taken out there was much 
greater than during 1903, or in round numbers, 
15,000 in 1903 and nearly 24,000 last year. The 
State now has six hatcheries, with an output 
of 2,000,000 young trout each. The railways 
and the Government are aiding the State ma¬ 
terially in stocking its waters with trout. 
“The total amount appropriated and avail¬ 
able for the various branches of the work for 
the years 1905 and 1906, including the building 
and stocking of new hatcheries in Grand 
county and Garfield county,” says Mr. 
Woodard, “was $57,700, of which we have 
used $50,700.09, leaving a balance of $6,990.91. 
Total receipts of the office for this period, 
$35,115.67, of which we have used $20,871.60, 
leaving a balance of $14,244.07. Of this bal¬ 
ance $11,278.40 has been turned into the gen¬ 
eral iund of the State, and we now have $2,- 
965.67 on hand as reserve for paying game 
wardens, etc. 
“There are now six State fish hatchery build¬ 
ings and equipments, valued at $2,000 each, 
with a total annual output of 6,000,000 young 
trout. This work is carried on at an annual 
cost of $12,500, which shows better results than 
obtain in any State in the Union for trout 
culture. The advances made in this branch of 
the State's enterprise are so marked that they 
should be an incentive for the general assem¬ 
bly to accord to fishc.ulture as liberal an ap¬ 
propriation as the benefits to be derived would 
warrant, as it is not an established branch of 
the State’s service. 
“Evidences of increases among elk, antelope, 
mountain sheep, etc., are seen in various places 
throughout the State. In several different 
localities within the State mountain sheep 
come down to the very limits of some of the 
large towns, and are there cared for by the 
people of the town; salt is placed in the hills 
where it can be easily found by the sheep, 
and they seem only too willing to take ad¬ 
vantage of it. In fact, these particular animals 
have almost become pets in two or three dif¬ 
ferent places that I know of, and the people 
there take great pride in taking care of the 
same. In these localities no effort is needed 
on my part to protect the sheep, as the people 
themselves give very close attention to their 
protection. If this same spirit existed through¬ 
out the State, and with all of the people, the 
game of Colorado would make her more 
famous in the eyes of our visitors from the far 
East than any other attraction that she now 
has. I am informed by people who know that 
antelope are increasing very rapidly in dif-, 
ferent parts of eastern Colorado, bands of 
these animals, which two and three years ago 
numbered eighteen and twenty, now number 
twenty-five to twenty-eight.” 
Pittsburg Sportsman’s Show. 
Under the caption of “What It Is” the Pitts¬ 
burg Sportsman’s Show Association has pub¬ 
lished the following comprehensive and interest¬ 
ing prospectus of its great sportsman’s show, to 
be held April 24 to May 4: 
“Sportsman’s shows have been organized for 
the purpose of co-operating in the protection and 
propagating of North American animals, birds 
and fish, to preserve and exhibit these to the 
public, to give the sportsmen a chance to exhibit 
their trophies and compete with others for 
prizes, to illustrate the outdoor life, and to give 
contests in canoeing and swimming. 
“The Duquesne Garden will be converted into 
a veritable forest, several carloads of trees being 
used m decoration. There will be Indians, 
guides and hunters in their tepees, log cabins and 
hunting shacks. Wanka, the Eskimo from 
Alaska with his famous team of Eskimo dogs, 
wild animals, game birds, large aquaria with dif¬ 
ferent kinds of fish, also a duck pond containing 
all kinds of North American waterfowl, a large 
lake in which will be given water sports, con¬ 
tests between Indians and white in swimming, 
canoeing, fly-casting, water base ball, canoe tilt¬ 
ing, log rolling, flipping the canoe, Eskimo in 
skin kyak (canoe), and a rifle range. Daily 
prizes will be awarded to winners of shooting 
contests and to exhibitors of big game and water 
sports. 
“To make it still more interesting upstairs in 
the amphitheater of Dusquesne Garden, such lec¬ 
turers as T. A. Cruickshank, on Camping; L. O. 
Armstrong, One Thousand Miles by Canoe in 
the Northwest; Mr. George Hadden, on Rocky 
Mountain Big Game; Capt. Craine, on Alaska; 
Mrs. Hubbard, Trip Through Labrador, and her 
guide, George Elson, who also brought Hub¬ 
bard’s body out or Labrador, and many others 
will give lectures on the animals and outdoor 
life. Another feature will be moving pictures 
showing the actual stalking and killing of var¬ 
ious large game and fishing in Canada and New 
Brunswick. There will be no additional charge 
for lectures and moving pictures. 
“Picturesque exhibits will be made of camp 
outfits, tents, sleeping bags, guns, fishing tackle 
and all supplies pertaining to a sportsman’s life.” 
The mere enumeration of the members of the 
Board of Directors is quite sufficient in the way 
of showing the responsibility, integrity and 
ability of the association. The list is as follows: 
A. H. King (Chairman), Geo. Shiras 3d, C. A. 
Painter. John M. Phillips, Dr. O. H. Voight, S. 
H. McKee, E. J. Taylor, F. F. Brooks, Jas. N. 
Jarvis, Norwood Johnson, R. R. Bennett, John 
W. Pontefract, Stephen Lanahan, P. W. Shep¬ 
hard (the Index), and W. F. Hamilton (Gen’l 
Mgr.). 
View of a Pennsylvania Law. 
The following letter has been sent out to citi¬ 
zens of Pennsylvania: 
Harrisburg, Pa., Feb. 20 .—Dear Sir: There 
was a bill passed by the last Legislature, impos¬ 
ing a penalty of $10 upon any person who might 
trespass on “posted lands” within this State. 
The sportsmen of the State and very many other 
people consider this a most unfair and unjust 
measure. They are not opposed to a law giving 
adequate protection to the owner of cultivated 
land and to the wood lot adjacent thereto, no 
difference what the size of that lot may be, nor 
are they opposed to laws that will make any 
one responsible for damages done to the lands 
of another, no matter what the character of the 
land may be. But they do object to a law that 
places a fixed penalty on an individual, who 
simply steps on the wild lands of the State with¬ 
out injuring in any way anything, the simple 
plucking of a flower, that to-morrow will be 
faded and gone. There has been a great hue and 
cry raised over the bill that proposes to make 
resident hunters secure a license. In some sec¬ 
tions this is termed an, effort upon the part of 
the rich to legislate the poor hunter out of busi¬ 
ness. I want to say that a bill for this purpose 
is not needed at this time, even if that were 
the purpose. This trespass act has already done 
the business for the man that owns no land. All 
the land ownhr or lessee needs to do is to “post” 
his land and it costs $10 to any man who even 
steps on it without permission, no difference 
what the original purpose of this act was, the 
working effect is wrong and it should be re¬ 
pealed. Write your member and have your 
friends write at once regarding this matter. A 
fair law can be drafted to take its place. 
Joseph Kalbfus, 
Chairman Legislative Com., P. S. S. A. 
Death of August Koch. 
It is with sincere regret that we announce the 
death of Mr. August Koch, of Williamsport, Pa., 
a reader and contributor to Forest and Stream 
for more than thirty years. He died Feb. 15, at 
Mohawk, Fla., where he was spending the winter. 
Mr. August Koch was born at Stuttgart, Ger¬ 
many, in 1837, and came to America with his 
parents in 1850. As a boy he was very fond of 
natural history, and before leaving Stuttgart he 
had taken lessons in taxidermy from the curator 
of the Stuttgart Museum. He was an ardent 
collector of birds, mammals, reptiles, fish and in¬ 
sects up to the time of his death, and was in 
correspondence with biologists in various parts 
of America and Europe. A close student of 
nature, combining manual dexterity with an ar¬ 
tistic temperament, the natural history specimens 
which he mounted were life-like to a degree 
seldom seen in public collections. He l,eaves 
probablv the largest, and certainly the finest, pri¬ 
vate collection of its kind in Pennsylvania. 
Mr. Koch was an ardent sportsman, a splen¬ 
did wing shot and a man who had worked out 
his own code of ethics long before game laws 
were regarded as of much importance or en¬ 
forced at all. Some times he would go out 
shooting for his favorite game, ruffed grouse, to 
return in a few hours with a half dozen birds 
with the remark, “Six grouse are enough for 
anv man to kill in a day.” 
On the morning of Feb. 15 he was apparently 
in excellent health, and during the forenoon took 
a stroll through the woods with his gun. At, 
noon he returned, put away his gun and started 
to walk across the yard, when he was stricken 
with cerebral hemmorhage and died instantly. 
Mr. Koch will be mourned by a wide circle of 
friends. 
