Aug. i, 1908.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
1 7 1 
times the smacks drew near together, too near 
on at least one occasion, when our lines fouled 
with those of the Donald. The skippers were 
friends in New London, but one would never 
have known it from the way they clamored for 
“first cuts” and the language with which they 
tried to shift the blame on each other. 
The afternoon slipped away. It fell to me 
to make the last catch and the largest fish of 
the day. It was a ten-pounder, a tide runner 
1 truly, and my gloves were in shreds by the time 
I landed him.- It was a mighty fight, and more 
_ 
than once I was tempted to hand over the line 
to one of the others and rest aching muscles. 
It ended my allegiance to the trout of the Sky- 
komish. They are fighters but amateurs. The 
bluefish is a professional, a thoroughbred, and 
better sport no man can ask. 
There was an aftermath that rounded off the 
day—the bluefish that Guy Ropes broiled. The 
rusty stove in the little cabin smoked and was 
otherwise disorderly, but the first hand was an 
expert. He served it on a box in the cockpit 
and there was only one fork for the six of us, 
but I doubt if kings ever enjoyed a meal more 
than we did that night. 
“I forgive you those bad words, Guy Ropes,” 
the parson was moved to say when he could eat 
no more. 
“I’ll forgive you, too, said the skipper, follow¬ 
ing the righteous example, “but don’t you ever 
let go another tiller when I’m haulin’ in on a 
tide runner.” 
Guy Ropes was entirely too full of bluefish 
to do more than broaden his grin. 
Danger to the Wood Buffalo. 
The number of living American bison in ex¬ 
istence in the wild state is very small, and the 
location of the two existing herds is known 
with some precision. Of these herds, one, com- 
S monly guessed to number twenty-five head, is in 
the Yellowstone National Park, the other, much 
I 
jj larger, is scattered over a considerable territory 
in the Northwest not far from the Great Slave 
River. Three years ago a competent person 
who saw the tracks of the Yellowstone Park 
j wild herd believed it numbered thirty indi- 
: viduals. 
During the recent years guesses at the num¬ 
ber of the herd of “wood buffalo” have been 
many, and have varied from 1.500 down to 200. 
i No one knows just how many there are. The 
bison are scattered over a wide territory and 
go in small bunches. We are sure, however, 
that the number is not large, at most a tew 
i hundred, and when an animal species is so re¬ 
duced as this is, some comparatively unimportant 
accident may readily result in the extermination 
of the whole species. 
For some years now, we have been hearing 
of the threatened extermination of the wood 
buffalo of the North. We have been told that 
each year the ferocious timber wolves of that 
country were killing off the calves as they were 
born, and that consequently no young stock 
was growing up to replace the breeders of the 
present day. This threatened extermination has 
been a subject of deep anxiety to many people. 
The Governor-General of Canada has more than 
once spoken of it in public, as has President 
Roosevelt. Correspondence has taken place be¬ 
tween the heads of the respective governments, 
i in which earnest hopes have been expressed that 
the safety of the buffalo might be guaranteed. 
For a year or two now, the newspapers of the 
extreme Northwest have been discussing the 
danger to the buffalo and proposing that the 
Government should double the bounty on wolves, 
believing that this would be an inducement to 
the Indians to trap, poison and hunt wolves, the 
t Tides of which are valuable in addition to the 
bounty. 
Last autumn we printed an interview with In¬ 
spector Jarvis, of the Northwest Mounted 
Police, who, in company with Mr. Ernest 
Thompson Seton, visited the range of these 
buffalo to inspect it, and endeavor to learn for 
themselves the actual situation. Our readers no 
doubt recall Inspector Jarvis’ account of his 
trip as reported. 
Mr. Seton, who, like other naturalists and 
sportsmen, is deeply interested in the preserva¬ 
tion of this herd, recently spoke freely on the 
subject. He says, that even before leaving east¬ 
ern Canada he constantly heard reports that the 
buffalo were being destroyed by wolves, and as 
he drew nearer to the point where the buffalo 
are found, this cause of destruction was more 
and more strongly insisted on by traders, half- 
breeds and Indians. Finally, when Fort Smith 
was reached it was extremely difficult to get a 
guide to take the party to the range of the 
buffalo, the Indians declaring that the country 
was under water, and that the flies made travel¬ 
ing almost impossible. Finally the Indians all 
disappeared. 
At length, however, a halfbreed guide was 
found, a start was made, and a little later the 
party began to come on buffalo signs—trails, 
wallows and chips, at first old, but later fresh— 
showing that the animals were there or there¬ 
abouts. After a time the guide, taking a fresh 
trail, led the party on foot up to a little bunch 
of buffalo, thirteen in number, of which two 
were big bulls, one a yellow calf, and the re¬ 
mainder cows and young stock. The animals 
were very wild and ran as soon as they winded 
the party. The next day the guide found an¬ 
other bunch of twenty, among which were four 
yellow calves, a yearling, and three two-year- 
olds. These were approached within fifty yards. 
Tracks were found of another little bunch in 
which there was at least one calf. 
On the other hand, the party saw no wolves, 
heard no wolves, and saw no tracks of wolves, al¬ 
though making special effort to learn whether there 
were any wolves in the country. The conclu¬ 
sion reported by Mr. Jarvis, in which Mr. Seton 
shares, is that the reduction in number of the 
buffalo is due to killing by human beings and 
not by wolves. Obviously wolves or bears will 
kill a little calf if the opportunity occurs, but 
wolves and bears have been doing this in the 
North for a thousand years, and probably are 
not doing it now any more than formerly. Food 
for the wolves.is not now especially scarce. 
Mr. Seton testifies that the barrens further north 
are full of game and gives most interesting ac¬ 
counts of the vast numbers of caribou seen. 
Owing to the nature of the country it is easy 
to approach the buffalo. Most of the hunters 
now have repeating rifles, and the result is what 
might have been expected. The Government 
is alive to the situation, however, and steps are 
being taken to end the destruction by both 
wolves and poachers. 
The treaty made with these Indians—Crees 
and Chipewyans—only about seven years ago. 
provides that they shall be at liberty to hunt all 
over the country so long as the game may re¬ 
main. They now regard it as an extraordinary 
hardship and a gross infringement on the rights 
granted them by the Government that a new law 
should be passed, taking away from them the 
privilege given them by the treaty. They say— 
and with much apparent justice—that it is im¬ 
possible to forbid this killing of buffalo unless 
a new treaty is made with them. 
Mr. Seton points out a good reason for in¬ 
ferring that the buffalo are killed by human 
beings and not by animals. This is found in the 
fact that no buffalo skulls or bones were seen. 
If wolves or other animals had been preying 
on the buffalo, and killing large ones in num¬ 
bers, their bones would have been found, whi*i 
if the Indians were killing the buffalo, they 
would be likely to remove and hide all the bones 
in order to do away with the evidence of the 
killing. 
Mr. Frank Oliver, Minister of the Interior, 
who is also member of the Dominion Parlia¬ 
ment from Edmonton, is extremely interested 
in the buffalo and buffalo protection. He it is 
who authorized the purchase for Canada of the 
Pablo herd of Montana buffalo, and his good 
intentions and broad views on this subject have 
frequently been adverted to in Forest and 
Stream. In private conversation he ,has ex¬ 
pressed himself as entirely wiling to make a 
new treaty with these Indians, and to pay them 
for giving up the privilege of hunting the buf¬ 
falo, and if necessary to put a higher bounty on 
the wolves. 
No one can blame the Indians for desiring 
I 
