56 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Jan. 14, 1911. 
Changes in Elk Legislation. 
Cheyenne, Wyo., Jan. 6.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: The Wyoming State Legislature, which 
meets next month, will be called upon and will 
undoubtedly give the Wyoming game laws a 
general revision and correction. 
It will be remembered by readers of Forest 
and Stream that a peculiar blunder was made 
two years ago by which a clause was inserted 
in the game laws placing elk in the restricted 
list when elk were So plentiful they were starv¬ 
ing by the hundreds and even the thousands in 
the worst winters; but the restriction was an 
error, and was recognized as such by all sports¬ 
men and game wardens. 
Word was sent out by the game wardens that 
the shooting of elk would be allowed as usual, 
and as the game licenses (which were equipped 
with coupon tags, one for each elk, deer or 
mountain sheep which could be killed under 
the law), were issued, the hunting of elk has 
continued about the same as usual, in spite of 
the fact that an error in the laws prohibited it. 
Which only goes to verify that statement, “that 
no law is effective unless the people stand back 
of it.” 
The people of Wyoming are now demanding 
that this error be corrected, and that other 
changes be made in the game laws. Those who 
are working on proposed game laws will ask 
that the resident and non-resident game licenses 
for elk be issued more freely and at much 
smaller expense, the price for a license to a 
non-resident now being $50. They will also de¬ 
mand that each hunter be allowed to bag two 
elk instead of one on the same license. The 
old law provided that a second elk might be 
killed by taking out an additional special elk 
license. This license may be retained in force 
and make it possible for the hunter to secure 
a third elk on it if he wishes. 
Under the existing laws, antelope were pro¬ 
tected from 1909 to 1915, and there is some talk 
of again opening the season on antelope which 
has now been closed for two seasons. This, 
however, will meet with opposition, for the 
antelope are scattered over the State so gen¬ 
erally that different sections are divided on the 
antelope subject. In some places they are 
plentiful and could be killed without danger of 
exterminating them, while in other sections 
there is no question about their requiring con¬ 
stant protection for several years yet to come. 
The male mountain sheep can be killed under 
the present law, one each season, and this regu¬ 
lation will probably not be changed, as the 
sheep range so high up in the mountains during 
the game season that they are under a natural 
protection of topography and weather con¬ 
ditions, which make their quest so hazardous 
and difficult that there is little danger of their 
extermination by hunters. 
A new situation in the elk hunting has grown 
up since the last game laws were passed which 
will require special legislation. The sportsmen’s 
club of Sheridan, in the northern part of the 
State, has liberated thirty-five young elk in the 
Horn Mountains for the purpose of re¬ 
stocking this district, which was in early days a 
natural elk range. These elk were taken from 
the Jackson’s Hole country in the western part 
of the State in the spring a year ago, when they 
were in danger of starvation, and they soon 
picked up on a diet of hay and were in a good 
condition for a 500-mile trip by rail to their 
new feeding grounds. I walked into the car in 
which these young elk were being shipped and 
found them very gentle and unaggressive. Al¬ 
though they had been out on their natural 
haunts but a few days, they were not very wild, 
and few of them made any objections to being 
stroked about the head or nose. 
These elk are now straying somewhere about 
the Big Horn Mountains, and are under protec¬ 
tion agreed on between sportsmen and ranch¬ 
men, which is probably more effective than 
laws; but the coming Legislature will be asked 
to prohibit the hunting of elk in the Big Horn 
Mountains for a term of five or six years. 
More elk will probably be planted there, and 
within a few years it is expected that they will 
multiply, and there will be another fine elk 
hunting ground opened up in this State. Of 
course the hunting of elk in the Jackson’s Hole 
country, south of the Yellowstone National 
Park, will not be cut off at this time. 
An effort will also be made during the next 
Legislature to have the season on elk open 
earlier in the Jackson’s Hole, for when it 
opens under the present law, on Sept. 25, the 
weather is in some years so cold that many 
hunters are prevented from going up into the 
mountains where elk can be found. At the 
same time, this would make it necessary to 
have a different game season placed on deer, as 
they feed in the lower hills and can be reached 
more easily than the elk. Under the present law 
the same open season, from Sept. 25 to Nov. r, 
was placed on all large game. 
The one subject which has been a great 
source of discussion among legislators, ranch¬ 
men and sportsmen will come up at the coming 
Legislature. That is, in regard to the feeding 
of elk in the winter and spring months when 
they come down into the valleys of Jackson’s 
Hole to escape the deep snow and cold of the 
higher mountain ranges, which cuts off all 
access to the grass and feed. As it is estimated 
there are 50,000 live elk in this territory, when 
they are forced in such large bands into the 
lower lands which are pretty well eaten off by 
the domestic stock, a most appalling loss from 
starvation is always the result if the spring 
weather is severe. During the last two years 
they have been fed both by the ranchmen and 
by the State game warden, an appropriation of 
$5,000 having been made by the Legislature two 
years ago for this purpose. This sum was about 
exhausted during the first winter, and as the 
Legislature was not in session last winter, there 
arose a serious question as to how funds could 
be raised for their protection. As the spring 
opened early, the loss was fortunately not great 
last year. But as the law-makers cannot fore¬ 
cast the weather conditions for two winters in 
advance, they will be asked this spring to make 
provision for feeding elk on an estimate suf¬ 
ficient to cover two severe winters. 
The people of Wyoming consider these great 
herds of wild elk one of the State’s most valu¬ 
able assets. It can easily be figured that they 
have a high commercial value in meat, hides, 
horns and teeth; but are worth more to the 
State as an attraction which no other State 
possesses, a large revenue being reaped annu¬ 
ally from the sale of non-resident game licenses, 
from the money expended by large hunting 
parties going into the game country, and from 
fines imposed on those who violate the game 
laws. The State officials believe they are able 
to adequately protect these magnificent mon- 
archs of the forest both from slaughter by 
avaricious hunters and from the ravages of 
cold, starvation and carnivorous wild animals. 
An effort was started a year ago to have a 
new national game reserve set aside by Con¬ 
gress in the Grovont country, east of the Jack- 
son s Hole, as a winter feeding ground for elk, 
where the range would be kept free of domestic 
stock and reserved for the elk; but as this is 
quite high and covered with deep snow in 
winter, there is some doubt about the wisdom 
of this proposition, and it is being opposed by 
those who wish to see this country settled up 
by homesteaders and farmers. 
I he elk question is a big and many-sided 
one. The various commercial interests of 
ranchman, some of whom are bothered by elk 
breaking into their hay stacks in winter, while 
others reap a revenue from visiting hunters; of 
land agents who wish to sell farm lands or lo¬ 
cate settlers on lands proposed as elk reserves; 
of game wardens and guides, each of whom has 
various theories to advance, perhaps with some 
financial gain involved; of hunters, some of 
whom desire ample hunting privileges and 
proper protection for elk; and of the law¬ 
makers, to whom the demands of these various 
interests are made by their constituents, all 
make the elk situation a most complex one, 
which must be handled with care and fore¬ 
thought. But the main purpose of the State 
officials is to give the elk proper protection at 
all times and from all sources, and this will 
be the aim of the coming Legislature. 
Wm. A. Bartlett. 
Quail Experiments. 
Raleigh, N. C., Jan. 7 .— Editor Forest and 
Stream: At Pinehurst, this State, remarkable 
success has been won in the rearing of quail. 
At several other points these birds have been 
raised in captivity. So far not much has been 
done with the pheasant, except at one or two 
preserves near High Point. Numbers of quail 
have been taken to Pinehurst from the West 
for purposes of experiment. This year the 
number of birds is much larger than usual in 
most parts of North Carolina. In many cases 
the birds are very wary, and take to trees on 
their first flight, hiding in the pines ve-ry adroit¬ 
ly, usually getting in a fork of the branches and 
staying there until the hunter passes. I found 
this to be the case several times this season 
and dogs have been noticed lifting their noses 
in the air and looking up into the trees, evi¬ 
dently knowing that the birds are not on the 
ground, and perhaps seeing them where they 
are perched. In many cases the birds will fly 
directly after the hunter has turned his back 
upon them. The quail are learning things and 
they have not a little of what ipay be termed 
more than instinct. Fred. A. Olds. 
All the game laivs of the United States and 
Canada, revised to date and now in force, are 
given in the Game Laws in Brief. See adv. 
