62 
FOREST AND STREAM 
PROTECTING THE BLACK BEAR 
LET US HAVE A REASONABLE LAW 
THAT WILL GIVE HIM A CHANCE 
no uncommon sight to see a dozen or more 
autos parked near Caretaker Tewkesberry’s 
lodge, while tents were conveniently scat¬ 
tered about for the use of camping parties. 
On October I, fishing was suspended 
by order of the City Council, in the Bison 
Dam, in order to stop the catching of the 
eastern brook trout in their spawning sea¬ 
son, and this wise action, it is confidently 
anticipated, will further increase the trout 
in these waters. Next year with the fish 
•of larger size, it is proposed to enter into 
an agreement either with the State or 
U. S. Government hatchery officials for the 
stripping of the trout in their respective 
spawning seasons on a percentage basis of 
the hatch. 
During the present year approximately 
250,000 trout fry were planted and these 
small fish were carefully kept in ponds 
specially prepared for their reception near 
to the. intakes, on the sandy banks of the 
reservoirs. These ponds were fed by a 
constant and steady flow of pure mountain 
stream water by diversion of the same 
through the ponds. After the young trout 
had been kept in these ponds for some time 
they were let down into the deeper waters 
of the reservoirs prior to the freezing of 
the water. 
FISHING PERMIT 
Victor, Colo .191... 
Mr . Keeper of Reservoirs 
I hereby certify that Mr . 
. of . is a 
citizen of Victor and entitled to fish 
in the City Reservoirs. 
City Clerk. 
STATE FISHING LICENSE IS REQUIRED. 
No Trout less than 7 inches shall be kept. 
No person shall have in possession more than 20 
pounds of fish in any calendar day. 
No wading of any kind permitted. 
No shooting or discharging of firearms -will be 
permitted. 
No fires may be lighted, except in such spots as 
designated by the Caretaker. 
No lunch fragments, paper, baskets or bottles to 
be thrown in the water or within 100 feet 
of the shore. 
Autos, driving rigs, and saddle horses must be 
parked as directed by the Caretaker. 
Permit is subject to immediate cancellation. 
Another feature of the permit I would 
call attention to is that “no shooting or 
discharging of firearms” is permitted. 
Ducks and water fowl, therefore, are fre¬ 
quently seen and are not molested, while 
rabbits run across the driveways and paths. 
On my last trip to the reservoirs on No¬ 
vember 19, I was fortunate enough to see 
and watch for half an hour or more no 
less than thirty-one mountain sheep, rams, 
ewes and lambs on the high cliffs on the 
eastern side of the caretaker’s corral. Un¬ 
fortunately at this time I did not have my 
kodak along, or the picture would have 
been specially desirable for publication by 
Forest and Stream. 
I have requested the caretaker to secure 
a picture of the sheep as they come down 
to the salt lick in the corral, and shall then 
take pleasure in forwarding the same. 
Sam. W. Vidler, 
Secy. Cripple Creek Rod and Gun Club. 
K INDLY grant me a little space in For¬ 
est and Stream so that I may inflict 
on your readers a bit more of my 
views on a subject that has greatly inter¬ 
ested me for very many years: namely, the 
protection of that interesting creature you 
have so aptly termed “our good friend the 
harmless black bear.” 
The shabby treatment accorded him in 
many of our States in these somewhat en¬ 
lightened times tends to prove that although 
the world may move, it moves mighty slow 
in certain directions; but it does move 
nevertheless, hence we may hope to see in 
this state as we already see in several others 
the happy day when bruin will have his in¬ 
ning. 
The fact that the decree of outlawry 
with a bounty placed on his scalp no longer 
exists in most of our states and that in 
several of them he is made the subject of 
fair legal recognition is encouraging and 
leads us to hope that our black bear may 
soon see better days. 
If we can educate our people up to the 
point of believing that bears have improved 
in their manners and that their appetite for 
small children has been materially reduced 
since Elisha’s time: that the average she- 
bear does not require as many as twenty- 
one children at a meal and that grown 
people are no longer eaten by the whole¬ 
sale, it will go a long way toward bringing 
about a sensible law for bruin’s protection. 
You will observe that I have allotted 
twenty-one children to a bear in mentioning 
the Elisha incident, having divided the for¬ 
ty and two who mocked the prophet and 
thereby came to grief, in two equal por¬ 
tions, as the Scriptural account mentions 
only “two she-bears,” not three, as the Oc¬ 
tober number of Forest and Stream has it. 
Moreover the Scriptural account says mere¬ 
ly that the bears “tare forty and two chil¬ 
dren of them”; therefore they may pos¬ 
sibly not have eaten the entire bunch, hence 
your implied reflection on the holding capa¬ 
city of she-bears may not have been alto¬ 
gether pertinent. 
But this is digressing. Let us get back 
to our sheep. If, as Forest and Stream 
insists, the bear is of little value as a food 
animal—and I beg to differ with so ex¬ 
cellent an authority—let us at least treat 
the bear as a valuable fur bearer—so that 
from an economic if not from the sports¬ 
man’s viewpoint we use common sense in 
our dealings with him and treat him under 
the law as a valuable animal, well worthy 
of protection. 
At this point I beg to quote from a most 
interesting paper by Mr. E. W. Nelson, 
Assistant Chief of the United States Bio¬ 
logical Survey, in the November number 
of The National Geographic Magazine, en¬ 
titled “The Larger North American Mam¬ 
mals.” Under the heading “The Black 
Bear, Ursus Americanus,” he says: “Al¬ 
though powerful beasts, black bears are so 
shy and timid that to approach them re¬ 
quires the greatest skill on the part of the 
still hunter. * * * Their harm’.essness 
and their exceeding interest to all render 
them worthy of careful protection. They 
should be classed as game and thoroughly 
protected as such except for certain open 
seasons. If this be done throughout the 
country, as is now the case in certain states, 
the survival of one of our most character¬ 
istic large wild animals will be assured.” 
Dr. Wm. T. Hornaday, another excellent 
authority, in his natural history, devoted 
chiefly to the higher animals of North 
America, speaking of the black bear, says: 
“He is a timid animal and always runs 
when observed by man.” 
If we can get the Conservation Commis¬ 
sioner interested in the matter, as no doubt 
we can, we ought to be able to secure some¬ 
thing at the coming session in the way of 
legislation that would put our bears on a 
status equal at least to those of Pennsyl¬ 
vania and also ought to be able, in the in¬ 
terests of humanity if no other, to at least 
secure protection for juvenile bears and 
their mothers as well, at certain seasons. 
A bearskin rug acquired in proper season 
and in a sportsmanlike manner is a trophy 
to be proud of and the taking of it can 
truly be called sport, if kill we must in or¬ 
der to gratify the passion for sport: but in 
name of all that’s good, bar the steel trap, 
that damnable engine of torture in the tak¬ 
ing, don’t shoot a trapped bear and call it 
sport. 
ERSONA-LLY I should wish to see 
our black bear, for a time at least, 
put on the list of animals protected 
at all seasons and kept there until such 
time as he shall have become fairly plenti¬ 
ful, as he would be in a very few years at 
most if the law were decently enforced as 
was the case with the deer law in the State 
of Vermont a few years ago. 
Does any sane man believe the black 
bear is a man-eater or that he is dangerous 
to man except when wounded or cornered? 
Where a single authenticated case of un¬ 
provoked attack on man by him can be 
cited, dozens could be named made by pro¬ 
tected animals, namely, the deer, the moose 
and the wapiti, and these are by no means 
considered especially vicious. 
We have in our Conservation Law fairly 
good provisions for the protection of fur¬ 
bearing animals, and the black bear was 
for several years included, but for reasons, 
to my mind not good and sufficient, he is 
no- longer on the protected list of animals 
under the laws of our state and not being 
a migratory bird is not protected by Federal 
law. 
Let us have a reasonable, sensible law 
for bruin’s protection, with an open sea¬ 
son, not to exceed, say, from October 10th 
to December 10th; with such a law prop¬ 
erly enforced his increase will be certain 
and his continued existence as one of our 
most interesting animals assured for the 
future. Martin Schenck. 
Albany, N. Y., December 21, 1916. 
