45 2 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[March 21, 1908. 
greatest danger encountered in the tented field 
of the sportsman at least, and should be shot 
whenever found in a suitable spot. 
E. P. Jaques. 
Notes from the North. 
Regina, March 3. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
A letter appeared in your columns some months 
ago in connection with the buffalo ranging in the 
Peace River country. I think the opinion ex¬ 
pressed there that the Indians were decimating 
the buffalo is erroneous. The country is sparsely 
settled, 'everything that happens is known and 
talked about, and if buffalo were killed, it would 
be the common talk of the country. The Indians 
are very quiet and law-abiding, and have no 
chance of disposing secretly of such prominent 
trophies as buffalo heads or hides. However, at 
present the matter is being thoroughly investi¬ 
gated, and an experienced officer is now visiting 
that country to determine as nearly as possible 
the numbers and the range of the buffalo, and 
to report upon the best measures for their pro¬ 
tection. 
There is a police post at Vermillion on the 
Peace River, at Fort Chipewyan on Lake Atha- 
baska, one is to be established next spring at 
Fort Smith on the Slave River, and likely one 
at Resolution on Great Slave Lake. 
My opinion is that the wolves have been kill¬ 
ing the buffalo calves. The wolves have been in¬ 
creasing in numbers for years and are now very 
numerous, and we have mention of their depre¬ 
dations from many points. They have committed 
great havoc among stock around Fort St. Johns 
and Dunvegan on the Peace River. Up in the 
Lesser Slave Lake country they are so bad that 
Indians are afraid to travel alone or take their 
horses or dogs into the woods. At Fort Good 
Hope on the Mackenzie River, train dogs were 
killed last winter right in the Fludson Bay yard. 
In Isle a la Crosse district wolves are killing 
large numbers of moose and caribou; one Indian 
traveling in that section saw one pack of 16 
wolves, and they are afraid to go trapping alone. 
One unlucky Indian trapped a black fox, but all 
he got was one leg and a small piece of the hide, 
the wolves got the rest. 
From far away Churchill late reports state that 
wolves are very plenty, also that caribou and 
white foxes are very scarce. 
Lynx appear to be nearly a thing of the past. 
For some years they have been very plentiful, 
but last winter the rabbits died off, and in spring 
the lynx migrated. The agent of the Stoney In¬ 
dians at Morley, about forty miles west of Cal¬ 
gary, informs me that his Indians killed from 
2,000 to 2,500 of these animals on their reserve 
last spring. The last migration in quantities, the 
Indians say, was about twelve years ago, and an¬ 
other twenty-five years ago. There was no mis¬ 
take about their migrating, they were scattered 
everywhere. One was killed in the railway yards 
here. This winter, so far as I can learn, they, 
like the rabbits, are conspicuous by their ab¬ 
sence. At one trading post in the Peace River 
district, two years ago, they took in 15,000 lynx 
skins; this winter up to the end of January, 
seven skins only had been received. 
Fur is scarce everywhere this year. There is 
little snow, but fortunately for the Indians, 
moose and caribou have been plentiful in most 
sections. 
I note many letters about the scarcity of 
ruffed grouse. There is much the same scarcity 
up here among the pin-tailed grouse. The scarc¬ 
ity is not due so far as I could judge to any 
climatic reasons during the breeding season, but 
is caused, I think, by the large number of pre¬ 
datory animals and birds, which having lost the 
rabbit as their chief means of food, have scat¬ 
tered all over the prairie and have created havoc 
among the grouse. 
The rabbit is an insignificant animal in itself, 
but he and his sisters and his cousins and his 
aunts are quite a factor in the welfare of the 
Northern country. Plenty of rabbits means 
plenty of food and plenty of fur and a prosper¬ 
ous time generally. J. H. McIllree. 
Game Refuges in Connecticut. 
Deep River, Conn., March 7 .—Editor Forest 
and Stream: At the recent regular meeting of 
the Connecticut Fish and Game Commission, the 
members gave their attention to the matter of 
increasing the game birds of the State. They 
have made a contract with a Pennsylvania 
breeder, to furnish Hungarian partridges for 
breeding purposes, and it is proposed to liberate 
them in pairs in the woods throughout the State. 
These birds have a market value of $8 per pair, 
and the first consignment is expected to arrive 
sometime this month. It is not the intention of 
the Commissioners to liberate the birds promis¬ 
cuously throughout the State, however, but the 
present plan is to lease suitable land in different 
sections of Connecticut and to post these covers 
for a year or two to give the birds a chance to 
propagate. An agent of the Commission has 
been directed to look up the matter of suitable 
land in various parts of the State, and several 
good covers have already been located. A large 
tract of land in the town of Portland, which is 
at present used by the State Forester, is believed 
by the Commission as well adapted for the pres¬ 
ervation of the partridge. Keney Park, in the 
city of Hartford, is also spoken of as a desir¬ 
able cover. This park is by many sportsmen 
thought to be an ideal locality, as no shooting or 
snaring is allowed in the park. Another ad¬ 
vantage in favor of Keney Park as a preserve is 
that the park board has an employee whose par¬ 
ticular duty is to enforce this law. No woodland 
in the State is better posted, and as it is appar 
entlv well suited for propagation purposes, the 
Commission will no doubt investigate the matter 
and ask the consent of .the board for the use of 
this park as a State preserve. 
Still another desirable locality is a tract of 
seven hundred and fifty acres in Litchfield coun¬ 
ty. At a recent meeting of the Winsted Rod and 
Gun Club, the Commissioners talked the matter 
over with the members, and the general opinion 
of the sportsmen present was to the effect that 
this cover is one of the best to be found in the 
State. As the Hungarian partridge is well known 
by sportsmen as a game bird of the best type, it 
is to be hoped that the Commission will meet 
with every success and encouragement in their 
efforts to restock the rapidly thinning covers of 
the State. C. S. Taylor. 
The Forest and Stream may be obtained from 
any newsdealer on order. Ask your dealer to 
supply you regularly. 
The Edmonton Buffalo Herd. 
Edmonton, Feb. 25.- — Editor Forest and 
Stream: In an article on the Pablo buffalo in 
your issue of Feb. 15 you say, “A year or two 
ago the far-sighted government of Canada 
bought from Michel Pablo the greater part of 
that herd.” This is one occasion when our 
friend the Yankee takes off his hat to brother 
Canuck. 
Last Sunday I paid a visit to the Elk Park to 
view the buffalo and see how they had passed 
the winter. I was accompanied by Mr. F. 
Walker, the member of the Legislature for the 
district in which the park is situated. 
The park is situated pretty well on the height 
of land of the Beaver Hills, and comprises six¬ 
teen sections of land—10,240 acres. It is sur¬ 
rounded by a woven wire fence, with posts 15 
feet apart, 8 feet high and 3 to 4 feet in the 
ground. The meshes of the fence are small 
enough to keep out large dogs and coyotes. 
A nice two-story cottage has been built for the 
caretaker and game guardian, Mr. Alf. Sim- 
monds, besides ample stable accommodation. 
The buildings are close to the banks of the 
Asbatin Lake, a beautiful sheet of water from 
1,500 to 2,000 acres in extent. There are twenty- 
two islands on the lake all nicely wooded. The 
shores of the lake are sandy, but in places the 
timber runs down to the water. On the south 
side of the lake are a number of high knolls. 
Most of the buffalo are at present corralled on 
the east side of the lake. The corral includes 
about ten acres, is of a woven wire fence four 
feet high, with two bars where the teams pass 
through with hay. Seven loads of hay are fed 
daily to the buffalo. About 360 of them are in¬ 
side the corral. They are looking splendid and 
are as fat and sleek as possible. The calves born 
in Alberta weigh 50 to -75 pounds more than 
the Montana calves. The buffalo are getting 
tamer and quieter every day'. The caretaker 
goes into the corral on foot, armed with a stick, 
and drives these mor.archs of the plains to what¬ 
ever part of the corral he wants them to go. 
He uses no gun, no rope, no horse. 
The government of Canada, to feed the 
buffalo, bought some 1.500 tons of hay, paying 
the surrounding farmers and settlers about $10 
per ton. There will be a quantity of hay over 
this year on account of the niild winter. 
Inside the main inclosure there are a number 
of elk, computed at over twenty, and quite a 
large number of jumping deer, beside three or 
four bears and numerous coyotes. No shoot¬ 
ing is allowed, and last fall the ducks were not 
long in finding this out. Thousands of ducks 
remained on the lake, and so tame that they 
would hardly fly'. 
One of the buffalo cows was accidentally killed 
last fall. She left behind her a pair of calves, 
twins, both bulls. These calves traveled with 
some of the buffalo which are outside of the 
corral most of the winter, and were captured 
by the caretaker about ten days ago, and are 
now tied up beside a hay stack close to his 
house. They are in good shape, and Mr. 
Simmonds says he is going to break them in for 
plowing. 
It is reported that seven wild geese passed 
Edmonton en route north on the morning of 
Feb. 21. The snow is almost all gone, and the 
weather is extremely mild. Me-co-puck-ewan. 
