574 
FOREST AND STREAM 
[April ii, 1908. 
slaughter every living thing within reach of rifle, 
trap or poisoned bait. This must be thoroughly 
understood in advance. The game and the 
forests belong to the nation and not to the in¬ 
dividual, and the use of them by the individual 
citizen is limited to such privileges as may be 
accorded him by law. The mere fact that he 
has the power to destroy without interference by 
the law, does not in itself confer a right. The 
destruction of game is far more often effected 
by local residents than it is by visiting sports¬ 
men, but the chief evil-doer and the public 
enemy of all classes is the professional hunter, 
either Indian or white, who kills for the market. 
Worse still perhaps, is the professional dealer 
in heads and antlers, who employs such hunters 
to provide game heads for the decoration of the 
banquet hall of the growing class of would-be 
sportsmen, who enjoy the suggestion of hunt¬ 
ing prowess conferred by a selected collection 
of purchased heads mixed in with those of their 
own killing. 
However efficient the game laws may be in 
limiting the killing to a given number of indi¬ 
viduals and to certain seasons of the year, or 
better still, to the adult males of certain species, 
the only permanently effective way to continue 
in abundance and in individual vigor any species 
of game is to establish proper sanctuaries, which 
must be controlled as thoroughly as is the 
Yellowstone Park, and must contain both sum¬ 
mer and winter ranges. In such areas no hunt¬ 
ing or trapping, or perhaps even dogs should be 
allowed, and in them the game will then retain 
their native habits and breed freely, while the 
overflow will populate the adjoining districts. 
This principle has been applied with brilliant 
success in East Africa, where a protected strip 
of land on either side of the Uganda Railway 
is now absolutely swarming with game. 
Such preserves should be set aside in Alaska, 
while land is yet of little value. Districts 
should be selected where there is but little, if 
any, mineral wealth, and there are abundant 
areas of that description in Alaska. Certain 
islands should also be utilized, particularly in 
Southeastern Alaska. These refuges will be 
ultimately established beyond doubt, but it is 
to be hoped that it can be done before the 
game has been decimated and the forests cut 
down or burned. 
Another element in game protection is the 
relation of the Indian to the wild game. This 
problem is not so serious in Alaska as it is in 
parts of British Columbia and the Canadian 
Northwest, and is settling itself by the rapid 
decline of the Indian population. Indians, after 
they have been in contact with white men, cer- 
tainly are extremely destructive to animal life. 
An Indian with a gun will shoot at anything 
he sees until his ammunition is gone. They 
seem to be entirely devoid of any idea of 
economy in slaughtering, even though they know 
that they are certain to suffer from starvation 
as a result of their indiscriminate waste of game. 
Any legislation therefore that gives Indians 
privileges superior to the whites is not based 
on scientific, but on sentimental considerations. 
To exempt Indians from the limitation of 
game laws in a district partly inhabited by white 
men simply puts the white hunter at a disad¬ 
vantage and always results in a contempt for the 
law on the part of the latter.' If an Indian is 
allowed to hunt freely during the closed season, 
he is usually employed by whites for market 
hunting, and the game I16 kills finds its way to 
the white man’s market rather than to the 
teepees of the tribe, or is used as food by the 
Indian’s dogs, with the ultimate result that the 
food supply of the entire tribe is killed off for 
the benefit of a few hunters. 
The Indians of Alaska have, in the abun¬ 
dance of salmon, a food supply which is avail¬ 
able throughout most of the district, and are 
consequently not entitled to any special privi¬ 
leges. Alaska is, and should for a long time 
remain, the ward of the Federal Government-— 
however distasteful such a course may be to 
some of its inhabitants. It is peculiarly the 
duty of the Federal Government to preserve 
and control the wild game of this national do¬ 
main, as the people of the United States as a 
whole are the ones interested in its preservation. 
It is to Congress rather than to the residents of 
Alaska that we must look for. the enactment and 
enforcement of suitable laws and to avail the 
last great opportunity to preserve our native 
listen ! 
fauna on a large scale. No doubt in the “future 
we shall restore game- and perhaps forests to 
many districts now stripped of both, but in 
Alaska we have our last chance to preserve and 
protect, rather than to restore. 
The claim made by many Western communi¬ 
ties that local laws are sufficient is being daily 
disproved by the inability of several States to 
control the small game supply left within their 
own borders, Colorado being a notable example 
of the rapid diminution of game under State 
control. In Canada, British Columbia prides 
itself on the efficiency of its game laws, but the 
game is rapidly vanishing there, although in 
portions of that Province it is the Stoney In¬ 
dians rather than white hunters who are the de¬ 
stroyers. 
From the point of view of game conditions, 
Alaska is divided into two entirely distinct 
regions. First the coast region, from Portland 
canal along the base of the mountains north¬ 
ward and then westward to and including the 
Aleutian Islands. The second region comprises 
the interior beyond the mountains, and is co¬ 
extensive with the region drained by the .Yukon 
River and its various branches. 
The conditions in these two regions differ 
widely, and practically all the sportsmen who 
go to Alaska hunt in the coast region. Those 
that cross into the interior are apt to confine 
their shooting to the headwaters of the Yukon 
in Canadian territory. 
The game on the coast between Portland 
canal and Mt. St. Elias consists principally of 
bear and the small Sitka deer. There is an 
abundance of goat on'the mainland close enough 
to salt water to be easily reached. 
To reach moose, caribou or sheep from the 
southeastern coast requires a journey over the 
mountains into British Columbia, which is sel¬ 
dom attempted except from Fort Wrangell at 
the mouth of the Stikeen River. 
West of the St. Elias Alps and around Cook 
Inlet the principal game animals are the giant 
moose and whitp sheep of the Kenai Peninsula, 
and the caribou and bear of the Alaska Penin¬ 
sula, and the bear of some of the large islands, 
notably Kadiak. It is in this district that the 
game laws require close attention and rigid 
enforcement. 
In the vast interior the strict enforcement of 
game laws is not so important because the en¬ 
tire region drained by the Yukon is covered with 
heavy forests, and the population is largely 
confined to the waterways. Black bear, lynx 
and moose are everywhere abundant, but seldom 
seen along the Yukon River. Sheep are acces¬ 
sible from points on the upper Yukon, notably 
at Eagle, atid caribou occasionally cross the 
river in herds. 
The game laws for this district should aim 
principally at the prevention of slaughter on a 
large scale for market purposes and of hide and 
head hunting. There are very few sportsmen, 
and the miners and prospectors in the interior 
are difficult to control. 
[to be concluded.] 
The Grouse Scarcity. 
Monroe County, N. Y., April 1—Editor 
Forest and Stream: I have read with interest 
the many views of your correspondents on the 
ruffed grouse scarcity, but thus far not one has 
mentioned what I believe to be the main cause 
of the scarcity in 1907. My notes on the matter 
of last spring show me that the last week of 
March was unusually warm; that this was gen¬ 
eral throughout most of the counties of New 
York State. Further notes show: Pheasants 
mating; woodcock’s nest found; four eggs; bird 
setting. April 1.—Everything outdoors frozen 
up tight. That this was followed by another 
freeze up, then raw cold weather. April 6.-—Two 
pheasants’ nests found. April 6 note also 
reads “sharp freezing, followed by several days' 
of cold showers and snow flurries”. Again on 
the 13th and 14th snow flurries, then two more 
frosty nights and several days of cold weather. 
Surely enough to spoil any and all eggs not se ¬ 
curely covered by the mother bird. 
About this time the eggs in the pheasants’, 
nests were examined and found injured, but the 
old birds sat their time out and some over and 
left. All the eggs were found to be addled. 
Later on other pheasants’ nests were found in 
the same condition as were the first robins’. 
Now, if this cold unseasonable weather had this 
effect on pheasants and robins why not the same 
effect on partridge and woodcock? What little 
hunting I did last fall I found old partridges in 
their usual haunts, but few if any young birds. 
This strengthens me in my idea that my solu¬ 
tion is correct. E'. H. Burson. 
