Forest and Stream 
Terms, $3 a Year, 10 Cts. a Copy. 
Six Months, $1.50. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, MAY 9, 1908. 
VOL. LXX.—No. 19. 
No. 127 Franklin St.. New York, 
A WEEKLY JOURNAL. 
Copyright, 1908, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
George Bird Grinnell, President, 
Charles B. Reynolds, Secretary. 
Louis Dean Speir, Treasurer. 
127 Franklin Street, New York. 
THE OBJECT OF THIS JOURNAL 
will be to studiously promote a healthful interest 
in outdoor recreation, and to cultivate a refined 
taste for natural objects. 
—Forest and Stream, Aug. 14, 1873. 
THE RAVENING WOLE. 
Carnivorous wild animals, chiefly wolves and 
coyotes, cause an annual loss to stockmen and 
farmers of the Western United States of sev¬ 
eral million dollars each year. Besides this, , 
these animals destroy a certain amount of game, 
chiefly deer and smaller animals. It is not prob¬ 
able that they ever kill elk, which are too active 
and ready to fight to make it profitable to attack 
them. It is much simpler and less troublesome 
to kill a yearling or a two-year-old steer or 
heifer. 
It is something more than a year ago that 
Mr. Vernon Bailey, of the Biological Survey, 
assistant in charge of Geographic Distribution, 
published the results of his studies on wolves 
made in Wyoming in the spring of 1906. He 
recommended that the most effective way to get 
rid of wolves and coyotes is to watch these 
animals in the spring when their young are 
being born and then to track them to their homes 
and there destroy the young. Incidentally, of 
course, the old ones should be shot, trapped or 
poisoned. 
The common sense of this report appealed 
strongly to the residents of the West, and much 
has since been done to carry out its recom¬ 
mendations. It is interesting to note that dur¬ 
ing the year ending October. 1906, approximately 
1,607 wolves were presented for bounty in Wyo¬ 
ming, while during the year beginning March 1, 
1907, 2,035 wolves were presented. Reports 
from Wyoming show that in the spring of 1907, 
on the west slope of the Wind River Moun¬ 
tains, six wolf dens, from which forty-seven 
pups were taken, were located, while along the 
east base of these mountains forest rangers 
found six dens with thirty-three pups, a total 
of eighty pups, each one of which, if he grew 
to old age, wotdd probably destroy not less than 
$500 worth of property annually. In Michigan, 
where the wolves breed later than they do in 
the mountains—mid April as against mid Marco 
—a few dens have been found and pups de¬ 
stroyed. One report gives 118 wolves killed in 
three out of the sixteen Upper Peninsula coun¬ 
ties. 
Quite definite reports are had from the Forest 
Service, which within the past year has made 
vigorous efforts to destroy wolves and other 
predatory animals in or near the National 
forests. Besides what has been done by the 
rangers, a number of expert hunters and trap¬ 
pers have been employed, and with excellent re¬ 
sults. It must be remembered, however, that 
these are mere spots in a vast extent of wolf 
country, and that to make a sensible impression 
on the numbers of these animals, and so a real 
reduction in their depredations, residents every¬ 
where must lend their aid. From thirty-nine 
National forests it is reported that 1,723 wolves 
have been killed, while more than 23,000 coyotes 
have been destroyed in and near seventy-seven 
National forests. These reports cover not onlv 
the forests themselves, but considerable outside 
territory. 
It is obvious that in an open country the de¬ 
struction of the wolves is much easier than it 
is in a country of dense forests where travel 
is necessarily on foot. For that reason we may 
hope for greater and more immediate success 
in destroying the wolves which prey on the cattle 
of the Western country than on those which 
destroy the game of the Middle West. Con¬ 
tinued effort in the directions recommended by 
Mr. Bailey will result in the saving of great 
sums of money to the Western ranchmen. 
POLLUTED WATERS. 
An association is being formed for the pur¬ 
pose of protecting the waters of Saratoga Lake 
from pollution. Within the past few years per¬ 
sons 'and corporations emptying waste products 
into this beautiful sheet of water have con¬ 
verted it into something little better than a 
cesspool. 
It is proposed to clean the lake, stock it with 
game fish, and to protect these fish. Efforts are 
to be made also to make Saratoga Lake a real 
pleasure resort and its shores a place for camps 
and summer residences. To this end the Sara¬ 
toga Lake Association is being enlarged, and 
membership applications are being sent out. 
A condition of things similar to this prevails 
on many of the lakes in the Adirondacks lakes 
which formerly were delightful to canoe on ana 
fish in, and from which many camps and places 
derived, and, indeed, still take, their drinking 
water. Such lakes receive the waste from 
hotels, camps and even small villages, with the 
inevitable result that their character is so 
changed that instead of being attractive to live 
on they are a nuisance to those who have places 
on their shores. 
The public is well aware that a very large 
proportion of the lakes, brooks, watercourses 
and rivers in the more thickly settled portions 
of this country have been, or are being turned 
into open sewers for the obvious reason that 
it is easier and cheaper for corporations and 
individuals to dump their waste into the nearest 
stream than it is to adopt some means of dis¬ 
posing of it which will cost time and trouble. 
This sort of thing will go on just so long as 
the public shall submit to have its water pol¬ 
luted and so its comfort and its health endan¬ 
gered. We may all hope that the day is not 
distant when adequate legislation may be had 
by various States, and may be enforced by the 
authorities of those States. 
The Pennsylvania Board of Game Commis¬ 
sioners has declared in favor of a uniform game 
law for the entire State, and in this it feels con¬ 
fident of the support of a large number of sports¬ 
men. Various interests will have to be brought 
into harmony on this question, however, before 
the Legislature can act on it. Men of various 
opinions will first have to be induced to agree 
to make what they believe to be sacrifices re¬ 
garding the opening and the closing dates of the 
game season, but they will not be supported by 
the commission if the closing date agreed on 
falls in the winter. The commission is opposed 
to extending the season so far that it will be 
possible to hunt game over the snow—a time 
when alLgame and game birds should be given 
an opportunity to go their ways in peace. 
* 
If Pennsylvania fishing resort proprietors wish 
to retain the patronage of anglers, it is time for 
them to protest vigorously against the practice 
of some of their patrons. These men fish the 
beautiful trout streams with gangs of baited 
hooks, spinners of various sorts, and other in¬ 
ventions that are unsportsmanlike as well as un¬ 
fair to other anglers who go to no little trouble 
and expense to reach streams reputed to be 
adapted to fly-fishing, but which are being ruined 
bv unfair methods. 
r„ 
Interesting in connection with the editorial 
recently printed in Forest and Stream, entitled 
“Spring Brush Fires” is the decision recently 
handed down by the Appellate Division of the 
Supreme Court in favor of the New York State 
Forest, Fish and Game Commission. The com¬ 
mission sued the Long Island Railroad for dam¬ 
age to the forests caused by fires set by the 
railroad company and recovered $120,000 dam¬ 
ages. 
Charles William Beebe and his wife have 
returned to New' York from South America, 
where they went some time ago to collect 
information and natural history specimens. 
They cruised m a small vessel along the eastern 
coast, visiting various rivers and estuaries, 
bringing with them a number of specimens for 
the New York Zoological Park. 
