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Forest and Stream Letters 
Elk in Montana 
DEAR FOREST AND STREAM: 
N regard to game conditions out here, 
I am sorry to say that it looks as 
though the elk had a hard winter ahead 
of them. We had a lot of snow early 
in the season and I 
understand that there 
was even more snow 
in the country south 
of the Park and the 
surrounding game 
preserves long before 
the hunting season rats 
was over. In fact, Re 
the season is still open 
in Park County, Mon- 
tana, and will be un- 
til December 20th. 
After the terrible 
slaughter at Gardiner 
five years ago, the 
season was shortened 
from December 25th 
to November 15th so 
that the open season 
in Park County, Mon- 
tana, was no longer 
than it was in other 
parts of the State 
(October 15th to No- 
vember 15th), but evi- 
dently this was bad 
for the hunting busi- 
ness around Gardiner 
so after two years, the 
season was again 
opened to December 
20th. Of the three 
main herds of elk in 
and around Yellow- 
stone Park, the two 
largest herds are los- 
ing ground rapidly x, 
and although this is ee - 
due to several causes, 
most of it can be laid 
to the question of ade- 
quate winter range or 
feed. If some provision were made 
whereby these animals could get suf- 
ficient feed without being driven by 
starvation to seek it in the open coun- 
try where they are prey for an army of 
pot hunters there would not be much 
left to worry about, although we still 
Photo by Ernest Miller 
have a few tooth hunters. There are a 
few other things that I would like to 
take up with you when I have a little 
space. There were quite a number of 
elk killed on the Gallatin this fall, but 
not enough to do any material damage 

In the elk country 
to the herd, but as you know, this herd 
is the smallest one of the three main 
herds and I wish the other two were as 
well situated as it is. There is some 
talk of trying to change the drift of 
the northern herd so that they will go 
down the Gallatin as there is sufficient 
range here for about eight or ten thou- 
and head of elk. Plans are also under 
way to create a much larger game pre- 
serve on the Gallatin than the one we 
already have. A party made up of 
game experts in the Forestry Dept. and 
the U. S. Biological 
Survey were up here 
this fall for the pur- 
pose of looking over 
the ground with a 
view of enlarging the 
present game pre- 
serve to a great ex- 
tent. I hope this will 
be of use to your 
readers and I intend 
to go into the thing 
more completely next 
month. 
ERNEST MILLER, 
Elkhorn Ranch, 
Bozeman, Mont. 
© 
Black Squirrels 
Predominate in 
Louisiana 
DEAR FOREST AND 
STREAM: 
I HAVE just read 
with some little 
interest your article 
in October Forest & 
STREAM, entitled 
“Blachie of the Tree 
Topss: ; 
For a number of 
years I lived in dif- 
ferent parts of north- 
east Louisiana, and 
spent a large part 
of my time in Tensas 
Swamp, which is the 
greatest hunting 
grounds in the cen- 
tral gulf states. 
I have seen very 
few grey squirrels through the swamp 
regions, but black squirrels are to be 
found on every side. 
An amusing little incident happened 
in Rayville, La., several years ago, 
which will describe our conditions bet- 
ter than I could tell it. 
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