think they have a God-given right to 
continue to do so. Most of the tusk- 
hunters who would kill a whole band of 
bull elk for two ivory teeth they carried, 
were old timers who had always acted 
as they pleased in matters pertaining 
to game and strongly resented interfer- 
ence from any one. It was simply a 
matter of a twisted viewpoint. 
T would never occur to most of these 
old renegades to steal their neigh- 
bors’ cattle or indulge in any other 
form, of lawlessness, and yet when it 
comes to America’s wild game, which 
belongs to all of us and which should 
be taken care of so that it would be 
perpetuated in future generations, they 
do not stop to consider our rights in the 
matter. It would seem by their jealous 
attitude that it was theirs by right of 
prior settlement in a new country and 
no one should gainsay that right. In- 
deed this attitude was carried so far 
that even in Yellowstone Park, sup- 
posed to be our great sanctuary for 
western big game, poaching was car- 
ried on till the buffalo within its bor- 
ders were almost exterminated and the 
elk suffered greatly at the hands of 
tusk hunters. 
I have been in districts around Yel- 
lowstone Park where the big bulls had 
been killed off to such an extent that 
there would be three barren cows in 
four. 
This poaching has kept up until just 
a few years ago, although the Park 
was patroled by troops of cavalry and 
it has only been since the present ef- 
ficient administration of the Parks has 
been in effect, that poaching has been 
stamped out entirely within its bound- 
aries. 
We all have a right in the admini- 
stration of our big game, and we must 
exercise that right if we are to con- 
tinue to have game to stock the forests 
and parks of our western mountains. 
The old argument about the so-called 
settler having a right to kill his own 
meat has been greatly misused and 
there are few places indeed in these 
United States where it is not cheaper 
to raise meat or buy it than it would 
be to take the time off to go out and 
kill game. 
Yet it is true that this argument is 
still a very strong one. In different sec- 
tions throughout Montana, Wyoming 
and Idaho, there are hundreds of men 
who go to the hills every fall for their 
winter’s meat (to use their own words), 
but in reality, it is their annual vaca- 
tion. 
The city man and the Easterner have 
been taking the idea of healthy outdoor 
recreation into their problem of liv- 
ing, because they have found that they 
cannot get away from nature and out- 
door things too long without suffering 
for it, they can put a great deal more 
into their work and keep fit mentally 
and physically, only by getting out and 
away from business cares, and they 
need a change. 
Now the ranchers and _ farmers 
throughout the West need a change and 
a vacation also. No matter what we 
are doing, even if our work is healthy 
outdoor work, for a time each year, we 
want to forget about it, we want to 
play, but the average rancher hates to 
admit that he wants to take a couple 
of weeks each fall to play. “Vacations 
may be all right for city chaps but he 
is a busy man.” 
E has to have some excuse for it, 
so he hustles about, gets his work 
in shape so that he can leave it for a 
while, looks over his outfit just as the 
rest of us do when we are in the thrill 
of expectancy just preceding a vaca- 
tion. Does he need a change? Nota 
bit of it. He is going out on serious 
business. He is going out after his 
winter’s meat. Sounds fine, but why 
not call a spade a spade. Looking at it 
from a standpoint of recreation and 
change and all that they mean to one 
who has his nose to the grindstone dur- 
ing the rest of the year, even if it is 
in outdoor work, it pays big, it is a fine 
thing to do. 
REE born Americans have always 
had the right to hunt, and always 
should, and we always can have game 
to hunt, if we take care of it, but this 
idea of killing one’s winter’s meat as 
a business proposition, in this day and 
age, would be a joke if it were not so 
serious. 
At the present high cost of living not 
even a rancher can afford to be a pot 
hunter, even though he lives in the 
big game country or next door to it, for 
as a matter of fact a good big game 
country in the West usually means a 
rather inaccesible country where there 
are very few ranchers or none at all. 
Therefore, in order to go out and kill 
a winter’s meat it is necessary to take 
an outfit and go back into the hills. 
This is usually done by loading every- 
thing into a big wagon. Riding saddles, 
pack saddles, bedding, tents, grub and 
cook outfit, oats for the horses and 
often a few bales of hay. The outfit 
goes as far as possible by wagon, the 
pack horses are then brought into use 
and camp is made in a good hunting 
country. This usually takes from two 
to four days. However, even in good 
hunting territory I have known good 
hunters to spend two weeks in the most 
careful hunting before success crowned 
their efforts. 
The woods may be dry, or if there is 
snow on the ground, it may be noisy 
and crusty. A great many factors have 
to be taken into consideration, and even 
in good game country, game is not al- 
ways killed in two or three days. This 
means that the trip usually lasts from 
ten days to two weeks, and even then, if 

Granted that elk are a valuable 
asset to the country, it follows that they must be adequately provided for 
157 
