The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-03-01
GAME BUTCHERING.
Twenty Thousand Elk MuIe-Deer and Ante
lope Butchercd by Hide Hunters Annually.

Twenty Thousand Elk, Mule-Deer and Ante
Iope Butchercd by Hide Hunters Annually.
New York Sun; ooo -.
antelope and muledeer are slaughtered every
Writer in Minnesota Montana and Wyoming
alone, said Engineer William Phillips, late Of
the Northern Pacific railroad, you may readily
believe that it will not be many years before the
race of three of the noblest game animals on the
American continent will be entirely extinct.
ELK, which formerly ranged from the Middle
States to the Pacific, are now never found east
of the Missouri river. Twenty-Five years ago
they were still plenty in Kansas and Nebraska,
but the rapid advance of civilization in those
States has driven them into the dense
and as yet uninhabited Iegins of Minnesota
and the northern Territories. If they were
doomed to extinction by the natural progress of
civilization, or the effects of legitimate hunting
III those regions, they would be certain Of a long
life tenure; but the wholesale slaughter Of elk,
in all seasons, that has been going for the
past fifteen years has resulted III so thinning out
their ranks that the sportsman has now to seek
the game in the most remote parts OF even the
comparatively unfrequented region to which they
have been driven. This indiScriminate and
ganized crusade against elk and its kin, the mule
deer and antelope, began about 1872, when some
Fort Benton parties conceived the idea OF trad
ing in their skins. These men fitted out hunt
ing parties and they spread through the cOun-
try mentioned. The result was so satisfactory
that still larger parties, equipped with the most
approved and destructive weapons, were sent
out, and the business has been increasing ever
since.
Elk travel in herds, and to the legitimate
hunter there is more noble and exciting
sport than elk hunting. When not hindered by
deep snow they make their way with wonderful
ease and rapidity through the very worst of the
bad lands of the region they inhabit. Mounted
on a fleet broncho, the hunter is frequently led
a chase for many miles before he is able to cap
ture his wary game. The natural gait of the
elk is graceful swinging trot, and as long as
they maintain that they never tire 1t is one
great object of the hunter to follow so closely on
his pony as to break this tEOt into gallop This
done. he is almost sure of his elk, for it soon
tires and lags. An elk will weigh from 300 to
800 pounds, and no member of the deer family
has such delicate and finely favored flesh.
THE greatest destruction to these game ami
mails is carried on by the hide hunters during the
season of deep snow. In April the COW elks
leave the bulls to themselves and retire to the
thicketS and close timber. L have known one
single hide-hunter to kill in one month in the
snow, and that in the month of April, thirty five
COW elks. This man was one of a party of thir-
teen and each one of the others average as large
a number. Their party killed over 4j0cow elks.
each one of which would have given birth in
few weeks to calf The elk brings forth its
young about the first of June. These men were
but very small number of the hide-hunters
operating in the region, and thousands of elk
were slaughtered that month. After the elk is
killed its skin is stripped from the body, and the
carcass left lying in the snow. have seen hun
dreds of dead elk along the Yellowstone The
average price of an elk skin is So. The hide
hunters are equipped with repeating rifles, and
even when the snow does not aid them in their
butchery, they are able to frequently kill from
six to twelve elk in a herd before it gets out of
range The hunters are selected from the most
worthless and unprncipled classes
1.-The muledeer, which are also singled out by
these hide hunters, range from Idaho to Oregon
They are shyer than the elk, and seek the higher
portions Of the bad lands Quick of eye and
scent, they are the better able to elude the
hunter The female gives birth to two young
in the latter part of May Hunting the mule
deer requires all the skill and cunning the
hunter is able to bring to his aid The elk once
fired at or hearing the sound of gun, will inn
mediately run. and once chased will not stop
until they cross running water, although the run
may be many miles distant The mule-deer
however has his regular runs, and may be
hunted in the same locality throughout the sea-
son. Mule-deer hides are not as valuable as elk
hides but the animal is slaughtered just as un-
scrupulously The antelope is being extermina-
ted in the same manner. Besides the slaughter
of the above-named animals L know that in the
year 1882 more than %, 900 buffaloes We're killed
the headwaters of the Little Missouri.
''If the sportSmen of this country have any de
sire to enjoy the sports of the great West in the
future, they should move at once toward obtain
ing legislation that will give some protection TO
game in those States and Territories In five
years from now, at the present rate of destruc
tion there will be very few elk, buffalo, mule
deer, or antelope left to hunt"