Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-02-04
ON A BIG PRESERVE
TAKING CARE OF WILD ANIMALS
IN WINTER TIME.
Some Varieties Can Shift for Them
selves, but Others Must Be
Sheltered andsFed

The price Of success in the management
of game preserve is continual, careful and
intelligent forethought 1 am constantly re-
minded of this fact as note from week %
week the work which goes quietly along In
the Blue mountain forest, commonly known
as Corbin PARK, near Newport, N. H., the
largest fenced game preserve in America.
To tell Of the work which is done in the
course of a year inside the thirty-fye miles
of fence which marks the boundary Of the
vast Enclosure would take much more SPACE
than is allotted to this article, but will try
to enumerate few OF the operations which
have been going along during the last two
months.
With the first heavy snow fall in Novem-
Der came the question of feeding those ami
mails which would soon be unable to find
sufficient food for themselves The deer, elk
and wild boar were all right for the pres
ent; they were not dependent upon food
which grew upon the ground and which was
now buried beneath the snow, and more
over they were fat and in unusually fine
condition, owing to the heavy crop of APP
pies on which they had been feeding for
many weeks. But the buffaloes were taken
charge of at once. Not that there was
any immediate danger, but the buffaloes
depend largely on the food they can get
upon the ground, and besides these ami
mails are now too rare for any chances to
be taken with the finest herd in the world
Down in the southeastern part of the res
ervation, in an inclosure known as Central
Station, or No. /, large yards have been
made as winter quarters for the buffaloes,
and here, once the animals are rounded up,
it is comparatively simple matter to feed
them But 24c0O acres Is a large place, and
buffaoes are not given to taking orders
from any one, so it is not the easiest thing
in the world to persuade them to seek a
,f {t,<a,
themselves to be shut up in the buffalo
yards. However, it Is we'll known that buff
faloes once started along trail which they
lave been over before are very apt TO stick
to that trail unless there is some good cause
for their leaving 1t.
Rounding Them UP.
So when, one day about the first of jan
uary, the men who had the work in hand
surrounded the main buffalo herd on a plain
in the northwestern part of the park they
gently urged them toward the entrance to
the trail and into this the animals turned.
Five miles away the trail reached a point
to which farm wagon had been driven,
and when the buffaloes arrived they found
a little hay waiting for them. They quickly
ate 1t, and just beyond there little
more and little more beyond that again.
The hungry animals walked along, picking
UP the hay as they went and naturally
enough, after they had travelled thus for ten
miles, they found themselves at nightfall on
the other side of the mountain, and about
five miles from the buffalo yards. Here in
some open fields they halted for the night
and the men who had surrounded them
went home. On returning early the next
morning they found most of the buffaloes
picking up scanty meal from patches of
bare ground to be seen here and there, but
two cows, with their well-grown calves,
were missing They had gone back over
the mountain during the night and were
overtaken five miles away.
In the meantime the main herd was
urged and led quietly along to large in
closure known as No. 2, whence they were
easily driven into the buffalo yards Here
they were taken In charge by William Nor
rison, expert in the breeding and handling
Of buffaloes and he-divides them into
groups according to- their age and sex. In
the first yard We're placed all the calves of
Der of old bulls, in-the third young bulls
and heifers, and on through seven or
eight Enclosures. -4
In Heavy Buffalo Robes.
The buffaloes are so warmly clad in their
heavy winter robes that they require no |
shelter. even in the most severe weather, |
but in each yard there is long shed, which |
prevents the hay on which they feed at this |
season from becoming buried in the snow. |
Each shed has loft, in which the hay is |
stored, and from which it can be tossed |
down into racks below. Each FULL grown |
buffalo eats about. three tons during the |
winter; each calf consumes about half a |
ton, and his allowance of hay increases |
ABOUT half a ton winter with each sue |
ceeo1ng year until he reaches maturity. In |
this way the animals will be provided for |
untll May, when the entire herd, including |
the cows with their young calves will be |
turned loose to wander at will over the |
great preserve, and to shift for themselves |
until the snow storms of next December
again cut on their natural supply of food.
IN the second half of this article will be |
described the methods adopted for feeding
the oeer wild boar, elk and moose. and the
provision which is made for repairing any |
pal. oI me great fence which may possibly
be injured in the severe stornns H,bIoL fro
quehtly sweep the slopes of Croydon noun
'aiii' ERNEST HAROLD BAYNES