The Kennewick courier. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1905-1914, 1906-10-12

| ~
In ten years there will hardly be
| enough big game in the West to tempt
| hunter to take down his rif1e-prO-
vided the present rate of slaughter is
| maintained.
| From the Western States that have
! long been famed as the haunts Of big
game Of all descriptions come stories Of
! fragrant disregard Of laws. Hunting Is
carried on out Of season by ranchmen,
| aid, If game warden makes an ar
rest, it is almost impossible to find a
jury that will convict. An occasional
outsider is fined, but the native" gen.
orally gets off scot-free, even if he has
been caught with a wagon load of lille
gslly slaughtered game in his posses
. sion.
In the last haunt Of the elk, south Of
Yellowstone Park, in the Jackson Hole
! country, those noble animals are fast
disappearing. Even the game Of YET
lGwstOne National Park is not exempt,
IF stories from Wyoming and Montana
arc correct, as it is claimed that poach-
e-s carry on a campaign Of wholesale
slaughter In the long winter months,
when the park is snowbound and when
1t is practically impossible for soldiers
to guard the great game preserve of
, the nation.
In the Northwest little or no atten-
| ton is paid to laws protecting those
! rare animals, mountain goats while in
Colorado and other Rocky Mountain
States, whose peaks are the grazing
ground Of the mountain sheep, those
beautiful animals are being killed off
In spite of a farcical perpetual closed
season."
Less than a decade ago a man could
get all kinds Of deer hunting in Colo
RADIO; and a score Of years ago the buff
falo were still rooming the plains east
Of the Rockies. But to-day the deer is
getting almost as rare as the buffalo
The elk long ago left Colorado's noun
tains and drifted north into Wyoming,
where bands Of them are still to be
found in Jackson's Hole But the laws
OF Wyoming, while making it hot" for
any outsider who kills elk out of sea-
| son, are inadequate when put in oper-
alton against the native hunter. 1t is
| the Western ranchman who is doing
most of the illegal killing. 1t is i'm
possible to convince the average ranch
| er that he Is not privileged to 90 out
apC get fresh meat" whenever he
wants it, regardless Of game laws. The
deer or elk come down to his very
fences in winter, and there Is little
Glance of discovery if one Of the ami
mails is killed. Even if stray game
warden happens along and puts him IN
der arrest, there is little to fear, as
jury is pretty sure to be made up of
ranchmen who are all tarred with the
i Same stick. So the game hog gets Off
! free and goes on with his work Of
, slaughter in season and out.
| Even the setting aside of government
tie to stop the slaughter of game. In
| the summer, when the reserves are pa
fl oled by rangers, and when Yellow
stone Park is guarded by soldiers, there
Is little or no illegal killing DONE But
/ In the winter, when there are no ran
| gers in the reserves, and when the
snOwbound roads make it impossible
| fol- the soldiers to patrol the big park
| thoroughly, the work Of slaughter goes
Oh. There are two big forest reserves
| adjoining Yellowstone Park-the Teton
| reserve and the Yellowstone reserve
| Both are alive with game, as Is the
| park itself. A limited amount of game
| can be killed in the reserves, in season,
| In conformity with the game laws of
| Wyoming, but the season in the park
Is always closed. No firearms are adj
| n.,tted into the park, save those car
| ried by the soldiers. If one insists on
| carrying gun into the park he must
have it sealed.
But all these rules and regulations
cut little figure In the eyes Of the skill
| cd and experienced poachers who live
in the vicinity of the park. These men
| do no killing In summer or autumn.
| They make their S. day as guides for
| hunting parties OF fasteners. But IN
| the winter. when the SHOWS are deep
| and the tremendous winter of the Vel
lowstone country has set in, they get
| very busy. On snowshoes these poach-
ers find 1t easy to enter the forest re-
| serves and the park, and to kill all the
| game they want. Magnificent elk, deer
| and other game fall before their rifles.
j If lonely soldier sights the poachers
Mt work, the chances are he pays no at
tcDtion, for the reason that it would
only result in his own death.
J IN addition to the work Of the white
! game hog, many of the Western States
| have troubles with wandering bands of
! Indians, that carry on indiscriminate
! slaughter Of game. These Indians have
NO business off their reservations. but