Arizona republican., 1910-11-22
WARMING TO HUNTERS
OF MOUNTAIN SHEEP
Also Warning to Sportsmen Visiting
Roose.eIt La!e.


geese and perhaps other Arizona
game birds. including the festive mud
hen, as well as in a spirit of kindly
warning to uniformed or misin-
formed sportsmen, attention is called
to the fact that the mountain sheep
is protected by the Arizona game laws
at all seasons of the year and indefi-
nitely, and Roosevelt lake has been
proclaimed by the president of the
United States as game preserve, to-
gether with a margin of land around
its shore, wherein no person may
shoot any game birds at any time,
even though it be the open season
elsewhere in the territory.
That is a long sentence but it con-
tains the meat of the idea sought to
be inculcated by this story, the rest
of which will be devoted to an expla-
nation of why The Republican rises
and asks the permission of the chair
to address the meeting. In the Globe
Silver Belt of November 20 appears a
story saying that as much as twenty
mountain sheep had been seen in one
flock near Fish creek and that the
rocks in that section are literally dec
GRATED with them. 1t is then stated
by the Silver Belt that the game law
protecting them expires on the 1st
of January, after which time there is
fine sport in store for the hunters.
1t is hoped the information con-
corning the numerousness of the sheep
is correct, for the animal had become
so scarce in Arizona as to be almost
extinct, but the announcement that
-, &c. IN
expire is absolutely wrong. The arti
Gle in the Silver Belt was shown to
w. l.. Pinney, fish and game commits
sioner. yesterday. and he Immediately
wrote the Silver Belt, requesting a
correction of the statement. He says:
There is no date in the law in which
the closed season on mountain sheep
expires, and unless some future legis-
lature changes the law, il is on for
ever" The prospective sheep killer
will therefore take warning, not only
for the sake of the sheep but to keep
himself out of trouble, for many
sportsmcn who mean to be law abid-
ing may ignorantly get into trouble if
the erroneous story becomes widely
circulated.
The same story in the Silver Belt
told of the departure of a party of
Globe people for Roosevelt lake for
the purpose of killing ducks. having
learned that they are new very numer-
Gus on the lake. Respecting the kill
ing of ducks, or any other kind of
game on or near Lake Roosevelt, at
tention is called to the fact that sew
eral months ago the president pro-
claimed the lake and it's immediate
environs a national game preserve,
just as the Yellowstone Park is. 1t
is therefore a. violation of the prOcla
nation of the president to kill any
kind of game on the reservation, ex-
cept outlaws, which are seldom hunted
by anybody except the sheriffs' pos
SEES.
The purpose of the proclamation is
not particularly for the protection Of
ducks, which are slaughtered else
where and which are a migratory
bird, but there are other game birds
or interesting and valuable fowl not
regarded as game birds. which it is
desired to protect, which may now or
later use the lake as a breeding
ground, and the presence of which if
allowed to become numerous will add
to the attractiveness of the locality.
There are plenty of other places to
hunt ducks, so the government plans
to keep the shooters off the premises
entirely at all seasons. The limits of
the preserve, according to memory of
a former publication of the proclama
ton, are only a half mile or mile
from the high water line of the lake,
so if one can stand a mile or two
away from it and coax the ducks to
come his way he may lay in ambush
and get them. But it is likely he can
do better by going somewhere else
where there are no restrictions.
Whether the restriction applies to