The weekly chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Craig County, Okla.) 1905-1913, 1911-12-15
WILD TURKEYS
TO Be PROTECTED
United States Government Game Law
Expert in Oklahoma City
Last Week.

w. X. Brewster game law expert
for the United States department of
agriculture, and his brother, w X.
Brewster, who is assisting him, were
in Oklahoma City for several days
last week and arranged for having a
number of wild turkeys captured and
placed in the federal government s
game preserve near Ft. Sill, Comanche
county, Before entering the service
of the government, Mr.. Brewster for
many years was connected with the
Michigan state fish and game warden S
Office.
The United States now has tairty-
seven bird and game refugees, Mr..
Brewster stated, and in these preserves
owned and maintained by the govern
ment all game is protected The ques-
ton of its preservation is big one,
and one in which the federal authorl-
ties are deeply interested.
One of the questions we are trying
to work OUT, he said, lis the preserva-
tion of the elk, which is disappearing
rapidly Last year careful census,
taken by our department, showed that
there are not more than 10000 elk in
the country, while five years ago there
were ten times that number. To pre-
vent the species from becoming Ell
tirely extinct is big problem.
zone of the plans considered is that
of distributing elk among the public
parks and geological gardens through
out the country, and placing them d.
rectly under the care of lodges of b.
P. o. Elks, an order which took is
name from the noble game animal.
There are thousands of elk in Jack
son Hole, Montana, and in Wyoming,
but it is evident that they cannot sur
yive there long. About 5000 or 5000
OF the animals starved there during
the past winter.
These game reservations, or ref
uges, established by the government,
are not only good thing in preserv-
ing the various species of game birds
and animals, but they also are bene-
fit to the states in which they are To-
Gated. The game multiplies in the
reservation and naturally it spreads to
the surrounding territory, where it
may be killed by hunters. The bureau
of biological survey, which is the
branch of the department of agricul-
ture having the game question in
charge, works in conjunction with the
game wardens of the various states,
and assists in handling violators Of
the law. OF course the department
cannot handle violations in the states
themselves, but when game is killed
unlawfully and shipped to other states
the federal government then can step
in"
One OF the thirty-seven refugees, Mr.,
Brewster stated, is located on the is
lands of LysiansM and Lasan, in the
Hawaiian group The islands are un-
inhabited, and there sea birds in count
less millions find refuge.
Last year government revenue cut
ter, which had been in Alaska on off
cial business, was ordered to visit the
two islands and see how the preserve
was getting on. There they found that
Japanese poachers were at work, and
arrested and convicted twenty-three of
them
The Japs had ready for shipment
$4,000 albatross wings, which meant
that they had slaughtered at least 24O,
600 of the birds, with the probabilities
tnat many more had been killed and
the wings shipped to Japan.
The department, with which Mr..
Brewster is connected, issues bulletins
dealing with the work, and it is the
object to provide for the protection,
propagation and preservation of game
in a thoroughly systematic and effec-
tive manner.