Elmore County Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1910-1915, 1911-02-11
ANTELOPE IN
OKLAHOMA
Eight Head Shipped From YelIowston
Park Arrives Safely.

|
in the State of Oklahoma. has in
foImed the Department of Agricul-
ture of the receipt in good condition
of s head of antelope, which came
from the National herd i'm the yell
lowstone Park. Through the gener-
osity of members of the Boone and
| Crockett Club of New York, funds
were furnished for capturing and
transporting these animals from Wy
omimg to Oklahoma The news of
the arrival of the antelope at their
destination has been received with
| satisfaction by the Department Off
| cials who are much interested in
the attempt to preserve this inter
esting game animal.
The pronghorned antelope Is UNI
hike amy other antelope on the face
of the earth, and has so many Pc
cularities that naturalists class it
in family by itself. Formerly ex-
isting by the thousands on our open
Western plains, it has now been so
reduced i'm numbers that its absolute
extinction is certain in the very
near future unless protection is Civ
EN- to the few remaining. 1t does
not do very we'll east of the Missippi
River, and can not be successfully
bred i'm captivity but it thrives if
allowed to roam practically free
Within large enclosures and under con
ditions closely approaching the nat
ural ones.
In 1908 the Biological Survey esi-
mated that the total number OF an
telope in the United States had been
reduced to 1900. Of these about
10000 were in Montana, Wyoming,
and the Yellowstone National Park,
and the remaining 1000 We're distrib-
uted i'm u other States.
On the Wichita Game Refuge 1t is
hoped that the antelope Will find
themselves in surroundings suited to
their increase. The Wichita is Ne
ally National Forest, and Game
Warden Rush acts as its supervisor
and attends to all the business in
volved in it's admini stration. But on
The Wichita, which was set aside by
Act of Congress as National Game
Refuge because of it's especial suit
ability to act as a breeding place for
the wild creatures of the plains and
lower Rocky Mountain regions. the
importance of the game work has
overshadowed the ordinary uses OF
a National Forest. There are over
$50 National Forests, but only two
National Game Refugees.
This does not mean that outside of
those refugees the game ON the Nat
ional Forests lis not protected for
the National Forest officers are uni
formly instructed to see that the
game laws of the various States are
observed ON their Forests, in so far
as they can do this in Justice to their
other duties. Many of the Forest Of
Ulcers are regularly appointed Dep
uty State Game Wardens, and lit 10
the policy of the Department of Ag
rIlculture to encourage their acting
IN this capacity when they can do so
without prejudice to their work as
Forest officers. They are not, how
ever, expected to go aft the Forests
i'm order to enforce tn game laws OF
the States, nor can they make en-
foroement of game laws their pain-
cipal occupation. The work OF For
est officer i'm looking after Uncle
Sans affairs generally insures his
being a pretty busy man, and what
he does DIN enforcing game laws can
only be incidental to selling timber,
protecting the Forests from fires,
looking after grazing matters, and
responding to the various other calls
which use of the Forests by the pub
lic involves.
Ordinarily, game matters pertain to
the States, and not to the National
when and under wha conditions game
may be killed If 1T desires to pro-
hibit the KILLING of game i'm certain
parts of the State, in order that the
game may breed there, and these
parts of the States are Within the Ma
tionah Forests, the Government CO
operates with the State to carry out
the law. Such cooperation may re-
qu.re the closing of fixed areas of the
National Forests to grazing for
when big game becomes plentiful 1T
must have sufficient food supply left
on the range to carry 1T through the
winter, or 1T will succumb for lack
of sustenance. If the range rs fully
utilized by cattle and sheep during
the summer, elk and deer will fare
hardly in the winter
Tn tho Wichtte, and tho GRAND Can