The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1912-07-26
.HLL7VZERS Nv CAZxp

hMRHE rapid disappearance of wild
~ game in the west is causing
Uncle Sam to sit up and take
III notice. The Biological Survey
recently made an exhaustive
report as to big game conditions, and
the prospect in general, and while
conditions were found good in some
states, the reports from other haunts
of big game were not so optimistic.
AS a matter of fact, between the
game hogs, the ranchers who insist on
having wild meat out of season, and
bands of marauding Indians from
various reservations, wild game in the
west Is travelling at rapid pace to-
ward extinction. Most Of the states
have poor laws, which vary greatly,
and these laws are enforced only
spasmodically. 1t is almost imposst-
BILE to secure the conviction Of any
rancher who kills wild game out OF
season. Juries in the sparsely settled
communities will never convict, and In
consequence state officers have be-
come discouraged and rarely prose
cute. The tourist who happens to kill
a grouse out of season, or whose ig-
norance of local game laws leads him
into some such blunder, is made the
goat" The chap who happens to
have an understood trout in his creel
is fined heavily, while the local resi-
dent who may be making a practice
of killing mountain sheep, upon which
there is no open season in most west
ern states, is allowed to carry on his
work unmolested because no convic-
ton can be secured in a local court.
Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and
Utah suffer from the depredations Of
Indians, who care nothing for the
white mans game laws. The Indians
kill right and left, and, on their deer
hunting expeditions, does and fawns
as we'll as bucks fall victims to their
guns. There Is another influence at
work, against which the most strin-
gent laws In the world would be I'M
availing-the rapid settlement Of the
open range.
Antelope in particular have suffered
from the Entertainments of the set
tier. Colorado has had no open sea-
son on antelope for several years, but
these animals are steadily disappear
ing. The plains country east Of the
Rocky mountains has been put under
fence until little of the range has been
left for the antelope. AS result the
state of Colorado has had to feed the
INF Of hno MI
full creatures nearly every winter. The
best of the range has been taken up
by settlers. The antelope are unable
to find sufficient natural food, and are
driven by hunger to the very farm
yards of the ranchers. The ranchers
do not have more than enough feed
for their stock, and are compelled to
call upon the state for protection. as
the antelope play havoc with hay
stacks. The state has fed the ante
lope, but it is noticed that the number
of animals is steadily dwindling, and
It will be only short time until there
are no more left on the high plains
where they once roamed by thou
sands.
Laws Vary.
Fish are title better protected than
other forms of wild game. The fish
laws of the western states vary to a
remarkable degree, and little real pro-
lection is afforded under them. 1t Is
the same old story of difficulty in Sc
curing a conviction in local courts.
Dynamiters and seiners ply their call
fng. and are seldom caught and never
convicted Wyoming. which has the
finest tr0at streams in the west, I'M
less exception be made Of the Gun
nison in Colorado, has no closed sea-
son on trout Fishermen report big
catches in spawning time. when the
fish should be left undisturbed. II
there are any laws regarding the
screening Of irrigation bitches, such
laws are never enforced. and one
hears Of ten and twefve-pound trout
being caught by farmers boys in irri-
CATION bitches. II somebody is to be
entertained, the citizens OF an enter
prising town in the haunts of the big
trout will give fish fry" For a day
or two everybody in town will turn
out and the streams will be whipped
to a foam. The laws regulating the
size of the individual catch will be
openly violated. and when the day
for the FRY" arrives there will be
veritable orgy. with thousands OF
trout forming the feature of the feast.
The finest trout streams in the world
are being depleted rapidly. and fisher
men who visit the North Platte and
the Laramie every season report that
those streams are showing the effect
of Wyomi2g's lax enforcement Of the
laws.
The condition OF the elk in Jack
sons Hole is largely. due to the con-
slant hunting Of the animals in other
localities. Thousands of elk have
drifted from Colorado northward in
the last few years. being frightened
out by the settlers who have hunted
them in season and out. Elk are great
travellers. and, when disturbed, will go
long distances In the endeavor to
shake on danger. Fleeing from the
populated mountain districts of Colo
RADIO into wyoming. they have at last
driftsd to the sparsely populated Jack
sons Hole country. The additions Of
the large elk herd that has always
led In the Jackson's Hole and Yellow