The Cordova daily times., 1916-02-26
THIS EXTENSIVE WILD CAME
 COUNTRY

] bONtl HUI oiiOllS dllhhdi itDOlt pi the Alaska game law was received in l last nights mail. Tn his introduction the chief executive of the territory says:
 Alaska is. by far, the most extensive wild game country of the North Am ercan continent. Tn the number of moose it is preeminent, while deer, mountain sheep, mountain goats, and caribou are widely distributed. Be sides these. the brown, grizzly. polar, glacier and black bears are numerous in some of the geographical divisions. The lakes and rivers, bays and inlets are the homes of myriads of water fowl of many species. Shore birds also are plentiful.
 The principal habitat of the moose in central Alaska is found on the Kenai peninsula, but moose are also present in considerable numbers in the regions drained by the Yukon and Panama rivers and their tributaries. In the latter sections moose are pro bably decreasing in number. while the moose of the Kenai peninsula are pos sibly slowly increasing. this condition 1 being due to the possibility of stricteT enforcement of the game law. In the vast regions of the Yukon and Panama valleys it is much more difficult 10 i enforce the law because of the great distances to be covered by the few game wardens employed, the fund for this purpose being limited to $2O000 annually. When it is considered that Alaska embraces 91,0OO square miles of territory, and that in all these vast regions game of some kind is found. the inadequacy of the appropriation becomes vividly obvious.
 The great carbon region is found in the interior of Alaska, in the dis tricts drained by the Yukon, Panama, Forty-mile and other rivers and their 1 tributaries. The annual migration of these animals takes place in Septem- Der and October, the caribou travel ing in great herds many miles wide at a leisurely pace. During this period there is considerable slaughter by hunters and settlers. Caribou are also found on the Alaska peninsula, and to some extent on Seward penin- sula, northwestern Alaska.
 The common, or Sitka, deer are found only in southeastern Alaska, for the most part on the numerous islands that form an almost continuous net work along the coast The only other game animal found in southeastern Alaska is the brown bear. although black bears are numerous in nearly all sections of the Alaska Panhadle
 Mountain sheep are found on the Kenai peninsula, in the Copper river region, in the Mount Mckinley dis trict, interior Alaska, and in other sections of mountainous country.
 Mountain goats are found in some districts of southeastern Alaska, north to the Chugach and Wrangel noun tains.
 | Although the deer of southeastern Alaska have been rigindly protected for some years, and although pre- serves have been established for their conservation, it is probable that they are slowly decreasing. This is due in part to excessive hunting during the open season and to the ravages of wolves on some of the larger islands. | To obvate the destruction of deer by wolves, the Alaska legislature, session l of 1915, placed a bounty of $l0 per 1 Itdu Oil dli NOlNGo hliiCh [AH IliS iel has been but a short time in opera tion, it is too early to form an ac- curate idea as to it's usefulness. As an instance of the destruction of deer during the present year. it is stated on excellent authority that the sol diers stationed at Fort William H. Seward on Lynn canal, up to October 15. had killed about 200 deer. These men are not charged with violation of the law, but the practice followed in l thus hunting deer, if continued, will | inevitably lead to their almost com | Iplete extinction. The soldiers hunt in squads of fifteen or twenty men, and while none may exceed the limit al