The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-02-25
It was, doubt not. killed contrary to

It was, I doubt not, killed contrary to the law.
 The stringent hunting regulations are necessary to the preservation of the game of Alaska. and already the govern n:ent has had to suspend the killing of certain animals in certain territories from time to time. It is now prohibited to shoot moose in southeastern Alaska; and it was only lately that the restriction on caribou in the Renal peninsula was abolished. This is so notwithstanding
 the caribou in certain parts of Alaska; are almost as numerous as were the buffalo on our western plains. It Is esti-
 mated that there are still several millions of these animals on the barren lands of the far north. They live there in the
 summer and go southward in great herds
 for the winter Two or three years ago a drove of 10000 came within a mile of
 Dawson and fed there on the hills. Men
 went out to see them in automobiles and
 great numbers were killed. The animals
 did not seem to be afraid of man, and
 even the automobiles did not create
 stampede.
 About 45 miles from Fairbanks is hill
 known as Porcupine Dome, where, as
 the hunters say. the caribou of that re- zion come together to start south in com panies. They move in droveS of thou sands and make their way to the head
 waters of the rivers. They stay south
 during the winter and along in February and March begin to struggle back in bands of 100 or so.
 Caribou are still seen as far south as the Lynn canal, over 1000 miles from their summer home in the far north. In 1915 a drove of more than 10000 passed south crossing the I<londike valley about 25 miles from Dawson, and 6oO were killed for the winter food supply of that city The carcasses were dressed and left out in the air They froze within a short time, and the natural cold storage conditions were such that they were kept
 until used.
 During my stay in Dawson I had a talk with Commissioner Black the governor of the territory, who, like Nimrod, is a mighty hunter" He described a caribou herd which he saw on a recent trip up the Sixty-Mile river. He says that the narrow valley and high mountains on either side swarmed with the animals. At every 100 yards. for the 10 miles where he passed over their tracks, there were trails foot deep, and there were | so many hoofprints that he could not put his hat on the ground without cover | Ing some of them.
 The great Mackenzie watershed, which l is about half the size of the United States proper, teens with caribou, and there are vast numbers in the Yukon basin. Nearly every miners cabin in Alaska has l a pair of caribou antlers over its door, | and the Indians sometimes kill the anil mals for the mere pleasure of slaughter. They bring the choice cuts of the meat | into the markets for sale, often allowing | the bulk of the carcass to go to waste. A few years ago the young were killed | for their skins, and reindeer coats made of fawn skin, were sold in great quan- titles. The antlers of the caribou are beautiful They average 20 points and many are larger.
 The chief food of the caribou is rein deer moss, of a greenish white color, which Is scattered over the hills and mountains of Alaska. Their favorite | feeding grounds are on the treeless and semi-treeless parts of the territory ln- cluding the tundras along the coast of the Arctic ocean, and down to the Pa cific side of the Alaska peninsula. They scatter widely in summer and collect | in herds in the fall. Each herd has its | leader, and 1t is said that if the leader l is killed the rest of the herd becomes panic stricken and stampedes back and forth until another animal takes the lead. There is one large drove of these deer | watershed between the Yukon and Tan ana rivers. The hunters from Forty-Mi!e Fla gle and Circle and the other mining towns of that region rely upon It TOT part of their meat supply.
 | I have seen number of moose since | I came to Alaska. have watched them swimming in the Yukon flats as we passed through on the steamboat and | with field classes along the banks of the streams. | The animals range over the timbered parts of the territory, and they are espe- cially plentiful on the Kenai and Alaska peninsulas. They are not like the carl bou, in that they feed in the open. Iheir favorite home is the mixed woods or spruce, poplar and birch along the river bottoms and on the sides of the hills. During the winter they feed on the will lows and young alders, digging the bushes out of the snow.
 The Renal giant moose is the largest of the deer family. Antlers are offered for sale which measure six feet from tip to tip, and now and then one finds | a pair that is more than six feet in width
 The moose are at their best during the rutting season. This is at the close of the summer, when they have grown | fat on the rich vegetation. They are most easily caught when the mosquitoes are bad This drives them into the riv- | CTS and lakes. In the winter they are chased by men upon snowshoes. The moose are so heavy that they sink in the snow to their bellies when they get out l of the sheltered places, and at such times they can travel over the ice from which the snow has been blown. Many of the COW moose have their calves with them, and 1t Is not uncommon to find baby moose, or calf, as pet in the mining towns The calves are born during May | and June, and follow the cows until the following spring.
 The most delicious meat of Alaska is that of the mountain sheep. It brings higher prices than any other game In the market; but 1t Is difficult to get and | the supply is never abundant. A hunter at F'airbanks told me that he once saw 600 sheep in one drove. He thought him