The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1917-03-16

miraculous that any Of them do es-
cape. And yet we have the Lynx and
Bob-cat, both agile climbers, not to
mention the wolverine in the north,
but the most numerous are the mink
and weasel, each doing their share
and in many cases more than their
share, for like the would-be sportsmen
and the cat that is a good mouser,
from the wolf down they will all kill
for sport.
I have found many deer on the ice
that had been killed by wolves, and
left almost intact, although their
tracks plainly indicated that there
were enough in the pack to devour
two deer. But like some men they
were only having a little luck, and so
it goes on day after day-here we
find the remains of Moose or deer,
there a bunch of Musrat houses that
have been destroyed by moose which
in most cases meant sure death for
the rats, although both are encircled
by the mighty arm Of the law. Further
on you will find pieces of rabbit fur
or partridge feathers. When we stop
to consider the comparatively small
part of this territory and judging
from the amount of depredations of
the natural enemies of our game birds
and animals that we actually see /
honestly believe that no stretch Of
imagination could even in the territory
set apart for the state game preserve
cover the total.
Undoubtedly as you read this you
are thinking about the bounties paid
by the state and counties for the ex-
termination of wolves, but did you
ever give the matter any thought as
to whether you could or was EXTERN
mating wolves, or even affording any
protection to big game through the
bounty system. AS an illustration
suppose the State appropriated enough
money to exterminate all the wolves
south of the imaginary line that sep.
arates Minnesota from Canada. Is it
not possible that next year you would
have to appropriate as much more for
the same purpose, for this reason,
that wolves are being protected and
bred by the thousands north of this
Boundary line under exactly the same
system as they are here today, and
so it will 60 on indefinitely, creaulng
an unnecessary burden to the tax
payer and county that have to foot
part of the bill caused by this pro-
lection. If this game preserve was
wholly within the state and sur
rounded by farming communities that
would be different proposition, then
you would have some chance to pro-
tect the desirable game and EXTERN
mate those you did not want, but as
I stated before, this preserve is at a
disadvantage geographically and it is
practically impossible to protect it
and the game therein as it was un-
doubtedly intended. 1t is true that
Canada pays bounty on wolves, but
know it to be a fact that all the
wolves killed within, the Quitico
Park during the season of 1915 and
1916 would not make one good sized
litter Canada is going her limit in
the way of protecting and propagatiDg
wolves, and the more bounties we pay
on this side the more we will have
to pay on Canadian bred wolves and
other game destroying animals.
Up to about sixty years ago as near
as can find out from the Indians this
territory was practically overrun with
beaver and as far back as we can
trace it they have always been plenti-
full, so much so that the pelt was the
recognized unit of value to the Indian
and fur trader as the silver dollar Is
to the white man of today, and for
many years was the principle article
of food and clothing for thousands of
Indians; about forty years ago, like
the rabbits of more recent period,
they all but disappeared and with
them went the Charlottesville the
beaver were plentiful there were no
Moose. About thirty-five years ago
the first two Moose seen in these
parts were killed by Lac la Croix
Indian on or near Crooked Lake along
the International boundary, from then
on in spite of the severest kind OF
persecution by hundreds Of Indians
and White man hunters they increased
to large numbers and up to about
ten years ago they were the monarch
of our forest, both in size and num-
bers. During the last six or seven
years they have begun to dwindle
away; can take and show you where
a few years ago there were hundreds,
today you can walk fifteen or twenty
miles through the heart of the state
game preserve and not see track OF
moose; the beaver is returning fast
and in large numbers and as fast
as they inhabit country the moose
will leave it, for the Beavers destroy
the summer feeding ground of the
moose by flooding the rice beds, and
as the roots and weeds of lake bot
toms are the summer feed of the
moose, so are they the year around