Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1919-12-31

have killed about four thousand elk In
Montana already, and that they have
wounded another two thousand. 1t IS
said that large parties were formed TO
| lie in wait for the frenzied animals as they
crossed the park line. The hunters fired
into the herds by volloys, so that many
wounded animals ran away and were
never followed up. There was one herd
of about 400 elk which inhabited certain
mountain in the park Many partits
used TO go out TO see this herd, which was
| an especially fine one. The animals
became SO tame that they would let an
automobile drive quite close TO thcm.
When the big snow came, tfis herd
crossed the line into Montana within
four hours, it is said, every one OF the 400
elk WAS dead
These elk in Wyoming cannotb be shot
in large numbers because the season for
elk shooting closes long before the hard
winter SHOWS set in Wyoming protects
its game well,
But this is not true of Montana The
National Park officials arc bitter against
Montana. Formerly tho open season for
elk there was only about fifteen DAYS.
Then il was heightened to thirty davs
and finally to about seventv-fivC DAYS
In addition 10 this, hunters were allowed
to kill females rs well as males The
slaughter of tho elk which have crossed the
line into Montana will go on until Christ
mas, and 1t means the destruction Of bulls
and cows alike The officials shy that
there is absolutely no excuse for thus
lengthening Of the season by Montana,
and that unless public opinion forces
Montana to modify its laws, the struggle
to save the elk is nearly hopeless,
On October 22nd, there occurred in
Yellowstone Park, the greatest snowstorm
that has been seen there since 1891, and
there have been many heavy snows since.
AS soon as thcsc heavy SHOWS began. thc
elk were seen coming down from the high
mountains in hcEGs Of thousands on the
run
EAyFD FROM sTARvATIo%.
For those that went south nothing
could be done: il WAS impossible 90 stop
them. But at the north of the park there
is a steel fence, built primarily to keep n
herd al antelope IN All Of the park
rangers turned out and managed 20 stop
about half Of the north-hound hcrI ~
this fence All Of the money III the
Yellowstone Park fund was spent for hay.
The amount was about S}00O0 lnS
hav was hauled to tho fence on sicds and
is now being led to the elk Several
thousand Of them are beng cared for II
tins way They will hC saved unlc~S
another big snow comes along and hurtca
the hav on thc ground. II that happens,
these elk Viii break the fence and g north
II hC shot or ~ starvc to death
The most pressing need is for An cm"r-
gcncv appropriation az fifty or hundred
Thousand dollars with which tn buy hay
for the elk still ia thc park and IN lach7nn
Hole In addition 90 this # the elk arr t.
bc saved. Congress should appropriate q
few hundred thousand dollars With which
tn h,Iv farm lands both in Wyoming and
III Montana II this were done tho elk
could hc tcd in hard winters An appro-
priation amounting a. perhaps two or
three cents per capita for the smcrICau
people would make the elk safe for aiI
time.
Two other things the Park Service
wants II wants tho Montana open season
for elk shortened ~ a month ~ most
And il wants to have tho Teton game pr
serve made a part Of the Yellowstone
National Park The reason for this latter
proposal is that the settlers in Jackson
Hole and adjacent country are always
agitating for tho abolition Of the game pre-
serve. so that they may usc the Land rs
cattle range Once this game preserve
was made part of the national park
system. il would belong 70 the people of
the United States and incidentally 20
the elk for all time.