The Coconino sun., 1924-02-22

lens in order to advise the secretary
as to whether or not this plan should
be put in operation. These men will
be of such national reputation as to
integrity, intelligence and ability, and
inclined to protect the game at all
hazards, that their deductions will un-
doubtedly be accepted as final and
the secretary will undoubtedly proceed
| to put the plan into effect. The for
ester is not welded to this plan If any
better method can be found, but he
/ is absolutely determined that no die
off of the Kaibab deer shall occur
such as happened in the Yellowstone
region in the winter of 1919-1920,
when hundreds of elk starved because
/ of climatic conditions and an over
stocked range. Deer and elk are like
any other grazing animals. They
must have something to eat. They
cannot live on air and scenery, and
| their feed comes from the same
sources as does the feed for the sheep
and cattle which are occupying many
millions of acres in the state of Ari-
zona.
81 hope you will appreciate that we
are trying earnestly to help the game
| interests in Arizona and not injure
them; that we are probably more
thoroughly posted as to the needs Of
! the game animals throughout the west
than any other organization, either
state or federal Do you know of any
other body Of men who have under
their control over 100000 deer, over
$4,000 elk, thousands of moose, noun
tain sheep and other game animals ?
The Kaibab herd is not by any means
the largest we are worrying over. We
have a herd in a California forest
numbering over 250,000 head, and
kseveral of our forests in other states
carry from 10000 to 10000 head Of
deer. All of these are problems to
be solved, keeping US mighty busy,
and in which we are quite as interest
ed and anxious to protect the game as
we are to take care of the domestic
stock of the settlers"
Mr.. Strobe Disagrees
In signed editorial in the same
issue of the Daily Silver Belt, j. w.
Strobe comments on the above:
"As for our esteemed correspOn
dents statement that the writer of
The Silver Belt editorials on the Kali
bab deer is apparently 'one who was
not thoroughly in touch with the facts
and did not understand the situation
we wish to state that the writer made
the trip from Miami to the Kaibab
and studied the situation under for
estry official guidance on the ground.
The trip involved about two thousand
miles of travel We wonder how many
of the eastern officials who have eX-
pressed themselves as favoring the
killing of the deer in the Kaibab game
refuge have taken equal pains and
spent equal time and effort in order
to accurately inform themselves of the
real situation of the deer?
eve reiterate what we have so Of
ten said before as between the rights
of the deer and the cattle and sheep
on the Kaibab refuge: The refuge was
established for the deer, not for the
livestock. So long as there are admit
tedly five thousand head of cattle and
many sheep grazing on the refuge,
there cannot legitimately be any ar
gument advanced for thinning out the
deer. Again we ask: Is it deer ref
uge or a cattle range?
"If Mr. Barnes contention that the
range in the Kaibab is overstocked
with deer were based on the facts,
then a different attitude would be
found on our part. On that ground
we differ absolutely. We observed no
evidence of overcrowding on the pre-
serve. We saw such lush grass and
browse everywhere as would delight
the heart of any Arizona cattleman,
accustomed to ordinary range condi-
tions. In travelling from one end of
the Kaibab refuge to the other, by
actual count we saw 46 deer. And we
were able to count more than any
other member of the party of about
Is people, We travelled for 25 miles
easterly from the center to the edge
of the forest in the Kaibab and never
saw a deer, all through fine feed
ing country. In $50 miles of travel
within the refuge we counted 46 deer.
That was an average of less than one
deer to every three miles travelled.
"The statement that the refuge is
surrounded on three sides by a good
sized desert country across which we
are satisfied few of the deer will go
in search of new range, and on the
remaining side the impossible Grand
CANYON is likely to create an erron
eous impression in the minds of the
reader. 1t might be wondered how
the Kaibab deer ever got there. Prob
ably they might get out, if they wish
ed to do so, by the selfsame door
wherein they went
e@The facts are that. the Kaibab on
the north is bordered by great,
grass-covered plateau, broken by