The Coconino sun., 1924-11-28
THE COCONINO SUN

I Lasky people have them. 1t is
! through the sale of these rights that
/ Mccormick plans the financing the
! drive.
/ Zane Grey, the author, then COM
plicated matters by insisting in
Il wire received here Wednesday that he
A have exclusive literary rights to the
4 drive He is a director of the Lasky
Il corporation. Mr.. Rutledge firmly re-
3 fused to exclude other newspaper or
II magazine men. He said he had no
h right to attempt to do so. He also
Il made it clear that no ordinary
Il cameras would be barred. If other
moving picture concerns try to butt in
Il it is McCormick's job to protect the
] Lasky peoples interests
II This moving picture phase got Gov
eTnor Hunts goat. He wired McCor-
mick to the effect that he was getting
disguised at the attempt to CONNER
cialize the drive and thai the latter
must start the drive at once or the
/ whole thing would be called off.
i The governor evidently does not un-
] derstand that Mccormick is depend
Il ing, of necessity, upon the picture
RIGHTS sale to furnish the money for
/. eouipping and feeding the 1875 to 15O
men he will take with him on the
drive. Unless he can get that money
the drive is off for a certainty
Mccormick, as soon as things are
straightened out, will leave with men
and horses for Grand Canyon, cross
ING to the north side by way of Tan
ner trail. directly into the deer coun-
! trv. The horses will swim the Colo
rado There is q boat there for ferry.
ing supplies.
Mccormick said yesterday that IN
] six DAYS after reaching the deer coun-,
trv the deer will be on this side Of
] Grand Canyon. About rs of the men
Mccormick will use will be Navajo
Indians.
One Of the jobs preliminary to
starting the drive is building hun
dred yards of woven wire fence, to be
covered with muslin. This will be put
across a place along the trail where
the deer could break away. The mus
S lin, experience has taught, will keep
the deer away from the fence.
Mr.: Rutledge said the hunt had
been authorized by the then acting
secretary of agriculture, Howard M.
Gore. now secretary by appointment
of President Coolidge and that it had
the sanction of State Game Warden
Willard. The authority from Gore
! came after the special investigation
committee visited the region some
time ago and recommended that un-
less the deer in the reserve were
thinned down at once many would IN
evitably starve and some malady
might, owing TO their hunger-weaken-
l.4s- oil
The hunt was postponed for several
weeks following the receipt Of au-
thority from Washington to investl.
gate and make arrangements so that
It would in no way interfere with Ne
Cormick's proposed drive.
The reserve is divided by Buckskin
mountain, called the kaibab, or
"mountain ying down." 1t is go miles
long, Is to 20 miles across It's yell
low pine covered top and Is now COW
cred with snow. The deer are In the
breaks at either side. There can be
no communication between the two
herds before spring. Mr.. Rutledge
said there are at least 10000 deer in
the east side, reserved for McCor-
mick's drive, and that cattlemen es-
innate the number at 10000.
Lofum Pratt Jr., Of Fredonia, wrote
The Sun last week that II hunters
left Fredonia on the morning Of the
18th and got back there on the night
Of the 10th with 81 bucks.
Mr.. Rutledge says most Of the deer
are poor. Forage is practically all
gone There are some strips where
there still is plenty of forage, but the
deer follow certain grazing routes
. and do not venture away from them
to any extent. He said unless radical
measures for thinning them out are
at once adopted many will starve this
. winter.
Of the nearly 400 bucks killed in
the hunt, the largest weighed less
than 200 pounds, though many Of the
same species have been killed when
: fat that weighed 800 pounds or more.
Asked whether it would not have
! ! been better to have opened the gam4
preserve for hunting at the same time
. and under the same regulations as the
, states open season on deer, Mr.. Rut-
ledge said that during the regular
open season it was so warm that it
was doubtful whether the deer could
: have been taken TO homes any dis
tance away before they spoiled.
The game reserve was established
in 1906 There we're then estimated
70 be 1000 deer there. In 1915 there
were 10000 cattle and 5000 sheep
grazing there. These numbers have
been cut down until there now are
less than 1000 cattle and $500 sheep,
! all of which belong to people living
in that section who depend upon the
range as part of their means OF liveli-
hood
The government has protected the
deer, killed off many predatory ami
mails that prey OH them, salted them.
Mr. Rutledge pointed out that, with
the price Of hay and the distance from
the railroad, plus lack of highways
into the deer country, keeping them
alive by feeding hay is impossible.
Many ways were suggested for thin
ming the herd One was letting the
( predatory animals increase. This,
naturally, was not seriously consid-
cred. One was trapping and shipping
to those who wanted live deer. Eigh-
teen were caught in box traps. Seven
had to be turned loose because they
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