The Coconino sun., 1926-10-01
KAIBAB DEER ARRIVES
SOUTH GRAND CANYON


/ Perhaps the most interesting and
| dramatic event in connection with
wild conservation in the United
| States is the now famous Kaibab deer
drive which was attempted two years
ago. The fact that the project was
| unique, and that the means employed
was to be based on an ancient Indian
method, gave the proceeding spec
firm grip on the imagination of the
public.
| The drive was a failure. In spite
of glowing statements of the ease by
which ten thousand wild deer could
| be collected into one herd; forced ov-
er the rim of the Grand Canyon and
then herded across the great gorge
to the rim on the other side, the at
| tempt ended almost before it start
ed. Not a single deer even saw the
trail leading into the canyon, and at
| the agreed delivery rate on the south
rim of one dollar per head, the gross
receipts were zero, and other fac
tors taken into consideration, less
than that.
! There were many reasons why the
attempt failed The most prominent
| ly mentioned are the lack of organ
ization and the great storm which
broke at a critical moment. These
were probably contributory, but the
| fundamental one was the fact that
Mr.. Deer refused to be driven, and
| 81 x1E h11f nd who
| ing Indians was terrifying enough to
make him leave his home range.
Although a failure, this attempt
will always be interesting because it
was something entirely new in the
| line of game conservation. 1t has it's
| beginning in movement to prevent
| thousands Of deer from starving to
death, solicitous attitude on the
part of well meaning humans, that
the deer promptly answered them
selves by not starving even where
man himself said there was no chance
for him to live. However, in spite
of this fact, the Kaibab deer drive
will always be pointed out as one of
mans unselfish attempts to help the
poor wild animal, even if he didn't
need it.
Since the drive failed to solve the
problem, other methods have been
used to remove the deer from the
range. Among these is the trapping
of fawns, and when they are suffi-
GENTLY grown, shipping them out to
public and private parks.
So far there is only one authentic
record of Kaibab deer crossing the
Colorado river and reaching the
south rim. It is known that this deer
was born among the giant pines of
the Kaibab, and that he is now living
on the rim opposite to that on which
he was born, and even more than
this, the exact route by which he
made his journey is also matter |
of record.
Early last summer, park rangers
at the north rim station found very I
young fawn which had evidently been |
abandoned by its mother. They car
ried him to the station, and for the
next several weeks he lived on can
ned milk fed from nursing bottle.
He soon became very friendly, evil
IDENTIFY considering himself another
ranger as far as his rights around
the station were concerned. He re-
mained here during the summer, but
recently it became necessary to plan
for his winter quarters, as the heavy
SHOWS on the Kaibab would make it
for him to stay there dur
ing the winter. 1t happened that
Ranger Fred Johnson was ordered to
report for duty on the south rim, and
in picking out his route decided to
come by car via Lees Ferry. 1t was
also realized that if Mrs. Johnson
were to go and leave the fawn be-
hind, he would soon die of grief, as
he cared but little for anyone but
her. When the time came to leave,
"Chummic" as the fawn is called,
climbed into the car, and from every |
indication seemed to say, Lets go"
The result of all this is the fact that
Chummie is the first of the Kaibab
deer to arrive on the south rim, one
year and nine months after the great
drive was to have landed 10000 of /
his ancestors in the same spot, and
he only succeeded in getting there
himself after a hard two days trip
by auto. Although born only 13
miles from the south rim, he was
forced to travel 282 miles in order to