Page 93 - Our Vanishing Wild Life

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GUERRILLAS OF DESTRUCTION 71
the slaughter. Hundreds more were carried to other points; and this was only one day's work.
Hundreds of wounded elk wandered back into the park to die, and others died out- sidethepark. ThestationatLivingston,Montana,foraweeklookedlikeapacking house. Carcassefwerepileduponthetrucksanddepotplatform. Thebaggagecars were loaded with elk going to points east and west of Livingston.
Maybe this is all right. Maybe the government can't stop the elk from crossing the line. Maybe the elk were helped over; but it strikes me there is something wrong somewhere.
The Division of Hired Laborers.—The scourge of lumber-camps in big-game territory, the mining camps and the railroad-builders is a longstory,andiftoldindetailitwouldmakeseveralchapters. Their awful destruotiveness is well known. It is a common thing for "the boss" to hire a hunter to kill big game to supply the hungry outfit, and save beef and pork.
The abuses arising from this source easily could be checked, and finally suppressed. Aten-linelawwoulddothebusiness,—forbiddinganyper- son employed in any camp of sheep men, cattle men, lumbermen, miners, railway laborers or excavators to own or use a rifle in hunting wild game and forbidding any employer of labor to feed those laborers, or permit them_ to be fed, on the flesh of wild game mammals or birds. "Camp" laborers are not "pioneers;" not by a long shot! They are soldiers of Commerce, and makers of money.
A Mountain Sheep Case in Colorado.—The state of Colorado sincerely desires to protect and perpetuate its slender remnant of moun- tain sheep, but as usual the Lawless Miscreant is abroad to thwart the effortsoftheguardiansofthegame. Everystatethatstrivestoprotect its big game has such doings as this to contend with
In the winter of 1911-12, a resident poacher brought into Grant, Colo- rado, a lot of mountain sheep meat for sale; and he actually sold it to residents of that town! The price was six cents per pound. A lot of it waspurchasedbytherailwaystation-agent. Ihavenodoubtthatthe same man who did that job, which was made possible only by the co- operation of the citizens of Grant, will try the same poaching-and-selling game next winter, unless the ^tate Game Commissioner is able to bring him to book.
AWyomingCaseinPoint.—Asafairsampleofwhatgamewardens, and the general public, are sometimes compelled to endure through the improper decisions of judges, I will cite this case:
In the Shoshone Mountains of northern Wyoming, about fifty miles or so from the town of Cody, in the winter of 1911-12 a man was engaged intrappingcoyotes. Itwascurrentlyreportedthathehadbeen"driven out of Montana and Idaho." He had scores of traps. He baited his traps with the flesh of deer, elk calves and grouse, all illegally killed and illegallyusedforthatpurpose. Amanofmyacquaintancesawsomeof this game meat actually used as described.
Themanwasanotoriouscharacter,andcruelintheextreme. Finallv