Page 92 - Our Vanishing Wild Life

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70 OUR VANISHING WILD LIFE
days; all his movements are known, and all his trophies are seen and counted. Hiskillingislimitedbylaw,anduponhimthelawisactually enforced. Often a resident hunts the whole twelve months of the year, for food, for amusement, and for trophies to sell. Rarely does a game warden reach his cabin; because the wardens are few, the distances great and the frontier cabins are widely scattered.
Mr. Carl Pickhardt told me of a guide in Newfoundland who had a shed in the woods hanging full of bodies of caribou, and who admitted to him that while the law allowed him five caribou each year, he killed each year about twenty-five.
Mr. J. M. Phillips knows of a mountain in British Columbia, once well stocked with goats, on which the goats have been completely ex- terminated by one man who lives within easy striking distance of them, and who finds goat meat to his liking.
I have been reliably informed that in 1911, at Haha Lake, near Grande Bay, Saguenay District, P. Q., one family of six persons killed thirty-four woodlandcaribouandsixmoose. Thismeantthewasteofabout14,000 pounds of good meat, and the death of several female animals.
In 1886 I knew a man named Owens who lived on the head of Sunday Creek, Montana, who told me that in 1884-5 he killed thirty-five mule deer for himself and family. The family ate as much as possible, the dogs ate all they could, and in the spring the remainder spoiled. Now there is not a deer, an antelope, or a sage grouse within fifty miles of that lifeless waste.
Here is a Montana object lesson on the frame of mind of the "resi- dent" hunter, copied from Outdoor Life Magazine (Denver) for Febru- ary,1912. ItisfromalettertotheEditor,writtenbyC.B.Davis.
November 27, 28, 29, and 30, 1911, will remain a red letter day with a half thou- sandmenforyearstocome. Thesehalfthousandmengatheredalongtheborderofthe Yellowstone National Park, near Gardiner, Montana, at a point known as Buffalo Flats, to exterminate elk. The snow had driven the elk down to the foothills, and BuffaloFlatsisontheborderoftheparkandoutsidethepark. Theelkenteredthis little valley for food. Like hungry wolves, shooters, not hunters, gathered along the border waiting to catch an elk off the "reservation" and kill it.
On November 27th about 1500 elk crossed the line, and the slaughter began. I have not the data of the number killed this day, but it was hundreds.
On the 28th, twenty-two stepped over and were promptly executed. Like Custer's band,notoneescaped. Ontheeveningofthe28th,600weresightedjustovertheline, and the army of 125 brave men entrenched themselves for the battle which was ex- pectedtoopennextmorning. Beforedaylightofthe29ththebattlebegan. Theelk- wereovertheline,feedingonBuffaloFlats. Onehundredandtwenty-fivemenpoured bullets into this band of 600 elk till the ground was red with blood and strewn with carcasses,andintheirmadnesstheyshoteachother. Onemanwasshotthroughthe ear,—a close call; another received a bullet through his coat sleeve, and another was shot through the bowels and can't live.
My informer told me he participated in the slaughter, and while he would not take fifty dollars for what he saw, and the experience he went through, yet he would not gothroughitagainfor$1,000. WhenmyinformergotbacktoGardinerthatdaythere were four sleigh loads of elk, each load containing from twenty to thirty-five elk, be- sidesthirty-twomulesandhorsescarryingonetotwoeach. Thiswasonlyapartof