deer, or it was up to the time of great slaughter.  It is said that in 1911, 11,000 deer were killed in Montana, all in the western part of the state, seventy per cent of which were white-tails.  The deep snows and extreme cold of a long and unusually severe winter drove the hungry deer down out of the mountains into the settlements, where the ranchmen joyously slaughtered them.  The destruction around Kalispell was described by Harry P. Stanford as “sickening.”

Mr. Avare estimates the prong-horned antelope in Montana at three thousand head, of which about six hundred are under the quasi-protection of four ranches.

  The antelope need three or four small ranges, such as the Snow Creek
  Antelope Range, where the bad lands are too rough for ranchmen, but
  quite right for antelopes and other big game.

All the grouse and ptarmigan of Montana need a five-year close season.  The splendid sage grouse is now extinct in many parts of its previous range.  Fifty-eight thousand licensed gunners are too many for them!

  The few mountain sheep and mountain goats that survive should have a
  five-year close season, at once.

  The killing of female hoofed animals should be prohibited by law.

  Montana has not yet adopted the model law for the protection of
  non-game birds.  Only seven states have failed in that respect.

  The use of automatic and pump shotguns, and silencers, should
  immediately be prohibited.

Montana’s bag-limits are not wholly bad; but the grizzly bear has almost been exterminated, save in the Yellowstone Park.  Some of these days, if things go on as they are now going, the people of Montana will be rudely awakened to the fact that they have 50,000 licensed hunters but no longer any killable game!  And then we will hear enthusiastic talk about “restocking.”

NEBRASKA: 

No other state has bestowed close seasons upon as many extinct species of game as Nebraska.  Behold how she has resolutely locked the doors of her empty cage after all these species have flown:  Elk, antelope, wild turkey, passenger pigeon, whooping crane, sage grouse, ptarmigan and curlew.  In a short time the pinnated grouse can be added to the list of has-beens.

There is little to say regarding the future of the game of Nebraska; for its “future” is now history.

  Provision should be made for one or more state game preserves.

  Spring shooting of shore birds and waterfowl should be prohibited.

  A larger and more effective warden service should be provided.

  Doves should be removed from the game list.

NEVADA: 

  The sage grouse should be given a ten-year close season, for
  recuperation.

  All non-game birds should have perpetual protection.

  The cranes, now verging on extinction, and the pigeons and doves
  should at once be taken out of the list of game birds, and forever
  protected.