PAI2Ir TWEPNTY-FOUR                NEW MEXICO CONSERVATIONIST           
                            JN,12 
 
 
      JUST KEEP ON KEEPIN' ON 
 
To the Forest Rangers in the Long Leaf Pelt. 
 
         By SHORT LEAF THORNTON 
    If the day looks kinder gloomy, 
         And your chances kinder slim; 
    If the situation is pusslin' 
         And the prospects awful grim; 
    And the perplexities keep pressin', 
         Till all hope is nearly gone, 
    Just bristle up and grit your teeth, 
         And keep on keepin' on. 
 
    Fuming never wins a fight, 
         And frettin' never pays; 
    There ain't no good in broodin' in 
         these pessimistic ways; 
     Smile just kinder cheerfully, 
         When hope is nearly gone, 
    And bristle up and grit your teeth, 
         And keep on keepin' on. 
 
     There ain't no use in growlin' 
         And grumbling all the time; 
     When music's ringing everywhere, 
         An deverything's a rhyme, 
     Just keep on smilin' cheerfully, 
         If hope is nearly gone, 
     And bristle up and grit your teeth, 
         An' keep on keepin' on. 
              -Louisiana Conservation News. 
 
 
                CAPTAIN COUGAR 
                (Continued from Page 4) 
owing to the rough, broken country over which the ani- 
mals range, following lion hounds is a hard, rough job. 
Even when you can ride after them you require a spare 
neck in each pocket, for you cannot pick your way. You 
will lose the dogs if they get out of earshot, 
     For the most part, lion hunting in New Mexico is 
confined to the Government hunters. Once in a while, a 
party of ranchmen will give the game a whirl but there is 
more work than sport in it and lion hunting for sport 
does not seem to have "caught on" in the fancy of sports- 
men in New Mexico. In other states, there are profes- 
sional guides who keep trained packs of dogs and take 
out parties of hunters. These men mount their customers 
on good saddle horses and show them plenty of hard, wild 
riding and usually a large hide as a trophy for each trip. 
     The cougar lives principally on deer and it is said 
that every full grown animal averages one kill a week. It 
will easily be seen what a serious menace they are to the 
conservation movement. Given the opportunity, they will 
kill deer wantonly and leaves the bodies untouched. They 
can be likened to the pirates who used to cruise the Span- 
ish Main and prey on the helpless merchantmen. The 
freebooters used to kill, rob and destroy in wantonness 
until the sentiment of the world was roused against them. 
 
 
Then they were swept from the seas. The cougar seems 
to have out-lived his usefulness in the balances of Nature. 
He is now a menace, a pirate of the ranges, and like the 
buccaneers of old, he must be hunted down and destroyed. 
 
MAKING IDLE GAME RANGE PRODUCTIVE 
                (Continued from Page 11) 
the result of no adult gobblers being among them, as only 
two young gobblers were originally included; or preda- 
tory animals might have prevented young being raised. 
Two semni-wild gobblers were recently secured and re- 
leased in these mountains, and a good increase this year 
is expected. 
     During the latter part of the past winter wild turk- 
eys, some of which contained a strain of the domestic 
stock, were used for plantings in the Guadalupe and Mag- 
dalena Mountains where this game bird has long been 
exterminated. Turkeys containing strain of the domestic 
bird or wild turkeys that frequent the range of domesti- 
cated turkeys can be more successfully trapped and handl- 
ed than can the wholly wild birds of the inaccessible 
mountainous areas. Under new conditions and new en- 
vironment the semi-wild birds soon become located and 
are as fully able to take care of themselves as the pure 
wild strain. It is the plan of the Game Department to 
use both the wild and semi-wild birds in stocking depleted 
turkey range. Offspring of domestic turkey hens, mated 
to wild gobblers, offer the most practical means of re- 
stocking ranges with turkeys. 
     During the last twelve months the Game Department 
 has released pheasants in various sections of the state. 
 More of these birds are being obtained for stocking pur- 
 poses this year. Pheasants are now fairly well established 
 in the lower Pecos Valley-from Roswell to Lakewood. 
 In addition to buying more pheasants, some of these ac- 
 climated birds will be trapped and distributed to suitable 
 areas throughout the State. 
     Hungarian partridge, in accordance with plans, are 
 to be introduced into the northern part of the State where, 
 up to the present time, probably owing to an abundance 
 of magpies and crows, efforts to establish pheasants have 
 not been successful. The Hungarian partridge is hardy 
 and as both the male and female care for the nest and 
 young, they should be better able to cope with such ene- 
 mies as magpies and crows. 
     The obtaining and releasing of any species is not 
 half the battle in the establishment of game. As already 
 intimated, the degree of success accompanying transplan- 
 tations is largely reliant on the cooperation of local sports- 
 men and the interest the public manifests after the game 
 is released. One violator by the use of gun or trap can 
 quickly wipe out a few individuals of any of the game 
 birds after they are released. In addition to precautions 
 against law violations, the control of predatory animals is 
 absolutely essential. While local trappers usually keep 
 down smaller predators, strongly organized forces are 
 necessary to cope with such game destroyers as coyotes, 
 bobcats and mountain lions. Furthermore, unless food 
 and cover conditions are suitable for the game introduced, 
 time and expense are usually wasted in any efforts at 
 stocking. Moreover, it is not probable that a few indi- 
 viduals will become established, no matter how favorable 
 coverts and food supply, unless a new strain is introduced 
 for a time to avoid the dangers of inbreeding. 
      Generally speaking, not only the sportsmen but other 
 citizens throughout the State are strongly supporting the 
 
 
JUNE, 1928 
 
 
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