How these wise results were accomplished are unknown to civilization. But it can be stated as a fact, new countries have never suffered from forest fires or the destruction of their game at the hands of the Indian hunter. Even in limited and crowded reservations he manages to preserve the forests, and in some way to keep on hand a supply of animals to the full extent the conditions of nature will admit. The instinct to kill no more than enough for present use, though he may suffer from hunger the next day, probably has had a favorable influence on game and its preservation.
While practically a resident of an unsettled Indian country (the northern portion of Iowa Territory), in 1845, it was noticeable that there existed no lack of game, nor variety, although pretty densely populated with Winnebagoes, Sioux and Fox Indian, who derived their meat chiefly from the yearly increase of game furnished within a limited territory.
Soon after the close of the treaty with those tribes, made by General Dodge in the summer of 1845, at Fort Atkinson, the writer, with a friend, passed through the hunting grounds for more than one hundred miles, and saw a number of large flocks of wild turkey and larger game in abundance. We followed the deep-cut channel of the romantic Turkey river for sixty miles in the Indian country, and during this ride the young birds were seen flying from bluff to bluff, crossing the river on their daily round in search of food.
And we believe it is true: No game laws enacted by white man can prove as effective in the protection of game as those enforced by Indian hunters. The red man never scares game from the region in which he hunts. He steals upon the deer or wild turkeys with the soft tread of moccasined feet, and dressed in accord with the tints and tones of plain and forest, the animals are satisfied with trying to avoid his presence without quitting the region selected as their home.
Turkey River, Iowa, 1845.
An old-time hunter in the West makes the statement that ever since the general adoption by Indians of firearms for hunting, it has not been found that game has diminished in regions where the white man is an infrequent visitor. It is when white hunters invade their haunts, with the tread of booted feet, their clothes alien to surrounding nature and with dogs and bluster, that all kinds of game are bound to be killed or driven away. And as Sir Samuel Baker, the explorer, asserts of African game and predatory creatures: “Animals can endure traps, pitfalls, fire, and every savage method of hunting, but firearms may be used to clear them out from extensive districts.” Still, under prudent use known to Indians only, game of our forests and plains may be preserved indefinitely and in abundance of all kinds.
TREES.
“Half the mighty forest
Tells no tale of all it does.”