![]() The law also prohibited the wasting of any part of the animals taken during the open season and required that game be killed for “food purposes only.” However, as in 1869, no formal enforcement mechanism was provided. It closed hunting for deer, elk, “mountain sheep” and antelope from Jan. 15 to Aug. 15. In response to these types of events, the 1875 legislature amended the territory’s game laws. The Cheyenne paper reported on a hunting party in October 1875 that “killed a carload of game,” and that two men in the party killed 40-50 antelope. The Sentinel noted in November 1874 that Englishmen were in town and fitting out a hunting expedition around Laramie “to put in a month or two slaughtering game.” Similarly, Wyoming residents also engaged in pleasure hunting, killing large numbers of buffalo and antelope in a single outing. Laramie Sentinel editor James Hayford complained in early January 1870 that “loads upon loads of deer, elk and antelope” were being brought into town and much of the meat was wasted in a saturated market. ![]() And the law did little to stop wanton killing, mainly for hides and meat by commercial hunters. The law imposed a fine of $50 for any violation.īut there was no specific enforcement mechanism. It became illegal for any person to offer for sale any elk, deer, antelope or “mountain sheep” between February and August. ![]() 1, 1869 providing limited additional protection. The first Wyoming Territory Legislative Assembly did pass a law on Dec. Hunt, operating out of Fort Steele, reported he had killed 900 elk and antelope in the winter of 1868-69. The animals are called antelope in this article because they were referred to that way in the early Wyoming statutes. That year, the Union Pacific Railroad was under construction.Ī Pronghorn buck. He employed 13 hunters who on average killed 28 animals each per day. Petty was ready to ship 3,000 deer, elk and antelope “heads” to eastern markets from Platte Crossing on the Overland Trail where it crossed the North Platte River south of the brand-new town of Rawlins. Newspaper accounts in early 1868 noted Mr. This had little impact in future Wyoming Territory because so little land was privately owned when the territory was first established-on paper at least-in 1868.ĭakota legislature’s attempt at control was likely a response to large-scale commercial hunting. In 1866 the Dakota legislature passed a law limiting hunting on private land to the owner. When Wyoming, not yet a territory, was still subject to Dakota Territory laws, lawmakers took a minor step to protect at least some game animals. Twenty years later, it looked as if elk, deer and especially pronghorn antelope might face the same fate. What follows is an account of how the state came around to protecting its big game herds in ways that allowed them to thrive.īuffalo were gone from the Wyoming ranges by the mid-1880s. ![]() Early efforts by the Wyoming Legislature to stem the slaughter were largely ineffective. Twenty years later, a similar fate was facing deer, elk and especially antelope in Wyoming.īut people only slowly came to understand their own role in these disasters, and their minds, when it came to protecting big game, were slow to change. By the mid-1880s, herds that had once numbered in the millions on the Great Plains were almost completely wiped out. Most who know about the history of the American frontier are familiar with the demise of the buffalo.
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