istrict is probably the best
game country in all Arizona.

LARGE GAME IN THE SOUTHEASTERN PART OF TUB BLACK MESA RESERVE.

The large game found in this section of the reserve includes the elk,
black-tailed deer, Arizona white-tailed deer, black and silver-tipped
bears, mountain lions and wildcats, timber wolves and coyotes.

Elk were formerly found over most of the pine and fir forested parts of
this section of the reserve, but were already becoming rather scarce in
1885, and, although they were still found there in 1897, it is now a
question whether any survive or not. If they still survive, they are
restricted to a limited area about the head of Black River from Ord Peak
to the Prieto Plateau. Black-tailed deer are still common, and their
summer range extends more or less generally over all of the forested
part of this section above 7,500 feet. In winter only a few stray
individuals remain within the reserve on the Little Colorado side, but a
number range out into the pinon country on the plains of the Little
Colorado. The country about the head of Black River is a favorite summer
range of this deer, but in winter they gradually retreat before the
heavy snowfalls to the sheltered canyons along Black River and the breaks
of the Blue. In September and October the old males keep by themselves
in parties of from four to ten and range through the glades of the
yellow pine forest.

The Arizona white-tailed deer is not found on the part of the reserve
drained by the Little Colorado River, but is abundant in the basin of
Blue River, and ranges in summer up into the lower part of the yellow
pine forest along Black River. They retreat before the early snows to
the breaks of the Blue, where they are very numerous. During hunting
trips into their haunts in October and November, I have several times
seen herds of these deer numbering from thirty to forty, both before and
after the first snowfall. Antelope formerly ranged up in summer from the
plains of the Little Colorado over the grassy Big Mesa country and
through the surrounding open pine forest, retreating to the plains in
the autumn, but they are now nearly or quite exterminated in that
section. Bears of both species wander irregularly over most of the
reserve in summer, but are most numerous on the breaks of the Blue and
about the head of Black River. In autumn, previous to their hibernation,
they descend along the canyon of the Black River and among the breaks of
th