The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-04-04

THE GREATEST OF ALL HERDS.
 The largest herd of wild animals in
 the United States, and probably in the
 world is the great band of elk which
 winters in the lowland of Jackson's
 Hole district, Wyoming. There are at
 this writing, estimated to be some S2,-
 900 head of elk in the band. The men who have given this estimate are we'll
 known ranchers and cattlemen, or cow
 boys and owners of sheep and stock
 ranges. Their estimate comes pretty
 close to being a correct one. During the severe winters in Wyoming, when
 the elk, driven by the bitter cold and
 heavy snows, approach almost to their
 very doors, they have unusual oppor- tunities for observing this great herd
 of magnificent animals.
 All the elk in 'Jackson's Hole dis
 trict are carefully protected by the
 scattered residents of the country. At
 present the herd is under the constant
 surveillance. of two deputy game
 wardens, while district game wardens watch the band whenever any ] portion of it it strays into the district over which they have authority. In the summer time the herd is widely scat tered over an extent of country the
 radius of which is more than 800 miles,
 embracing territory of virginal | beauty and primeval grandeur.
 l Of those elk which enter Colorado a l large percentage is killed. while the few
 which stray into Utah fall at the hands
 of the Uintah Ute Indians. The elk
 which wander too far from home are | not killed too far from home are not late fall.
 By far the larger portion of the herd
 which is guarded in the winter in Jack sons Hole passes the summer in the | timbered heights in the Teton, Gros
 Ventre, and Shoshone Mountains, the | Big Horn Basin, the Yellowstone | National Park, and even in the free
 range near the settlement of Jackson l itself One gentleman last summer
 counted a herd of 800 elk within two | and half miles of Jackson.
 Within the last five years the elk have decreased 1900 in number. This
 alarming decrease is due as much to the restriction of their natural range as to the effort of sporsmen, Indians or | commercial hunters, who, 1t Is often
 alleged, have pursued the herd in order | to obtain the uch-prized elk's teeth | for certain raternity. In severe | winter weather great number of elk perish from starvation. Rather than venture to the lower pastures, they | founder through the deep snows of the | mountains, browsing from the buds of | birch and quaking aspen. A thaw fol- | lowed by severe weather, makes aheavy | crust that proves the undoing of the l emaciated elk Then progress becomes
 so difficult as to prevent the animal from obtaining sufficient food,
 It is often incorrectly stated that elk | browse on sheathes of pine and frs. If this were the case they would never starve, for their range abounds in | conifers. Very few elk are pulled down l by wolves, cougar, or other wild anil I mals; in fact, they remain in the moun- tain attitudes long after the deep snows l have driven these hungry marauders away, and the spring thaws reveal un- | touched carcasses of starved elks.
 Elk are far and free travellers. They have not that strong love of locality l which characterizes most members of | the deer tribe, and when they once get
 under way they swing over the rough est ground and through dense forests | of pine, up steep mountains covered
 with fairly impenetrable brush and windfalls, at almost the pace of loco- motive. The big herd in Jackson's Hole is a considerable source of income to the residents of that country, and as such it is as carefully guarded as is possible in so wild and rough a region. A couple of years ago newspaper cor- ! respondent who had made the trip into Yellowstone Park went further into the Jackson's Hole country.
 Alarmed by the sight of a fence of I whitened elk horns, he wrote his editor ! an article upon the indiscriminate slaughter of the elk He was mistaken, | however. All these horns are shed by the elk in the early spring and are gathered during the cattle round-ups In the fall when the elk are shot the horns are fastened firmly to the skull and unless one expects to have them | separately mounted as trophies he does not trouble to detach them.
 In their mental equipment elk are like cattle, caribou and reindeer. They do l not possess the instinctive cunning of most members of the deer tribe One \ will sometimes see band laboriously