Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-04
Large Animal Herd

r = q 4
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 lowlands of Jackson's Hole district.
Wyoming said d. G. Robinson of the
western state to Star man at the Raleigh
yesterday. There are estimated to be
some $4,000 head of elk in the band The
men who have given this estimate are we'll
known ranchers and cattlemen or cowboys
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 SHOWS, approach
almost to their very doors, they have I'M
usual opportunities for observing this great
herd OF magnificent animals.
All the elk in Jackson's Hole district are
carefully protected by the scattered resi-
dents of the country. AT present the herd
is under the constant surveillance of two
deputy game wardens, who carefully watch
the band when any portion of it strlys into
the district over which they have authority.
In the summer time the herd is widely
scattered over an extent of country the
radius of which is more than 500 miles
embracing territory of virginia. beauty
and primeval grandeur.
'Of those elk which enter Colorado. a
large percentage is killed while the few
which stray into Utah fall at the hands of
the Ute Indians. The elk which wander too
from the nome are not Killed the
summer, but in the late fall.
by far the larger portion of the herd
which is guarded in the winter in Jackson's
Hole passes the summer in the timbered
heights In Teton, eros Ventre and Sho-
shone mountains, tie Big Horn basin, the
Yellowstone National Park and even in the
free range near the settlement of jackson
itself One gentleman recently counted a
herd OF 500 elk within two and half miles
of Jackson
Within the last five years the elk have
decreased 1880 in number This alarming
decrease Is due as much to the restriction
of their natural range as to the effects Of
sportsmen, Indians or commercial hunters,
who, it is often alleged, have pursued the
herd In order to obtain the much-priZed
elks teeth for certain fraternity. In Sc
we're winter weather a great number of elk
perish from starvation. Rather than VEN
ture to the lower pastures, they founder
through the deep SHOWS of the mountains,
browsing from the buds of birch and quak-
Ing aspen. A thaw, followed by severe cold
weather, makes a heavy crust that proves
the undoing of the emaciated elk. Their
progress becomes so difficult as to prevent
the animal from obtaining sufficient food.
ut is often incorrectly stated that elk
browse on sheaves of pine and frs If this
were the case they would never stArve, for
their range abounds in confers. Very few
elk are pulled down by wolves, cougars or
other wild animals: in fact. they remain in
the mountain attitudes long after the deep
SHOWS have driven these hungry marauders
away, and the spring thaws reveal un-
touched carcasseS of starved elk.
ELK are far and free travellers. They
have not that strong love of locality which
characterizes most members of the deer
tribe, and when they once get under way
they swing over the toughest ground and
through dense forests of pine. up steep
mountains covered with fairly impenetrable
brush and windfalls at almost the pace of
locomotive. 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.
I'm their mental equipment elk are like
cattle, caribou and reindeer. They do not
possess the instructive cunning of most
members of the deer tribe One will some
times see a band laboriously paving the
snow for pasture in some deep-coyered val
ley while the submits and hogbacks have
been blown clear by the wind Deer, horses
and even sheep exhibit a keener reasoning
in this respect. Only erratic methods of
travel and habits of migration, together
with their tendency to retreat as far as
possible from the outposts of civilization.
have made the existence of q large band
possible until now. -