The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1905-07-07
LARGEST HERD
Of Wild Animals in the World Is
the Wyoming Band of
$4,000 ElkS.

The largest herd of wild animals
IN the United States, and probably
in the world. is the great band Of
elks which winters in the lowlauds
! of Jackson's Hole District. Wyo-
ming There are estimated to
be some 5000 head of elk
in the band The men who have
given this estimate are Well-kuown
ranchers and cattle men or cowboys
and owners of sheep and stock
ranges. Their estimates comes
pretty close to being a correct one.
During the severe winters in Wyo-
ming. when the elk. driven toy the
bitter cold and heavy SHOWS, APP
proach almost to their very doors,
they have unusual opportunities for
observing this great herd of magnif-
icent animals.
"All the elk in Jackson's Hole
District are carefully protected toy
the scattered residents of the coUm-
try. At present the herd is under
the constant surveillance of two
Deputy Game Wardens, VINO care
fully watch the band when any por-
ton Of il strayS into the di,tric;
over which they have authority In
the summer time the heard is wide
scattered over an extent Of country
the radius of which is more than
500 miles. embracing a territory Of
virginia. beauty and primeval gran
deur
"Of those elk which enter Colora-
do. large percentage is killed while
the few which stray into Utah fall
at the hands of the Ute Indians.
The elk which wander too far from
the home are not killed in the sum
mer, but in the late fall.
by far the larger portion of the
herd which is guarded in the winter
in Jacksons Hole passes the summer
in the timbered heights in Teton. !
Gros Ventre and Shoshone Noun
tains. the Big Horn Basin, the Vel
lowStone National Park, and even i'm
free range near the settlement Of
Jackson itself. One gentleman re-
Gently counted a herd of 500 elk F.
within two and half miles of Jack .
son.
within the last five years the elk .
have decreased l,SO0 in number.
This alarming decrease is due as
much to the restriction Of their ma
tural range as to the effects. of
sportsmen. Indians or commercial
hunters, who it is often alleged,
have pursued the herd IN order to pro-
the much-prized elk'S teeth for
certain fraternity. In severe win
ser weather great number of elk
perish from starvation. Rather
than venture to the lower pastures.
they founder through the deep
SHOWS of the mountains, browsing
from the buds of birch and quacking
aspen A thaw, followed by severe
coli weather, makes a heavy crust
that proves the undoing of the
en aciated elk. Their progress be-
co;les so difficult as to prevent the
a. NAL from obtaining sufficient
70 d.
1t 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
lbounds in conifers. Very few elk
are pulled down by wolves, cougars
)r other wild animals. in fact, they
remain in the mountain attitudes
ong after the deep SHOWS have driv-
IN these hungry marauders away,
md the spring thaws reveal UNI
.ouched carcasses of starved elk.
Elk are far and free travellers.
They have not that strong love of
ocality which characteri2es most
of the deer tribe, and
when they Oce get under way they
swing over the roughest ground and
through dense forests of pine. up
teep mountains covered with fairly
brush ana windfalls at
Utmost the pace of a locomotive.
Fhe big herd in Jackson's Hole is a
source Of income to the
'esidents Of that country, and as
uch it is as carefully guarded as is
possible in so wild ard rough re-