Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1913-04-30

rs Yellowstone National Park has
III begun. Thousands of the AMI
mails are now being rounded up
by cowboys on the overstocked winter
range in Wyoming and Montana, and
are being shipped by the carload to
states that have sent in requests for
them.
a carload of eighty elk, rounded up
on the Yellowstone Park region and
shipped from Gardiner, :. Mont, the
northern gateway to the Yellowstone,
arrived in Denver the other day on
they way to Arizona. These elk will
be turned out upon their new range in
Arizona. They will be protected from
hunters, under state laws, and will be
given every opportunity to increase
In the last few weeks herds of elk
have been sent in this way to Penn
sylvania, West Virginia, North Dako-
ia, Washington, Oregon and Califor-
MIA. Many other states have put in
application for elk, and will be pro-
v1ded with shipments as fast as the
animals can be rounded up. 1t was
prophesied that, when this plan was
adopted, the elk would not stand ship
ment, but the percentage of loss has
been small. Only one of the Arizona
consignment died en- route 1t is neces-
sary to give the elk a rest every day.
They are unloaded from the cars and
put into convenient corrals, and after
a few hours rest they proceed on
their journey. In this way the loss
Is comparatively small.
Prevent Extinction.
The government was forced to adopt
this plan to prevent the elk in the
west from going the way of the buff
lalo to extinction. Most of the elk in
the Rocky Mountains had ranged north
until they reached the Jackson's Hole
region south of Yellowstone Park.
Here they eongregated in vast herds.
The number of elks in this region has
been estimated at from $4,000 to 100,-
600 head, but D. G. Nowlin, former
game commissioner of Wyoming, who
is now at the head of the work of
transportation carried out by the gov
eminent biological survey, estimates
that the smaller number is nearer
correct
Last year congress appropriated a
considerable sum for the care and
feeding of the Jackson's Hole elk,
which were starving in the deep
SHOWS. Government employees, aided
by ranchmen, carried hay to the elk
ranges, where they found conditions
appalling, especially in the early
spring. Hundreds of calves, as we'll
as older elk, were dying of starva
ton. The lives of thousands of elk
were saved by feeding, but it was
soon demonstrated that this measure
of relief was only temporary 1t
would entail a tremendous expense
to keep up the work of feeding. so it
was determined to distribute the elk
among the states that put in applica.
tons for herds and that were willing
TO pay the expenses of transportation
and guarantee protection to the ami
mails after arrival
Many states have taken advantage
Of this offer. Probably 1000 elk have
been shipped, and this number will be
trebled before the shipping season has
ended. The herds are rounded up in
!, the deep SHOWS and driven to Gar
diner. Ranchmen, state game war
dens, forest rangers aud Yellowstone
Park employees are assisting in the
work. 1t is easy to round I'D the elk
which become stalled" in the deep
SHOWS. During recent seasons thew
have become comparatively used to
men. They have descended to the val
leys and have fed from all the unpro-
tected haystacks of the Wyoming
ranchers. 1t did not take them long
to become used to the visits of the
men who composed the government
rescue parties, and they would follow
the hay sleds for miles. Sometimes.
where hay could not be carried on
bobsleds, owing to the depth of the
snow and the rough character of the
range, alfalfa was packed to the elk
on snow-shoes. The animals soon
learned the friendly nature of the Wis
It's of these snowshoe men. All these