254 SADDLE AND CAMP 



and east from the Idaho-Wyoming State line 

 to the head of the Yellowstone River, embrac- 

 ing approximately nine hundred square miles 

 of territory. In this refuge, as in Yellowstone 

 Park, many elk find summer range and breed- 

 ing ground, as they always have; in addition to 

 this, none of the elk, and none of the elk that in- 

 vade the territory in their autumnal southward 

 migration from the park, may be hunted dur- 

 ing the open season, and therefore hunting is 

 practically limited to the territory lying be- 

 tween the refuge and the Gros Ventre and in 

 the Gros Ventre region, thereby limiting the 

 annual kill and increasing the animals on the 

 already largely overstocked ranges. 



And so conditions grew worse; fat, sleek 

 thousands of elk surged into Jackson's Hole in 

 early winter; a gaunt, spectral band, leaving 

 hundreds upon hundreds of dead companions 

 behind them, staggered back to the summer 

 range in the spring, but on the whole the in- 

 crease outnumbered the deaths. 



In 1908 the State game warden was moved 

 to assert in his annual report that "These elk 

 are the most valuable livestock in Wyoming," 

 and, continuing, suggested, "It is to be hoped 

 that our legislature about to assemble will ap- 

 preciate the importance of prompt action and 



