258 SADDLE AND CAMP 



When the starving period begins the ranch- 

 men pitch tents or make bivouacs near their 

 haystacks, and to save the hay for their cattle 

 are compelled to sleep by the stacks during the 

 severest months of winter. Sometimes even 

 then desperate elk charge the stacks and get 

 some of the hay. It is necessary for the ranch- 

 men to guard and protect the hay for their do- 

 mestic stock, else the stock would starve. As 

 stated previously, this is a stock country and 

 livestock is the chief dependence of the ranch- 

 men. 



Nevertheless many elk feed with domestic 

 cattle, and tender-hearted ranchmen not infre- 

 quently put their stock on short allowance in 

 order to donate, now and again, a bit of forage 

 to desperate and starving elk. As an instance, 

 Mr. Leek fed at his own expense twenty-one elk 

 during the winter of 1910, and on several oc- 

 casions animals forced their way into the barn 

 where he stables his driving horses. It is cus- 

 tomary for settlers when driving out to stuff as 

 much hay into their sleighs as can conveniently 

 be carried and distribute it to weaker animals 

 in particularly pitiable condition which they 

 pass along the road. 



The winter of 1908-09 was an unusually hard 

 winter here, and early in January, 1909, Jack- 



