MONTANA STATE FISH AND GAME COMMISSION 



43 



THE SUN RIVER ELK HERD 



By E. H. Myrick 

 Supervisor Lewis and Clark Xational Forest 



F 



E. H. Myrick 



^EW sportsmen realize that the largest herd of elk wholly 

 within the boundaries of Montana, now estimated at 

 3,900 head, ranges within the Lewis and Clark national 

 forest. Their range includes the watersheds of the North 

 and South Forks of Sun river and is all national forest land. 

 It is therefore adaptable to the practice of good game man- 

 agement without the friction that sometimes follows when 

 game trespasses for part of the year on private holdings. 



People of Montana were not slow to recognize the won- 

 derful possibilities of the area for game propagation and in 

 1913 the legislature set aside approximately 200,000 acres 

 and created the Sun River game presei've. 



This area is admirably situated for summer range but 

 only a very small percentage of it is of value as winter range. 

 A majority of the elk are, therefore, dependent upon the open 

 windswept hills adjoining the preserve on the east for their 

 winter forage. 

 The earliest authentic records indicate that the total number of elk in the entire 

 Sun River drainage numbered between 200 and 300 head in 1910. The census 

 conducted during the winter of 1913 showed that the herd comprised approxi- 

 mately 1000 head, and the census of 1917 and of 1922 and of 1924 indicated a 

 continuous increase, which is really wonderful when it is remembered that a 

 hunting season has always been in effect on all of the forest land surrounding 

 the preserve. 



The forest service did not confine its studies to these censuses but early in 

 the history of the preserve began a study of winter conditions and 

 ranges used by the elk within and without its boundaries. • ' 



This study has been carried on continuously except during the World 

 War, when competent personnel to do the work was not available. As a ' 

 result, reliable data showing all of the ranges used by game during the 

 winter season, the number that it supports and their condition at 

 different times of the year, are now available. 



Briefly stated, these studies showed that while the game pre- 

 serve and adjoining forest lands would furnish an abundance of 

 feed for a great number of elk, the forage available for winter 

 use was limited and would be the governing factor in determining 

 the maximum size of the herd. The studies also showed that 

 the critical period in the average year is February and March. 

 It is then that the winter snows are settled and gen- Jl 



erally crusted, thereby confining the range to the 

 open wind-swept hills which are blown bare, and it ,-_/ 

 is also then that elk are in a weakened condition due ';^;r?^^_ „_• 

 to their long fight with the cold. ' — ' ■■'■•'■ 



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