1931 — BIENNIAL REPORT — 1932 



Page Seven 



The Elk Siteatioe le Moetae^ 



By W. M. Kiifili. Missoiilii, (iaiiie Specialist, Forest Service 



E 



M. Rush 



LK increased in 

 Montana for 

 the period 1927- 

 1930, inclusive, at 

 an annual rate of 

 about 14 per cent 

 from a total number 

 of about 13,000, with 

 an average annual 

 kill of 1,144. 



The estimate for 

 1931 was 1.5,255 elk 

 and the kill was 

 about 1,850. Among 

 the National Forests, 

 the Lewis and Clark 

 forest supports the 

 largest . number of 

 elk. the herds on 

 this forest being es- 

 timated at 5,200, 

 distributed from Glacier Park to the 

 Blacktoot divide and in the various 

 divisions of the old Jefferson Forest. 

 The other forests support elk as fol- 

 lows: Lolo, 2,220; Flathead, 1.590: Deer 

 Lodge, 1,420; Bitter Root, 1,100; Hel- 

 ena 855; Beaverhead, 865; Gallatin, 720; 

 Absaroka, 385: Blackfeet, 185; Cabinet, 

 290; Custer, 95, and Kootenai, 310. 



The Absaroka and Gallatin carry 

 much larger numbers during the .win- 

 ter season — these are elk which mi- 

 grate out of Yellowstone Park during 

 severe winters. Also along the Idaho 

 boundary on the Lolo and Bitter Root 

 forests at certain times of the year con- 

 siderable numbers of Idaho elk are to 

 be found. These migrate back into 

 Idaho for the winter. 



Montana ranks second in the nation 

 in number of elk; Wyoming has 31,0075, 

 Colorado, 12,215; Oregon, 10,160; Wash- 

 ington, 9,430, and Idaho, 9,230, the to- 

 tal for all the National Forests in the 

 United States being about 97,000. The 

 National Parks bring the total to well 

 over 100,000. Twenty-two of our states 

 have elk outside of zoological gardens 

 and eight states have open seasons for 

 hunting elk. Plants of elk from the 

 Yellowstone region and Montana Bison 

 Range have been made in 15 states. 



The great herds of Arizona, now 

 numbering 5,150 elk, are the progeny 

 of a shipment in 1913 from Gardiner, 

 Montana. Utah's 2,725 elk are the 

 descendants of 150 shipped from Jack- 

 son, Wyoming, and Gardiner, Montana, 

 in 1913, and New Mexico's 7G0 has in- 

 creased from shipments made prior to 

 1915 from Gardiner. The last native 

 elk was killed in New Mexico in 1900. 

 Of the many shipments of elk from 

 the Yellowstone region to other parts 

 of the country practically all have been 

 successful insofar as increases are 

 concerned. In a few instances intro- 

 duced elk have caused some damage 

 to fences, farm and garden crops. 



The food habits of elk are somewhat 

 similar to cattle. Elk prefer much the 

 same species of grasses, weeds and 

 browse, tending perhaps to cat more 



browse than do cattle. Of course on 

 the winter ranges where forage is 

 scarce the elk eat anything available 

 whether or not it is good forage, and 

 some observers have concluded that 

 certain plants were eaten from choice 

 when as a matter of fact they were 

 taken from necessity, there being no 

 choice, as all other plants were buried 

 under too much snow for the elk to 

 .get them. 



This deep snow at high altitudes in 

 Montana is the limiting factor in the 

 size of elk herds. 



There is an abundance of summer 

 range for many more elk than we have 

 at present, but even now the winter 

 range is sadly deficient. Notable ex- 

 amples of this are the Yellowstone and 

 Sun River herds. 



The Yellowstone herd has not been 

 in a thrifty condition since the ex- 

 tremely severe winter of 1919-20 when 

 about one-half the herd succumbed 

 to starvation and exposure. 



The winter range has deteriorated 

 greatly since about 1912 so that now 

 while the winter loss of adult animals 

 is small, the mortality of calves is suf- 

 ficient to keep the herd at a standstill. 

 This is because it is too difficult for 

 the calves to secure enough forage just 

 following a severe winter, because of 

 the mother's run-down condition when 

 the calf is born. 



The Sun River herd has shown a 

 consistent net annual increase of about 

 10 per cent since the preserve was 

 created. From a small band of native 

 elk this herd has increased since 1913 

 to an estimated number of 5,000 and the 

 herd is thrifty and extending its range 

 northward, westward and southward. 

 East of the mountains is the great 

 prairie country of north central Mon- 

 tana which is now devoted entirely to 

 farming and stockraising. 



Some trouble has been reported by 

 these stockgrowers from the elk coming 

 on to their property damaging fences 

 and eating hay and pasture. A dozen 

 or so elk do but little damage to a 

 rancher's pastures, but increase the 

 number to 700 or 800 or 1,000 and it 

 is readily seen that the amount of for- 

 age they will consume is too great for 

 one man to be expected to furnish. In 

 the late winter of 1930 some 3,000 elk 

 left their mountain range on the Lewis 

 and Clark forest and trespassed on 

 til.' r;iii(hcs l'(ir several weeks. 



I'.iii:i|. iIh- greatest extension the 

 Sim KiMT lard has made is to the 

 We I wiiiii. .M(u-e elk were killed in 

 Flathead county last year than any 

 other county in the state. Elk are 

 now being hunted all the way from 

 Sun River west to the Mission Range. 

 More hunting should be done east of 

 the Continental Divide on Sun River 

 as tlie winter range has been seriously 

 damaged by over-grazing and Ihe num- 



bers of elk using this area should be 

 greatly reduced. 



Under favorable conditions such as: 

 good year-long range, protection from 

 hunting and protection from predators, 

 elk will show about a 35 per cent an- 

 nual increase, so it can readily be seen 

 that it is possible to increase the size 

 of our elk herds whenever it is de- 

 sirable to do so. 



The limited license system, which is 

 in effect in some states, is an admir- 

 able way to control the size of the elk 

 herds in the various parts of a state. 

 Under this system, only enough elk li- 

 censes are issued each year to trim the 

 herd down to the number their winter 

 range will support. Each license speci- 

 fies the sex and approximate age of 

 the elk to be killed and the locality 

 from which it may be taken. 



Experience has proved that under the 

 present system of hunting such a great 

 percentage of the cows and calves are 

 killed that it is only by closing large 

 areas to hunting that any elk are kept 

 at all. 



Under the limited license system no 

 closed areas are necessary and but 

 very little restrictions on the length 

 of season during which the elk may be 

 shot because the total number and the 

 number of each sex to be killed will 

 be regulated. With the same number 

 of elk as we now have at least twice 

 the number could be taken each year 

 under a system of regulated kill. 



Real mountain elk hunting calls for 

 more hardihood than any other kind 

 of hunting — the pack trip to the moun- 

 tains — the long hikes through the snow 

 — the steep climbs over logs and 

 through thickets of brush — the final 

 shooting — dressing — getting the meat to 

 camp — these things do not appeal to 

 any but those who really enjoy going 

 up against something hard and getting 

 dog tired. I think, though, that the 

 big kick an elk hunter gets is telling 

 his fellow hunters all about it in camp 

 at night. 



With intelligent management we will 

 always have sizeable herds of elk in 

 Montana from which the hunters can 

 kill the increase above that which the 

 winter range will support. 



STANDING ROOM ONLY 



It happened that two men bearing the 

 same name, one a clergyman and the 

 other a business man, both lived in the 

 same city. The clergyman died, and 

 about the same time his neighbor went 

 to Southern California. When the bus- 

 iness man arrived there, he sent his 

 wife a telegram informing her of his 

 safe journey, but unfortunately it was 

 delivered to the widow of the late 

 preacher. Imagine the surprise of the 

 good woman when she read, "Arrived 

 safely— heat terrific." 



