Mountain goat. A fine billy take] 

 in the Bitterroot range. 



IZittevioot .2W and Zlk 

 Survey 



WINTER OF 1941-1942 



The Bitterroot winter big game survey was 

 originally intended to cover all of the moun- 

 tainous portions of Ravalli County. The unit was 

 bounded by the Rock Creek and Sapphire Rang- 

 es on the East and South, and the steep, jagged 

 Bitterroot Range on the West. For convenience 

 in the development of management plans, the 

 area was divided into four units; these may be 

 described as follows: 



1. The East Fork Unit. This includes the 

 entire drainage of the East Fork of the Bitterroot 

 River and Rye Creek. 



2. The Skalkaho Unit. The ranges lying be- 

 tween Rye Creek and Willow Creek make up 

 this area. 



3. The Burnt Creek Unit. This includes the 

 game ranges lying on the west slope of the Sap- 

 phire Range between Willow Creek and the coun- 

 ty line. 



4. Bitterroot Range Unit. The West Fork of 

 the Bitterroot River drainage, as well as the Bit- 



terroot Range lying between the valley and the 

 Idaho line, make up this large unit. 



It was found that a detailed coverage of the 

 area by a two-man crew would be impossible. 

 As units (1) and (2) presented the most urgent 

 problem, a majority of the time was spent in these 

 two areas. Detailed observations were made of 

 the migration of both deer and elk from their 

 summer to their winter ranges. After the game 

 had settled down on their winter ranges, a cov- 

 erage was made every two weeks to obtain in- 

 formation concerning numbers of game animals, 

 sex ratios, percentage of young, losses, and win- 

 ter range conditions. The following is a brief 

 summary of the information obtained from the 

 winter's investigations. 



East Fork Unit 



(a) The winter range as a whole is not yet 

 seriously overused. However, damage to impor- 

 tant browse species by game animals, coupled 

 with increased use of hay stacks and cultivated 

 fields, indicates that the saturation point has been 

 reached. 



(b) One of the most important limiting fac- 

 tors to further expansion of the game herds in 

 this area is the fact that the majority of the vital 

 winter range is either privately owned or leased. 



(c) The use resulting from the presence of 

 approximately 1,700 deer and 850 elk, in addi- 

 tion to the summer use by domestic livestock on 

 the 23,000 acres of critical winter range, was 

 found to be too heavy for continued productivity. 



(d) It was agreed that the range would sup- 

 port a deer herd of 1,250 animals and 650 elk, 

 plus the present use by domestic livestock. 



(e) After the game herds have been ad- 

 justed to the carrying capacity of the winter range, 

 an annual kill of 120 elk and 200 deer could be 

 maintained. 



Skalkaho Unit 



(a) It was found that the present number 

 of 675 elk and 575 deer does not overstock the 

 range. 



(b) The summer distribution of game, par- 

 ticularly elk, was found to be undesirable. Much 

 of the forage on critical winter ranges was being 

 used during the summer months. 



(c) Present use of private lands by elk does 

 not present a serious problem. These ranges are 



(Please turn to page 94) 



[52] 



