lying in the foothills northwest of Augusta, has wintered up to 3,000 

 head of elk during the period. Adequate forage and a lack of snow 

 in this important area has represented an impo; tant factor in the 

 maintenance of this large and important elk herd. This was very 

 clearly demonstrated during the past winter when unusually heavy and 

 severely-crusted snows in the back country made wintering conditions 

 for big game extremely difficult at higher elevations. 



The Game Ranges in the Blackfoot-Clearwater area, as well as 

 on the Upper Judith River drainage in the Little Belt Mountains and 

 in the Gallatin Canyon represented vitally important segments of wiiiter 

 range for other major elk herds. 



A purchase of winter range in the Bear Creek area of the Madison 

 Valley will greatly aid in the management of elk from the Madison 

 and Gallatin drainages — use of private lands in the Bear Creek area 

 by elk and deer will be materially relieved. 



Trapping and Transplanting 



The trapping and transplanting of big game in Montana during 

 the past two years has been confined to Rocky Mountain Goats and 

 Big Horn Sheep. There were eight mountain sheep trapped on Wil '- 

 horse Island in Flathead Lake and moved to the Bull Mountain Range 

 in Jefferson County. This Range has an interesting history of Bighorn 



Rocky Mountain Big Horn Sheep captured in regions of abundance are transplanted to new 

 areas in an effort to increase the range and numbers of this fine big game species. 



31 — 



