12 CONDITION OF ELK IN JACKSON HOLE, WYOMING. 



24 nonresident hunting licenses were granted in the four precincts 

 of Jackson Hole, and in addition many parties who obtained licenses 

 at other points — notably Cody, Lander, Dubois, Rock Springs, and 

 Pinedale — hunted in the Jackson Hole region. Hunters are obliged 

 to hire guides, packers, cooks, and pack animals, and to provision 

 the party. A conservative estimate places the average daily expense 

 of a person hunting in this region at $14. Thus, a trip of 30 days 

 would cost each nonresident $420. Practically all this is spent in 

 the vicinity of the hunting grounds. 



The food value of the animals killed by residents is also very- 

 large. During the season of 1910, 413 resident licenses, each good 

 for the capture of two elk, were granted in Jackson Hole. It is fair 

 to assume that 800 elk, with an average value of $20, not counting 

 the value of hides, horns, and scalps, were taken under these licenses. 



NUMBER OF ELK IN JACKSON HOLE REGION. 



Any statement regarding the number of elk in the Jackson Hole 

 region can be only approximate. This is evident since, out of the 

 large number of estimates obtained from residents, the smallest and 

 largest given by persons whose opportunities for intelligent judgment 

 were about equal varied as one to four. The migratory habits of 

 the animals and the difficulty of traveling during the season when 

 they are most easily observed makes it difficult to judge their num- 

 bers. Careful consideration of all the data obtained leads me to 

 estimate at from 20,000 to 25,000 the number which habitually range 

 in the region drained by Snake River south and west of the Conti- 

 nental Divide in the southern part of the Yellowstone National 

 Park, most of which spend the winter in the Jackson Hole region as 

 above denned. Recent investigations have established the fact that 

 a line approximately represented by the Continental Divide in the 

 southern part of Yellowstone National Park separates the northward 

 and southward migrating bands of elk. A conservative estimate of 

 the number of Jackson Hole elk which summer north of Buffalo 

 Fork, the southern boundary of the game preserve, is 12,000, and of 

 this number not more than 4,000 (or 20 per cent of the total number 

 wintering in Jackson Hole) cross the boundary of Yellowstone Park 

 to spend the summer. Owing, moreover, to the fact that snow 

 remains deep on these high mountains until very late, it is mid-* 

 summer before this part of the park is suitable for occupancy. By 

 mid-September snow has again begun to fall, and the elk start to 

 move southward from the Divide and soon regain the game preserve, 

 where the rest of the 12,000 have spent the summer. 



The remaining 8,000 which complete the total of 20,000, a con- 

 servative estimate of the number inhabiting the Jackson Hole region, 

 spend the summer principally between Buffalo Fork and Gros Ventre 



