DISTRIBUTION OF ELK. 15 



LIFE HISTORY OF ELK. 

 DISTRIBUTION IN SUMMER. 



The elk which winter in the Jackson Hole region come from the 

 Gros Ventre and other ranges to the eastward, and from the moun- 

 tains lying between Buffalo Fork of Snake River and Yellowstone 

 Lake. It has been popularly supposed that most of the Jackson Hole 

 elk summer in the Yellowstone National Park, but in reality about 

 four-fifths of them breed and spend the summer entirely south of the 

 park boundaries and therefore within the State of Wyoming. Of 

 these probably the majority summer north of Buffalo Fork in the State 

 game preserve, but large numbers remain in summer in the Gros Ventre 

 Range and in the mountains about the tributaries of Gros Ventre River. 

 A few calve and remain all summer among the foothills and buttes close 

 to the valley, even as low as 7,000 feet. Some summer along the east 

 side of the Teton Range, but these are so few as to be negligible. To the 

 south of Jackson Hole proper several hundred summer in the higher 

 parts of Hoback Basin and descend into this valley in winter, when 

 their numbers are augmented by the overflow from Jackson Hole. 



MOVEMENTS OF ELK IN AUTUMN. 



With the advance of the season in autumn the elk leave the higher 

 altitudes where they have spent the latter part of the summer and 

 seek lower levels. They move southward gradually, and by the time 

 the snow becomes deep most of them desert the mountains altogether 

 and take up their residence in the valleys. The high region north of 

 Buffalo Fork comprising the State game preserve is then compara- 

 tively deserted by the animals, but south of that valley a few scat- 

 tered bands composed mainly of old bulls pass the winter at from 7,000 

 to 9,000 feet, usually on northerly slopes where the snow, not being 

 exposed to the heat of the midday sun, does not crust, but remains soft 

 enough to permit the animals to reach the grass by pawing. In mov- 

 ing southward from the game preserve the animals pursue more or 

 less definite routes. Large numbers are in the habit of going along 

 the eastern border of Jackson Lake to the vicinity of its outlet, where 

 they cross the narrow arm of the lake or swim the rapid river below the 

 outlet. Of these possibly the majority cross the plains to the lower 

 part of Jackson Hole. Other large bands cross Buffalo Fork'in various 

 places and, ascending the tributaries of Black Rock and Spread 

 Creeks, cross to the valley of the Gros Ventre, where they arrive in 

 numbers in November. Some of these bands, usually the later ones, 

 remain on Black Rock and Spread Creeks during the entire winter, 

 and two or three thousand usually pass the winter in the valley of the 



