16 



THE GAME BREEDER 



Miller. It must be admitted, however, 

 that Messrs. Miller & Lux are willing, 

 in view of the very considerable loss the 

 elk are causing them each year, to -have 

 the herd reduced somewhat by moving 

 some of the animals to suitable reserva- 

 tions in other parts of the state. 



With this object in view, on the sixth 

 of last April, Mr. LeRoy Nichel, on be- 

 half of Miller & Lux, offered to turn 

 over to the California Academy of Sci- 

 ences all or such portion of the herd of 

 California elk now roaming over their 

 Kern County ranch as they might be able 

 to catch, provided the Academy would 

 undertake to distribute them to various 

 federal, state, and private reservations 

 in the State of California. 



In 1905 a few elk were taken from 

 this herd and placed in the Sequoia Na- 

 tional Park, where they have done fairly 

 well. These and the original Kern 

 County herd are the only elk of this 

 species in existence. 



The development of the oil fields and 

 the expansion of agricultural operations 

 in the Kern County region have brought 

 many dangers to the elk herd in that 

 locality. To aid in saving the species 

 from possible extermination it was pro- 

 posed to place a few elk in each of the 

 various reservations and parks in the 

 state in the hope that they might thrive 

 there and become the nuclei of new 

 herds. 



This was the hope of Messrs. Miller 

 & Lux. • One of the conditions of their 

 offer was that the animals should be 

 put only in places affording a favor- 

 able environment and where they would 

 probably breed. 



The offer of Miller & Lux was ac- 

 cepted by the Academy, and plans were 

 made for carrying out the undertaking. 



On April 25 and 26, in company with 

 Mr. M. Hall McAllister, through whom 

 Messrs. Miller and Lux made the offer 

 to the Academy, I visited tihe Kern 

 County ranch for the purpose of consul- 

 tation with the superintendent as to the 

 best time and method for caching and 

 shipping the animals and regarding all 

 preliminary details. At that time a visit 

 was made to the alfalfa fields in which 

 the elk feed and to the sage-brush plains 



to which they retire during the day or 

 when disturbed, and about 100 of the 

 animals were seen. 



After giving the matter careful con- 

 sideration it was decided to undertake 

 the catching and shipping of the elk in 

 October. Early in that month Messrs. 

 Miller & Lux constructed a corral one 

 fourth of a mile long and one eighth of 

 a mile wide in an alfalfa field into which 

 the elk were observed to come every 

 night to feed. A wing one-fourth of a 

 mile long was run out from each corner 

 of the end toward the foothills. Woven 

 fence wire was put upon the wings at 

 once, but only the posts for the corral 

 proper were placed at that time. After 

 the elk had come down into the field 

 several nights and gotten used to the 

 posts, heavy woven fence wire was 

 placed on the two sides and the rear end 

 of the corral, and the following night 

 about 150 elk came into the corral; then 

 the wire was placed on the posts at the 

 entrance and the animals were trapped. 



The wire fence was very strong and 

 at least eight feet high; nevertheless,, 

 some broke through or jumped over it, 

 A good many people came out in auto- 

 mobiles and otherwise to see the elk, 

 and so frightened them that about 100 

 broke out the first afternoon. Those that 

 remained became quite tame in a few 

 days. Various, diverse and unexpected 

 difficulties came up every day and it was 

 not possible to predict what success 

 would be attained in the undertaking. 

 The animals might break through the 

 corral or jump over the fence and es- 

 cape ; .they might escape when being 

 loaded into the crates for hauling to the 

 railroad cattle pens ; or escape from the 

 cattle pens ; or refuse to eat ; or run 

 amuck and kill or injure themselves ; or 

 die in the cars while in transit to the 

 parks ; any one of a score of things might 

 happen to cause failure. 



However, it is gratifying to know that, 

 in spite of all difficulties and uncertain- 

 ties, Messrs. Miller & Lux succeeded 

 in capturing and placing in the cars for 

 shipment a total of fifty-four elk. These 

 were disposed of as follows : 



1. To a thousand acre private reser- 



