HABITS OF ELK. 17 
force apart even strongly fastened rails. The difficulty is. of course, 
increased by the tendency of drifts to form about high objects like 
haystacks. High fences of woven wire would doubtless prove much 
more effective than the rail fences in common use, but the initial cost 
of this fencing and the difficulties of transportation have prevented 
its adoption. Many settlers, despairing of fencing the starving 
animals from the hay needed for their stock, are forced to sleep beside 
the stacks during much of the winter, a task which is not conducive 
to a tolerant view of the situation. 
HABITS IX WIXTER. 
The life of the elk during a winter so severe as that of 1910-11 is a 
constant struggle to preserve existence. Following the path of least 
resistance, the majority of the animals, including most of the young- 
calves, find themselves in the valley, where they are soon driven to 
browse on the willows and other shrubs already nearly destroyed 
during previous winters. The elk soon eat the smaller twigs and 
then are forced by hunger to attack the bark and larger branches. 
The woody fiber thus swallowed has little nutriment and is without 
doubt actually injurious, especially to the younger animals. Even 
sagebrush is drawn on for sustenance. Haystacks about ranches 
are, of course, eagerly sought. If insecurely fenced, they are soon 
at the mercy of the starving animals, which frequently die from 
overfeeding. When they find the stacks securely fenced, large 
numbers die immediately around them. The larger animals by 
standing on their hind legs may be able to reach a few morsels of hay, 
while the young calves in the group are trampled by their larger 
associates and perish miserably. 
Many herds, composed mainly of adults of both sexes, sometimes 
accompanied by a few calves, remain on the open hillsides and among 
the aspen and spruce woods of the mountain slopes. Although 
there is usually some mortality among these herds, they fare better on 
the average than those which seek the valleys, since they are in 
smaller bands and have a larger proportion of older and experienced 
animals. Besides securing some withered grass, they browse on the 
twigs and bark of the aspen poplar and to a less extent on the spruces. 
Any brush left by woodchoppers is eaten at night, as the animals are 
freely nocturnal. Some of these bands make forays to the valleys at 
feeding time or during the night and return to the hills to rest. 
WIXTER MORTALITY OF ELK. 
Apart from the death of elk from actual starvation, there is, of 
course, the normal mortality, most of which takes place in winter, 
when the conditions surrounding the animals are hardest. Even in 
