Ram Falls... What has happened??

[Grizzler]

Was out in the Ram falls / Hummingbird area for three days this past weekend. No Elk.No Sheep. No wild life at all. Has any one else been out and noticed that the numbers arn't there any more?

[Brady]

Hmmmm, that is kinda weird. How much snow is there down around there? The reason I ask, is there is a plenty amount of snow up here around Hinton, and such the animals don't seem to be where they usually are. I would imagine that with this snow, they seek out different areas to feed in. I see the last few days the snow is starting to come off the south facing slopes, so perhaps the animals will have a bit easier 'till green up.

[Duffy4]

If you would have been at the humingbird stagging area today you would have seen about 40 head of elk. They came from Elk Islan Nat. Park in a trailer. All de-ticked, de-wormed, injected and inspected and quarantiened and certified disease free. These are probably the healthiest elk in North America. But they could not be accepted in Tennesse because an elk farmer down there got a court injunction to prevent them coming in. It seems he did this out of "spite" for the Dept. of Ag. and their Fish & Wildlife making him follow strict regs on his elk farm.

Anyway the fairly new "Wild Elk Federation" provided transport for the elk to two relocation sites. One at hummingbird and one up Cutoff Creek.

And a lovely warm sunny day it was for 90 elk to arrive at their new home.


http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b174/duffy4/100_6749.jpg

Robin in Rocky

[Grizzly Adams]

And they are right on the main trail between the Morley and Big Horn reserves.:rollin
Grizz

[Grizzler]

That would have been cool to see. missed it by a day. Hopefully those elk stick around. The numbers in that area have been declining for years. Not sure if its wolves or what? But even the 50 or so head of sheep that used to be around the falls every time i'm out there are gone.

[elk release]

About 12 years ago I shot a Bull west of Rocky that had been relocated from the Yaha Tinda, it still had the yellow tag in it's ear.According to a local trapper the Natives had fun killing most of the rest of them that winter.

[RE: elk]

so fill me in here dude, are these elk going to be shootable? I see they still have ear tags, what the deal with that?

[Duffy4]

Every several years the elk population in Elk Island Park gets too high for the avalible habitat. So they capture a bunch and remove them. Most often they go to relocation projects. This bunch was part of a group that was supposed to go to Tennessee but could not. They were all ear tagged and some wear radio collars. They were released into the wild in the two locations to supplement the wild elk populations. They can be legally hunted and shot. The reason they have ear tags and radio collars is that any relocation project is an "experiment". Where they may travel to, how long they may live, what they may die from are all questions than may be answered by the tags and collars.

Robin in Rocky

[Grizzly Adams]

This is an "experiment" because the parties involved didn't know what to do with their unwanted elk. Apparently this isn't the first time, elk have been released in this area and any reasonable person has to ask themselves, given all the expense involved, what are the odds of these elk surviving in this area, at this time of the year, in unfamiliar territory?
I heard of a similar release in the same area a few years ago. In that case, the natives were apparently notified and solved the problem. I guess that's what you call wildlife Management.:rollin
Grizz

[RE: elk]

thanks for the response dude.

(forgot to turn off that mean face in the original post)

[grandzillaa]

I saw some Canada geese yesterday taking off from the Red tail golf course at the Edm. Intern'l airport. Starting to see deer more. Wait until the snow is all gone then you will see 35 deer on some farm land and well say "where did they all come from." A few years back I count 71 deer on this one farm. Oh and they were not part of any game farm.

[Duffy4]

" In that case, the natives were apparently notified and solved the problem."

Grizz, Where do you get these "gems"? Pretty funny material.

Boosting the elk population by 40+ animals in any area can't be a bad thing. What would you recommend that Elk Island do with their surplus animals? A long tme ago they used to shoot elk and moose and I'm not sure what happened to the corpses.

If 40 elk are put in an area and the indians shoot 10 and the wolves eat 10, there are 20 left to add to the population (plus the 20 from the exicting population are spaired from the Indians and the wolves)

If anyone is really concerned with "game management" they should be writing leters to the gov't requesting more staff and more $ for SRD so it can do a better job.

Robin

Sorry I forgot to mention that there were good grassy open south facing hill sides in the areas where these releaces took place. These elk were in great shape and had been getting lots of good hay while they were held in quaruntien.

[Grizzly Adams]

What else couldyou do with 40 Elk that no one wants?:rollin
Grizz

[Duffy4]

If you really think that these are elk "that no one wants" its time to wake up and smell the coffee. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation in the states and "F&W" in Tennessee wanted them. And when that plan got stopped the Wild Elk Federation and Alberta "F&W" wanted them. And you can bet there are a whole lot of hunters in Alberta that want more elk hunting opportunity. And the outfitters in the area I'm sure will not complain that there are too many elk about.

Robin

[Rackmastr]

Grizz is just bitter and lookin for a fight......

[Great Contribute]

"Grizz is just bitter and lookin for a fight......
Trev"
old wise one has a answer for everything dont you

[Rackmastr]

You bet Nationwide....one day maybe you'll learn.....

[Grizzly Adams]

Actually, I'm not bitter and looking for a fight: I'm just a born cynic.:rollin That story was posted in one of those free regional papers that come once a week. The thing is that once this relocation project is started, the elk have to go somewhere. You can't just put them on the shelf and leave them, till you find a place for them. As for the value of commercial elk, I was offered one for $375. , cut and wrapped, yesterday.
Grizz

[Rackmastr]

Grizz,
I was thinking of buying a buffalo to cup and wrap.....toss me a PM where you can buy an elk cut and wrapped for $375 if ya dont mind...thats a hell of a deal.

I'm cynical too.....gotta love being negative once in a while...

[Nice to See]

{"I'm cynical too.....gotta love being negative once in a while... "} I know how you feel me to.;) It's also nice to see some of you supporting the local elk farm's .