But the practice also curtails natural migrations, inflates the herd size beyond the natural carrying capacity of the landscape and is proven to spread diseases, like bacterial hoof rot. Elk feeding has long engendered support because it props up populations and keeps the wild ungulates away from haystacks, highways and neighborhoods. Fish and Wildlife Service to take a long look at modifying the way it manages elk on its property bordering the town of Jackson. The massive herd of ungulates were drawn to the tractor because of what they mistook it for: A feeding vehicle, which, in a typical winter, lines out a few dozen tons of alfalfa pellets every morning. This was precisely the type of behavior the National Elk Refuge is seeking to curb. “They’re interested in that tractor,” Cole said, “plowing the west access road.” Cole upped the estimate to 2,500, then perhaps 3,000. The herd, drifting to the northeast, kept revealing itself. “Just a guess would be a couple thousand,” Cole told Courtemanch. Wyoming Game and Fish Department Biologist Aly Courtemanch, sitting passenger, wondered just how many wapiti they were looking at. Fish and Wildlife Service pickup truck, retrofitted with snow tracks for outings like this. Thanks for your support of WyoFile! We rely on loyal members like you to sustain our reporting and grow the WyoFile community.Ī phalanx of elk swept across the snowy prairie, a tawny-coated mass on the move that caused National Elk Refuge Biologist Eric Cole to slow his U.S.
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