Elk herd relocated

[timber_cruiser]

This is a local news station video showing a herd of elk being herded back up to the foothills above Salt Lake City. The Division Of Wildlife Resources staff and local police did a good job of managing this relocation. Traffic from I-80 was stopped for about an hour to make this happen safely.

https://www.abc4.com/news/around-100...the-mountains/

[birlinn]

Can't see the link in the UK.
Place your bets as to how long it takes for them to sneak back!

[David G]

Can't see the link in the UK.
Place your bets as to how long it takes for them to sneak back!

Yes, this. I remember as a kid, the elk coming down from the mountains and tearing up a local golf course. The state & country mounted such a relocation effort. I don't remember exactly how long it took them to come back... but it wasn't long. And I remember the herders gave up at that point. Whoever hasn't seen a herd up close... do it if you can. They are huge, and hugely impressive.

[timber_cruiser]

Here is another video link from YouTube that hopefully works.

[ron ll]

We used to have sea lions eating all the salmon in front of the fish ladders at the locks. So the DNA decided to trap them and truck them to California. The sea lions were back at the locks before the trucks were.

[David G]

A herd of 80 is a lot of avoirdupois. Our local viewing area (they even give 'feeding tours') often has 150-200, and that is quite a sight. Then I think about what the old buffalo herds must have looked like.

[SaltyD from BC]

Good stuff. There's been a lot of success relocating Rooselvelt elk around the coast here. They're big boys! Its not open country so viewing them is kind of tough but I used to run in to small groups in the timber pretty often at the last place we live. Its still a holy **** moment every time I see them. Once I ran in to a bachelor group of bulls that I'll never forget. Think 4 massive antlered giants any of which would make the cover page on a Boone and Crocket magazine type of deal standing within 100 yards of me. Here's hoping the Salt lk herd gets comfy up there and stays.

[Dave Wright]

There are loads of them from the Oregon coast down into northern coastal California. Always fun to watch.

Elk.jpg

[Jim Bow]

We got stopped by a herd crossing 101 near Waldport. Those are BIG animals. And, once they’ve got the cars stopped, they take their damn time moseying.

[David G]

We got stopped by a herd crossing 101 near Waldport. Those are BIG animals. And, once they’ve got the cars stopped, they take their damn time moseying.

Yeah... not like the antelope crossings I've witnessed in Wow'ming and Idaho... those guys scoot. Like watching a river in flood.

[Chip-skiff]

The elk used to spread out on the valley floors for winter forage. Then the Mormon colonists stole the land from the tribes and started farms, built fences and roads. Elk became pests.

So, the Division of Hunting, Trapping, and Extermination pushes the elk back up to the canyons, where there's nothing to eat.

Brilliant!

[ron ll]

Driving down 101 on the Oregon coast yesterday I had to come to a stop as a deer crossed the road. Then I waited as impatient traffic built up behind us because there were four more deer on the side looking like they were ready to dart across after the first one. I finally decided to ease past, I hope all the other drivers saw them. There were many signs warning of elk crossings, but didn’t see any of those.

[Paul Pless]

The elk used to spread out on the valley floors for winter forage. Then the Mormon colonists stole the land from the tribes and started farms, built fences and roads. Elk became pests.

So, the Division of Hunting, Trapping, and Extermination pushes the elk back up to the canyons, where there's nothing to eat.

Brilliant!

sad and stupid
what's the wolf population like in utah?

in az, north of payson there is stretch of highway with an inordinately high rate of elk vehicle strikes - they have built a bridge of sorts to more safely facilitate the elk migration

[Nicholas Carey]

sad and stupid
what's the wolf population like in utah?

in az, north of payson there is stretch of highway with an inordinately high rate of elk vehicle strikes - they have built a bridge of sorts to more safely facilitate the elk migration

They've got animal overpasses in Banff National Park up in Alberta, to get critters across the Trans-Canada Highway. Apparently, they come with a side effect — the dominant predators set up shop at the bridges because they realize that it's a choke point and thus easy pickings. This is one of the critter overpasses in Banff NP:


by Nicholas Carey, on Flickr

[Chip-skiff]

When I worked for the Forest Service on the Wasatch Plateau, central Utah, I heard tales of the elk drives, organized by local cattle ranchers.

The desert valleys were low on winter forage, so the elk herds would gather on the high plateaus, where there was grass swept clean by the wind. But that was summer forage for cattle.

So- the ranchers would ride up and spread out to drive the elk east, to the rim of the plateau, and then with gunshots and whips and such, harry them over the edge, to die broken on the rocks below.

The guy who told me the tale was a third-generation rancher who had it through his family. I did some research in the local library and found confirming accounts.

[Nicholas Carey]

When I worked for the Forest Service on the Wasatch Plateau, central Utah, I heard tales of the elk drives, organized by local cattle ranchers.

The desert valleys were low on winter forage, so the elk herds would gather on the high plateaus, where there was grass swept clean by the wind. But that was summer forage for cattle.

So- the ranchers would ride up and spread out to drive the elk east, to the rim of the plateau, and then with gunshots and whips and such, harry them over the edge, to die broken on the rocks below.

The guy who told me the tale was a third-generation rancher who had it through his family. I did some research in the local library and found confirming accounts.

Have you ever been up to Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump (in Blackfoot, Estipah-skikikini-kots) in Alberta?

Used to be regular Buffalo drives by the First Nations there, for more than 5,000 years, until the mid-19th century. They'd regularly drive herds of Buffalo off the cliff there.

Difference was that they immediately got processed for food and hides. At the camp at the bottom of the cliff. Lots of feasting. And lots and lots of skeletons

At the 2 kill sites, the bones run about 30 feet deep, and the cliff is about 36 feet high.

https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/158/

[Gary Davis]

They have identified jumps all over Montana. A little different, but from my window I can see Sacrifice Cliffs alongside the Yellowstone River. The story I heard/read is dishonored or grieving warriors would ride their ponies over the cliff. That would be mighty hard to do after seeing the smashed bison bodies at the bottom of other jumps.

[J P]

They have identified jumps all over Montana. A little different, but from my window I can see Sacrifice Cliffs alongside the Yellowstone River. The story I heard/read is dishonored or grieving warriors would ride their ponies over the cliff. That would be mighty hard to do after seeing the smashed bison bodies at the bottom of other jumps.

Difference between a horse and a mule: A horse will jump off a cliff for you, but a mule will watch as you go plummeting off the edge while he’s sitting high and dry.