Rocky Mountain Elk Bull

Elk had become extinct in this area by the turn of the century, but in 1913 officials at Yellowstone, who's elk herd had become far too large for the park to support, to try to save the animals from starvation, began offering them for sale to other states. For $600 50 animals (47 survived the trip) were put on a train and shipped to Yakima from Montana. A few years later an additional 42 animals were added to the herd, and now, just over 100 years later, the herd is still here and thriving with more than 12,000 animals occupying 900,000 acres of public land.
Over the years, as the herd grew quite successfully, many of the same problems that caused the disappearance of the original herds were again encountered and it became a battle between the animals and the local land owners. In order to maintain peace with the farmers and orchardists, over the years several farms were purchased and 166 miles of elk proof fencing was put in place. There is also a winter feeding station to distract the attention of hungry elk from the neighbors alfalfa and apple trees. As a consequence this is one of the few places in the US where you can get a very close look at a herd of wild elk. This said they are still wild animals and they seem aware that the fence that protects the farms from them also protects them from the public. People are completely restricted from the area during the winter, breeding and calving seasons but the feeding stops and the herd melts away like the snow line they follow as antler collecting, hiking and even hunting begin and access to their land is opened again.