The Harlem News

Sun River Elk Herd Forced to New Grounds
Helena, Feb. 22-(U.P)-From the air and the ground, 2,000 elk of the Sun River herd are being made ready for a long hike and cold swim-whether they like it or not. The elk are to be driven from their present grazing quarters to new grounds in one of the most novel big game experiments ever undertaken. Forage in their present range, which lies immediately west of Augusta in Lewis and Clark counties, has been exhausted. The animals have been forced by hunger to invade farm property, trampling down fences and crops in their hunt for food, and in many cases becoming unwelcome diners on farmer's haystacks. The state fish and game commission therefore is preparing to force them to migrate. The elk will be herded and drifted beneath Beartooth Rim, a rocky precipitous natural wall extending for miles in a north and south direction through the region. So steep and slippery is the rim that the elk cannot scale it. Herders will bunch the elk along the wall, driving them forward until they reach the north fork of the Sun River. The animals will then be made to swim the icy river into the wilderness area of southern Teton county, where the abundant forage is present. Thomas O. Peasley, state deputy game warden at large, is now covering the snow covered area on snow shoes, mapping his course and selecting men for the drive.