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Originally posted by Yale:
Peaked at 20,000 elk in 1992?

Was that an unsustainable number compared to 4,174 elk in the same herd today?

Why do we have to wade through so much bull shit to get to real facts, and a professional wildlife biologist's scientific opinion based upon those facts?

After reading this article, I have no idea if this herd is in fact in good shape, or just merely in politically good shape.

Sincerely,

Chris Bemis

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.”Conservationists credit wolves with helping restore balance to the ecosystem,

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Originally posted by p dog shooter:
This what the anti's wanted all along less elk less hunting more predators.

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Originally posted by Brian Clark:
Was the winter so bad this year, I though it was a mild winter and if so why so many winter kill?

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DROUGHT

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BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) –– A major elk herd that migrates be-tween Yellowstone National Park and Montana suffered another steep decline last year due to a hard winter, predator attacks and hunting, state and federal scientists said Tuesday.New data from wildlife agen-cies show the Northern Yellow-stone elk herd is down to about 4,174 animals, a 10 percent drop from the prior year’s count. That follows a 24 percent drop in 2011.Yellowstone biologist Doug Smith said the herd remains healthy despite its smaller size. The number is more in line with historic levels since wolves were reintroduced and grizzly bears and mountain lions returned naturally, he said.The herd peaked at about 20,000 animals in 1992, a few years before wolves were brought back from Canada after being ab-sent from the region for decades. Since then, the herd has declined about 80 percent.Some outfi tters and others who live outside the park say of-fi cials have not done enough to curb predator attacks, particu-larly by wolves. The Yellowstone herd supported a thriving hunt-ing industry, with several thou-sand elk killed in some years, be-fore the numbers started to drop.The Park Service has no set population target for the herd, but the latest counts have fallen below the target range of Mon-tana Fish Wildlife and Parks.The state wants between 3,000 and 5,000 elk in portions of Montana just north of the park. The latest count found 2,734 elk in that area.Smith said it was inaccurate to heap too much blame for the elk herd’s decline on wolves.Wolf numbers, too, have been dropping in recent years, from 94 in 2007 to 38 last year in the area populated by the Northern Yellowstone herd.“That’s some bad news, a 25 percent decline last year and 10 percent this year. But the elk are looking really good,” Smith said. “This was one of the hard-est winters we’ve had in decades ... We’ve got a leaner, meaner elk herd.”Conservationists credit wolves with helping restore balance to the ecosystem, in part by reduc-ing the size of a herd that some had said was far too large at its peak.To keep the herd from declin-ing too far, Montana wildlife commissioners in February ap-proved a new permit system for Northern Yellowstone elk. Although there are unlimited numbers of the $9 permits, the requirement is expected to re-duce the number of hunters who come to the area, said Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokes-man Ron Aasheim.Agency biologist Karen Love-less said despite the decline seen in this year’s count there are signs the Northern Yellowstone herd could rebound. Loveless says the number of calves per cow elk appears to be on the in-crease, an indication that more of the animals survived than in past winters.“I feel some encouragement in the long-term,” Loveless said. “We sure would like to see it at least level off and I would like to see it coming back up. There is a possibility that could happen.”

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A major elk herd that migrates be-tween Yellowstone National Park and Montana suffered another steep decline last year due to a hard winter...This was one of the hard-est winters we’ve had in decades...

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The herd peaked at about 20,000 animals in 1992...the herd has declined about 80 percent...a 10 percent drop from the prior year’s count. That follows a 24 percent drop in 2011..."there are signs the Northern Yellowstone herd could rebound."