My brother in Rawlins passed along this same information when I talked with him. The area these elk are in was just east of where I hunted deer this past fall. My brother said they now have cut the number of tags and that ALOT of the locals are looking to apply elsewhere. I told him he should apply to that unit as his odds of drawing are probably better now than at any other point in time. What would you all do? Apply here or in another area??

Brad

Has anyone heard if this was "prussic acid"? We lost cows to this when I was a kid in Texas. The acid forms only when the soil and atmospheric moisture conditions are perfect. The prussic acid was forming on Johnson and/or bahia grass on our farm - don't know squat about lichens!

Prussic acid was my first reaction when I heard the symptoms. I'll never forget watching those cows stagger around and die. It cost us our farm.

This doesnt surprise me that much...if those elk got pushed over from the high country in Colorado, they definitely would have been in a new area when they hit that High desert south of Rawlins and Rock Springs. If not acclimated, they could have eaten any number of toxic plants. Hell, there is plenty of bad water in that area too.

Another factor is that 2 to three years ago, due to bad drought, there were a large number of fires in that area too. The age of the plants or size of stems could have had them eating young versions of something that they would normally pass on. Then again...if they were that stressed due to the winter, they might have died no matter what they were eating.

Trust the Game & Fish to overreact and cut tags at any opportunity. They got their price increase in already, it wont cut their budget.

The elk in that area dont pay any attention to state lines, they migrate into and out of CO and UT as nature moves them. Have CO or UT cut their tags in the areas???
See above comment.

swede

Well, it depends of which report one puts faith in. The one from AP on MSNBC has the following in it:

Native elk not affected
Elk native to the area weren�t affected by the acid, but those killed in the die-off apparently had moved in

from Colorado and may have lacked microorganisms needed to neutralize the acid, state biologists said.

The Colorado line is 50 miles south of the area where the elk died. < !--color-->

BUT...neither my source at WY G&F or the release from the agency mentioned the above. If it is true, though, why would the tags in the area be cut???

Anyway, since I'm writing this up for my column, I'll make a call manana and clear it up for certain. -TONY

The area from which WY Game and Fish surmised the elk migrated straddles the Wyoming-Colorado border, so there shouldn't be much doubt that the elk in question include at least a part of Wyoming in their range.