The rest of the story

As most people know who have half a brain know it is never the ones who are in command-the higher ups that know whats really going on.They are too busy playing politics..
Now going back to rest of the story on how this rancher stopped elk from knocking down his fences..As mentioned before this rancher discovered elk can't really jump like a deer can so rather than build higher fences (which is costly)he looked at the worn ruts in the ground left by the elk to see where they cross the most and for 50-60 feet he did the following..He actually lowered the top strand of wire 2 inches and replaced it with a strand with NO barbs for the elk to get hung on.Instead of fixing the wire tight to the post he just ran it thru a loop,and to keep it very tight there were some very strong springs on the end..I think you get the picture.The elk could clear the fence easy and if some did come down on the wire the springs would give and NO BARBS would not snag(or injure)the elk.On other places along his ranch he would simply open the fence when the elk migrated in spring and fall and put the cattles some where else for a few weeks..We went to some town meetings and told the people to give it a try and next year almost no calls..Also for informative purposes in the several decades with the elk there was never a fatality with a vechicle.There were a few wrecks and alot of them were caused by peoples dogs chasing the elk accross a road..
Now our next big-big problem had to be solved.The elk herds were declining -WHY
Our next blog will try and explain it and probably hurt a few feelings

It looks like fall is finally here and I am ready for it.September electric bill is half of what the rest were this summer.Seeing more acorns now,but so far I have not seen a decent buck and that has me concerned..That is not right for my place..Lots of does and fawns.Several with triplets and one with 4 and one he/she with a fawn and as of today Its tiny little spikes still had velvet.
Lately I have been reading some real garbage in the papers about the MDC bringing Elk back..
Before I retired to Missouri I had worked on and off for the Game Departments in Washington and Idaho with the elk and one of the most notable "whacko" comments from all knowing citizen was that elk can jump 7 ft straight up..Bad news fella,Elk don't jump..We found that out years ago and I still have some video I shot years ago to back it up,but from where I come from everyone knew that..but what a lead cow will do is rear up and come down on a fence that she can not step accross and that is where our job was to solve the private fence problem..Our elk migrate up to 100 miles and there are ranch fences along the way..Everyone involed was trying to think of how to do this and that with the elk when a letter came to elk feeding headquarters..
Normally the higher ups would not even bother to read them,but this letter made so much sense and so simple..It was one of those shake your head and tell yourself "why didn't I think of it..This man had one of the largest migratings herds in the country and said he hasn't had fence down for years..Next time the answer...