Herd takes bite from producers' hay, pocketbooks in food search

LEWIS, Colo. (AP)--Rancher Clint Simmons has grown used to nights with little sleep--not only because it is calving season--but because a large herd of elk is making itself at home on his farm.

"We are surrounded," Simmons said.

At the beginning of February, Simmons estimated the elk ate as much as 3 tons of hay in one night after driving his cattle back.

Simmons, who has about 25 head of cattle on 80 acres, said it is not unusual for elk to winter in the Lewis area. He has had elk eat his hay before, but this is different.

This year, instead of the usual 15 or so elk, Simmons is seeing as many as 320 elk come onto his property and his father's adjacent ranch, which also has cattle.

So Simmons has spent many nights patrolling his feeders armed with a shotgun and loud, noisemaking shells furnished to him by the Colorado Division of Wildlife.

"These elk have been shot at so much, they just go out of range and come back when I'm gone," he said while trudging through snow as deep as 3 feet and pointing to a gathering of about 75 elk.

It was midmorning as the elk lay in the middle of a pasture, keeping a cautious eye on Simmons but not getting up to move.

"This is a small group," he said. "I don't know where the others went."

Simmons isn't the only rancher who has noticed the herd of elk, which has made its presence known north of Lewis recently, flattening snow, eating hay and knocking down fences.

The herd is estimated between 200 and 500 in size and prompted the Colorado Department of Transportation to install a "Watch for Elk" sign along U.S. Highway 491 near County Road W.

The elk managed to get on the road at 2:58 a.m., on a recent Tuesday, just when Robert McCabe of Dolores was heading south along Highway 491 in a mail truck.

There were about 30 elk on the highway when McCabe first saw them, said Sgt. Matt Ozanic with the Colorado State Patrol.

"He managed to avoid 24 of them and hit six," Ozanic said.

All six of the elk where either killed instantly or had to be killed because of the extent of their injuries, Ozanic said.

McCabe was driving a Dodge 3500 pickup truck and wasn't injured, Ozanic said.

The mail was loaded onto another truck and shipped out, he said.

"It's sad because I know they're hungry, and if I could afford to feed them, I would," Simmons said.

He has had better luck protecting his hay since he moved the feeders closer to barns and homes.

The Division of Wildlife rounded up the elk with snowmobiles Feb. 8 and pushed them about four miles north, but the elk came back and brought about 200 deer with them, said Sherry Simmons, Clint's wife.

Sherry Simmons said she knew it was the same group because one distinct bull runs with the herd. They nicknamed the bull "unicorn" because of its one, long, straight antler.

Nearly 500 elk were gathered during the roundup, which could be viewed from the highway and drew several onlookers with binoculars. The roundup was halted for a short time for fear the elk would cross the road. On Feb. 7, Dave Harper, a district wildlife manager with the Division of Wildlife, said wildlife officials rounded up 75 elk, pushing them farther north, through the chest-deep snow and into a canyon, where they might find taller vegetation to eat. Everything in the farming land around Lewis was covered with feet of snow, except for the hay.

"These elk eat like cattle," Clint Simmons said.

Simmons estimated that in one night the elk ate him out of $375 in hay.

But being reimbursed by the Division of Wildlife for hay loss isn't enough in the middle of winter, the time of year when hay is hard to get. Farmers who still have hay in February often say it is already sold and they are just waiting for it to be picked up.

"We really don't need the money," Simmons said. "We need the hay."

Gerald Wallace, who lives near Simmons, said the elk have hit his hay shed hard. He sells 1-ton alfalfa hay bales to out-of-state dairies.

Wallace showed off the damage recently.

Elk hadn't eaten the bales entirely, but they had made them unusable.

"When you go to pick them up, they fall apart," Wallace said.

That makes it difficult to load bales on a truck and haul them out of state.

Wallace estimated the elk caused several thousands of dollars worth of damage to his hay bales. He has since protected the bales with panels the Division of Wildlife provided.

"We feel sorry for the elk, but at the same time, we can't go bankrupt feeding them," Wallace said.

Wildlife manager Dave Harper said he has been keeping a close eye on the elk, but the situation is difficult to handle.

"Elk are opportunistic and are looking for easy situations," Harper said, indicating hay stacks.

The Division of Wildlife likely won't feed or bait the elk off of the farmers' property because it probably won't work, Harper said.

"As long as there is feed where they are used to going, it probably wouldn't work," he said.

The elk population is lower than it has been in the past 15 years, Harper said. The Dolores, Montezuma and La Plata county area population is about 5,000.

Snow has driven elk down to areas where people aren't used to seeing them, Harper said.

"It puts them in contact with people--and stacked hay--that haven't had to deal with them in the past," Harper said.

Winter marks a time of survival for elk, and they will do almost anything to get by, he said. But as temperatures warm, the snow melts, making it easier for the animals.

"In two months this will hopefully be a dull memory to everyone," Harper said.

None\0-

Date: 4/10/08

	Web hpj.com

Copyright/Privacy
Copyright 1995-2011.  High Plains Publishers, Inc.  All rights reserved.  Any republishing of these pages, including electronic reproduction of the editorial archives or classified advertising, is strictly prohibited. If you have questions or comments you can reach us at High Plains Journal 1500 E. Wyatt Earp Blvd., P.O. Box 760, Dodge City, KS 67801 or call 1-800-452-7171. Email: webmaster@hpj.com