Hundreds of elk winter on our place and neighbors’ ranches. We admire and enjoy these beautiful animals.  We love to watch them on our hills a mile back and when they parade single file on the south side of our portion of the privately built and managed Kleinschmidt Canal.  

These elk are just 300 yards from our deck, well within range of a 308 or 7mm.*  However, elk in such large numbers are extremely expensive to farmers and ranchers and only they bear the costs.  

When landowners protect habitat, ours is with GVLT, it produces positive public spillovers.  Economists call them positive externalities. However, the publicly owned elk impose large costs and negative externalities on farmers and ranchers.  Some of these costs are obvious, broken fences and destroyed haystacks are examples.

Other costs don't show up for months or years.  Noxious weeds whose seeds are transported by elk are major problems. Elk bed-grounds become infested with these horrid weeds, the Russian spotted knapweed is especially bad.  It spreads widely with it’s seeds lasting 20+ years and it displaces native grasses and forbs. We spend several thousand dollars a year in efforts to control it.

Here’s another, unseen to others, cost of elk herds.  For decades we wintered guest ranches horses, charging from $20 to $50 per horse per month. We hosted them from November until May. This was good income with extremely low costs for the horses were out on winter range.  When snow was deep, we'd feed horses our hay and be well paid for it.

More recently, herds of elk broke down section line fences and horses ran free. A few years ago two horses escaped and were killed on Gallatin Road, totaling a pickup.  Fortunately, the driver was not seriously injured--but he could have been killed. And what if it had been a family in an economy car?

As a result of this sad experience, our attorney insisted we avoid wintering horses on our rangeland and hay fields.  We surely can't control the elk nor can we off-load liability for maintaining miles of perimeter fencing; it's our duty to keep livestock in.  If a domestic animal goes astray and causes a wreck, the land owner is liable. Seven figure damages could be awarded to the victims.

Hay losses present a lesser, but far more common problem created by marauding elk.  We raise alfalfa hay under center pivot irrigation. Second cutting of alfalfa is the most palatable and has the highest protein, often near 20%.  Big square bales weigh well over half a ton and sold for over $150/ton this March.

A week before cutting and bailing our second cutting, a large herd of elk came in.  In one field they ate and trampled about half of it. Then, earlier this month, hay stacked by Cottonwood Road was damaged when an elk herd broke through the expensive steel panels set up to protect the hay ($120 to $160/ 12 ' panel).  They consumed several bales and made some others too loose to load on a semi. Some could not be transported for sale.

Other elk came into the hay yard by our barn and ate several bales.  They also broke through fences, tore up canvas hay covers, damaged irrigation lines, and stamped the ground into mud.We surely can’t blame the elk, this was a hard winter and they were starving.  

Our part of Montana has far too many elk.  The state owns them, but isn't liable for the damage they inflict on people who provide habitat.  We are searching for a happy and sustainable adjustment to increased numbers of elk. How about adding a late season harvest with the limit varying with population size?

We have selectively offered hunting to friends and a few others we trust.  As elk numbers and damages increase, we’ll probably allow more hunters. People can see elk on our place from Gallatin Road (U. S. 191), Cottonwood, Gooch Hill, and Enders roads.  Hence, prior to and during hunting season, we receive many calls and drop-ins of people asking permission to hunt.

(Frank Proffit's trophy elk)

Our ranch is modest, it’s measured in hundreds not thousands of acres.  To promote safety we only allow one person, or a pair of hunters at a time.  At zero price we have far more demand than supply of hunting days. This implies a need to ration elk hunting and we do--but not by price measured in dollars.

We only allow people we know, like, and trust to hunt our place.  That’s a lot of people, so we then rank access by labor contributions to the recreation part of our operation.  It takes considerable work to keep our trout fishery in fine shape, especially for people with special needs.**

Eagle Mount’s Camp Brave Heart for children with cancer, Warriors and Quiet Waters, and the Cancer Support Community have enjoyed our trout waters for many years.  Accessibility and comfort requires mowing, weed whacking, limb sawing, and light construction/dirt moving.

All our ag operation is well covered and people who work here have privileged access.  However, we also require help to maintain the quality of our recreation. We maintain a list of those who help out and a rough tally of their contributions.  That provides the measure we use when allowing elk hunting on our ranch. Next fall as we begin receiving calls for permission to hunt I’ll send them to this essay.  I invite you to share it with hunters you know, like, and trust.

(Trophy elk from Ramona and John Baden's ranch)

*The elk don’t stay on one place, but rather range over miles of country. If it’s huge, the 100,000+ acre Flying D for example, elk may stay mainly on one property.  Elk hunting on such places costs $5,000 to $15,000.

**We make special provision for handicapped people who are not with an organization.