The Fish and Wildlife Service plans five weeks of controlled public hunting to harvest up to 100 elk from the National Elk Refuge near Jackson, Wyo., the Department of the Interior reported today.
The hunt on the National Elk Refuge will be coordinated with hunts planned for other nearby parts of Wyoming by the National Park Service and the regular elk season in Wyoming.
Under the plan, hunting on the Jackson Refuge would be allowed from September 9 to October 13, 1963. Twenty free permits would be issued each week for five weeks. Hunting will conform with Wyoming big-game laws.
Permits will be issued each Monday morning, beginning September 9. If there are more than 20 requests any week, selection will be made by drawing. Permits are good for the week of issuance only. Applications must be made in person at the Refuge headquarters in Jackson, Wyo., on the Monday morning of the week a hunter wishes to use the Refuge in quest of elk. Mail applications will not be considered.
Chief purpose of the hunt is to reduce a sedentary herd of several hundred “summer boarders” which refuses to leave the Refuge and feed in the high country. As many as 1,200 elk have been known to remain on the Refuge throughout the year, consuming summer feed which otherwise would be available to animals which come down from the high country each fall.
The national Elk Refuge was established half a century ago. The average winter population over that period has been 6,700 elk, but the migration pattern has varied considerable. The sedentary herd has been on increasing concern to wildlife managers. Several attempts to move the hero out o the Refuge to the summer range have been unsuccessful.
