St Helens herd. Roosevelt or Rocky Mountain?

[frostman]

A few years back they were issuing cow permits in Mashel unit and we had permission form an old timer spent his entire 80 plus years in the Ashford Valley. According to him ALL of the elk in the cascades were brought in by rail car from the rockies to help facilitate land clearing for cattle grazing. Obviously in all the newly logged off areas these rocky mountain transplants thrived. No question that rosies and rockies mix, but there is also a school of thought that says elk are elk and just adapt to their surroundings. We've killed bulls in the cascades that some have characteristics of rosies and some rocky mountain elk.
The *censored*ty part is that some tribes have been coming into these valleys claiming treaty rights and killing elk. When those treaties were signed there were not elk in those valleys, just blacktail, bear and cougar.

[elksnout]

They are....hard to find.   

[JackOfAllTrades]

When those treaties were signed there were not elk in those valleys, just blacktail, bear and cougar.

Yeah... Funny that the Nooksack herd didn't exist before the Nooksack tribe did, yet they've been hunting them under treaty for years.

-Steve

[Bob33]

Boone & Crockett considers I-5 the delineation.  Any elk killed east of I-5 will not be considered a Roosevelt.

[Swatson]

Thats interesting Bob33.  I hunt on my father in laws property during late season down in the Rochester/Tenino area and those elk in my opinion are definitley Rosies!  And thats on the Eastside of I-5.  I guess they gotta draw a line somewhere though!

[bearpaw]

Thats interesting Bob33.  I hunt on my father in laws property during late season down in the Rochester/Tenino area and those elk in my opinion are definitley Rosies!  And thats on the Eastside of I-5.  I guess they gotta draw a line somewhere though!

I agree, there must be a clear line somewhere to guide in which category entries go, I have also been told that because of hybridization, elk east of I-5 are classified as RM elk. Who can say that there isn't some hybridization in some areas west of I-5, but I-5 is simply where they have chosen to draw the line.

[bucklucky]

30% of the elk in the Blues have Roosevelt blood , just sayin. That came from the mouth of Pat Fowler.

[Todd_ID]

30% of the elk in the Blues have Roosevelt blood , just sayin. That came from the mouth of Pat Fowler.

How'd he get a sample of the last one to leave on it's way to Yakima?  There're none left to test genetics on now. 

What would be very cool is if they'd introduce a herd from the Olympics into the Blues since there would be no cross breeding since there're no elk left now.  That way us eastsiders could hunt Roosevelts in the Blues and Rocky Mtns in the Collockum.

[Bob33]

Thats interesting Bob33.  I hunt on my father in laws property during late season down in the Rochester/Tenino area and those elk in my opinion are definitley Rosies!  And thats on the Eastside of I-5.  I guess they gotta draw a line somewhere though!

I agree, there must be a clear line somewhere to guide in which category entries go, I have also been told that because of hybridization, elk east of I-5 are classified as RM elk. Who can say that there isn't some hybridization in some areas west of I-5, but I-5 is simply where they have chosen to draw the line.

That's it.  Organizations like Boone & Crockett can't take blood samples of every submission, so they draw an arbitrary line.  It's no different that WDFW defining the Pacific crest as the dividing line for blacktail and mule deer.  Is every deer west of the crest a blacktail, and ten feet away on the east side they're all mule deer?  Of course not.

[RClare1223]

Rocky mountain elk=tastes great!! Rossevelt elk=tastes great!!mmmmm me see no difference.haha

[AKBowman]

Rocky mountain elk=tastes great!! Rossevelt elk=tastes great!!mmmmm me see no difference.haha

Me either!                                     ...except Roosies are better   

[400out]

St Helens Elk are Bench legs .......  Rocky, Roosie cross