Escaped elk may have red deer genes.

[wyotimberghost]

I just picked up today's paper (Casper Star Tribune), and the first article that caught my eye on the front page of the Wyoming section was about the elk that escaped from the game ranch in Idaho. A Canadian lab found that one of the cow elk that didn't escape has red deer hybrid genes. Rex Rammell, owner of the ranch, is enough of an idiot that he didn't keep proper breeding records- so while he does know that the cow elk that has the bad genes had offspring, he doesn't know which elk now have the same genes.

For those of you unfamiliar with the current controversy surrounding the ranch, here's a quick recap. Rex Rammell owns a high fence opperation in Idaho right next to the Wyoming border of Yellowstone. In August, 160 elk escaped the ranch. In an attemp to prevent the spread of the inferior domestic elk genes, Idaho gov Jim Risch ordered an emergency hunt. Despite the hunters best efforts, only 36 of the elk were killed.

That means there are 124 domestic (inferior) elk around the Wyoming/Idaho border now that may taint local elk herds with red deer genes. This is a disaster..............[:@]

[younggun308]

Over the decades, it'll eventually get so thinned out (the genes) that you won't be able to notice it anymore. But it'll take awhile.

It's really sad, but the herd won't be going anywhere else, I hope.

[Elkcrazy8]

If the genes are dominant genes, they may spread, this really sucks. I beleive that thereare petitions going around, and strong public backing to ban game farms here in Idaho. I hope that we succeed at getting rid of high fence hunting.

I read an article today that they are telling Rammel to get em out or casturate them. ( the ones behind the fence that is)

[game4lunch]

Game farms are outlawed here in Wyoming. Mostly because they determined that they (starting in Colorado) were the primary sourse of CWD!

What a shame. If the cow does give offspring, shoould be easy to spot and probably won't last long in the wild. Hunters, wolves, highways, etc.

[caselesss5]

this is a whole thing is an absolute mess and Rex Rammell is living breathing pile of s#@%. he did finally sell his ranch and supposedly the rest of the elk he managed to keep. he has been arrested twice in the last month for assault and something else earlier this week.

its hard to say how far his elk have gone too. i have heard some have crossed into wyoming and its hard to say how many have been breeding. the only thing i have heard that is encouraging (sort of) the elk on Rammells ranch were so weak and starved that many probably wont survive the winter (hopefully)

[Elkcrazy8]

He was arrested for failure to appear, imagine that.

[elkslayer338]

He should be gut with a dull antler and left where mountain men bones are stacked like qoard wood.
its a big problem across the country in my homestate of Michigan we now have wild bore,Emu,and non native deer DNA its a mess. The Emu have no natural predators in Michigan we do have mountain lions nowas well but to few to take them out.

[BrutalAttack]

This has been a nightmare for us as a state agency. We would like nothing more than to get legislature passed to ban game farms, elk in particular. Personally, I think it's a disgrace to treat elk like cattle.

[younggun308]

ORIGINAL: elkslayer338

He should be gut with a dull antler and left where mountain men bones are stacked like qoard wood.

I don't think he deserves to be buried with mountain men bones, rather throw him in a feeding troff, and then the elk will get weaker, and die.

[handloader1]

ALL GAME FARMS NEED TO BE BANNED!!!