A report from a concerned citizen prompted an investigation into several elk carcasses that were discovered within a Fish and Game stack yard in the Indian Fork portion of Tex Creek Wildlife Management Area this spring. It was determined that sometime during the winter months the elk busted through the high fence protecting the stack yard and ate out the bottom of the hay stack causing it to destabilize and collapse.
A total of 16 elk perished in the incident, appearing to have been crushed by the falling one ton bales or trampled to death by other elk. The stack yard contained hay left over from the emergency feeding operation conducted by Fish and Game in 2016 to keep 3,500 elk on Tex Creek after the Henry’s Creek fire.
Fish and Game staff plan to clean up and remove the remaining hay and fencing around the stack yard this summer as they are no longer needed. The elk carcasses have been moved off site and left for scavengers.