Elk are indeed majestic, but there is so much more to these wonderful animals says Gary Queen, manager of the Rose Lake Elk Ranch. June is velvet season on elk ranches across the United States and Canada. Queen watches antler growth carefully on his ranch of about 50 bulls, waiting for the best time to harvest. “These antlers have healing powers to cure what ails us,” Queen said. He is now making his own line of nutritional supplements from the antlers of registered Rocky Mountain elk.

Doug Strike of rural Sublette County is spending his second winter feeding wild elk in nearby Bondurant, Wyoming. Strike is supplementing his logging income as well as helping his team of Belgian draft horses to keep in shape for the coming season. From May to the end of November he uses his horses to skid logs out of the mountains of western Wyoming. I found the use of Doug’s beautiful Belgian team an exciting example of appropriate technology.