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.

With his team of horses in hand, Spencer first started cutting firewood off Forest Service land and selling it to the public. In 1985, after four years of cutting firewood by horse logging, the Forest Service, seeing what he was capable of doing, put up a small timber sale in a campground. Today, the Forest Service and land owners see horse logging as a nice tool in managing the land.