How to catch an elk.

Steven has been doing some volunteer work with the Ministry of Environment this past month or so. It's a very interesting project, and in a nutshell what they are doing are catching and collaring female elk. Apparently there is some concern that the elk are living too close to town, and having their young here, and thus the young are not learning to migrate. So the Ministry has decided to collar approximately 80 female elk with GPS collars and then track their movement for the next 2 years. They set up traps in various areas and bait them with alfalpha and the elk wander in and can't get out. Then fellows then "shoo" the elk further into the trap into a narrow area where they (the elk) can't move, then they are blindfolded to keep them calm, a blood sample is taken and a collar is slipped on. The elk are then set free. The whole procedure takes minutes and is done in silence so as to not frighten the animal. It used to be that the animals were tranquilized, but that is really hard on the animal, you never really know how much to give them and they often hurt themself trying to stumble away. This way is quick and painless, plus the animals get a good dinner of alfalpha as well! The traps are checked every morning so that they are not in there for more than 24 hours. Sometimes there are 2 or 3 females, sometimes there are a few bulls as well (they are just sent on their way...no "guys" allowed in this project!) and sometimes there are as many as 20 deer trying to eat the good stuff!