New research on declining elk numbers brought unexpected results as well. Each year state game managers tabulated the number of elk taken by hunters—the harvest, as it was known. The northern Yellowstone herd had declined dramatically, limiting the harvest in a few areas immediately adjacent to the park, but statewide elk harvests hadn’t dipped at all in Wyoming, Montana, or Idaho. In fact, they were trending up: in 2010, for example, Wyoming hunters took 25,420 elk, a new record for the state and a 30 percent jump from 1995, the year wolves were first reintroduced.
