Because the snow remains moderately deep and the elk are hungry, Hardware Ranch will be up and running for human visitors an extra week this year. That means sleigh rides through the herd will continue through Sunday, and the cafe and visitor center will be open as well.
"We usually stay open to March 15, and then we've usually had to put wheels on and run wagons" to transport sightseers, said Shelley Woolstenhulme, who operates the ranch's concessions with her husband Scott. "So we've had a lot of snow this year."The ranch attracts about 50,000 visitors each year, she said, including those interested in the old-time sleigh rides and snowmobilers using it as a base from which to explore the area's trails.
Hardware Ranch, east of Hyrum up Blacksmith Fork, is one of the most rewarding wildlife-watching destinations in Utah. As winter gives way to spring, scores of deer browse hillsides where the snow has melted away. The elk that have gathered at Hardware mill about a coralled meadow.
The animals - cows and yearlings as well as a scattering of bulls - put up with humans in exchange for the hay, said Shay Allman, one of the drivers. Last weekend, his wooden sleigh, drawn by two patient Belgian workhorses, gently approached the elk and stopped so passengers could get a good look and take photographs of a big bull with a majestic antler rack.
Allman then directed the sleigh through the midst of the herd. Though obviously used to the disturbance, the wild animals maintained a cautious distance and kept a wary eye on the invading sleigh, horses and humans.
Then Allman pointed to four bulls involved, two by two, in sparring matches nearby. Heads down, the male elk jammed heads and antlers together, wrestling briefly and making subdued but high-pitched grunts. Sometimes it took the animals a few minutes to disengage their intertwined racks.
The head butting, said Lowell Marphe, ranch superintendent for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, is a hormonal response among the bulls. "It's playing. They like to tussle with each other," he said. "The length of the day triggers it."
This is also about the time of year they begin to lose their antlers. "Usually the big bulls start first," he said. When the racks drop, new antlers begin to grow within a week or so.
The ratio of older branch-antler bulls to yearling single-tine bulls has been growing in recent years, Marphe noted, which is good for herd genetics. "The mature branch-antler bulls are better breeders," and the public likes seeing animals with impressive racks, he said.
The elk migrate to Hardware Ranch on their own, he said. "They're in the area before that, but when we get first sign of snowfall, they come right in," a behavior learned over generations.
The Cache and Rich county Rocky Mountain elk herd was eliminated by the turn of the century, Marphe said. Reintroductions, mostly from the Yellowstone area, began in 1912. Today the northern Utah range hosts some 2,600 animals.
The feeding program at Hardware Ranch - called "short stopping" - began in 1948, Marphe said. The objective is to keep the animals out of the communities and farmlands of the settled Cache Valley, and to leave mountain feeding range for the region's deer. This season some 450 elk overwintered at Hardware, though in some years the numbers approach 700, he said.
Hardware Ranch, which closes down during the summer, usually gears up for visitors the weekend after Thanksgiving each year, Sherry Woolstenhulme said, "but it depends on the snow and whether the elk are here."
The Woolstenhulme family added the cafe and has run the ranch concessions for eight years, she said. Besides the daytime sleigh rides, they offer a "moonlight" sleigh rides and dinner on Friday and Saturday nights, but these require reservations. They also rent snowmobiles, with hourly, full-day and half-day rates, but it's best to call to check on availability and the status of the trails.
The ranch visitor center and cafe will be open through Sunday, March 22, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Sleigh rides cost $3.50 per person, with children under 3 allowed to ride for free. On Saturday and Sunday, sleigh rides will be two for one, Marphe said.
For cafe and snowmobile reservations, call 435-753-6168. To contact Division of Wildlife Resources personnel, call 435-753-6206.